01-08-2025
Govt onboards private trainer DPI Academy to train officers in digital public policy
The government has onboarded the privately-run DPI Academy to train public officials in the use of digital public infrastructure. The academy's courses—delivered by former top bureaucrats—aim to strengthen digital policy capacity across government, according to a press release.
The move comes through a collaboration between Karmayogi Bharat—a special purpose vehicle under the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT)—and the DPI Academy. The latter is backed by policy think tank Artha Global and the non-profit eGov Foundation.
ADPI assumes importance as the government is rapidly scaling up the usage of tools such as Aadhar, DIKSHA, and COWIN, at a time when the world is focused on digital public policy.
Former secretaries of the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) Aruna Sundararajan, RS Sharma, Ajay Sawhney, and J. Satyanarayana, along with other former bureaucrats will train bureaucrats under these courses.
The first course, focused on DPI fundamentals and implementation strategies, has gone live following a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in Delhi on 30 July 2025 between Karmayogi Bharat and DPI Academy, according to the press statement.
J. Satyanarayana, who chairs the DPI Academy, and has previously served as Secretary of the MeitY and Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), delivered the inaugural course and said:
'One of our key messages is that Digital Public Infrastructure is a means—not an end—in the journey of digital transformation. Our goal is to help civil servants understand that DPI is a foundational tool that can be applied across sectors to achieve meaningful outcomes.'
Viraj Tyagi, CEO of eGov Foundation, noted that the curriculum is designed to go beyond theory:
'The courses go beyond conceptual frameworks, as we jointly bring expertise from having implemented DPI projects with governments across the world.'
He added that real-world case studies would be used to bridge theory and practice.
The iGOT portal started in 2018, followed by the kickstarter of Mission Karmayogi in 2020, a DoPT circular said. It added that the goal of Mission Karmayogi is to train 46 lakh central government officers at first, and eventually cover 1.5 crore government officers in central, state, and municipal governments. The Karmayogi programme also provided online training to about 13 lakh officers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the DoPT circular said.
