The Director of Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), Dr G Raghuram, signed a contract with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, here today, to launch a new programme named the ‘Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship’ (MGNF). The contract was signed in the presence of Mr R Subrahmanyam, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Mr Junaid Ahmad, Country Director, World Bank, and officials from the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. The two-year fellowship programme will be delivered by IIMB’s Centre of Public Policy (CPP), which is an independent public interest-oriented policy think-tank engaged in pioneering research, teaching, training, and capacity-building.

The MGNF will be launched on a pilot basis in Gujarat, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Eligible Fellows will need to have a graduate degree from a recognized university. They must be citizens of India in the age group of 21-30 years.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship programme is aimed to identify and train a group of young, committed and dynamic individuals, who will leverage the IIMB ecosystem in management, entrepreneurship and public policy and work with the district administration in strengthening the process of skilling to create a vibrant local district economy. Its unique design will allow the Fellows to take academic learning at IIM Bangalore and use it in the field, under faculty mentorship, with the goal of understanding challenges and barriers that the district ecosystem faces in fostering growth and development.