Beyond The Trappings Of Office, A Civil Servant's Journey In Punjab, a memoir by Rajan Kashyap, former Chief Secretary and Ex Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of Punjab, was released at Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration, Sector - 26 today by former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court Mr. S.S. Sodhi and Mr. Gurbachan Jagat, ex- Governor of Manipur.
The book describes the growth story of the state, and the important events and leaders who shaped the unprecedented development of Punjab over half a century. The Author Mr. Rajan Kashyap joined the IAS in 1965 and retired as Chief Secretary in 2003 after a long and illustrious career spanning 38 years.
In a lively interaction on the occasion, Professor BN Goswamy, who had joined the IAS in the 1950s and left soon to pursue a career in academics, shared interesting anecdotes on the work ethic of that era.
Brigadier Sukhjit Singh presented an interesting picture of governance in the erstwhile state of Kapurthala while also emphasizing that perfection as such doesn't exist. What is needed is to continue to work harder and much harder.
Sanjeev Chopra, former Director of Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, brought out how the civil servants of today are becoming more professional. He quoted the Former Finance Minister of India C.D. Deshmukh and said that the civil servants must write about events as they are participants in History.
In his reflections, Rajan Kashyap underlined how the things have gone sea change in comparison to the past. Batting for the positive approach, he advocated a very close coordination between the civil servants and the police, a sentiment which was echoed by Mr. S.S. Sodhi and Mr. Gurbachan Jagat.
The Former Education Secretary (Government of India) Vibha Puri Das said that the human considerations must be supreme in the discharge of bureaucratic functions. The Director General MGSIPA, Mr. Anirudh Tiwari said that better Human Resource Management, Skill specific training apart from the eternal values of compassion, empathy, justice and fairplay are very important.
The event was compeered by the Former IAS Officer Mr. Vivek Atray.