Institute of Management in Government director Jacob Thomas to redefine training'

KOZHIKODE/Kochi: Institute of Management in Government (IMG) director Jacob Thomas has denied reports that the  institute has called off its  training programmes  and said the IMG will be made a centre of excellence for capacity building by revamping its current programmes.  Dr Thomas said that the Rs 12- crore fund allotted in the budget for the IMG for the state training policy would not be  wasted. “If an institute, formed in 1981, fails to achieve its objectives even in 2017, there is something that needs to be changed. And the terms like training have to be redefined in the new age, where there is only scope for facilitating pursuit of excellence in governance. The existing systems have to be redefined, fitting into the new times,” he  said.

There was criticism about Dr Thomas ignoring nearly 1,800 training programmes since  he  took over as director in June. Though the minutes of the meeting chaired by him on July 18 state that IMG will conduct training for only the top management and in the changeover phase of two months for the middle-level staff as well, no government order was issued on the same. For the earlier scheduled training programmes, computer labs were furnished in Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Kochi  at an estimated cost of Rs 3,60,000, said an official on condition of anonymity.

The  government in an order issued in May had said that all the non-academic posts of IMG should be filled through the  Public Service Commission. The official  alleged that research assistants were posted contrary to the GO. The top and middle-level officers consist of only less than 10 per cent of the total workforce. Implementing the decision taken on July 18 would result in offloading 90 per cent of the training scheduled in IMG to other training institutes, the official said.