DoPT to continue initiatives on training with “more enthusiasm”; more about training of civil servants

A trainer being awarded by PMO's PK Mishra

IN THE end of the 1st National Symposium on Excellence in Training that was organized by the department of personnel and training (DoPT) in collaboration with UNDP India in New Delhi on April 11-12, 2015, it was announced that the symposium would now be an annual event. At the closing session, attended by PK Mishra, additional principal secretary to the prime minister, it was further announced that DOPT would continue this initiative “with even more enthusiasm and...
collective participation” in the years to come. In fact, the symposium was to impress upon the importance of systematic approach to training (SAT), and recommendations of the National Training Policy 2012, among others.
The National Training Policy 2012 is the next avatar of National Training Policy, 1996 which had introduced the concept of “once a trainer, always a trainer”.
To get quality trainers and attract Group “A” officers into training institutes, the Sixth Central Pay Commission proposed major incentives such as 30 percent training allowance, rent‐free accommodation etc. for central training institutions for Group “A” officers. It was also recommended that state governments provide similar incentives to the faculty of the state training institutions.
The governments over the years have earmarked more money for the purpose of training. The National Training Policy of 1996, for example, had recommended that 1.5 percent of the salary budget be set aside by each department to be used solely for the purpose of training. But “given the likely increase in the need for training by moving to a competency‐based system”, the subsequent policy crafted in 2012 recommended that each ministry or department or organization set aside at least 2.5 percent of its salary budget for training.
The 2012 policy also mentioned how foreign training filled a crucial gap in the training system. “It (foreign training) provides opportunities for officers to gain exposure to the latest thinking on different subjects in some of the leading institutions of the world”, the National Training Policy 2012 said.