In a press release issued today, Monday, October 30, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow shared that it has completed the Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF) programme recently. A valedictory ceremony was held on the occasion, which was attended by Durga Shanker Mishra, Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh, as chief guest.

The MGNF, launched by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), is a flagship programme involving collaboration with various IIMs as academic partners. IIM Lucknow was the largest academic partner with 105 fellows spread across four states: 32 in Assam, 11 in Mizoram, 51 in Uttar Pradesh, and 11 in Himachal Pradesh, says the release.

The fellowship was a two-year certificate programme in Public Policy and Management. The fellows were stationed across various districts guided by the MSDE, working on new development projects.

During the ceremony, a total of 105 fellows were awarded certificates in the subject. Bhavana Das deployed in the Udalguri district of Assam secured the first position, while Pallavi Dhiman deployed in the Kolasib district of Mizoram obtained the second position and Anuradha Nirwan deployed in the Kasganj district of Uttar Pradesh secured the third position in the MGNF cohort.

Highlighting the impact of the MGNF programme, Prof Archana Shukla, Director of IIM Lucknow shared, “The engagement of fellows at districts complemented with exceptional mentoring support from the institute has been able to instill a sustained dialogue of skill development at the local level. The bottom-up approach in public policy designing that the fellows have been able to bring in will go a long way in implementing the contextualised programmes on the ground."