Question : Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship Certificate Programme

(a) whether the Government has launched a two year Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship Certificate Programme in Public Policy and Management in collaboration with nine Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) if so, the details thereof;

(b) the aim of the Government in launching this programme and the details of the fellowships that will be awarded;

(c) the details of regarding the post certification avenues available to the fellows; and

(d) whether the Government plans to induct them as professional interns/ consultants within the State/ district level organizational setup and if so, the details thereof?

(a) Yes Sir. The National roll out of the two year Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF) Phase II programme was inaugurated on 25.10.2021 in partnership with 09 Indian Institute of Managements (IIM) namely IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Jammu, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Lucknow, IIM Nagpur, IIM Ranchi, IIM Udaipur and IIM Visakhapatnam.

(b) Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship launched a 2-year Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship programme in partnership with IIMs, which combines classroom sessions at IIMs with an intensive field immersion at the district level to strengthen the district skill administration and to provide support to the District Skill Committees (DSCs) for skill planning and management. The programme aims at identifying and training a group of young, committed and dynamic individuals, who would work with the district administration in strengthening the district skills ecosystem.

Phase-I of the fellowship programme was launched on 08.03.2020 with IIM Bangalore as the Academic partner with a batch of 69 Fellows who were attached to 69 districts across six States, viz. Gujarat, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. MGNF Phase-I was completed on 05.03.2022 and 69 Fellows were awarded Certificate in Public Policy and Management by IIM Bangalore. Currently, 643 Fellows are deployed in 643 districts across 33 States/ UTs of the country as part of the Phase II programme.

(c) It is envisaged that Mahatma Gandhi National Fellows may explore relevant opportunities in the context of academic inputs as well as experience gained from respective district immersion.

(d) The Project Screening Committee (PSC)/Programme Approval B¬oard (PAB) under SANKALP has given in principle approval for extension of MGN Fellows for one year (01.04.22 to 31.03.2023) for attaching of fellows in NSTI/ RDSDE, acting as State level NIESBUD/ IIE resource persons.

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