Government selects motivational movies to train new state officers

Motivational films, ideas from  Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and ways to deal with the media and business persons form part of an ongoing training programme for new officers joining state governments.

The Department of Personnel and Training of the Centre has prepared 17 modules to train the officers.

The two-week programme features training on motivation, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, verbal and non-verbal communication, e-governance, managing conflict, emotional intelligence and RTI.

The programme has already been implemented on a pilot basis in Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra and authorities now plan to extend them to other states.

The trainers conducting the programme have been provided with a list of about a dozen films and stories to share with the officers.

Among films that will be used for training are ‘I Am Kalam’, an inspiring tale of a young Indian boy who aspired to be like the late A P J Abdul Kalam, ‘Invictus’ on Nelson Mandela and ‘October Sky’,  which speaks the story of a coal miner’s son who beat all odds to become a Nasa scientist.

The list also includes ‘Not Just A Piece Of Cloth’, a documentary film on the activities of Goonj, the NGO of Magsaysay Award winner Anshu Gupta.

Under the module on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the officers will be briefed about the scheme and they will have to write what the cleanliness mission mean to them and how they can contribute to its implementation. They will also discuss an action plan on its implementation.

A third module will emphasise on ways of handling visitors. On the ways of handling visitors from the media, the focus should be on the “presence of mind”, the module says.

If a visitor from media or press is sitting in the room, do not talk classified matters or matters concerning the ministry or department over the telephone or disclose anything, which may be “embarrassing” for the government, it says.

On dealing with people from the business word, it said: “In view of ‘Make in India’ campaign, we should be courteous to persons coming from business community as the private sector also forms part of the entire development effort of the economy.
Accordingly, persons from private sector may be treated in a cordial manner.”