Akhilesh, Babbar mock at UP ministers, officials, refreshing their knowledge at IIM

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar on Sunday mocked at state government ministers and officials undergoing a weekly training programme at the IIM, Lucknow, seeking to hone in their administrative skills by learning new trends in finance, business and economy.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav too did not lag behind and said the step has been taken a little late in the day.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, however, promptly dismissed the opposition leaders' remarks, saying the BJP is not ashamed of learning at any stage from anyone for the interest of the state.

On Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's suggestion, IIM Director Archana Shukla has been organising every Sunday for the last three weeks a refresher course titled 'Manthan' involving interaction of ministers and officials with various IIM's experts in the fields of finance, business and economy.

During interactions, being organised every Sunday since September 8, the ministers and officials have also been deliberating upon ways and means to apply the new concepts of finance and business to the state's administration.

Chief Minister Adityanath himself attended the programme on Sunday along with his Cabinet colleagues and senior officials, including the state chief secretary.

Speaking before the third and final phase of Manthan programme, Adityanath said, "Those running the government can also be good students. This programme was a subject of curiosity as the common notion is that those occupying posts in government and administration are perfect, have all the knowledge about everything and are all powerful."
Reacting to opposition leaders' remarks, Sharma, who also holds the portfolio of Secondary Education and Higher Education, told PTI, "Learning is a tendency, and a person should try to learn like a student to emerge successful at every crossroad of life or doing a particular work in a better way."
A person, who does not continuously learn like a student, will never be able to reach his desired destination. Challenging the tendency to learn is job of 'alpagyataa' (people having little knowledge)."