Bhubaneswar: The Dikshyant Samaroha of 127 OAS (DR-2020 Batch) probationers was held at the Convention Centre, Lok Seva Bhawan, Bhubaneswar on Friday. Organised by Gopabandhu Academy of Administration, this convocation ceremony was held after 24 weeks of training imparted to the probationers under GAA.
Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena, attending as the Chief Guest on the occasion advised the OAS officers going to work in different administrative set-ups and offices to be vigilant and maintain honesty while discharging their duties.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Secretary Jena further stated said that the newly appointed Officers are going to face tough tests and challenges in the coming days. They will work for the State for about 30 to 35 years. The State expects a lot from them.
He advised them to look at their past and present and determine their future course of action. He also expected that these young officers to maintain the pace with innovative thinking, continuous knowledge acquisition with profound spirit and selfless dedication. Officers imparted training in GAA will have to provetheir efficiency individually as well as in teamwork at the field level, he added.
Anu Garg, Development Commissioner–cum-Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Water Resources and DG, GAA highlighted how transformation has been taken in imparting training to the officers undergoing training at the Academy. She also recalled Shri R.K. Sharma, former Director General of the Academy who streamlined the system of training programmes here which has made it easier for her to take forward. She also expressed that there is a huge scope for these civil servants to serve the people. He suggested the officers to be assigned duties whether in development works, law and order, elections etc. should perform withsincerity and integrity.
Satyabrata Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary, R&DM, FE&CC Department and SRC said that the OAS probationers are the pride of our State. Highlighting the 34 types of services being provided under the Revenue department and multi-faceted work of the civil servants, he hoped that the officers would be posted in different places to work diligently in the work such assmooth conduct of election work as well as disposal of various land-related legal issues.
Sushil Kumar Lohani, Principal Secretary, PR and DW Department said that among these trainee officers, many are to join as BDOs in the coming days. Highlighting various activities like livelihood programmes, drinking water supply, skill development training, Mission Shakti programme, implementation of social security scheme, PDS, Paddy procurement, public health and infrastructure development which are being carried out at Block level, he hoped that the officers to join in Blocks would work successfully in the coming days.
Manish Agarwal, ADG, GAA in his welcome address highlighted the training modules of the Academy. He said that GAA was focused on the knowledge of the history & culture of Odisha, administrative set-ups of the State, concepts about public administration, book review, including field visit programmes to tourist spots and places of bio-diversities including fire safety, leadership and skill development training etc. during this training programme.
On this occasion, the journal ” Dakshyanta” was released and a Video related to various activities undertaken throughout the training programmes was also played which was highly appreciated.
To promote extra-curricular activities, the system of clubs and societies was introduced for the first time in GAA training module. Twelve clubs and societies were formed like Film and Music Appreciation Committee, Fine Art Committee, Cultural Committee, House Journal Committee, Sports Committee, Mess Committee, etc. In the programme best performing trainees were awarded.
Among others Dr Himanshu Bhushan Panda, Additional Commissioner of GAA, Senior officers from GA & PG and other government departments and other functionaries of GAA were present. Director, Centre of Good Governance, GAA Dr Shashank Grahacharya and his team extended all support during the entire training programme. Pratap Kumar Mishra, Deputy Director of the Academy thanked everyone for success of the programme.