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Training diplomats
by Surendra Kumar
The training of the Indian Foreign Service officers is an issue
which agitates many serving
and retired Indian diplomats. But it can't be seen in isolation;
it has to be looked from theangle of recruitment, role of the
Foreign Service Institute, adequate administrative and
financial decision-making autonomy and the need for compressed
and intense training with a
maximum exposure to diverse viewpoints interspersed with on the
desk experience.
For years the Foreign Service Institute has been treated like a
parking lot and a dumping
ground for officers who couldn't be accommodated elsewhere. They
were always looking for
opportunities to get back to the South Block and had no interest
in training the budding
diplomats.
The Dean, even when he was the second seniormost officer in the
MEA after the Foreign
Secretary, was not a member of the FSB or DPC who could be of
any assistance in terms of
cushy foreign postings or promotions. He wasn't associated with
major decisions of the MEA
and was seldom invited to receptions/dinners for the visiting
dignitaries.
The professional course for foreign diplomats run by the Foreign
Service Institute has been a
successful tool of training diplomacy and won admiration from
several friendly countries.
Several Presidents and PMs have requested our PM from time to
time for organising special
courses for their diplomats.
Unlike Rio Bronco Institute in Brazil and its counterparts in
Mexico where the Diplomatic
Institute also recruits diplomats of tomorrow, the FSI has no
role or say in the recruitment.Instead it is expected to train
whosoever is given to train as the fresh recruit of the IFS.
Over the years the background of the young men and women joining
the IFS has undergone a
sea change. At one time, engineers, doctors and agriculture
scientists couldn't become
diplomats. Today they can. In the past you have to have a good
command on the English
language,but now candidates can write some exams papers in their
mother tongue and, if they
score well, can land up in the Indian Foreign Service. This
raises the problem of articulation.
In the last few batches roughly 80 per cent of the IFS officers
hadn't given IFS as their first
choice. Every batch has around 40 per cent officers from
medical, engineering and
agriculture background! Some have done even MBA. What draws them
to the IFS? The lostshine of the IFS!
In an increasingly consumerist society even the young,
intelligent and educated people crave
for a high lifestyle, comforts and money. Some relish a sense of
power and authority. The IFS
is not for those who look for money, power and authority.
Foreign travel is no more an
attraction.
Barring some 25 capitals in the world, the living standards are
not much better in foreign
postings compared to India. The opening of the Indian economy
has also opened new career
openings. All these factors have eroded the earlier glamour and
halo of the IFS and led to a
drift to other careers.
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The argument that intellectual standards of Indian diplomats
have gone down on account of
affirmative action of the government is invalid. Ability to
transform into a consummate
diplomat is not anyone's monopoly, so many gold medalists,
university toppers have come
out as croppers as diplomats as they couldn't adapt to the
requirements of the service and
never learnt the craft of diplomacy.
Based on my own experience as the Dean and keeping in mind what
I learnt from my
interaction with several diplomatic institutes, I feel a good
diplomat should have or
acquire or inculcate the following attributes:
(a) A knack for making friends and curiosity to know about
different religions, races, peoples,
political and economic systems, social values, cultures,
thoughts, ideas, mindsets, ways of
life, arts, literatures, music, dance, cuisines, dresses and
everything which connects with
different peoples.
(b) Adaptability: one day one might land in Washington from
Tripoli or vice versa. Without
quick adaptability and adjustment a diplomat is doomed. One must
keep improvising indifferent surroundings without getting one's
output affected adversely. Innovative and
imaginative ideas are the survival kits for a diplomat.
(c) Ability to articulate verbally and in writing in a logical,
coherent, friendly persuasive and
convincing manner.
(d) Ability to listen and appreciate others' viewpoints.
(e) Patience in every sense (in negotiations, interaction,
inter-personal dealings with foreign
counterparts)
(d) An eye for details, ability to read between the lines.
(e) Hard work, good stamina, mature and responsible negotiating
skills and a pleasant
demeanor are positive attributes needed in all services,
including the IFS.
(f) Good reading habits to keep abreast with the fast-changing
world and also be informed
about one's own country as well as the country one might happen
to be in.
(f) Flair for public relations and high standards of
hospitality, many foes have been turned
into friends, thanks to the hospitality at the residences of
Indian ambassadors.
The training includes lectures by JNU professors, retired Indian
diplomats, attachment with
divisions in the MEA, other ministries, trade promotion
organisations, IDSA,IIM Bangalore
and Army training.
To streamline training and make it more productive and focussed,
I had formed the Abid
Hussain Committee in 2007 which has already submitted its report
to the ministry. It has
made some valuable recommendations. Maybe, the MEA will
implement some of them some
day.
Each FS tries to keep the FSI under his/her thumb. In my view,
the FSI should have a highprofile and be given maximum possible
functional autonomy and administrative and financial
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decision-making.
Shyam Saran had issued an order introducing some very positive
steps to strengthen and
expand the role of the FSI when he was the Foreign Secretary. He
wanted it to be a training
institute and also to emerge as a credible think tank with
facilities for an in-house research
centre. Unfortunately, his successor didn't agree with those
ideas and never implementedthem.
All knowledge and wisdom doesn't reside in South Block and JNU
alone. In today's fast-
changing globalised world, multi-layered and multi-dimensional
training is essential for
creating a multi-tasking, multi-faceted diplomat coping with
complexities of the 21st century.
Making it possible for academics, scholars, economists,
successful entrepreneurs to join the
diplomatic career at the mid-level is not a bad idea. But it
should be to enrich the service
rather than to diminish the role of career diplomats.
The writer is a formerly Dean, Foreign Service Institute.
