Govt wants diplomats to take foreign policy lessons to their home towns

The government wants serving diplomats to give lessons on foreign policy feats and how they go about doing their jobs to school and college students in their home towns.

The incentive in this plan for the diplomats, to be rolled out on a voluntary basis in the beginning, is that they get a chance to interact with students in their home town while on vacation.

The plan is part of the external affairs ministry’s new outreach programme, temporarily termed ‘taking diplomacy to grassroots’.

“The objective of the initiative is to make school and college students familiar with the role and functions of the ministry of external affairs. In other words, introduce students to the key elements of India’s foreign policy and our diplomatic achievements in a simple manner,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

Diplomats, especially those who are serving abroad, will interact with college and school students at an institution of their choice in their home town.

They may make a presentation to the students — in one or two sessions — about the functioning of the ministry, foreign policy objectives and priorities as well as achievements of the ministry in recent times.

“The initiative is purely on a voluntary basis at present and the officers will be guided by the XP (External Publicity) division,” Kumar said.