Corporate honchos dash for government fellowship

Top corporate minds will soon channel their inputs on improving public policy in Karnataka, thanks to a new initiative.

Over 500 mid-career professionals have applied for the Indian Administrative Fellowship (IAF), a programme through which the state government will tap into the talent pool available in large multinationals for policy implementation.

Twelve fellows will be selected finally and from July they will spend 18 months rubbing shoulders with senior bureaucrats and policymakers to work on projects as diverse as sustainable development goals (SDG), agriculture, rural development and e-Governance.

Karnataka is the first state to accept the IAF, which is being anchored by Bengaluru-headquartered nonprofit The/Nudge Foundation.

The IAF coincides with the Centre’s move to bring in specialists from the private sector to the posts of joint secretary and director in various departments.

“To my mind, this is a first-of-its-kind initiative,” Rural Development & Panchayat Raj principal secretary L K Atheeq, a former senior adviser to the World Bank, told DH. “Increasingly, public policy is becoming an attractive field for the private sector. Also, given the staff shortage in the government, it’ll help us.”

Under IAF, Atheeq will work with corporate executives on implementation of metering, billing and collection of water supply in Gadag, Koppal, Chamarajnagar and Hassan.

Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar himself will engage with corporate executives on governance redesign, and so will other senior bureaucrats on areas such as post-harvest value chain, rural livelihood, agritech and administrative reforms.

The last date to apply for the IAF is March 21. “But going by the overwhelming response, we’re thinking of extending the application date,” Mohit Chelani, the IAF programme manager, said.

“We have received more than 500 applicants, and they are mostly from vice-presidents, general managers and CXOs of large organisations.”

The average experience of the applicants is 18+ years, Chelani pointed out.

The 18-month fellowship will offer a stipend of up to Rs 20 lakh per annum.

“The idea is to augment capacity in the government, which is chasing problems of mammoth scale. This marriage of senior stakeholders from the private sector with administrators is a win-win situation,” Chelani said.

The/Nudge is in the process of taking the IAF to other states. By 2025, there will be 100 such fellows working with various state governments.