Inauguration of Direct Taxes Regional Training Institute, Bangalore.

DIRECT TAXES REGIONAL TRAINING INSTITUTE, BANGALORE

Honorable Finance Minister, Sh. Pranab Mukherjee will inaugurate the Direct Taxes Regional Training Institute complex, Bangalore on 8th April 2012.

The Institute: 

Direct Taxes Regional Training Institute, Bangalore (DTRTI or the Institute, for short) is the training arm of the Income-tax Department. It functions under the aegis of National Academy of Direct Taxes, Nagpur. DTRTI had its humble origin in 1973 at No 18, Crescent Road, Bangalore. Original jurisdiction of DTRTI spanned across South India, covering Karnataka, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

After the creation of a training center at Chennai, the jurisdiction is now restricted to the first three states where its training base numbers about 4000 departmental personnel. However, for its specialized courses, the jurisdiction extends to all over the country. Two units for training the ministerial staff, one each at Bangalore and Hyderabad, are part of DTRTI. In its existence of about 38 years, DTRTI has so far trained nearly 60,000 officials of the Department.  

The Institute also caters to the direct taxation related training needs of other govt. departments, banks, corporates etc. A new and increasing trend is the training of tax administrators of other countries, especially from the developing world. The expertise of the faculty is also sought by other training institutes, law schools, banks and industry.

Professionalism, discipline and dedication are the hallmark of the Institute, practiced at a level not frequently encountered in government. The posting policy partly explains this work culture - everyone who is posted here comes out of volition and faculty skills are honed through rigorous training, including foreign exposure. The net result of emphasis on innovation, technology usage and quality orientation has ensured that training at DTRTI is serious business, not the “training tourism” that often passes for govt training. 

New Campus:

With the growing stature of DTRTI and increased number of trainees and courses each year the original hired campus of the Institute was constrained in meeting the escalating demand. In Sept 2006 the Hon’ble Minister of State (Revenue), Ministry of Finance, Shri  S.S.Palanimanickam laid the foundation stone for the new campus at Jalahalli.

The campus is built at a cost of about Rs.30cr, has1.25 lakh square feet of built up area and can provide residential facility for 110 trainees. Latest building material with pronounced use of steel, glass, granite and mostly bio degradable and recyclable material make the campus truly a green one. Central air conditioning of occupation areas using variable refrigerant flow technology, maximum utilization of natural light and air and minimization of trapped heat render the campus energy efficient. In fact, no lights are switched on in the Administrative block till about 05.30 in the evening.

The campus at Jalahalli is a model project of the Ministry of Finance in terms of technology incorporation for training, communication, security, comfort as well as environmental sensitivity. Access control, high resolution IP based PTZ security cameras and the hi-tech interactive lecture halls are some of its notable features. Inputs for technology induction were taken from the leaders in their respective fields like Infosys, IIM(B), IIIT(B), ISB, Syracuse university etc. which have benchmarked the campus to global standards.

The six hi-tech interactive lecture halls boast of displays through high resolution LED monitors, electronic document cameras and electronic white boards. HD video conferencing for seamless learning across the globe is available in two lecture halls; the networked learning environment is on a high speed platform with technologies for recording, archiving and web streaming of lectures. The training and office management in the Institute is totally automated through web based software. In short the wherewithal for TBT or Technology based Training fully exists in this model campus of the Ministry of Finance.

Social Equity

In DTRTI social equity is a core DNA. The culture here is a conscious attempt to break the hierarchical mindset which stifles innovation and creativity in governance. All the facilities in the campus are equally available to all while disciplinary and training norms are uniformly applied. The dining space and menu, hostel rooms and training facilities are not differentiated for “senior officers” and “others’.  Self-service systems and self-help norms are applied to everyday activities across-the-board. By this the Institute has also ensured enormous savings for govt on account of reduced manpower deployment.

Eco-friendly Measures: 

The DTRTI campus is a three stars certified green campus of the Government of India. Every existing tree here was protected and retained by designing the construction around its presence. The garden, with 103 varieties of medicinal and herbal plants, has won accolades in the horticultural show organized by the Government of Karnataka. Even for housekeeping purposes, it is only the environment friendly cleaning agents that are specified in the contracts. Chemical based pest control measures are avoided through the discipline of food related behavior.

Renewable energy use and conservation are avidly followed. Rain water harvesting, ground water recharging, using treated water for horticulture and flushing purposes, sensor based taps and behavioral changes  attempted through training are our expression of gratitude to Mother Nature.

The new campus is a ‘zero waste campus’.Rigorous waste segregation at source, recycling of paper and plastic and mechanical composting of the organic kitchen, dining and garden waste ensures that not a scrap goes into the municipal waste dumps.

Summing up:

The strength of the Indian economy and the capabilities of the Indian Income-tax Department are globally accepted today. The training sector of the Department has matched steps in this journey through constant re-skilling, value additions and capability build ups. A sprawling global training centre to advance the cause of research and academic exercises in direct taxation is now proposed at Bangalore adjacent to the DTRTI campus in Jalahalli. The existing campus of DTRTI to be inaugurated by the FM on 8th April spells the first step in this futuristic venture.