September 5, 2026, (Inside AI) — A 21-member cabinet in Keralam stepped out of secretariat chambers and into a management school classroom on Friday, trading policy files for notepads at the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode. The two-day residential workshop, called Reimagining Keralam, places artificial intelligence and data-driven governance at the center of the state's next development phase.
Chief Minister V D Satheesan led the retreat, which runs through Saturday and includes sessions on transformational leadership, climate resilience, fiscal renewal, and the silver economy. The program is designed to make governance more people-centered, sustainable, knowledge-driven, and technology-enabled, according to government insiders.
The workshop marks a rare moment where an entire state cabinet pauses routine administration to study management theory and emerging technology. It also revives a practice last seen in 2011, when the Oommen Chandy government held a similar exercise. Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty, who attended both, framed the current retreat as a mutual exchange rather than a one-way lecture.
"Our agenda here today is that of sharing knowledge and sharing experience. Everyone here has a decent amount of experience themselves. It is meant for mutual sharing. That is how the agenda has been set as well," Kunhalikutty said.
AI Enters the Cabinet's Learning Agenda
The opening day featured a session chaired by IIM Kozhikode Director Professor Debashis Chatterjee on transformational leadership in the age of AI. The discussion focused on engaging people with purpose and impact, a theme that ran through subsequent modules on policy behavior and community-level change.
Tourism Minister P C Vishnunadh said the lectures were interactive and centered on governance and policy formulation. He noted a shift in how the state approaches public consultation.
"In the new age, it is important to hear people before a policy is framed. In Keralam, hitherto the practice was to announce a policy and go ahead with a project for implementation. That approach would lead to protests. Today's sessions highlighted the need for hearing people before a policy is framed," Vishnunadh said.
Labour Minister Bindu Krishna described the sessions as engaging and said ministers raised questions and filled out questionnaires. She said discussions covered leadership development with new tools like AI and presented governance models from India and abroad.
The curriculum also included a session on Keralam's silver economy, led by Professors Deepa Sethi and Priya Nair Rajeev, examining demographic aging and economic opportunities. A separate module on positioning Keralam as a healthcare and wellness destination was led by Dr Aravind Srinivasan, Chief Medical Officer at Aravind Eye Hospital in Chennai.
Climate and Fiscal Resilience on the Syllabus
International perspectives on climate adaptation and disaster preparedness came from Professor Rajib Shaw of Keio University in Japan and Professor Anupam Das of IIM Kozhikode. Their session, From Policy to Behaviour: The Science of Making Governance Work, drew on global evidence to show how policy intent can become sustainable community-level change.
Dr Sanchayan Banerjee of King's College London and Professor Siddhart Padhi from IIM Kozhikode co-chaired that discussion. The inclusion of climate resilience reflects Keralam's vulnerability to extreme weather, including floods and landslides that have repeatedly tested state capacity in recent years.
Kunhalikutty said the workshop would help improve coordination among ministers and provide a platform to share knowledge and experiences. He added that the sessions would explore how technology can change people's lives, blending theoretical knowledge from academics with practical insights from ministers.
Saturday's agenda shifts to economy, skills, higher education, and global positioning. The retreat ends with a valedictory ceremony where ministers receive certificates from IIM Kozhikode.
The workshop's focus on AI arrives as Indian states increasingly experiment with technology in public service delivery. Keralam has already piloted AI tools in education and healthcare, and the cabinet retreat signals an intent to embed such tools more systematically across departments. Whether the classroom lessons translate into policy remains the central test once ministers return to their offices next week.
