File photo of a view of IIM-Kozhikode
| Photo Credit: S. Ramesh Kurup
The Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode (IIM-K) on Tuesday said 18 participants from Afghanistan attended the sessions on the first day of the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme of the External Affairs Ministry through the online mode.
The institute, in a press release, said it “has no role whatsoever in the selection of these candidates nor the knowledge of their political affiliations”.
This comes in the wake of a news report carried by The Hindu on Tuesday that Afghan nationals, including Taliban officials, would be attending the course. Afghan students in India who have been denied visas by New Delhi for two years strongly objected to it.
IIM officials clarified that the ITEC programme was for delegates/participants from the public/private sector from foreign countries.
The IIM-K first conducted such a programme in 2019. Delegates from Bulgaria, Bhutan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Iraq, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Mauritius, Malawi, Nepal, Oman, Palestine, Sudan, South Sudan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Suriname, Nigeria, Malaysia, Zambia, Vietnam, Bhutan, Nigeria, Botswana, Gambia, Maldives, Indonesia have attended it over the years.
The participants or the countries for the ITEC programme are selected by the Ministry.
The e-ITEC programme ‘Immersing with Indian thoughts’ is being conducted from March 14 to 17. On the first day, 20 articipants from Afghanistan, Thailand and Maldives joined virtually from their respective countries.
Sessions were conducted on public funding in rural economy, legal and environmental landscape for business, economic freedom and entrepreneurship, richness of cultural heritage, India’s economic environment and global pandemic, growth of IT industry in India, understanding consumers and markets in India, and regulatory ecosystem and ease of doing business in India, the release added.
