New Delhi: A foreign training programme advertised for Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers by a United States university has triggered concerns about overseas institutions directly approaching serving civil servants without going through Government of India. Under existing rules, serving IAS officers can participate in foreign training or capacity-building programmes only through proposals routed and vetted by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). Such programmes must be government-to-government, with scrutiny of funding, hospitality and institutional affiliations. Direct invitations from private foreign institutions are not permitted.
These concerns intensified after the “21st Century India Center” at University of California, San Diego announced an “Emerging Leaders Program” for IAS officers, scheduled for 11-22 May 2026, and invited officers to apply directly. The brochure targeted midcareer IAS officers with 8-10 years of service who are “serving in high-impact positions” in state or central government. According to the programme document, the two-week course was to include academic sessions at UC San Diego; interactions with faculty, researchers and students; site visits to US government bodies and private sector organisations; and cultural visits in San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area. The initiative was presented as a fully funded fellowship, offering roundtrip airfare, lodging, local transportation and reimbursement of meals and incidentals. Applications and queries were to be submitted directly to named contacts at the university.
Government sources told this newspaper that multiple IAS officers had already applied for the programme before the controversy surfaced. Officials said this was unsurprising given that the brochure appeared professionally structured, resembled standard foreign-training templates, and did not indicate that government clearance had not been obtained. However, the fact that serving officers were able to apply directly—bypassing mandatory procedures—has reinforced concerns about gaps in enforcement and awareness of protocol.
Alarm was heightened after a public apology from tech investor Asha Jadeja Motwani, associated with India-focused initiatives at UC San Diego, acknowledged that the required procedures had been bypassed and that her team had “made the mistake of inviting applicants from IAS… without going through the correct Indian Ministry.” She added that the organisers would now approach the Ministry of Personnel “to see how to proceed, if at all.”
For many inside the bureaucracy, the UC San Diego episode has become a window into a broader and more sensitive issue: the increasing frequency of foreign institutions attempting to engage, train or host Indian officials outside formal government channels. The incident comes at a time when, according to officials familiar with internal assessments, Indian security agencies have been examining reports of US-based organisations and affiliated bodies seeking to cultivate influence among segments of India’s policymaking community. The concern is that unregulated training pipelines grant extended access to officers holding sensitive regulatory and policy roles.
Former officials note that the UC San Diego case stands out largely because it became public. Similar outreach attempts by foreign universities, think-tanks and foundations often occur discreetly through personal networks, alumni associations, intermediaries or informal email lists. Officers may decline or redirect such offers to DoPT, but there is no centralised mechanism to log how many such invitations circulate each year.
The policy worry is not limited to procedure. Foreign-funded programmes, especially those offering travel, hospitality and extended engagement, can create long-term access points to India’s administrative leadership. The government’s vetting process is intended to ensure that no external institution, regardless of prestige or connections abroad, can build unsupervised linkages with career bureaucrats. Some serving officers argue that the power imbalance becomes particularly sensitive when programmes are conceived, funded and hosted overseas but targeted at officers handling critical assignments in India. “If a foreign private institution is flying officers out, training them and giving them extended access to its networks, the government must know exactly who is funding it and what the intent is,” one senior official said.
Email sent to the program coordinator seeking the university’s response on the issue did not elicit a response. The Ministry of Personnel has not yet issued a public statement on the episode or on whether it plans to revise the guidelines for officers.
