Nine of Jharkhand's 11 ministers have arrived at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) to take management lessons in a three-day leadership development programme.

Only Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das and his agriculture minister Randhir Kumar Singh are not attending the programme, which began on Monday.

Professor Arvind Sahai of the IIM-A said that the initiative represents a partnership between the institute and Jharkhand under which ideas on leadership, governance, and management will be shared.

The key topics include leadership and ethics, health, management control systems, and behavioural changes in administration. Another IIM-A faculty member and co-coordinator of the programme, Professor Piyushkumar Sinha, said that the course was proposed by the Jharkhand CM himself.

C P Singh, Jharkhand's urban development and housing minister, said the group wants to make Jharkhand a developed state and fulfill campaign promises. Ramchandra Chandravanshi, Jharkhand's minister of health, expressed concern over the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). "We keep raising this issue as we feel it is not in the interest of poor students," he said.

Sinha said the group visited the Sabarmati riverfront and saw all the 13 bridges to understand traffic management.

About the programme, Sinha said: "Standard institute fees will apply. Typically, cost of a high-end programme of this type is Rs 7 lakh to 10 lakh per day, excluding expenses." The group was taken to the House of MG to demonstrate how a heritage property can be resurrected.