The Govt. of HP constituted an  Advisory Board to advise HIPA on various aspects of training being imparted in the Institute. Director, LBS National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie; Director, ARTRAC, Shimla; Director, National Academy of Audit & Accounts besides  Sh. Deepak Sanan, IAS (Retd.) and Sh. R.S. Gupta, IAS, (Retd.) have been included in the Board.It is an initiative to bring best brains from the top training Institutions on board to suggest on capacity development which is the corner stone of all the programmes and schemes being implemented by state resulting into gainful engagement of people in employment and skill India.

A review on the programmes,progress and initiativesof H.P. Institute of Public Administration was taken by Sh. Prabodh Saxena, IAS, Principal Secretary (Trg.) on 14-06-2018 at 11:00 AM at Fairlawn, HIPA. The review was attended by all the officers/faculty members of the Institute. Sh. C.P. Verma, IAS, Director, welcomed the Principal Secretary (Trg.) and gave a presentation which included organization, function, staff positions, training infrastructure including transport, library and sports complex. In addition to this, the performance of HIPA in organizing training programmes for the year 2017-18 was presented. It was presented that 491 courses with 12239 participants were organized which resulted into 49,720 mandays in the year.

The new training programmes introduced in training calendar 2018-1 as well as new topics introduced in IAS/HAS training courses were also presented. The new initiatives, convergence and launching of new initiatives on Civil Services Day, 2018were also highlighted in the review. Sh. Prabodh Saxena, IAS, Principal Secretary (Trg.) took a very keen interest in the activates of the Institute, gave his valuable guidance and assured to follow the matters inviting his attention. Smt. Jyoti Rana, HAS, Joint Director, HIPA extended her gratitude and offered vote of thanks to Principal Secretary (Trg.) for sparing his valuable time and providing his guidance.

The Institue organized Himachal Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority sponsored training programme on Earthquake Risk Mitigation for Safe Built Environment from  4th  to 6th  June, 2018. The programme was attended by 22 Junior Engineers and middle level Technical Officers of State Government. The objective of the programme was to sensitize the participants regarding planning and designing of earthquake resistant structures by taking  earthquake measures as per latest IS Codes,  to aware the participants about Rapid Visual Screening and Retrofitting of Life Line Buildings/Structures and also taking Fire  Safety Measures in Government Buildings in addition to Establishing institutional and techno-legal frameworks, strict execution of T & C P Act & New Building Bye-Laws to create an enabling regulatory environment and a compliant regime.

The course comprised  topics viz. Planning and Designing of Buildings in Hill Areas; Earthquake Resistant Design of Structure (with reference to latest codes); Rapid Visual Screening of Life Line Buildings/Structures; Retrofitting of Structures; Fire  Safety Measures in Government Buildings Followed by Practical Demonstration on Fire Fighting;  Techno-Legal- Regime for Safe Built Environment; T & C P Act & New Building Bye-Laws;   Urban Planning in the Context of H.P.; Selection of Quality Building Materials & Placement of  Iron Bars  properly for Safe  Build Environment. The majority of participants rated the programme and performance of Faculty as Excellent & Very Good.    The Resource Persons who  interacted with the participants included Dr. Aniket Sharma, Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, NIT, Hamirpur; Dr. Hemant Kumar Vinayak,  Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, NIT, Hamirpur; Shri Jagdish Sharma, Chief  Fire  Officer, H.P.; Shri D.C. Sharma Station Fire Officer & Team Members from  Fire Department; Sh. A.N. Gautam, Retd. State Town Planner and Former Consultant, HUDCO, Chair, HIPA and Dr. Ravi Kaundal  Asstt.  Engineer, HPPWD Vidhan Sabha, Shimla besides  Shri Desh Bandhu Kaith (Course Director).

A Training Programme on Mid Day Meals- Automated Reporting & Management System for Elementary Education Department was organised on 23.06.2018. The course was attended by 35 participants including District Cordinator, State Project Coordinator, Assistant Project Coordinator, CHT, Sr. Asstt.,Clerks & JOA(IT) of Elemenary Education Department. The course contents included the topics viz. MDM- ARMS (Mid-Day Meal – Automated Reporting Mechanism System),  Objectives,  Scope of the Application, Process  Re-engineering involved, MDM reporting mechanism, Teacher Registration , MDM-Portal Overview & its benefits, Importance of various roles, Master creation – State Admin, District Admin and Block Admin ,Creation of roles and assigning them to employees, School and Teacher Enrollment, SMS Format of Data, Data recording through portal, Data integration with  National Portal, Application Flow – Live Demo and process flow.

A Training Programme on Excel was organised for Gazetted & Non Gazetted officials of State Government from 29.06.2018 to 30.06.2018. The course was attended by 40 participants including Principal, Suprintendents, Sub Inspectors, Asstt. Sub Inspectors, JOA(IT), Clerks, Sr. Asstt., Jr. Asstt., DEO & Steno Typists. The course contents included the topics viz. Worksheet Basic Concepts, applying various type of formulae, Arithmetic Operations & functions, Data sorting, Data filter & Working across Multiple Sheets.

A ten days’ module was run on request from CTA Dharamshala for the Settlement Officers from India & Nepal Settlements of Tibetan Administration. In this programme, the trainee officers were exposed to  the subjects related to public administration, functioning of government, the protocol system,  public services delivery mechanism, official procedures, labour laws, RTI Act, Human rights, legal aid services, HP Land Revenue Act, 1953, ICT for rural management, e-governance, role of Collector, maintaining law & order, crisis management, ethics & values, good governance, motivation in service , attitudinal change, conflict management & the exposure visits to HP Vidhan Sabha & Indian Institute of Advacne Studies, Shimla.

Sh. Arun Sharma, IAS, Secretary (Education) to the GoHP inaugurated the programme and interacted with the officer trainees on public administration & functioning of government system. Different eminent speakers delivered their talk and interacted with the officer trainees during the capacity building programme w.e.f. 11th to 20th June, 2018. The valediction session was attended by Director HIPA, Sh. C.P. Verma, IAS, Sh. Jigme Tsering, Secretary (CTA) and Ms. Jyoti Rana, HAS, Joint Director of the Institute.

A training  programme  on Panchayati  Raj was organized from 11-15 June, 2018 for the Officers /Officials of the Panchayati Raj Deptt. who are involved in Implementation of H.P.Panchayati  Raj Act ,Rules ,Procedures and  Programmes/Schemes in the State.  The programme was organized to update the knowledge and skills of the participants on the above said theme for strenthening the Panchayati Raj system at the grassroot level.

The SIRD- H.P. in consultation with the Department of Rural Development had proposed to organized Training Programmes on Court Procedure during the current financial year 2018-19 for the officers of Rural Dev. & Panchayati Raj with the objectives to orient and equip the participants about the CCS(Conduct Rules) 1964, Disciplinary Proceedings, Departmental Inquiry related to PRIs/ Development Works, Dealing of Court Cases, Filing of replies, implementation of Court Orders/Judgements – Revision, Review Appeal and Contempt of Court. One such training programme was organized by this Institute on 11-12th June,2018 in which 19 Rural Developoment & Panchayati Officers/Officials participated. The programme was highly appreciated by the participants.

During the five days' training programme on Rural Civil Works held w.e.f. 4th to 8th June, 2018, the participants were given a capsule on: Schedule of Rates & Estimation of Works applicable to Rural Civil Works, Software on structural analysis and design, Quality of Works  in context to Rural Civil Works, Practical Sessions on Structural Analysis and Design, Modeling & Structuring, Unit Conversion, Drawing Settings,  Draw Simple Sketches, Object Selection, Methods, Modifying Entities, Creating and Managing Layers, Various File Formats, Creating Templates, Detailing of concrete foundations, Hands-on session on drawings of  Housing Structure, Hands-on session on drawings of rural roads, Working with Tables, Hatching and Gradient, Polyline, Quick Selection,  Group, Creating Block, Insert Block, Design Center, Tool Palette, Divide, Measure  Hands-on session on drawing of water harvesting structures Dimensioning, Dimension Style, Multiline, Text Style, Using Multileader etc. Participants had good hands-on sessions on different components of drawing & designing parts of their actual roles, which was really appreciated by all. Participants were more keen to practice on these tools in future as well. Twenty Five (25) participants amongst Assistant Engineers & Jr. Engineers from RD, Panchayati Raj, HPPWD and  Agriculture Department participated in the training programme.

A training course on Planning & Management of Development Programmes was organized from 4-8thJune, 2018 under the spectrum of Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India funded mandatory programmes. The course aimed at capacity development of the officers/officials to help the officers to understand concept of planning & management of different development programmes with a view to hone up their skills with various tools and techniques; to develop the skills, knowledge and attitude of the officers on micro planning, community mobilization, spatial planning, civil works, low cost technologies. sustainable development goals besides monitoring & evaluation of developments schemes and to build capacities of officers on development programmes for better planning and implementation  with a view to execute schemes and programmes effectively.The course was organized with the help of participatory training techniques, group activities, exercise etc. to result into the transfer of knowledge. The course was attended by 13 participants who were given knowledge on Planning; Concept: Framework & Methodology; Project Formulation, Preparation of DPRs; Spatial Planning with usage of GIS; Community Mobilisation; Procedural Aspects (Approvals, Sanctions & Procurements)in Programmes; Gender Issues in SDGs; Participatory Rural appraisal: Principles, Tools & Techniques; A case study of Livelihood Pursuits of Rural Woman; Monitoring & Evaluation and Framework for Development Programmes The participants found the course, the methodologies, the faculty  useful and suggested to organize such courses with more frequency.

On the need based requirement of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Departments, two days workshop on Documentation of Research Articles organized from 29-06-2018 to 30-06-2018 in which 23 participants attended the workshop. The workshop was organized with a view to hone up the skills of officers/officials in writing research articles. The participants were exposed to the understand research and skills were imparted on writing the articles. The participants, in groups selected the topics on the basis of accessible information and data; they attempted a few research articles. The articles were presented and discussed in the plenary which were further restructured on the basis of debriefing and review by the workshop facilitator. 

The Institute has installed systems in the Digital Learning Hub created in the Institute with open access to MOOC. Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is a web-based platform which provides unlimited number of students worldwide with a chance of distance education with the best institutes in the world. This has also access to SWAYAM, a programme initiated by Government of India and designed to achieve the three cardinal principles of Education Policy viz., access, equity and quality.

The objective of this effort is to take the best teaching learning resources to all, including the most disadvantaged. All the courses are interactive, prepared by the best teachers in the country and are available, free of cost to the residents in India. Besides this, the hub has link with Digital Library. It has been developed to help students to prepare for entrance and competitive examination, to enable people to learn and prepare from best practices from all over the world and to facilitate researchers to perform inter-linked exploration from multiple sources.

The Institute has prepared an Online Registration Software for the participants of different training programmes in collaboration with National Informatics Centre Himachal Pradesh. The software has proved to be instrumental in registration of all the participants of all the courses for their online registration which is linked with PMIS. The software has been made an integral part of Manav Sampada resulting into auto reflection of all training details of employees in their service book.

The software is a one stop solution to facilitate management of all the training related activities including generation of relieving order, participation certificates, participants list etc.  through this software. The next milestone in this context will be its culmination into biometric solution for presence and attendance.