Professionals from Stanford, Harvard, IIMs will work with high-ranking bureaucrats in Karnataka

In a first of its kind move, eleven professionals from the private sector will work alongside high-ranking bureaucrats of Karnataka over a period of 18 months to solve development challenges of the state, authorities said.

These professionals will work with senior officials to solve development challenges in collaboration with the state government, The/Nudge Foundation and the Karnataka government said in a joint statement.

The statement said it selected these senior professionals from over 2,000 applications from across the country through the Indian Administrative Fellowship (IAF) programme.

The cohort has an average experience of 24 years, leading large-scale transformation across IT, finance, education, environment and entrepreneurship, the statement read.

The/Nudge Foundation said the fellow designates have held leadership positions in some of the prominent organisations and have academic credentials from Stanford, Harvard, IIMs, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, et al.

Each fellow designate will work with principal secretaries and secretaries across departments ranging from Rural Development and Panchayat Raj to e-governance besides the State Policy and Planning Commission and the Administrative Reforms Commission-2.

The statement further read that the fellowship commences on July 1, and includes training at the Administrative Training Institute in Mysuru.

It added that Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has conveyed his best wishes saying the Indian Administrative Fellowship (IAF) will draw senior professional talent towards solving development challenges emerging in the context of Covid-19 and for attaining the Sustainable Development Goals Vision 2030.

Narayana Gowda, Minister for Planning, Programme Monitoring and Statistics said the Indian Administrative fellowship is a novel opportunity for citizens to create catalytic change by becoming collaborators with the government."