TN launches CM’s fellowship for young professionals

For the first time, the Tamil Nadu government will recruit 30 young professionals to work as fellows in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) to monitor, identify issues and aid in decision-making processes with regard to key schemes.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Fellowship Programme (TNCMFP) aims at harnessing the talents of young professionals from diverse academic and professional backgrounds to implement various flagship schemes of the government.

The two-year fellowship programme will be awarded this year to 30 professionals who will help the CMO work on policy efficacy, identify gaps and build internationally referred benchmarks for policy and programme outcomes. The fellows will be part of the Special Projects Implementation Department headed by T Udhayachandran, who is also the principal secretary to Chief Minister M K Stalin.

The government has identified 12 key thematic areas for monitoring and evaluation and two fellows will be allotted for each theme, while the remaining six fellows will be part of the Monitoring Cell of the Special Projects Implementation Department.

“Appropriately placed under the Chief Minister's Office/Departments concerned, the fellows will monitor, identify issues and aid decision-making in respect to the assigned programmes to address the gaps and optimise qualitative delivery of services,” said a Government Order signed by Udhayachandran.

The government will sign an agreement with the Bharathidasan Institute of Management (BIM), Tiruchirappalli, which will select the fellows through a three-stage process – preliminary assessment test, written examination and personal interview. While any professional with a Bachelor’s degree can apply, preference will be given to PhD holders.

The key thematic areas are Housing for All, Heritage and Culture, Institutional Credit, Improving Educational Standards, Augmentation of Water Resources, Agricultural Production, Productivity and Creation of Marketing Linkages, Infrastructure and Industrial Development, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Development, Social Inclusion, Data Governance, Ecological Balance and Improving Health Indicators.

Officials said the fellowship programme was aimed at evolving a 'programme structure' with academic rigour drawn from international best practices of policy and governance for various sectors of Tamil Nadu in partnership with an academic institution and to develop Key Performance Indicators for service delivery and to compare with global best practices.

The primary role of the fellows is to monitor, identify issues and aid data-driven decision-making regarding the assigned programmes to address gaps and optimise service delivery. The fellows would undertake field visits to districts to assess the ground situation, elicit feedback and assist in appropriate follow-up actions, officials said.

The fellows who complete the two-year programme will receive a PG Certificate in Public Policy and Management from BIM.

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