Panaji, Feb 24 (IANS): A Goa University School, dedicated to late four-time Goa Chief Minister and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, will roll out its first post-graduate programme in public administration in the coming academic year, a top official said on Wednesday.
Speaking to IANS, Goa University Registrar Radhika Nayak also said the recently-instituted Manohar Parrikar School of Law, Governance and Public Policy celebrates the life of the late BJP leader -- one of Goa's biggest political figures -- and his acumen in the three named domains.
"Goa University has come up with schools in various disciplines. This one relates to governance, public administration, law and has been recently named after the former Chief Minister because of his acumen in all these three areas," Nayak said.
"We are going to start with a post-graduate programme in public administration for the first time in the following academic year. It is the first such programme introduced by the School," she said.
The Masters programme in public administration is also open to government servants keen on upgrading their administrative skills and offers 30 seats annually.
Each of the school's disciplines will be manned by seven faculty members each, including one professor, two associate professors and four assistant professors.
The process for establishing the school started in 2019, soon after the death of the then Chief Minister in office on March 17, 2019 after a prolonged battle with cancer. The Goa government has already sanctioned Rs 10 crore for the construction of the school's building at the Goa University campus near Panaji.
According to the Goa University's official website, there are two reasons for the establishment of the Manohar Parrikar School of Law, Governance and Public Policy in the Goa University.
"The first is to create within the only public university of the state a living memorial of Shri Manohar Parrikar, our late Chief Minister whose immense contributions to the people-centric public policies are widely recognised and celebrated. The school is named in the memory of a national leader who was widely recognised for his commitment to good and effective governance and popular public outreach," the website states.
"The second reason is to create an academic entity within Goa University that will conduct policy-relevant research and offer advanced programmes in applied social sciences, thereby contributing to the creation of a well-trained cadre of public policy professionals in the state as also the formulation of people-centric public policies," it said.
When asked if the public administration programme would reflect Parrikar's political trajectory, Nayak said: "No I do not think so. It will be a purely academic programme. And the name is given to the school to celebrate his life as an administrator and whatever he has done for Goa and the country."
Parrikar was the first politician from Goa to be appointed as a full fledged Union minister in a Union Cabinet, when he served as Defence Minister under Prime Minister Narendra Modi from 2014-17. Parrikar also served as Chief Minister of Goa on four occasions from 2000-2002, 2002-2005, 2012-2014 and 2017-19. Incidentally, Parrikar never completed a full five-year term in power as Chief Minister.
Parrikar, who was an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, was also conferred an honorary doctorate by the Goa-based National Institute of Technology in 2018.