IAS officers posted in Telangana have found a very unique way to socialise among themselves before work. They are gathering in groups in the morning in Hyderabad, chatting while savouring some idlis, and then getting back to work.
The menu for the breakfast is arranged at the Dr. Marri Channa Reddy HRD Institute, a premier administrative training organisation located in the Hyderabad’s Jubilee Hills, and it includes dosa, paratha, bread-butter, etc. But the main purpose of the get-together is to enjoy the interaction with their head in the state, Chief Secretary (CS) K Ramakrishna Rao.
Informally referred to as ‘Idli with Insights’, the once-in-a-week, batch-wise huddle of Telangana IAS officers has become the talk of the town. The meetings originated from Rao’s idea to build a two-side rapport and understand each officer’s background, education, interests, skills, capabilities, and potential, as well as allow the Chief Secretary to play guide and mentor to the officers to steer them towards their best performance in public service.
Since he took over as the seventh Chief Secretary of Telangana on April 30, Rao- a 1991 batch officer, has met with nine batches of IAS officers from the Telangana cadre, beginning from the youngest batch of 2024, while the latest to have met Rao for the informal
conversation is the 2016 batch.
The Chief Secretary terms efficient human resource management in the government sector as his top priority. In Telangana, for a population of 3.5 crore as per the 2011 census, there are about 3.5 lakh government employees while the all-India service officers, including the IAS, IPS and IFS, are just about 350, which clearly denotes the enormous responsibility on these top officers in running the state.
Whenever such a meeting is scheduled, the Chief Secretary’s office informs the members of the particular IAS batch, typically two days in advance to give them enough time to plan and travel. The officers are expected to report back to their duties after the breakfast dialogue
of an hour or so. This new practice of idli aur dosa par charcha has clearly redefined administrative practices in the state this setting a new benchmark of fun at work.
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