NEW DELHI: Following up on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s suggestion to organise structured interactions between senior and young IAS officers for mentorship and knowledge-sharing, the department of personnel and training (DoPT) has asked all states and Union territories to nominate officers for the first such interaction at Statue of Unity, Ekta Nagar, Gujarat on Ekta Diwas this year.Citing the prime minister’s closing remarks at the national conference of chief secretaries held in December last year, asking “the earlier batches of IAS and other services to motivate the younger groups by visiting the Statue of Unity and spending a day with them each year on October 31”, DoPT, in a recent letter to chief secretaries of all states/UTs, asked them to nominate officers for the visit.DoPT suggested that the senior or veteran as well as young IAs officers may be picked from diverse batches and with expertise across varied domains of governance, public administration, policy formulation etc. The state govts were also asked to make all necessary arrangements for the visit.The DoPT letter stated that the PM’s vision “seeks to encourage meaningful engagement between senior and younger civil servants through structured mentorship and knowledge-sharing interactions….and the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel carries immense symbolic significance and reinforces the ideals of national unity”.