Centre effects Himalayan shift in training bureaucrats

The Centre has made a quiet but important shift in its administrative approach to the north and northeastern borders, expanding the ambit of its larger strategic call to reverse the old rationale of leaving infrastructure along Himalayan borders underdeveloped to prevent easier access to any Chinese advance.

So, what's the big shift? To change the training paradigm for next generation bureaucrats at the beginning itself, essentially moving away from a 'hands-off' or 'less interference' approach to proactively pursuing a development model aligned with other states.

The government has, through the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), introduced what is called the Parvatmala initiative focused on the 13 Himalayan states, stretching from the north to the northeast. The programme makes it mandatory for bureaucrats, from across services, attending foundation courses to stay for a week in at least one Himalayan village to grasp the Act East policy of the government.

Three special graded modules have been designed for entry-level foundation courses and mid-level professional courses, besides a third module for mid-career bureaucrats to help reorient their mindset, approach and skills.

The key theme in the parvatmala programme across levels is governance, development and national security. Some of the principal objectives of the theme are:

• Challenges and opportunities to enhance livelihood
• Dealing with insurgency Improving assessments for sectors like tourism and agriculture
• Working on international sharing of resources like water, hydropower and highways.
• Inputs on ongoing government strategies

A significant aspect of the initiative is to customise training programmes for civil servants from state civil services of these 13 states. LBSNAA, though meant principally for training IAS officers, has been tasked to carve out such programmes. Arunachal Pradesh has already trained two batches of its state services last year. Sikkim is likely to be included this year.

The conceptual change, it appears, is to turn these border areas into engines of economic growth, not left untouched and unconnected from the changes happening in other parts. This, in effect, is a full reversal of the post-1947 policy to train administrators on lines that they, as far as possible, leave these areas untouched for political and security reasons.

Now, the 'Himalayan experience' is an essential part of all major training modules. Moving away from academic disciplines, LBSNAA has revamped the training into 19 domain areas related to daily administration policies for better outcomes in far-flung places.