“The Assistant Secretary programme was conceived with the specific purpose of exposing young Indian Administrative Service officers to the policy-making processes and the structure of governance at the Union level before they take up administrative roles in the field,” Union Minister of State for Personnel, Dr Jitendra Singh told the Rajya Sabha.

The objective of the programme is to acquaint officer trainees with the operational dynamics of the Central government, instilling in them a national perspective and a deeper appreciation of the policies shaping India’s development. A total of 1,580 IAS officers have been given exposure so far under the programme, which commenced in 2015 with the 2013-batch IAS officers.

This programme is a key component of the government's capacity-building efforts, aiming to orient officers towards national goals, promote a citizen-centric approach, and provide exposure to technological innovations in governance, he said.

From 2023 onwards, the programme has been restructured and aligned more closely with the overall induction training and it is now an integral part of the training of IAS officers with a duration of eight weeks before the start of Phase II training at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, Uttarakhand.