Oxford and back to West Bengal

To keep mid- to senior-level bureaucrats from leaving West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to send 20 senior civil servants to Oxford University for a crash course. Several other states such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have been organising career enhancement courses for Indian Administrative Service officers and state civil servants for years. Banerjee took the measure recently, as it was widely believed that efficient officers often leave the state due to lack of value addition to their curricula vitae during service. Before joining the 15-day course at Somerville College, Oxford, these officers will attend a shorter course at O P Jindal Global University in Sonipat near Delhi.