Officer trainees at Mussoorie : World Class LBSNAA

Lunminthang Haokip, IAS Retd
Contd from last Saturday
NO MISMATCH OF ROLE TO PLAYER: We the participants had the rare privilege of reaping inputs put in by the excellent faculty members who took pains to learn more through higher courses and studies when they could have rested comfortably on the cushion of a secured All India Civil Service. For a so far mostly cocooned State civil servant like me, exposure to the well-researched lectures gave the excitement of a hypochondriac at a medical convention and made me as  hungry as a bear with the capacity to take in as much.
THE NORTH EAST INDIA SYNDROME: The 113th ITP had 4 representatives from Mizoram and 6 from Manipur. Our features differed from that of our friends from mainland States. So were our perception and outlook.
The modules and Big Boss-like togetherness gradually evolved a harmonizing effect in rapport-sharing though. Geographical isolation coupled with slow-pace in developmental progress deprived us North Easterners the privilege of experiencing hands-on knowledge in implementation of projects like PPP, discussions on which were dominant.
Officers from AP and UP were most interactive in this regard. Gentlemen from Rajasthan, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu too had a good grasp of such matters. Participants from Bihar were very friendly and cordial. So were officers from MP, Chattisgarh, Andaman & Nicobar Island, J&K and Kerala.
CONFLICT IN PERCEPTION: Issues like the Sports scenario in Manipur or my ventures in tackling Disability at Kangpokpi and Law and Order problems in the cutting-edge border district posting at Moreh, Manipur and daily interactions with Myanmarese authorities across the international border came nowhere in LBSNAA’s scheme of things, much though I wished they figured.
The same, I bet, was felt by my colleagues from Manipur and our seasoned counterparts from Mizoram which does well in peace, music and forest land management. At times, we felt lost in debate over topics strange to us and in the tussle to be heard by the faculty as inherent back-bencher -mentality held back the impulse to ask questions repeatedly for the sake of asking.
But when we came to know that our counterparts from bigger States, who were inducted into IAS much before we were, shared the same ITP with us, we thanked God silently for the favoured blessing that we were not born in larger states.
VISION-BROADENING SITE-VISITS: The Course Coordinator, Sir Jayant Singh took over the reins of guiding the team in our domestic visits. Away from home for more than a month, many of us were home-sick during the Wagah border at Amritsar and Delhi visits. Besides, the twin-sharing discomfort in our respective Bhawans in the National capital made us long for the liberty of single-occupancy in Valley View Hostel of LBSNAA. But it was the effusive personality and soothing sense of humour of our Course Coordinator that saw us through the Delhi stint. If the session at DIMMTS - Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System, Ltd, ISBT - on the 2nd April that apprised us of traffic planning to facilitate 4000 Low-floor buses to help people move in Delhi was an eye-opener, the briefings by the Shri PR Subramanyam, Hon’ble MoSPP & G at North Block in the afternoon gave an insight on administration and Civil Service from the national point of view.
TRANS-YAMUNA EXPRESSWAY: Game Changer: In the entire tour of 113th ITP, no visit was as consummate as the study tour of Yamuna Expressway on the 3rd of March. Board-room lecture on the travel-time shortening, 165 Km long, 6-laned expressway from Greater Noida to Agra which was built by Jaypee Group under PPP agreement was one attention-grabbing thing. But seeing all that we learnt with our own eyes and getting the economics of the expressway explained to us from close quarters was a different ball game altogether.
BRIEFING ON PPP: One can’t but marvel at the precautions the Jaypee Group had taken to avoid or tackle accidents on the real-estate lined 24 X 7 computer and CCTV-monitored expressway.
Thoughtful as they were, the Concessionaire saw to it that user-friendly facilities like Entries, exits, over-bridges, road signs, under-ways and interchanges that joined cities were provided to the game changer route that was inaugurated on 9 August, 2009 by Akhilesh Yadav, the CM of UP. Interestingly, construction of the expressway cost Rs 13,300 Crore and 2.5 Crore cement bags were used.
CALLING ON THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA: The high-water mark of our National capital study tour was rendezvous with the Hon’ble President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee himself.
Following a self introduction by the visiting team members and a short address by our Course Coordinator, the President gave a speech - flawless both in content and delivery. Recalling the days of ICS – Indian Civil Service, the President waxed eloquent on the challenges for and ethics of Indian Administrative Service. A group photo session with the highest Constitutional Authority in the country was followed by high tea at Rastrapati Bhawan. The sharpness of the President’s memory and the level of his oratory skill was simply outstanding. The group came out totally mesmerized and enthused by his address.
MEETING AT CSOI, VINAY MARG, ND: The last day of the tour, 5th April, 2004 was spent at the newly built symbol of India Shining, as Mr. Jayant Singh observed,  the Civil Service Officers’ Institute, Vinay Marg, New Delhi. Gems of wisdom could be gleaned from the sagacious message of the Cabinet Secretary, GOI. The top most bureaucrat of the country taught the attentive participants a lesson or two, citing his own experiences  on how to perform efficiently, diligently and ensure public service delivery.
The session ended with a vote of thanks given by our Course Coordinator.
A CONSUMMATE AFFAIR TO CHERISH: We heard about LBSNAA, Mussorie since a long time wondering how actually would be the global Capacity-building Academy that launched  thousands of AIS Officers. Vague references of Foundation Course, IAS Professional Course Phase-I and Phase-II, Induction Training, Mid-Career Training Programmes  Phase III, IV and V etc. came up often in  official conversations but an outsider could not gauge the depth and high standards of capacity building a Trainee is given at LBSNAA.
CONFIDENCE BUILT: To put my tryst with the course succinctly, I would like to say that there is nothing to be sorry about being sent to Mussoorie (read LBSNAA) for ITP. The pristine Institute is for Administrators as FTII, Pune is for Actors. The things we knew already but did not know how to give a clear term and name to are being given here.
All said and done, having been trained in a place where there was no mismatch of role to player, I appeal to all my dear participating colleagues, now that hard areas of earlier  ignorance had been melted, like the candle, let us burn ourselves and our  weaknesses to give light to those we govern.
CONCLUSION: Notionally considering myself a spiritual IAS (I am saved) of 1994 batch (I was converted in the year), I could not resist the impulse to take a sabbatical to witness and share the Word of God in the past few years due to the worldly pressures of life. I thank my State Government for having deputed me to 113th ITP at LBSNAA and the Administrators and Faculty of LBSNAA for having given me an opportunity to be trained in this super duper sagaciously designed and equipped Academy. Although my poor grounding failed me to contribute meaningful inputs in the interactive sessions, the well-structured modules, and lectures which were a revelation to me, put me on a self-searching mode. Ironically, LBSNAA had rekindled the fire and renewed the zeal in me to get back to what I could do best – preach and write while serving my subject in the fear of God in a secular situation.