In an ostensible effort to groom civil servants, the governmentin India is planning to set up a National Centre of Governance that will train bureaucrats in public administration, management, public relations and customer relations. The school of government, proposed on the lines of the Kennedy School of Government and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, will offer an MBA in public governance and administration.
An inter-state ministerial council, chaired by the prime minister Manmohan Singh, has appointed Hyderabad-based Centre for Good Governance to prepare a draft report on this project. The Andhra Pradesh government has already earmarked 200 acres for setting up the school.
None of India's reputed business schools, including the IIMs and ISB offer any full-time masters programme in public governance and management. As part of the new project, the Centre is also planning to set up a research and technology centre for e-governance. While the Central nod is still awaited for the governance school, the Andhra state has gone a step ahead with its own plans of a training centre for bureaucrats. The state will soon finalise plans for this institute which will offer one-year executive education programmes for government officials. The INR 12-crore project will be funded with DFID assistance.
