The impact winning a Chevening Scholarship can have

I visited Trivandrum and Kochi on 21-23 May for a series of meetings with the Government of Kerala, as well as UK and Indian businesses and higher education institutes. My first morning was spent mainly at the Secretariat and after a meeting with the Principal Secretary for Health, I paid a courtesy call on the Chief Minister, Oomen Chandy.

Imagine my surprise when my friend and former Chevening Scholar, who is a Kochi-based lawyer, walked into the room and was introduced to me by the Chief Minister as his new Economic Adviser starting that very day.

My call was in fact his very first official meeting and one official outcome of our discussion led to Shaffi being assigned his first piece of work by the Chief Minister, to assist on a matter I had raised. Shaffi and I agreed to meet for dinner that evening, which enabled us to have a wide-ranging discussion despite his telephone almost melting with congratulatory calls.

This visit reminded of how important it is to develop and maintain contacts in India, especially at a time when the UK is ambitious about deepening its engagement with Kerala. Shaffi is a young, articulate and dynamic Keralite, who has very fond memories of his Chevening experience at LSE. I look forward to working with him on issues of mutual interest, such as the ‘Emerging Kerala’ conference in Kochi, at which I hope the UK will have a significant presence.

Back in Chennai I have been dealing regularly with another Chevening Scholar who has risen to a very senior position – Girija Vaidyanathan is a member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Principal Secretary for Health in the Government of Tamil Nadu. Girija went on a Leadership and Excellence programme on Economic Governance to LSE in 1999-2000. She now heads one of the most important Government ministries in Tamil Nadu, a State that benefits from having many of India’s leading government and private sector doctors and hospitals, as well as research institutions.

I am working on an initiative that I hope will lead to closer partnerships on Health between Tamil Nadu and the UK. This is particularly important as the Government of India has a major focus on delivering universal healthcare in its next 5-year plan running from 2012-17.

The ambitions to raise GDP spend on public healthcare from 1.2% to 2.5% will lead to many new initiatives on primary healthcare, which the UK is very interested in supporting and participating in. Working with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare at the Centre, Girija is developing a strategy for Tamil Nadu that will be of great interest to international partners and friends like the UK.

I have no doubt that today’s and tomorrow’s Chevening Scholars will also reach the height of their professions just as Shaffi Mather and Girija Vaidyanathan have.

If you are a Chevening scholar or alumnus and you would like to submit a blog entry, please get in touch.

You can get in touch with me, Declan Byrne, via the Chevening Community website, the official Chevening groups on Facebook or Linkedin or you can contact your local British Embassy/High Commission.

Entries should be 500 to 700 words please. Remember that you can link to your own blog page if you have more to say. We would be particularly interested to hear about the experiences of the UK from our new 2012/2013 scholars.