New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday cautioned civil servants against using social media for self-propagation of their work and asked the government officers to change their role from being a regulator to an enabling entity to turn the challenges into opportunities.


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Addressing a function on the Civil Services Day in the national capital he said now, very often, people perceive that the private sector offers better services than the government.


PM Modi said anonymity of civil service had been a strength but this appears to be getting weak, adding that with the alternatives now being available in several areas, the responsibilities of the government officers have increased, not in terms of scope of work, but in terms of the challenge.


"It will be good if you change your working style and way of thinking. If you come out of the role of being a regulator and act as an enabling entity, then challenges would convert into opportunities," the PM said.


While cautioning the civil servants against using social media for self-propagation of their work the PM asserted, "If I as a government official use social media to disseminate information about the next date of a vaccination programme, it is very useful.


"But if I post my pictures on Facebook showing my participation in the programme, then I become a question mark for anonymity of bureaucrats.


"Today I see district level officers -- they are so busy, busy, busy... most of their time goes in this," he remarked.


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"In fact, in my meetings I have banned the entry of mobiles, otherwise anyone would take out (their mobile) and start," he said with a chuckle.


The Prime Minister said conditions prevailing today are quite different from about two decades ago, and would evolve much further over the next few years.


Elaborating on this, he said that earlier, the government was almost the sole provider of goods and services, which left a lot of scope for ignoring one's shortcomings.


Addressing the civil servants, Modi said that while the absence of the government in a sphere of activity should be perceptible, its presence in a sphere of activity should not become a burden.


He asked the civil servants to strive towards such arrangements.