New Delhi: Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM Bangalore), Karnataka, has launched an all women certificate course in political leadership. The course has been introduced recently. As per sources, this women-centric course named “India-Women in leadership” is of three months’ duration.
In addition, the course is being offered by the Center for Public Policy (CPP) of IIM Bangalore, aiming to groom aspiring women politicians by helping them develop the necessary skills. The programme also focuses on equipping aspiring women leaders with practical skills, knowledge and expertise in various aspects of governance.
Sources informed that the first batch for the same will start on July 16, 2012. Moreover, this 10-week course has been structured in an interesting way by including theory lessons at IIM-B campus, field work in the candidate's constituencies, a week long stay in Delhi to witness the Parliament's monsoon session and a seven-day programme in Singapore to understand the public policies practiced in developed countries.
According to sources, a Delhi-based Centre for Social Research (CSR), an NGO working on gender empowerment, is also an active partner in designing the course. Discussing more about the programme, Rajeev Gowda, Chairperson, Center for Public Policies (CPP), IIM Bangalore, said that any good politician needs a basic skills set, which includes policy expertise, perspective, personal effectiveness and, of course, political skills.
He further explained that the Centre has come up with a course where the candidates will get a chance to learn about the theory of politics, campaigns and elections, economics of governance, working with the media, ideologies and gender issues. However, this newly introduced course lacks in only one aspect that it’s is only available for women who have knowledge of English.
He later added that initially the course will be available in English, but they will soon translate the material in Hindi and other regional languages before putting it online. Furthermore, Ranjana Kumari, Director, Center for Social Research, also confirmed that CSR is aware of the shortcoming of the course and is trying its best to make the course accessible to more people.
