NEW DELHI: In a first, the government has
planned a training programme for IAS, IPS and
forest service officers on dealing with Naxalism.
The Department of Personnel and Training
(DoPT) has written to chief secretaries of eight
states seeking nomination of at least three
officers each from Indian Administrative Service
(IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian
Forest Service (IFS) for the course.
The nominated officers will be trained by armed
forces personnel in Chhattisgarh Academy of
Administration, Raipur during October 15-17.
The Government of India has been organizing
mid-career interactions between the armed
forces and civil services officers in collaboration
with the Ministry of Defence for the last many
years. The basic objective of the programme is
to increase exposure of IAS, IPS, IFS and other
civil services officers to the military, so as to
effectively handle unforeseen situations at short
notice.
"These mid-career interaction courses are
conducted at the tactical and operational level
and they are expected to benefit both the armed
forces and civil services officers by mutual
learning from each other's strength and also by
imbibing the best points of each other's work
culture, ethos and customs.
"This, in the long run, is expected to help them
to combat future challenges to national security
in an organised manner," said the DoPT letter.
The programme is being held for the first time
on Naxalism. It intends to bring together
civilian and armed force officers from the states
of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal,
Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana,
Maharashtra and Jharkhand, to a common
discussion forum on the theme 'Left Wing
Extremism'.
"In case officers from the all-India services are
not available, officers belonging to the State
Civil Services (SCS) of appropriate seniority,
who are working at the cutting-edge level in the
districts, may also be considered for
nomination," the letter said.