By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI:NITI Aayog will launch a series of five National Workshops on 17 November 2026 to draw lessons from twenty-five years of the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, as Head of Government. The series will study this quarter century of public leadership so that its lessons become part of the nation’s shared knowledge. It will document the experiences of those who were part of this journey and translate them into knowledge that benefits all.
The Prime Minister assumed office as Chief Minister of Gujarat on 7 October 2001. After serving for more than twelve years in that office, he assumed office as Prime Minister of India in May 2014 and is now serving his third successive term. With the completion of twenty-five years on 7 October 2026, this marks the longest continuous tenure at the head of an elected government in India. Throughout this period, governance has been anchored in the idea of the Pradhan Sevak, under which every office of government exists to serve the citizens. Antyodaya has set the measure of progress at the last person. Jan Bhagidari has made development a people’s movement. The principle of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas has further strengthened this as a shared national undertaking. The goal of Viksit Bharat by 2047 has provided this approach a long horizon, asking every institution to plan and act for India as it approaches the centenary of Independence.
Much of what India has learnt about governing at this scale is held in the experience of the officers, institutions and citizens who took and carried through these decisions. The series will record their first-hand accounts and examine them with academic rigour. It will develop them into institutional learning material, including case studies, research papers and teaching material, for civil servants, training institutions, universities, students and the wider public.
The five National Workshops will be focus on the following governance themes: “Leadership as Mission” in November 2026, “Governance as Delivery” in January 2027, “Development as Inclusion” in April 2027, “Civilisational Identity” in July 2027 and “India as a Global Force” in September 2027.
The first National Workshop, “Leadership as Mission”, will be held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi on 17th November 2026. It will study leadership through the specific decisions in which it becomes visible and the manner in which those decisions are translated into outcomes for citizens. Shri Anurag Jain, Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog, will welcome the participants and Shri Ashok Kumar Lahiri, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, will deliver the opening remarks. Dr. P.K. Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, will deliver the inaugural keynote address, and Shri Uday Kotak, Founder, Kotak Mahindra Bank, will deliver a keynote address. Dr. R. Balasubramaniam, Member, NITI Aayog, will set out the framework of the workshop.
Four first-hand accounts from those who were directly part of significant decisions will form the core of the day. Shri Rajeev Topno, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Gujarat, will speak on the reconstruction of Kutch following the 2001 earthquake. Ms. Preeti Sudan, former Union Health Secretary and former Chairman, UPSC, will speak on the response to Covid-19. Shri Shailesh Kumar Singh, former Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, will speak on Lakhpati Didi. Dr. S. Somanath, former Chairman, ISRO, will share his experience on the opening up of the space economy.
A panel discussion on “Leadership for Viksit Bharat” will be moderated by Shri B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, former Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog. The panellists will include Shri Arvind Kumar Sharma, Cabinet Minister for Urban Development and Energy, Government of Uttar Pradesh, Prof. Vishal Gupta, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Ms. Debjani Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow, NITI Aayog, and Ms. Narayani Bhatia, Joint Magistrate, Hardoi.
Dr. T.V. Somanathan, Cabinet Secretary, will close the workshop and launch the Karmayogi Sankalpa on the iGOT Karmayogi platform. Through the Sankalpa, civil servants across the country will commit to a specific change in their own leadership practice.
Around 900 participants are expected to attend the workshop, of whom 250 will participate directly in the deliberations. These will include 150 government officers, including Secretaries and senior officers of the Union and State Governments and District Collectors of Aspirational Districts. The participants will also include 25 students of leading institutions and universities, and 50 community partners and beneficiaries of national flagship schemes. The group discussions will be guided by 25 case facilitators trained under the Amrit Gyaan Kosh initiative of the Capacity Building Commission. The proceedings will be streamed on the iGOT Karmayogi platform.
