The National Institute of Social Defence (NISD), under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India, today signed a Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) with Dr. R.S. Tolia Uttarakhand Academy of Administration (DRSTUAoA), Nainital for collaborative capacity building on social defence issues in Uttarakhand.

The MoU signing ceremony was graced by Shri Sudhaansh Pant, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India, and Shri B.P. Pandey, IAS, Director General, DRSTUAoA. The MoU was signed and exchanged by Dr. H.C. Sridhara Ranga Reddy, Deputy Director, NISD, and Dr. Mahesh Kumar, Joint Director, DRSTUAoA, in the presence of Dr. Anil Kumar Mishra, Project Director, DRSTUAoA, NTL; Shri Ridhanshu Sharma, Joint Director (Finance), DRSTUAoA; Shri V.K. Singh, Deputy Director, DRSTUAoA; and other faculty & staff members of both institutions.

The MoU was signed in the presence of, Hon’ble Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, and, Director General, DRSTUAoA.

Speaking on the occasion, the Deputy Director (Training), NISD, highlighted that the partnership aims to build capacities of state government officials, police, prison staff, NGOs and field functionaries on emerging challenges related to drug abuse prevention, care of senior citizens, transgender welfare, and rehabilitation of persons engaged in begging. He stated that DRSTUAoA’s training infrastructure and reach across the state, combined with NISD’s domain expertise and resource support, will help create a Uttarakhand model for convergence between social justice and governance training.

The Academy’s Director General welcomed the collaboration and assured full institutional support to operationalize the MoU. He noted that integrating social defence themes into the core training curriculum of officers will strengthen last-mile delivery of welfare schemes.

This MoU marks an important step towards institutionalizing social defence training within state administrative systems. NISD will provide technical, academic and partial financial support, while DRSTUAoA will anchor implementation and monitoring in the state.

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SM/AJ

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