Centre suspends foreign training of bureaucrats this fiscal due to COVID-19 pandemic

The Government has decided not to allow bureaucrats to go abroad for foreign training during the current financial year (2020-21) in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and also financial austerity, the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) said in an order issued on June 15.

In the order, the DoPT said, “Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and in view of the safety measures and financial austerity, all cadre controlling authorities and central training institutes are informed that no foreign training shall be conducted during the current financial year that is 2020-2021.”

The government conducts foreign training courses for civil servants to get better international exposure on many issues. Civil servants mostly IAS officers go for foreign training and government generally spends Rs five to seven lakh per officer for a long term course.

However, under exceptional circumstances, the order said if it was felt necessary to conduct any foreign training, the prior approval of DoPT must be obtained.

Public policy, public administration, international development policy, and anti-corruption studies are the most preferred courses under foreign training programmes.

In the budget for the financial year-2020-21 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had allocated a total of Rs 238.45 for the Personnel Ministry for domestic and foreign training of bureaucrats and augmenting necessary infrastructure.