President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday asked a group of probationary officers from various civil services to ensure India’s growth remains inclusive, enable policy paradigm, and a conducive licensing and regulatory framework.

“You as officers have to manage and shape projects that shall make initiatives possible,” he told trainee officers of Indian Defence Estates Service, Indian Telecommunication Service and P&T (Post and Telegraph) Building Works Service, who called on him at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

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Noting their services provide them an “enormous platform for serving the nation”, he said: “You shall be responsible for managing important projects in different domains and serve crucial sectors such as Defence and Telecommunications”.

Addressing the Indian Telecommunication Service and P&T Building Works Service officers, Kovind said that they are going to manage key positions in the telecom sector in India, which has the world’s second largest telecom network based on the total number of users, and witnessed rapid growth especially in the wireless segment.

“Indian Telecommunication Service officers have an important role to play as we seek to connect the unconnected especially in our rural and remote areas. This is essential to make our growth inclusive. It is your responsibility to ensure that we have in place an enabling policy paradigm and a conducive licensing and regulatory framework.

“Equally important is the job of P&T Building Works Service officers who have to ensure quality and efficiency in construction and maintenance of office and residential complexes, electrical and architectural works both in Department of Telecommunication and Department of Posts.”

Kovind said officers of both these services have to ensure that the benefits of information and communication technology are widely available for the benefit of the disadvantaged groups, while the advance of the ambitious project towards Digital India, it is ICT that enable improved access to financial services, modernization of agriculture, and movement towards smart grids, smart buildings and smart logistics, and they have “to manage and shape projects that shall make these initiatives possible”.

Talking to the Indian Defence Estates Service officers, Kovind said that they will hold key responsibilities in municipal administration of 62 notified cantonments and act as advisors to the Ministry of Defence on management of about 17.57 lakh acres of Defence land in the country.

“As Defence Estate officers, you shall be entrusted with key tasks of carrying out Audit of Defence Lands, prevention of encroachment, optimization of land usage, and maintenance of land records. You have to carry out all these functions along with the reality of rapid urbanization in the country.

“Cantonments which used to be separate enclaves before independence have also become part of the urban landscape in many states and hence are not immune to infrastructure related problems in our cities. You will have to deal with this reality and manage situations that may emerge,” he said.

He also call upon each probationary officers to nurture a spirit of innovation in them to transform into solution providers in the midst of challenges.