Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been focusing on overhauling the structure and attitude of civil servants, in different meetings, thus, his emphasis on ‘Mission Karmayogi’ has ushered a fundamental change, stressing ‘desiloization’ and life-long learning for the trainees.
Taking a cue from the PM’s vision, the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, has initiated fundamental changes in the civil service training module to enhance learning by making it more experiential, contextual and empathetic.
Hill States, Women in Sabka Saath Approach
To support the ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Prayas’ initiative and to give the first-hand experience to the trainees in the hill states and the North East, village visits, Himalayan treks and interaction with Self-Help Groups from these areas have been introduced under the ‘Parvatmala’ Initiative.
Through collaboration with the different northeast states, the Academy tries to understand specific requirements, and, by experiential learning, exposes the Officer Trainees to the opportunities and challenges of the areas.
In August, 2022, Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu visited the Academy for two days and stressed the opportunities available in the state. Officer Trainees were also exposed to the rich culture of the northeastern state through the “Arunachal Melange” exhibition.
Similarly, the Academy provided a platform to organise the Uttarakhand Chintan Shivir, which was praised by Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami.
Interaction with Padma Awardees
As part of engagement with the eminent social workers under the ‘Sabka Saath Programme’, Padma Awardees share their experiences with the trainees. In one of the trademark transformations, Padma Award got turned into ‘People’s Padma’ and expanded the ambit from big cities and elite sectors to grassroot transformation.
Emphasis on Desiloisation & Life-Long Learning
An understanding of grass-root entrepreneurship is developed, showcasing the products of women entrepreneurs via the Self-Help Group (SHG) Mela. The Officer Trainees get exposure to the working of the SHGs, the quality of their product and other initiatives taken by the government.
Further, trainees are encouraged to take up social and economic development activities by undertaking One District One Product projects, GI Tagging Projects to understand everyday realities faced by common man.
All these activities are initiated through a transformational journey that begins with the taking of oath of office on their own personalised copies of the Constitution during the immersive ‘Aatma Saakshaatkaar Exercise’ (Titled ‘Deconstruction’) that runs at the beginning of their induction wherein they pool together their experiences and interact with public systems such as health, education, employment generation and others. This helps them to look at different issues like urban amenities and rural life.
These exercises encourage them to dive deep into their own memory and experience. Then identify areas of improvement and consolidate “Citizen – Centricity” in their thinking.
Field Study and Research
Field study and research give Officer Trainees exposure to the development taking place in villages. They are being given an opportunity to study intricately the implementation of different government schemes by interacting with officials, village elders, women and youngsters.
The IAS officers are also encouraged to identify problems being faced by villages, and suggest ways to solve them. Thus, the emphasis of the Academy is to make future civil services, empathetic and innovative.
What is Mission Karmayogi?
The objective of ‘Mission Karmayogi’ is to make the Civil Services “citizen-centric” and “future ready” through capacity building. Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration is therefore making contemporary training modules.
Through rigorous academic exercises driven by assessment of training, the Academy, in collaboration with high quality knowledge partners, is curating fresh content, which is holistic, desiloized, and of a high order.
IMF Co-Curates Course on Macro Economics
The Academy, through rigorous assessment of training needs, internal collaborative action, has worked on courses in macro-economics, which are co-curated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF – SAARTAC an entity of International Monetary Fund supported by Government of India).
AI and Big Data Approach
To keep up with the changing need of the administration, the Academy is training civil servants in new-age tools such as handling big data and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. A dedicated DigiTAG Arena has been established and the Academy is focussing on use of this technology in social protection, environment, health and education.
Thus, to be adept with digital governance, certified programmes delivered by Carnegie Mellon University and other such International Universities have been made part of the curriculum.
While, a lot of content is internally curated, wherever feasible, through collaborative tie-ups with domain organizations such as National Academy of Audit and Accounts Shimla, National Police Academy Hyderabad, inputs are being given to the trainees.
Overall Training Evaluation
The overall evaluation of training of all services feeds into the final seniority list thereby making the activity highly rigorous and disciplined.
On their arrival in the Academy, a baseline health data for each Officer Trainee is prepared and they are encouraged to follow a self-guided improvement path with the help of an App.
PM Modi has made it a point to meet the officer trainees in their institutions and civil service days.
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