In a move aimed at refining municipal governance, the Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) inaugurated its civic leadership training programme on Friday for a batch of 66 candidates selected from a list of 250 applicants. Of the 66 shortlisted trainees from 20 Assembly constituencies in Bangalore city, Byatarayanapura tops the list with seven candidates followed by B.T.M. Layout with six candidates.
Training planThe initiative, which is called B.CLIP (B.PAC Civic Leadership Incubator Programme), will involve a mix of classroom training in areas of public policy, municipal administration and campaign finance for three months. Thereafter, they will participate in field work and work alongside appointed city officials for six months to create a ward manifesto and action plan.
Among those in the first batch of the program is an IIT graduate, a nominated BBMP councillor, a postgraduate from the U.S. who has worked on Sakala, a member of Team Anna as well as a columnist in a weekly newspaper, who is also a director at an NGO, to name a few.
“The commencement of B.CLIP is a very significant milestone in the long and challenging journey to improve governance in this city,” said Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, president, B.PAC. Urging citizens to apply to the B.CLIP programme, the vice-president of B.PAC, Mohandas Pai, said that the “programme has been designed with inputs from leaders in civic administration and stalwarts from across the political spectrum”.
