President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday praised civil servants for handling the COVID-19 situation with sensitivity and professionalism.
The civil services have played a key role in implementing policies and programmes for public welfare, Kovind said on occasion of the Civil Services Day.
"In the present times too, the steel frame of our country, the civil service, has shown its strength and resolve in handling COVID-19 situation, with sensitivity and professionalism. Confident that our civil services will continue to serve in the best traditions of public service," he tweeted.
The president greeted present and former civil servants and their families on the occasion.
The government of India celebrates April 21 every year as 'civil services day' as an occasion for the civil servants to rededicate themselves to the cause of citizens and renew their commitments to public service and excellence in work.
This date is chosen to commemorate the day when the first home minister of independent India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel addressed the probationers of Administrative Services Officers in 1947 at Metcalf House, Delhi, he referred to civil servants as the 'steel frame of India'.