They are still students at heart

Updated on: Monday, November 30, 2009

How to transform the civil services to keep it in tune with the challenges posed by a rapidly transforming economy and society? Let all the officers become students for a while. And that's how it turned out to be, thanks to a joint initiative by the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIMB) and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, U.S.

A group of 18 civil servants from India recently took part in a seven-week intensive programme on “Issues in Public Policy: an international perspective” for the Post-Graduate Programme in Public Management (PGPPM). They learnt how public policy issues are addressed in the U.S. and worked with Maxwell faculty to develop an in-depth policy study paper of their choice. The Indian Government has been supporting this joint initiative since 2002.

Larry Schroeder, Programme Director and Professor of Public Administration, said: “The intent of this course is to provide all participants with a broader, international perspective on public policy issues and analysis of those issues. The course includes a series of lectures/discussions on a wide variety of topics on which the Maxwell faculty member is an expert.”

Great opportunity

Jyotsna Sitling, systems developer in participatory natural resource management on sustainable rural livelihoods initiatives, Indian Forestry Services, says: “I believe that we have an excellent course going on here both in terms of content as well as the way it is being presented to us. My first contact with Maxwell School was in 2008, when I presented a paper at Mussorie based on the conservation work that I had done in my department. We have some problems which arise due to the sheer size of the population which the American policy makers may not have encountered. This is a great opportunity for us to acquaint ourselves with the American way of working and administration. Maxwell is teaching us to organise our work along certain paradigms and frameworks. It is a step-up from what we have done earlier and is adding on to the course work that we have done at IIMB in the last two semesters as part of our PGPPM.”

Former Indian Ambassador to Italy, K.P. Fabian, batch of 1964 Indian Foreign Services, says: “I personally believe that a rational reform of the civil services is of utmost importance. The transition from the ‘collector of taxes and the imposer of law and order' to a development administrator is difficult and calls for much sustained commitment and work. Till now the transition is only halfway through.”

New approaches

Prakash Chandra Maithani, who is with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, said “The tie-up with Maxwell and IIMB is critical as India is no longer a backward country. It is moving ahead at an unprecedented pace and professional training is a critical part of this upgradation of the civil services. This is a big add-on for us here in terms of learning new approaches to public administration.”

The participants are expected to produce a major policy paper at the end of the course which will be used by their respective departments to further improve the systems and processes in place.

The course intends to bridge the gap between ‘global best practices' and what is used in India by providing the participants with new tools and frameworks.

They are still students at heart

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