new Delhi: Reform, Perform and Transform – these were the focus of Prime Minister Narendra Modi Know for a fresh batch of young IAS trainees in March this year. Keeping this message in mind, the Modi government is infusing fresh ideas from the corporate sector to change the “bureaucratic and status quo system” in the country and has also roped in global experts to train young executives, ThePrint reports. Found out.
Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), a civil services training institute in Uttarakhand, has brought in domain experts from the World Bank, imf sartac (IMF-South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Centre), Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY) and Australia’s Carnegie Mellon University, to train trainee officers. Sources in the institute told ThePrint that it has also revamped its study modules over the past two years, to inculcate a sense of nationalism among officers, while focusing on “decolonisation” of the system.
Trainee officers who have been part of the new LBSNAA program and are now posted in their respective state cadres told ThePrint that they were assigned the task of locating freedom fighters in the villages where they were sent as part of their courses. Was sent.
“The curriculum has changed compared to earlier. Apart from field experts and sports personalities, the institute also gets faculty members from various international institutions. On visits to our district, we are asked to meet family members of people who contributed to the freedom struggle, as there are such families in every district of India,” said a 2020 batch IAS officer who joined last year. Completed foundation course.
The official said: “We were also trained to handle people with disabilities with sensitivity, there is a short course for that. ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ event (Central government’s celebration of 75 years of India’s independence) Under, we were tasked to find and enlist the unsung heroes of India.
A topic named ‘India’s Forgotten Heroes’ has been included in the study module and the IAS Academy has started a program called ‘Sabka Saath’, under which Padma awardees are invited to the institute for special sessions and lectures. goes. ‘Sabka Saath’ is based on Modi’s ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ campaign, which is a symbol of inclusiveness, a senior IAS officer, who is also a faculty member at the institute, told The Print.
In a detailed reply to ThePrint’s queries on the new study modules and induction of experts from global institutions and private organizations as visiting faculty, the office of LBSNAA director Srinivas Katikithala said, “To ensure that the quality of professional education is holistic A homegrown, fit and high quality academy, creating fresh content, through rigorous assessment of training needs, through internal collaborative action with high quality knowledge partners.
Even though the new study modules are aimed at “bringing efficiency and creating a performance-oriented competitive structure of work”, a section of senior officers feel that such programs will not help officers, who need to learn through experience. is needed, and not just from international academics and policy experts.
“Foreign academicians or domain experts from corporate sectors may bring some analytical skills or technical knowledge, but they are not well-acquainted with rural life, poor social structure. Their public policy is different from those we deal with.”
An IAS officer who spoke to ThePrint claimed that the LBSNAA used to invite speakers irrespective of their political ideologies, but now, speakers who disagree with the policies or views of the government are no longer invited.
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Private entities will bring efficiency
Of the 12 organizations and institutions LBSNAA has tied up with to curate study modules for young IAS trainees, at least seven are private organizations, including four international and three autonomous institutions and thinktanks.
Apart from global institutes, LBSNAA has also tied up with the Gujarat-based Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDII) and other autonomous institutes, such as the Institute for Economic Development (IEG) and the United Service Institution of India.
LBSNAA earlier had senior officers from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Forest Service (IFS), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and other civil services as faculty members and guest lecturers.
The senior IAS officer quoted above, who was also part of the curriculum restructuring, said that the inclusion of domain experts and senior members from foreign organizations and institutions is the latest addition the IAS Academy has made over the years.
Giving examples of the new system, Katikithala’s office said, “For example, courses in macroeconomics are delivered in a co-facilitated manner by the IMF-SARTTAC (a unit of the International Monetary Fund supported by the Government of India). Similarly, to master digital governance, certificate programs offered by Carnegie Mellon University and other such international universities are also part of the curriculum.
India-centric, people-centric
The modules focus on methods of “demobilization”, which aim to get executives out of their respective departments and responsibilities and get them working as a team.
Mission Karmayogi, the central government’s program for capacity building for civil services, is the foundation around which the modules are built, said the IAS officer cited above.
“The Foundation Program is designed to inculcate values among the participants. Mission Karmayogi marks a fundamental change in approach with utmost emphasis on inerrancy and continuous life-long learning. To adapt to this new mandate of the Govt. As the premier agency for capacity building among civil services, the academy has made several changes in its pedagogy,” the LBSNAA director’s office told ThePrint about a response received.
It further said that the present approach of the Academy is “to enhance learning by making it more experiential, more relevant, more empowering and benchmarks it to established standards”.
For example, to support the realization of the government’s “Act East Policy”, to provide first-hand experience to trainees in the hill states and the Northeast, through village visits, Himalayan treks, and interactions with self-help groups from these regions Has been. Introduced, senior faculty member added.
Speaking to ThePrint, another senior IAS officer from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said the changes are becoming “obvious”.
“We can see the change… Earlier young officers always hesitated to join if they were posted in the North-East region or J&K. But now, we have met young officers who are volunteering,” the official said.
The second IAS officer said that the institute has started a program with eminent social workers to make the modules more ‘India-centric’.
“The program is called Sabka Saath programme. Padma awardees are invited to share their experiences with the trainees. In addition, trainees are encouraged to undertake various social and economic development activities by undertaking ODOP (One District One Product) projects, GI (Geographical Indication) tagging projects, etc. to address everyday issues faced by fellow citizens. Have a sympathetic understanding of the realities.
These exercises encourage them to “dive deeper into their memory and experience and identify areas for improvement and strengthen ‘citizen-centricity’ in their thinking”, the director’s response states: “Thus Through these immersive experiential activities, these budding civil servants are being trained to become people-centric and empathetic.”
content curation
According to the first senior faculty member, much of the content is curated internally, wherever possible, through collaborative tie-ups with domain organizations such as National Academy of Audit and Accounts, Shimla, National Police Academy, Hyderabad and others.
“The content is validated and assessed through performance in the Common Foundation Course (for Officer Trainees) LBSNAA, Such assessment is now part of the overall assessment of training of all services and will feed into the final seniority list (in the bureaucratic structure) making this activity highly rigorous and disciplined, added the response from the Director’s Office.
The Neighborhood module, a part of the curriculum, is curated by the Ministry of External Affairs, while the National Security module is co-curated by the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyzes (IDSA) and the United Service Institute of India. USI). The Financial Management module has been co-curated by the National Academy of Audit and Accounts, Shimla and the Micro-economics module by the Institute of Economic Development.
The Leadership module is curated by the Sardar Patel Leadership Centre, and a special module on Supporting Entrepreneurship is co-curated by the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India and inputs from NITI Aayog are being used (for Supporting Entrepreneurship Module ).
‘Study module should focus on local governments’
However, a section of senior IAS officers does not agree with such training modules for young officers.
A senior IAS officer who served as the institute’s director said, “It seems like turning a system upside down. We used to invite speakers from all walks of life, irrespective of their political ideology and their allegiance. Those views are now blocked. Speakers who do not agree with the policies of the government or the views of the ruling party are no longer invited.
“Indian institutions like TISS are not involved because a section in the government thinks that TISS is a breeding ground for urban Naxals,” the official claimed.
Meanwhile, Chandrasekhar said the officials needed to visit tribal villages, extremely poor and marginalized people living on the back and fringes, to understand India.
He said, “Indian administration is much more about the rural setup where an SDM deals with panchayats, blocks, MLAs and MPs, than the fancy ideas of public policy taught in foreign universities and institutes.”
Another senior IAS officer, who did not wish to be named, felt that while global inputs are good for officers, they also need to understand municipal and panchayat systems and there is no such descriptive module on municipalities in the current syllabus. was not.
He said, ‘Earlier also foreign experts were invited, but it was limited. In 2004–05, the institute used to have faculty members from Duke University. It is not wrong to seek global inputs, in fact some global scholars act more purposefully in understanding public policy and the system than local ones,” said TR Raghunandan, a retired IAS officer who is also a visiting faculty member at LBSNAA.
Raghunandan, however, said: “I think there should be study modules that will help local governments, especially municipalities, to understand. Everyone wants to be a part of the smart city project, which is not dependent on local inputs and mainly Corporate run from. Municipalities are getting worse and worse.”
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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