YALE STARTS LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME FOR INDIAN MPs
By Arun Kumar, Washington, October 7, 2007 (IANS)

Yale University has launched a leadership programme for Indian MPs, opening a window to discussions on policy issues with leading thinkers away from the public eye. The inaugural session of the India-Yale Parliamentary Leadership Programme will begin Oct 9 at the university campus in New Haven, Connecticut. The five-day programme with the faculty at Yale will be complemented by a three-day programme of meetings, discussions and interactions with the US government and business officials in Washington D.C.

Members of the faculty for the programme are drawn from among experts at Yale, as well as research institutes, government offices and the private sector. "It gives them a chance to talk about policy issues off the record outside the legislative arena," said Yale president Richard C. Levin. "No one even remembers what one said to make a commitment. There is no posturing. "It's really a useful thing to have people deep in politics and just talk about issues in a neutral environment," he said.

The participants are a mix of parliamentarians drawn from both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha and from various parties. Yale has also striven to attract regional variety representing both rural and urban constituencies. "Our programme also sought younger, progressive politicians who will likely remain in public service for the foreseeable future and would benefit from the experience of studying at Yale," said George Joseph, the university's assistant secretary for international affairs.

The 13 participating MPs are: Raashid Alvi, Deepender Singh Hooda, Naveen Jindal and Madhu Goud Yaskhi (Congress), Tapir Gao, Dharmendra Pradhan, Dushyant Singh (Bharatiya Janata Party), Robert Kharshiing (Nationalist Congress Party), Chandan Mitra (Nominated); Baijayant Panda (Biju Janata Dal), R.C.S. Reddy (Telugu Desam Party), Shahid Siddiqui (Samajwadi Party) and Tiruchi Siva (Dravida Munnetra Kazagham).

The topics covered in the inaugural programme include: economic and social development in India, democracy and the secular state, India-China economic relations, affirmative action, climate change and sustainable development, foreign direct investment in India, strategy, negotiation and game theory for the politician, strategic thinking for the politician and energy security.

The programme reflects the belief that exposure to new fields and ideas can offer insight, perspective and new ways of thinking for one's own work, according to Joseph. It gives the parliamentarians an opportunity to interact and have discussions with some of the leading thinkers in their fields and also to explore policy considerations off the record. It has been launched in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the India-US Forum of Parliamentarians.

The programme is similar to those that Yale is doing for China, Japan, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates. Each programme is however unique and customised to the group, so there is only some overlap in the content of the programmes, he said. Asked what prompted Yale to select Indian parliamentarians for this programme, Joseph said for years the varsity has explored ways to engage the next generation of India's political and business leaders.

"Several programmes organised by the government of India are already in place for civil service bureaucrats, but we recognised that there existed an absence of such programmes for elected officials.

"Given Yale's distinguished records of educating political leaders in the United States for more than 300 years, we decided to partner with the existing activities of the India-US Forum of Parliamentarians to create the India-Yale Parliamentary Leadership Programme."

It's Yale's hope that the programme will be a regular annual event, Joseph said.

The MPs will be accompanied by Ramesh Chandran, executive director, India-US Forum of Parliamentarians, and Ranjana Khanna, assistant secretary general-Americas, FICCI.