New Delhi, March 2021.

Following the success of the pilot cohort, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship announces the launch of ‘Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship’ (MGNF) 2021-23in collaboration with IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM-Jammu, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Lucknow, IIM Nagpur, IIM Ranchi, IIM Udaipur and IIM Visakhapatnam. It is a unique opportunity for young, dynamic individuals to combine classroom sessions at IIM with engagement in the district economies to promote skill development and skill planning. Launched last year, the implementation of the programme has been a great success and has garnered appreciation from various stakeholders.

Past Fellows have had a substantial impact on their respective District Skill Committees. Some have created interesting projects that use skills as a pre-cursor for employment by integrating ideas from business management, public policy, and development economics learned at IIMB and understanding their district's potential. Some of the initiatives are with SHGs; others are market-based interventions to strengthen local economies.

Program structure

MGNF is designed to decentralize the process of development – instead of a top-down approach of development, this has the potential to drive the development of the country in a bottom-up approach. It encompasses the benefits of academic inputs from IIMs during the Academic Modules (AMs) as well as the continuous faculty mentorship and the field experience garnered by the Fellows as a part of the District Immersions (DIs).

The AMs focus on management principles, economic development, public policy, and soft skills. They have been designed to address the MGN Fellows' needs in allowing them to understand opportunities and challenges to enable a flexible, skill-based economy in their district and to identify opportunities and infrastructure needed to support it. The District Immersion module would provide a framework to help the MGN Fellows negotiate the district-specific challenges in the context of documenting institutional weaknesses at the district level, identifying schemes that work well, undertaking detailed resource mapping, and formulating a rigorously researched District Skill Development Plan (DSDP) that chart out a strategy for economic development at the district.

Eligibility Criteria for Applicants

Applications have been invited from students across the country, and the programme requirements include:

·         Should be a citizen of India

·         Age between 21-30 years at the time of application

·         Graduate in any discipline from a recognized university

·         Preferred work experience of 0-3 years

·         Mandatory proficiency in the Official State Language for district immersion

APPLY ONLINE ONLY on or before 27 March 2021 at https://www.iimb.ac.in/mgnf/.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship, 2021-23, has been rolled out nationally in more than 660 districts across India. The programme is being hosted by nine IIMs (IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Jammu, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Lucknow, IIM Nagpur, IIM Ranchi, IIM Udaipur and IIM Visakhapatnam) separately, with IIM Bangalore managing the common admission process.