New Delhi, Apr 21: Vice President Hamid Ansari here today said that the concept of civil service and notions of its role and responsibilities has evolved over time.

"Independent India inherited from the British period a comprehensive civil service structure and established practices. Its utility for ensuring national unity and good administration in the country was recognized by Sardar Patel, and accepted by the Constituent Assembly and incorporated in the Constitution," he said.

The Vice President in his inaugural address at the ''Civil Services Day'' said that the civil service is an integral part of our society and its structure of governance. Its DNA is shaped by the imperatives of social mores, political calculus, and economic context of the times.

"One aspect of this is the emergence of coalition politics and governments constituted pursuant to it. It can be attributed to a deepening of democracy and the emergence of a genuinely federalized multi-party system accompanied by the rise of regional, linguistic, caste-based and other parties promoting such sectional interests," he further said.

He remarked that unlike popular perceptions, coalitions are neither unique to India nor inherently destabilizing.

"In many countries the world over, as also in India itself at the state and federal levels, coalitions on agreed programmes have worked satisfactorily. The difficulty lies in demarcating the fine line between political like-mindedness and political opportunism," he said.

"It is rarely articulated coherently and inevitably surfaces in the day to day functioning of the administrative structure. The first impact of the mischief is thus experienced by the civil servant," he added.

The Vice President opined that civil servants are the servants of the state and not of the government alone.

"More than at any time in our history as a republic, the necessity for the civil servant to be guided by the Directive Principles of State Policy is paramount and immediate. Each of them is enjoined to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting a social order in which social, economic and political justice shall inform all institutions. They need to work to minimize the inequalities of income, status, facilities and opportunities and to secure a legal system that promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity," he later added.

The Vice President also said that the challenge for the civil service today is to explore and develop the avenues for proper functioning in the context and the spirit of the responsibility assigned to it by the laws of the land and the policies developed through appropriate legislative processes.

He released a publication entitled "BYOB-Bringing Your Own Bytes" brought out by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances.

The Vice President also presented the ''Prime Minister''s awards for Excellence in Public Administration'' to the civil services officers on the occasion. (ANI)