Chennai :

The country needs IAS officers who will go out in the sun and work for the people in the streets, said former IAS officer P M Belliappa at a lecture series organized by the Association of British Scholars (ABS) in Chennai on Monday.

During the lecture held as part of the Gazetteer lecture series at the British Council, Belliappa said IAS officers should be recruited at a young age to understand and display good governance. “There is more of lateral entry these days and it dilutes the system,” he said.

“It is sad that we don’t have any leader who puts himself last and puts the country first,” he said, adding that K Kamaraj was the best chief minister that Tamil Nadu has ever had as he worked for the people in the streets.

Belliappa has contributed to the ABS project on gazetteer series, which includes a three-part book ‘Madras, Chennai: A 400-year Record of the First City of Modern India,’ edited by historian S Muthiah.

Speaking on the occasion, Muthiah said the third book in the series, with the sub-title ‘Information, Culture and Entertainment,’ would be released early next year. The first two parts of the book have the sub-titles ‘The land, the People and the Governance’ and ‘Services, Education and the Economy.’

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by Saradha Mohan Kumar, TNN / March 31st, 2014