Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Shri K. Sanjay Murthy today virtually launched the ‘Capacity Building on Design and Entrepreneurship (CBDE)’ program in presence of officials of the Department; members of the Program Advisory Council, CBDE; mentors from the industry; representatives of the shortlisted Higher Education Institutions (HEIs); Prof. Sudhir Varadarajan, Program Director, CBDE, and Principal Investigators and Co-Principal Investigators. More than 130 participants virtually attended the meeting.

Shri K. Sanjay Murthy in his address highlighted that the program will be led by industry and academia collaboration. He mentioned that industry experts are also providing the necessary guidance and support to HEIs through various initiatives under the banner of industry-academic linkage. He recognized the rigorous selection process instituted through which 30 HEIs have been identified to implement this program in their institution..

The Capacity Building Program is designed to equip identified HEIs and faculty members to focus on Design and Entrepreneurship development in their institution with the support of mentors from industry. At this stage, 30 HEIs have been selected through a process anchored by the IIITDM, Kancheepuram, a Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Center (MMTTC) as Nodal Centre for the program. This program will focus on instilling in students a problem-solving approach that encourages creative and innovative solutions to complex challenges and ultimately takes concrete steps in scaling up their ideas through stage-wise hand-holding support provided by mentors from the industry. The program includes one-to-one mentoring of faculty and promoting generative dialogue among faculty, student teams and HEI partners by a pool of expert mentors. The program is designed to provide mentor support to the identified HEIs to learn from the expertise gained through years of engagement in the industry setup.

During the meeting, industry experts including Shri Manoj Kohli, Chairperson, Program Advisory Council, CBDE, and Smt. Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM expressed hope in the outcomes of this program. Shri Kohli suggested that during the execution of the initiatives, efforts will be made to ensure linkages and support to the startups from global investors and industry. In her remarks, Smt. Ghosh mentioned entrepreneurial mindset needs to be nourished in the young minds present in educational institutions. Problem-solving skills as demanded by the industry are required to complement the technical skills provided in the traditional pedagogical approach, she said.

In his address, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras envisioned that prioritization of locally relevant challenges to produce effective and sustainable solutions by young entrepreneurs/innovators would garner global recognition.

Mentors from the industry also shared their views about the program. Dr Miftahul Barbaruah, Member, Confederation of Indian Industry, Assam Chapter, and Shri Chandrasekaran Balakrishnan, former Chief Digital Data and Innovation Officer, Marsh McLennan Asia, highlighted that the program will build capacities of the HEIs to transform students into entrepreneurs and enable them to develop solutions to pressing challenges of the society.

Prof. Sudhir Varadarajan, Program Director, IIITDM Kancheepuram, shared the way forwardand guided the participating HEIs to follow the subsequent plan of action about implementation of the program.

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 Addressing the 9-week long Foundation Training Program (FTP) of 846 Direct Recruited Assistant Section Officers (ASOs) of Combined Graduate Level Exam 2022 (Phase – I) being conducted at the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) in New Delhi today, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh emphasised the importance of Capacity Building at every level and said that the Government headed by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has institutionalized Capacity Building programmes for employees across the sections.

Specific training modules have been launched on the Mission Karmayogi platform for new recruits to various categories of employees, he said.

The present training programme is being held at besides four other centres across the country who joined through video conference.

195 trainees were present at the IIPA and the rest joined online undergoing training at ISTM, BIPARD, MC Reddy Institute, Hyderabad and Academy of Administration, Bhopal.

Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also the Chairman, IIPA, said, Capacity Building is a continuous exercise and the decision to have a CBC in the Government by itself is a step in the direction of Capacity Building process. This is in line with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision for building a Viksit Bharat, he said.

Dr Jitendra Singh said PM Modi has streamlined processes with the resultant ‘Whole of Government’ approach.

“We have a very synergized approach to work, in all spheres of life including office; so no longer you work in isolation regardless of whichever department,” he said.

Appreciating the fact that the current batch of ASO trainees has a very impressive educationally qualified profile, Dr Jitendra Singh this is a result of the pathbreaking reforms initiated by PM Modi including abolishing interviews for Group C posts in Government. 

Besides recruitment, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Prime Minister also streamlined the process of promotions and started a trend of mass promotions thus clearing off the large backlog of stalled promotions accumulated over several decades.

The Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) had last month approved the mass promotion of 1,592 officials working in the capacity of ASOs to the post of SOs on adhoc basis with immediate effect. Last year alone about 9,000 mass promotions were made and prior to that the DoPT granted 4,000 promotions in the preceding three years.

Dr Jitendra Singh said the last quarter of the century of Independent India, the Amritkaal as envisioned by PM Modi, is turning out to be the “Best of Times” for the youth to fulfil their aspirations.

“The level of aspiration in the third generation of youth today has gone up with the democratization of the education system, easy accessibility of knowledge-information and the preparation material and the erosion of feudal class differentiation between one section and the other,” he said.

On the occasion, an MoU was signed between IIPA and National Telecommunications Institute (NTIPRIT), Ghaziabad (Apex Institute of Indian Telecom Service) for academic collaboration. Shri SN Tripathi, DG IIPA and Shri Deb Kumar Chakrabarty, DG NTIPRIT exchanged the MoU in the presence of the Union Minister.

Dr Jitendra Singh also handed over Promotion Certificates to 21 Staff members who got promoted or placed in the next higher pay level.