Foundation Course for IAS
(i) Rationale: The Foundation Course (FC) marks the
commencement of training of candidates selected by the UPSC to the All-India
Services and Central Services (Group A). As per current levels of recruitment,
around 600 candidates drawn across the above said civil services undergo the FC
every year. A common FC has been in existence since 1960 immediately after the
setting up of the National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie in 1959 and
has been run ever since at Mussoorie or even concurrently at other partner
institutions under the aegis of the Academy. The raison d’etre of a common FC is
to instill a shared understanding of government and build camaraderie among
various civil services for smoother conduct of the affairs of government.
Formally, the objectives listed by the Academy for the FC8 are as follows:
-
Instill right attitudes and values such as
self-discipline, propriety and integrity, dignity of labour, commitment to
the Constitution, and sensitivity to the rights of the citizens,
particularly the disadvantaged and differently-abled;
- Inculcate a spirit of public service and set of norms behavior and
standards of performance;
- Impart an understanding of the “machinery of the government” and of the
economic, political, social and administrative environment;
- Promote all-round development of the personality of the Officer Trainees
and develop their leadership ability; and
- Build esprit de corps in order to foster greater coordination among
different public services.
Currently the Officer Trainees allocated to the IAS, IPS and
the Indian Foreign Service (besides the Royal Bhutan Civil Service), undergo
their FC at LBSNAA Mussoorie. Besides the Academy, the 88th FC was conducted in
2013 at National Academy of Direct Taxes (NADT) Nagpur; MCR HRD Institute (State
ATI), Hyderabad, RCVP Noronha Academy of Public Administration (State ATI)
Bhopal, and HIPA (State ATI) Gurgaon. The strength of participants at each of
the training institutions was as follows:
- LBSNAA, Mussoorie – 269
- NADT Nagpur – 74
- MCRHRD Institute Hyderabad – 116
- RCVP Noronha Academy of Public Administration – 66
- HIPA Gurgaon – 78 (exclusively to cater to backlog of IPS officers of
earlier batches)
(ii) Duration: The FC has, since the last two decades
or more, been of 15 week duration and commences in late August/ early September
and ends sometime in the second week of December. The practice of conducting a
summer FC at Mussoorie has been discontinued on account of the Mid-Career
Training programmes being run at the Academy since 2007.
(iii) Curricular Inputs: The 15-week FC comprises of
12 weeks of formal academic inputs, with the remaining three weeks being used
for High Altitude Trek, Village Visit and examinations. Currently, instruction
is imparted in 6 disciplines, i.e. Public Administration, Management and
Behavioural Sciences, Indian History & Culture, Economics, Law, and Political
Concepts and Constitution. In addition, curricular instruction is also provided
in Information and Communication Technology, and Languages. The marks obtained
for the latter two, however, only form part of the Director’s Assessment.
Normally, around 250 sessions of formal classroom instruction is imparted in the
FC (across 12 weeks), the break-up of which is as follows:
- Public Administration – 60 sessions (of 55 minutes each)
- Management and Behavioural Sciences – 30 sessions
- Economics – 30 sessions
- Law – 40 sessions
- Indian History and Culture – 15 sessions
- Political Concepts and Constitution – 15 sessions
- ICT – 20 sessions
- Language – 20 sessions
In general, around 75% or more inputs are delivered by the
internal faculty (in LBSNAA) and usually in quarter groups of 65-70 each. Guest
lectures are normally organized in plenary or half-groups. However, in the
partner institutions (where the FC is run concurrently) the group size being
smaller, sessions are normally organized in plenary or half-groups.
(iv) Co-curricular inputs: The FC is a high-intensity
course based on the premise that some element of stress and adversity help shape
character more effectively in adults. In addition to around 250 hours of
teaching, the FC encompasses a wide array of co-curricular activities that
comprise the following:
- High Altitude Trek – 1 week
- Village Visit – 1 week
- Short Weekend Treks – in first four weeks (for conditioning)
- Fete
- India Day
- Athletic Meet
- Adventure Sports (River Rafting, Rock Climbing, Bungee Jumping)
- Jungle Safari
- AK Sinha Memorial One Act Play Competition
- Homi Bhabha Science Debate
- Extra-Curricular Module
- Activities by Clubs and Societies
Trainees also undergo compulsory Physical Training every day in the morning
(from Monday to Friday) for one hour.
(v) Pedagogical Issues: Majority of the instructional
inputs are delivered using the lecture method. In addition, the use of case
studies, films, group discussions and games is also there though these do not
form a sizable component of the overall classroom instruction. Besides teaching
in class, Trainees are broken into small groups of 9 to 10 and attached with a
faculty member who acts as their counselor. Normally, there are 6-8 counseling
sessions in every course.
(vi) Evaluation: The evaluation of the FC, like other
training courses, has two broad components. The first is the assessment through
mid-term and end-of-course examinations for the various faculties taught herein.
The second is the Director’s Assessment which covers evaluation of the
non-academic components of training. The weightage for the former is 450 marks
and for the latter 150 marks. However, for IAS Officer Trainees, the total
weightage of the course in their overall Induction Training evaluation is 300
marks, i.e. 150 marks for examinations and 150 marks for Director’s Assessment.
Source- KIRAN AGGARWAL COMMITTEE (2014) ( COMMITTEE TO REVIEW THE CONTENT
AND DURATION OF INDUCTION TRAINING OF IAS OFFICERS)
IAS MAINS-PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION Online Coaching DEMO
