The National Academy of Administration is the apex training institution for the senior civil service in India. Our mission is to promote good governance by providing quality training towards building a professional and responsive civil service in a caring, ethical and transparent framework.
After the erstwhile civil services training set-up moved in 1959 from Metcalfe House in Delhi, the Academy came to be housed in the grand Charleville Hotel at Mussoorie. In July 1973, it was renamed after the country’s second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, an epitome of humility and honesty ; a perfect personification of “Sheelam Param Bhushanam”.
That our good conduct and character is the highest virtue imbues Academy’s functioning. Its interpretation isn’t merely literal, SHEEL for us encapsulates the values of Self-Discipline & Sacrifice, Harmony & Humaneness, Empathy & Equity, Esprit-de-corps & Empowerment, Learning & Leadership. These basic pre-requisites for bridging the reality-vision gap are at the root of public expectations of the IAS and other Civil Services. As the aligning force between the moral compass and the drive for action, this mantra imparts resonance and synergy to discharge of roles and responsibilities by officers.
Our Faculty comprises a healthy blend of senior administrators, academics and researchers, combining richness of administrative field experience with strong academic credentials adding to a stimulating atmosphere on campus. The multi-tier Mid-Career Training Programme for IAS officers since 2007 and the Centres of Excellence on important public-service domains are cornerstones for a live, continuous engagement for learning and re-learning.
We pride ourselves for a world-class infrastructure – the quality residential accommodation for all our participants, one of the country’s finest Gandhi Smriti Library with a collection of over 170,000 books and subscription to over 400 journals, the state-of-the-art teaching classrooms and lecture theatres, the wi-fi connectivity for paperless campus functioning, a well-equipped sports complex and a unique riding establishment.
The picturesque National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie is set at an altitude of 2000 metres above sea level, in the lap of nature amidst oaks and cedars, the misty vales in the soft, cold mornings and the distant snow-clad hills that glitter in the first rays of the sun. The beautiful experience makes Academy a virtual paradise and veritable “Happy Valley”. Its inexorable magical charm gets indelibly etched in memory and tugs at heart-strings ever after.
Looked through the eyes of its alumni, the Academy is variously – the site of an uncanny chemistry by which the greenhorns develop a wide-ranging mind and the can-do spirit, capable of keeping the wheels of the executive government moving in unison ; the lively and spirited plural congregation amidst a welcoming atmosphere of openness, self and cross criticism where the tongue-tied learn to speak, the loquacious fall silent, the reluctant forced to hear ; the space where officers forge friendships, hone core values and cogitate upon their responsibility to serve India and its citizens. The Academy stays with the officers - as a common reference point, a deeply valued metaphor, a perpetually valid enterprise that keeps ahead of time without losing its old courage of conviction – while they invariably leave a part behind, wishing to revisit often.
In the six decades of its existence, the Academy has seen every IAS officer and many officers from other Civil Services pass through its portals. It has been a virtual melting pot, where people across generations from every part of our diverse country and beyond, speaking different languages, of varied qualifications and socio-educational backgrounds have met, interacted, learnt and grown. Its critical role in nation-building, as an effective catalyst in moulding the country’s administrators through academic rigour and experiential learning, is also the Academy’s sterling legacy.
The raison d’etre of the National Academy of Administration remains as relevant as at the time of its establishment. With India firmly on the path of accelerated socio-economic development, a professional, people-centric and humane civil service is central to our national strategy. With the end-objective of creating a New India, we constantly seek to nurture and equip the country’s civil servants with the skill sets and value systems necessary ; instilling ability commensurate to their higher responsibility as true flag-bearers of the PERFORM, REFORM, TRANSFORM approach to public service.
As the nation celebrates its considerable achievements in the 75th year of independence, the challenges and expectations to be faced are enormous. We and our trainees are ever-striving to stay focused and equanimous in outlook, positive and driven in actions, upright and undaunted – the very essence of the anthem that binds and exhorts us to be true embodiments of excellence in the civil services.
I welcome you to our website (www.lbsnaa.gov.in 
). It endeavours to share information about the Academy and its activities ; and also is a platform for experience-sharing and learning in the rich field of public administration.
Sriram Taranikanti
IAS (Tripura: 1992)
