'PM Modi Pushed Us To Get Things Done': Adil Zainulbhai Steps Away After 4 Years As CBC Chief

News18

7 days ago

Over four years at the Capacity Building Commission, he helped shape and scale Mission Karmayogi—an initiative aimed at transforming the capacity of over 25 million civil servants
After completing two terms spread across four years as Chairman of the Capacity Building Commission, Adil Zainulbhai steps away from a key role in one of India's most ambitious public sector reform efforts. Also the former Chairman of the Quality Council of India, he brought years of experience at the intersection of governance and institution-building.
Over four years at the CBC, he helped shape and scale Mission Karmayogi—an initiative aimed at transforming the capacity of over 25 million civil servants. From building the Commission from the ground up to expanding the iGOT platform and introducing AI-driven learning pathways, he worked across ministries, states, and institutions to embed capacity building into the heart of governance. He spoke with News18 in an exclusive interview, reflecting on the journey, the lessons, and the road ahead. Excerpts:
I started working in an autonomous organisation, which is not quite government, which was the Quality Council of India (QCI), for six years.
And then after that, the Prime Minister asked me to head what he set up and called the Capacity Building Commission, which is also known as Mission Karmayogi. So, that was a full government job. And so, I had the advantage. I had five to six years to prepare in an intermediate role.
It was not quite government and not quite private sector. That mixed experience helped me understand things a lot better. But I think I found out that these things helped a lot because we are always used to working with companies and understanding their culture and how things happen in that environment.
Each company has a different culture and way about how they work. So, in a sense, we have to understand, or I have to understand, how the government works, and the first thing you realise is there is no one single job in the government. There are many ministries, there are many individuals, and there are hundreds of organisations. Each one has their own way of working, expectation. As you understand that, you get to know people, and then you can make a difference. So I don't think the issue was different. The issue was about understanding how it is different and figuring out how to work in that environment.
So, I would say this was something that helped me a lot in preparing to work in different environments, and this was a different environment. I learnt how to work with them.
From dashboards to KPIs (key performance indicators), your work has brought a clear corporate-style precision to government training and reform. Have you seen civil servants embrace this shift towards data-backed, performance-driven governance—and where has the buy-in been most encouraging?
There are different approaches to governance. The right goal was to try and dream at the end of the day. There are 82 million civil servants, and whatever it takes to train people, we took ideas from the public sector, private sector, other countries, other organisations, everywhere.
When we first started, people didn't know whether this would actually mean anything or make a difference. But I think, over time, as we got a very, very powerful digital learning programme in place, it really started to take off.
Just to give an idea, two and a half years ago, the learning platform had 200,000 users and 200 courses. Today, we have 12 million users and 300 courses. So, when we were very small, there was a lot of scepticism. But now it's the other way around—which is, I think, fascinating. Many people call us and ask why they can't take part in this, and they say that they too wish to avail the benefit of this.
Before, we were trying to make sure that people took it. Now, they are banging on our doors and saying that they liked this and wanted to access the courses. So, I think the tide has really turned. As people see the benefit of it, they are really using it. They want to build their own skills.
After four years of Mission Karmayogi and the Commission, what is the biggest myth about Indian civil services that you've broken?
The first myth that has been broken is about the people inside the system. I now realise there are a lot of very well-meaning people in the system who are genuinely trying to do the right thing. Sometimes they have the skills and tools to do their jobs, sometimes they don't—but many are really trying very hard. From outside, it's easy to dismiss the government and say, 'It's useless." A lot of people say that. But having spent a lot of time within the system, I'm very comforted by the fact that many individuals are committed and working with genuine intent. And when the right things are done, the impact is massive. So that's one major myth we've broken.
The second myth is that the government systems can't move fast. Today, we've built the largest training system in the world. Nobody can believe that we managed to do this in just two years. The scale of what we've accomplished is phenomenal. And I think a lot of that credit goes to the way Prime Minister Modi pushes us to deliver. The honourable Prime Minister is not interested in theory or PowerPoint presentations. He's focused on making a real difference on the ground. He pushed us hard to do something and get things done. That drive has really helped us move quickly. In fact, I believe we are executing faster than many public or private sector organisations. And that, to me, is a big myth-breaker: that the government can move fast, actually faster than people imagine.
From stress management to AI training, from seamless access across devices to tailored courses for every level of the administration—what did it take to design such a comprehensive learning platform?
So the first thing we did—which I think most people didn't expect from the government—was to simply ask: what do you need to do your job well? We didn't assume; we went to people across the civil service—from sachivalayas to the Cabinet Secretary—and asked them directly. And we were surprised at how clear they were.
The first thing many officers said was about dealing with a lot of stress. They asked for courses on stress management. Others said that they sit in offices all day and asked for something that would be good for their health. So, interestingly, the two most popular courses, even among secretaries, are Yoga at the Workplace and Stress Management. At the other end of the spectrum, many wanted to understand new technologies that are changing the world and their work. Today, 1.3 million civil servants have taken a course on AI—no other country comes close. And that's simply because the content is accessible and easy to use. What this showed us is: if you give people what they truly need, they will learn.
The second thing we did was, once we knew what courses were needed, we asked: who is the best person to build this? We turned first to Indian institutions. For yoga, we partnered with the Morarji Desai Institute of Yoga; for stress management, we worked with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's team.
A lot of mid-level officers asked for basic training in Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. They said, 'No one taught us this when we joined the service. Now we hire consultants for things we could do ourselves." Today, over a million officers have taken those practical courses.
We've also responded quickly to changes. For example, when the new security laws came out last year, we released a course immediately. 700,000 people have already taken it. Earlier, it would take a year and a guidebook to explain such changes—now it's interactive and available on your phone via iGOT Karmayogi. We're also translating everything into 10 regional languages, making learning more inclusive.
And now, we're piloting something revolutionary: AI-generated, on-demand courses. You can type a prompt like, 'I want a 30-minute course on crypto," and the AI will create a personalised course in real time. Once rolled out, it will be as advanced as any system in the world.
What we've learnt is simple: the government can move fast. And if you give people the right tools, they will use them. Now, people are asking: 'Can this be made available to citizens, students, and retired officers?" That's a policy decision for later. Right now, our focus is on ensuring that every civil servant gets the competencies they need to do their job well.
How were these courses conceptualised and built, especially with elements like Indic knowledge systems and citizen engagement included?
The Prime Minister was very clear: we need to create high-quality courses on Indic knowledge. Thanks to the work we've done and the people involved in the Commission, we already know who the real experts are—professors across universities, scholars at various foundations—those who are deeply knowledgeable in this space. So we sit down with them and say, 'We'd like a course that covers these specific topics." Then, they create it for us. This isn't a mass-production process—every course takes serious thought, careful design, and deep intellectual input. It's not something you can just buy off the shelf by the hundreds. Each one is crafted with intention and expertise.
You have been one of the most compelling examples of successfully bridging the corporate and government sectors. In your view, how can more senior corporate leaders be encouraged to engage with the government and help elevate public-private partnerships to a new level of impact and innovation?
First of all, there are many more such examples now than there used to be. For instance, Pankaj Goenka is heading INSPACE-e. He previously led Mahindra & Mahindra. Malika Srinivasan, Chairperson of TAFE (Tractors and Farm Equipment), is now the Chairperson of the Public Enterprises Selection Board.
So we are seeing more individuals from the corporate world stepping in to contribute to government institutions. To me, the good news is that many people in the corporate sector genuinely want to give back to the country. The challenge is often finding the right entry point. At iGOT, for example, we've brought in several distinguished fellows, including very senior leaders from the corporate world, who are contributing their expertise.
I believe we should do much more of this. It benefits both sides. It's just a matter of figuring out the right structure, the appropriate level of engagement, and how to do it properly. But the idea of intermingling or giving corporate leaders exposure to government, and vice versa, is a strong one. We should absolutely pursue it further.
With the rapid rise of AI, how do you see the Indian civil service, bureaucracy, and ground-level administration adapting and evolving to keep pace with this transformation?
AI is a function that spans many parts of the government. For instance, the Ministry of Electronics and IT is making significant investments in large language models, purchasing chips, and building infrastructure. Our focus, however, is on how AI can be applied in day-to-day work. We believe that understanding how to use AI in your specific role is something every civil servant should think about. That's why we've been very keen to ensure that every civil servant gets exposure to AI—not just from a technical standpoint, but in terms of practical application in their own environment.
Singapore recently announced that it plans to train every civil servant in AI. But even before that, in India, as I mentioned earlier, 1.3 million civil servants have already taken a course on AI.
Our goal is for every single civil servant to be equipped to think about how AI can be useful in their context. Of course, no one can prescribe exactly how AI should be applied in every job, but if people are aware of its capabilities, they can begin to explore and apply it effectively. That's the approach we're taking through Mission Karmayogi—giving every civil servant sufficient knowledge and access so they can figure out for themselves how to use AI in their work. And the early results are promising, as over 1.3 million have already started.
With Trump back on the global stage and imposing a 50% tariff, is this a return to a world where India must lean more on internal capacity building and less on global partnerships? Or does it signal an opportunity for India to lead differently?
We are very clear about that. If we understand the power of technology and execute effectively, we can leapfrog development. We can accelerate progress in areas like healthcare, education, and public service delivery—not by waiting for solutions to trickle down to us years later, but by staying ahead of the curve.
That's why our goal is to equip civil servants with the knowledge and tools to use emerging technologies and innovative approaches—not just to improve systems, but to leapfrog traditional stages of development. Just as India has led globally with Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) like Aadhaar and others, we want civil servants to think not in terms of catching up, but in terms of leading. Our focus is to build the capacity of the civil service so they can adopt and apply new technologies rapidly—and use them to drive faster, more inclusive development than anywhere else.
As someone deeply involved in talent transformation, how do you see India's civil service officers gearing up for a more citizen-centric approach than ever before?
When it comes to transforming the civil service, it's not just about building skills—we also want to shift the mindset. Historically, under the British Raj, the civil service was designed to rule. It created rules and enforced them. But today, the mindset we need is not of rulers, but of sevak—public servants dedicated to citizens.
We want every civil servant to think: 'I am here to serve the citizens and improve their lives." That kind of shift requires more than just digital training. It needs deep behavioural transformation. We're now running programmes that connect personal purpose with public service, helping officers see how their work directly contributes to nation-building. We've already conducted 1-2 day behavioural training sessions for over a million civil servants and plan to reach 2-3 million this year. This includes frontline roles like police officers, ticket collectors, postmasters and anyone who directly interacts with citizens.
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For example, we trained the Delhi Police before the G20 summit, and we're now doing similar programmes for the UP Police. The focus is on helping them engage with citizens in a spirit of seva—service.
At its core, this is about making governance truly citizen-centric by training people to serve better, measuring whether they're doing so, and changing the culture of service across the system. Some of the stories we've already seen show just how powerful this shift can be. If we can scale it, it will significantly improve both the quality of governance and the lives of citizens and civil servants themselves.
About the Author
Madhuparna Das
Madhuparna Das, Associate Editor (policy) at CNN News 18, has been in journalism for nearly 14 years. She has extensively been covering politics, policy, crime and internal security issues. She has covered Naxa...Read More
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tags :
ai Civil service Mission Karmayogi
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Location :
New Delhi, India, India
First Published:
August 07, 2025, 23:14 IST
News india 'PM Modi Pushed Us To Get Things Done': Adil Zainulbhai Steps Away After 4 Years As CBC Chief | Interview
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