Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, who is also In-Charge DoPT and IAS Academy Mussoorie, addressed the 124th Induction Training Programme (ITP) of State/UT officers recently inducted into the IAS on Sunday.
The group of 131 officers belonged to 18 different States and 6 UTs cadres, and 7 of them belonged to Jammu & Kashmir. Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, K Srinivas was also present on the occasion.
In his address, the Minister reiterated the use of governance tools based on the latest technology, including Artificial Intelligence (AI). He said, the Civil Services Officers are now being trained and equipped with latest Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and Data Analytics to enable them with skills that are vital to the effective performance in the administrative context of today. Under the “Mission Karmayogi”, the course has been so structured that domain, functional and behavioural inputs are woven into the course design, he said.
The 124th ITP for officers promoted from the State Civil Services to the Indian Administrative Service is designed in response to the Prime Minister’s call for a shared national vision. 124th ITP has 131 participants from batches 2008 to 2020. The objective of the ITP is to enable participants who have been promoted from State Civil Services into the IAS to understand the all-India nature of the Indian Administrative Service and develop a national perspective on the working of public administration and the macro-economy of the country.
Dr Jitendra Singh said the six months long ITP helps officers gain a wider national perspective that enables them to contextualise and understand the canvas of governance. The course featured a 2-week long Bharat Darshan tour including the North Eastern Region (NER) besides stints with the three Armed Forces to underscore the dimension of national security. Further, there are attachments with large public/private sector undertakings, municipal corporations and SPVs delivering key public services.
In view of the success of ‘Mission Karmayogi’ programme in improving Good Governance and reaching out public services and Central Government’s welfare schemes to the public at large, Dr Jitendra Singh said the Government may consider designing such a training module on the lines of the ITP for other Central & State Government employees as well. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is of the firm belief that the Civil Services is an important pivot in implementing the Government’s welfare schemes and providing the benefits to the common man, he said.
The 124th ITP featured, for the first time, a day-long deconstruction module where experienced officers, who were inducted into the IAS from states across the country, interacted with participants and shared their experiences of having implemented important projects or having played key roles in framing / executing key policies. This was to bring to focus the need for a clear role change and hence, to adopt a systemic perspective to decision making.
The 131 participants of the 124th ITP come from 18 States and 6 UTs. 20% of these are female participants. The average age of participants is 52 years. The group has served an average of 23 years in the state governments in different administrative capacities.
