Officer trainees at Mussoorie : World Class LBSNAA

Lunminthang Haokip, IAS Retd
THE PROMOTIONAL INDUCTION : March 1, 2012. A much-awaited faxed letter from Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India, New Delhi, was received in the Secretariat of Manipur State. Members of 14 families of senior MCS (Manipur Civil Service) erupted in joy and reassurance because a member each of their respective families were inducted into the coveted IAS-Indian Administrative Service- by promotion. I happened to be one of them. Having been given the spiritual IAS (I am saved) way back in 1994 by the grace of God, I did not expect much future from my obscure 21 year old tenure in MCS  in the backblocks. But, if the goodness of my Creator lifted me up to a higher level, who was I to question ?
THE CALL TO LBSNAA: After two batches of 6 officers in each from the 14 officers who were promoted to IAS on 1st March, 2012 were given Induction Training at LBSNAA, Mussoorie, my turn to undergo the same came through Order No. 11/7. 2000-IAS/DP(Vol.III) dated the 18th February, 2013 of the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Government of Manipur. The Order deputed the 2 remaining IAS Officers from the 2012 list and another 4 from the next batch to participate in the 113th Induction Training Programme for IAS Officers at Lal Bhadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie from 25.02.2013 to 19.04.2013. With great expectations, the six of us deputed IAS Officers of Manipur-Tripura cadre, headed for LBSNAA and formed the largest group in the 113th ITP course that housed 35 similarly inducted IAS Officers from 13 States of India for 8 weeks.
WORLD CLASS FACILITIES: We were allotted Indira Bhawan, one of the three sprawling campuses of LBSNAA; the other two are Charleville and Glenmire. Interactive sessions of the course were conducted in the well-equipped, air-conditioned halls of the heritage building called Indira Bhawan excepting ICT-1 to ICT-10 and ICT-Evaluation sessions which were conducted in the Main campus. It was magnanimous of the premier Civil Service Institute authorities to have allotted single occupancy to each of us in Valley View Hostel that has a back-side balcony that offered  a panoramic view of a facade of Moossoorie and the snow-starved Himalaya mountains.
GOOD FOOD MADE US GAIN WEIGHT: The ceiling-to-floor curtains, the Wi-fi connectivity, the grizzle-fitted bathrooms and the peanut-priced laundry at our beck and call which were thoughtfully provided to participants did wonders in boosting our morale and kindled the zeal to upgrade our competence in public-service delivery. Besides, the basement-located mess religiously fed us day in and day out with top-class Indian stuff, so much so that the weight we lost in the gym was regained in the relish of the irresistible food items.
LBSNAA ADMINISTRATION & FACULTY: The inaugural function was graced by the key functionaries of the 1959-established higher Civil Service Training Institution that has been committed to capacity building of AIS officers since its inception. The Director, Sir Padamvir Singh, a St. Stephens, Delhi alumnus and a former Fellow at MIT, Boston, took charge at the helm of LBSNAA affairs in 2009.
The two Joint Directors in the administrative set-up are Shri Sanjeev Chopra, an MBA degree-holder who got into IAS in 1990 (Orissa cadre) and Shri Dushyant Nariala, a former Metropolitan Magistrate in Govt. of NCT, Delhi who entered IAS in 1993 (West Bengal Cadre).
TRAINED TO TRAIN: Down the hierarchy, 9 Deputy Directors, seven of who are Senior Deputy Directors,  2 Professors, 1 Reader in Law and 2 Assistant Directors give support to LBSNAA. Together they continuously conduct Training Programmes for directly-recruited and inducted All India Services Officers, Officers of SAARC countries and also hold Conferences and Seminars. The top-notch officials of LBSNAA themselves are also in the faculty. They are assisted by many other faculty members and Guest Speakers who are engaged from time to time when their expertise is required.
113th ITP COURSE: Under the competent guidance of our Course Coordinator, Shri Jayant Singh, IRTS (1994), Deputy Director (Sr) who had a successful stint in Railways in Gujarat and Rajasthan earlier, and Dr. Prem Singh, IAS (2000 batch-MT Cadre), Deputy Director, LBSNAA, 113th ITP got started with the bang of the cymbal in the presentation of LBSNAA Anthem on 25 February, 2013. Shri Padamvir Singh, Director, LBSNAA inaugurated the course with a highly intelligent and motivating speech in the presence of the Joint Director, Shri Sanjeev Chopra, the Deputy Directors, Shri Jayant Singh and Dr. Prem Singh and the Reader in Law, Shri Abhishek Swami who also shared their inspiring experiences in the inaugural function.
A group photograph session of the participants with the key LBSNAA functionaries was followed by Introduction and Ice-Breaking exercise that helped shed initial inhibitions of the erstwhile state-level officers.
A CHEERFULLY MIXED GROUP: As much as their heights and sizes differed, the attitude, backgrounds, tastes, tolerating capacity, year of allotment, work experiences and length of service of the participants from 13 Indian States varied. Some of them were poets, some writers, some critics and yet, some were totally indifferent to anything weightier than administration. The self-introduction on the first day brought out in the surface glimpses of latent talent, varying individual hobbies, shades of  complexity in human nature as diverse as the climates of Indian States. As the course progressed, the climate of camaraderie changed for the better like that of Mussorie.
ALL INDIA PERSPECTIVE: In the course of interactions, one could not help drawing the conclusion that the only common culture we have in our great country is agriculture. Nevertheless, the modules of the training was crafted in such a way that, at the end of the day, parochial “frog-in-the-well” mentality of the former senior State bureaucrats would get busted to give way to formation of a fresh All-India perspective in service of the people. In the same way kilograms of weight were lost visibly in the morning gym-exercises, towards the close of the training, there was reason to believe that most of the erstwhile State-centric officer trainees managed to unburden themselves from the clumsy paraphernalia of regional characteristics.
THE LESSONS TAUGHT: The contents of the modules were wide-ranging. Desire in course-design did not seem to create short-term sensational performers but to produce far-sighted, committed and consistent “Lambe-race ki ghore” in good governance.
Right from the Course Coordinator’s brilliant humour-punctuated first session on “Evolution of Indian State” to Sir Padamvir Singh, Director, LBSNAA’s articulate sixer delivery on “Modern State” ( on  “Ethics” and “QTM” towards the end) which were followed by the Course Team’s “Briefing Sessions on Policy Making”, Dr. Prem Singh and Nidhi Sharma’s joint “Financial/Economic Analysis”, Sanjeev Chopra, Joint Director’s “Yamuna Expressway Case Study”, Ranjana Chopra’s “Challenges in Indian Agriculture”, Om Prakash Choudhary’s “Educational Innovations in Dantewada”, Roli Singh’s “Gender Sensitization”, KM Pathi’s “Communication Skills” and many more.
(To be contd)