The Indian officials took part in the IAS induction programme at the Institute of Management in Government, Thiruvananthapuram, Trivandrum, and Kerala.
The programme in Sri Lanka was conducted and coordinated by Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration (SLIDA). It aimed at exchange of administrative best practices between Indian and Sri Lankan administrators. The visit was also an opportunity for furthering bilateral understanding and deepening cooperation between the two important administrative structures of India and Sri Lanka. As part of their visit, the IAS officers interacted with various Government departments and Ministries in Sri Lanka.
The officers were given a presentation by the Board of Investment on the state of the economy and possible areas of cooperation and investment. They visited schools, secretariats, divisional offices, and the Central Provincial Council. The IAS officers interacted with officials at different levels of the Government of Sri Lanka to obtain a comprehensive understanding of Sri Lankan administration. The officers also visited places of interest outside Colombo. These included the ancient city of Kandy, the historic Galle Fort and salubrious Nuwara Eliya.
The visit enabled the IAS officers to gather a holistic view of Sri Lanka and imbibe its natural beauty and ancient culture. The visiting IAS inductee team took away many positive aspects of their interaction with Sri Lankan authorities and the citizens of the country, for possible replication in India. They also exchanged their own administrative experiences in the diverse states represented by them. In a gesture of spontaneous solidarity with the Sri Lankan citizens affected by the recent tragic floods, the visiting IAS officers handed over LKR 65,000, from their personal contributions, to the Director General of SLIDA for handing over to the Government of Sri Lanka.
The team of IAS officers visited Sri Lanka under the mechanism of cooperation between the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) and SLIDA signed in October 2007. This allows for exchange of officers, staff, researchers and trainees. Under this programme of cooperation more than 700 newly inducted IAS officers have already visited Sri Lanka in the last two years. Government training institutes from West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and LBSNAA itself, have participated under this mechanism.
