Modi wants NRIs to study HDI

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Modi wants NRIs to study HDI

Written by Hiral Vyas

Tuesday, 29 September 2009 04:18

GANDHINAGAR: Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched the CM's fellowship programme in order to attract the best of young talent to study Gujarat's social sector and suggest ways to improve the sagging human development index (HDI). About a dozen fellows upto 35 years of age will be given a year-long fellowship to experience government functioning from close quarters and share their views with top officials.

Sources said candidates who have studied in prestigious foreign universities, especially bright Gujarati NRIs, will be preferred. The applicants had applied for these positions through the website http://gujaratcmfellowship.org. Sources said Modi may like to personally interview the candidates screened by a committee headed by chief secretary D Rajagopalan.

"The CM's fellowship programme can work as a think-tank. Each fellow will have to work with a government department or its branches at district level," a senior government official said, adding, "While it can aid the person doing social sector research with Gujarat as focus, we have decided not to turn it into an academic exercise. We have also not fixed any remuneration for chosen candidates. The amount is open-ended and will depend on the person's talent."

Significantly, Modi's earlier efforts to draw in academics for suggesting ways to improve HDI miserably failed. Though he launched Buddhisagar Parishad, in which top intellectuals were to suggest ways to improve social sector performance, it never took off. Modi even involved Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad to work closely with well-known economist Jeffrey Sachs, director, Earth Institute at Columbia University, for the project. But even that effort fizzled out.

Courtesy : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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