1 M I T SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT PUNE One-year Full Time Masters Program in Government Batch 05, Year 2009-10
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M I T SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT
PUNE
One-year Full Time
Masters Program in Government
Batch 05, Year 2009-10
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Index
Particulars Pg. No.
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Inauguration Ceremony 5
Eminent Lectures
Mr. Ranjitsinh Vijaysinh Mohite Patil 8
Mrs. Pankaja Munde – Palwe 10
Mr. Anees Chisti 12
Mr. Anil Dave 16
Mr. Tushar Arun Gandhi 17
Dr. D. K. Sankaran 21
Mr. James Michael Lyngdoh 23
Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe 24
Mr. Awadesh Kumar Singh 26
Dr. Neelam Gorhe 28
Mr. G. V. Rao 29
Mr. Praveen Togadia 30
Mr. Nidheesh Tyagi 31
Mr. Anerood Jugnauth 32
Mr. Ramnarayan Venkit 33
Prof. Ratanlal Sonagra 34
Prof. Mukul Asher 36
Mr. Digvijay Kapadia 37
Mr. Vinod Tawde 37
Mr. Arun Yadav 38
Mr. Arvind Inamdar 39
Mr. Arun L. Bongirwar 40
Mr. Pratapsingh Rao Rane 40
Dr. Suneelam 41
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Mr. Premnath 42
Mr. Joan Hingginbotham 42
Prof. Bhanoji Rao 43
Mr. Anand Paranjpe 44
Mr. Sanjay Puri 49
Local Field Visits
Visit to Gram Panchayat 53
Nidhal 55
Hivre Bazar 56
Ralegan Siddhi 57
Sarhad 58
Visit to BAIF 60
Visit to Aga Khan Palace 62
Events
US Delegation Charms MIT-SOG 64
Earth Day Celebration At MIT-SOG 65
World Aids Day 2010 66
"We the People of South Asia: 67
South Asian Youth Camp in MIT-SOG"
Model Parliament 70
Convocation Ceremony 72
Academic Team 75
Academic Awards 77
Advertisement 79
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Inauguration Ceremony
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Inauguration Ceremony
At MIT School of Government,
history was repeated yet again when MIT
School of Government entered its fifth
year with lot of fervor, energy and
enthusiasm. It was exactly four years
back at MAEER‘s MIT Group of
institutions, when a dream took shape of
transforming the Democratic fabric of mother India, driven by its motto ‗Be the
Change‘.
The fifth batch of MPG was inaugurated at the gracious hands of Smt. Bhavana
Gavali-Patil, Hon‘ble Member Lok Sabha, Shri. Madhu Goud Yaskhi, Hon‘ble
Member Lok Sabha and Shri. Anurag Singh Thakur, Hon‘ble Member Lok Sabha.
Other dignitaries present on the dais included Dr. Deepak Tilak, Vice Chancellor, Tilak
Maharashtra Vidyapeeth. September 05, 2009 being the Teachers‘ Day, was an
auspicious day to welcome the participants who will be pursuing the fifth batch of
Master‘s Program in Government, academic year 2009-10. Along with the dignitaries
on the dais were Prof. Dr. Vishwnath D. Karad, Founder President of MAEER‘s MIT
group of Institutions, Pune, Prof. Mangesh T. Karad, Executive Director MIT Group
of Institutions, Mr. Rahul V. Karad, Chief Initiator and Dean MIT-SOG and Dr.
Shrikant Paranjpe, Honorary Academic Advisor MIT-SOG.
The function started with the World Peace
Prayer followed by the welcome address by
Dr. Vishwanath D. Karad and there by the
lighting of the lamp. Next address was by Dr.
Paranjpe, wherein he informed about the
characteristics and the uniqueness of the
program and its utility to the participants.
The felicitation of the guests of honour present on the dais was done at the hands of Dr.
Karad. After the felicitation, ―Be the Change‖, film was screened for the august
audience. Following the film, Book on plight of farmer suicides in Vidarbha was
released at the hands of Hon‘ble Guest of Honour, Smt. Bhawana Gawli (Patil). The
National and International Study Tour Report of MPG-04 were released at the hands
of Young Parliamentarian, Shri. Anurag Singh Thakur.
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MPG-05 program brochure was unveiled at the august hands of Shri. Madhu Goud
Yaskhi, Member Lok Sabha. The occasion saw, alumni speaking about their
experiences at MIT-SOG and the learning outcomes for them. Ms. Priya Tayde, MPG-
02 participant expressed her views on MPG and the detailed research study undertaken
by their batch.
Next was Mr. Shehzaad Poonawalla, alumni MPG-03 who spoke about his
experiences at MIT-SOG and his growth to Vice President, NSUI Pune. After the
alumni, it was the turn of the current batch.
Mr. Devendra Pai, Participant MPG-05
spoke about the aspirations from the
program and discussed about the roles &
responsibilities they need to take up on
graduating from MIT-SOG. He assured the
august audience, that their batch will make
the best efforts towards the noble cause of Nation Building.
After listening to the alumni and participants, came the most important phase of the
function where it was the turn of the Eminent Guests of Honour to express their views
about MIT-SOG and their suggestions to participants. First to grace the podium was
Shri. Anurag Singh Thakur, the young parliamentarian from the state of Himachal
Pradesh. He spoke about his tryst with politics, cricket and business. He stressed on the
need that youngsters need to join politics to understand and solve problems of Youth as
65% of the Indian population is young and expectations from today‘s youth are very
high.
Next on the podium was Shri. Madhu Goud Yaskhi, the learned parliamentarian
from the state of Andhra Pradesh. While praising the curriculum he had few
suggestions for the management and the MPG participants. He stressed on the need to
preserve and follow ethics in Socio-Political environment and specifically while
disseminating duties related to masses. While addressing the audience Smt. Bhavana
Gavali Patil, the three time parliament from the state of Maharashtra said that a
positive mind set along with the willingness and attitude to do good and noble were
pre-requisites to be a good leader. The vote of thanks was proposed by the Program
Advisor, MIT School of Government Shri. Sanjay Upadhye. The glittering function
ended with the National Anthem.
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Eminent Lectures
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DATE: January 30, 2009
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Ranjitsinh Vijaysinh Mohite Patil
DESIGNATION: MP, Rajya Sabha
SUBJECT: A Peep into the Corporate Movement in Maharshtra
The interaction with Mr. Ranjitsinh Vijaysinh Mohite
Patil was brief, but it gave a good opportunity for the
audience to familiarize itself with the young MP of the
Rajya Sabha, know about his family and get to know
about the Cooperative movement in India. He spoke on
the topic: ―Benefits of Cooperatives in Maharashtra.‖ He
explained how way back in 1904 his grandfather and
others pioneered the cooperative movement, how his
father took over the initiative in the fifties and sixties and how finally he is playing his
role in the public sphere. Speaking of the cooperative movement he explained how it
helped empower the farmer, how even if the farmer had a single share in the
cooperative he could be elected to office in it. How it went a long way in bringing
prosperity to various regions of Maharashtra. He showed the audience a short film in
which the history of the Cooperative movement was traced and in which there was as
description of the important players who were instrumental in taking forward the
cooperative movement. He also mentioned the advances that were made in milk
cooperatives and showed the advantages wrought from them. Speaking of the
advantages of being a known name in politics he said that such an advantage was of
limited value. In fact, according to him, it was a burden on a third generation politician
like him, for, having been in the public eye,
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there is every chance that people will eventually turn around and say ―such a good
legacy his forefathers have left for him and how he is squandering it...‖ Therefore in his
opinion it is easier for someone who is starting anew, as such a person would have no
previous baggage and it would be entirely the individual‘s own effort that would count.
About his being present in the upper house, at such a young age, he said that he was
thankful to the seniors in his party for having given him that opportunity to serve.
Speaking of the kind of work that is required he said that it is important to go down to
the field and do work. He spoke of hard work that would take much of one‘s time. He
gave his own examples and said how he was instrumental in getting hundreds of check
dams built. He specifically pointed out that it was not enough to just have the check
dams ordered and made in absentia, "It is important for the leader to be there in person
when the work is being done". He explained that people will vote for a candidate once
on the basis of his lineage and the name of his party. But it is important that one has to
be found worthy of the trust that is reposed, or else, people would not send them back
again. It was a brief interaction but enough to throw open a window for the
participants. It was a great opportunity to see a MP in flesh and blood interacting with
them. Besides learning a lot from the things he said, there are points unsaid which help
in an aspirant‘s efforts at setting goals; it helps the participants gain confidence in their
efforts at change and helps them chart an informed course in their pursuit of higher
things in life.
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DATE: September 15, 2009
GUEST SPEAKER: Mrs. Pankaja Munde - Palwe
DESIGNATION: President – BJP Yuva Morcha, Maharashtra
SUBJECT: Dynastic Politics and its impact on Indian Democracy
The first eminent lecture for MPG-05 (2009-10) was delivered by young and dynamic
Mrs. Pankaja Munde Palwe. A young management graduate with over 15 years of
experience in campaigning. During her address to MPG-05 participants, she quoted
her father Mr. Gopinath Munde, Leader BJP Maharashtra that Bringing smiles to
peoples‘ face is not an easy thing. It needs lot of efforts, hard work and dedication.
Also, Politics is not a cake walk, it involves a lot of hard work and a lot goes into the
thinking process. She was exposed to politics at a young age of four. Ever since she has
been observing political leaders and their campaigns and in the process developed lot of
respect for them as it involved hardships and lot of commitment and sacrifice.
According to her, the foremost fundamental right of an Indian is voting and each one of
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us should exercise this right. Rural India has been a deprived of many things which we
urbanites enjoy.
They even struggle for the basic necessities and infrastructure like - water, road, and
electricity, basic health care facilities etc. Inspite of all odds, voting percentage is more
in rural parts than the urban areas. This just shows our political awareness as compared
to the rural people. It is so unfortunate that urban constituencies play a major role
while deciding the priorities of the government.
How can we contribute?
Firstly, go and vote
Be considerate to others.
Speaking on prevailing system of ―Dynasticism in Politics‖, she reiterated that we as
Indian citizens support it. Reason, whenever we are mesmerized by a leader and his /
her leadership we start expecting the same from the second generation and so on. This
is not only prevalent in India but in the entire world in other democracies too. Dynast
city is respected in India because the Leadership is respected in India. Dynast city can
be good or bad depending on various factors, majority of them being –
name, fame and the financial condition of the candidate.
The need of the hour is that youth takes the challenge of leadership and comes out with
innovative ideas to take up rural development as 70% of the population still resides in
Villages and towns in India and work towards reducing the prevalent corrupt practices
in all sectors in India.
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DATE: October 3, 2009
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Anees Chisti
SUBJECT: Role of Islam in Indian Politics
It is interesting that Mr. Anees Chisti started his talk by mumbling something in
Arabic; it was evident that what he was saying was akin
to a prayer and sure enough he shared with us that he
had narrated two ‗Shlokas‘ from the Quran. The use of
the word ‗Shlokas‘ seemed deliberate here and this
seemed to be a central theme of his talk to the
participants. The idea was to get the participants to
understand the nuances of Islam in a language, or
through a set of ideas, with which the majority of the
class was familiar. If nothing, this definitely represented
the scholar‘s attempt to understand other religions and his attempt trace each religion‘s
link to the Almighty. Incidentally he translated the passages for us: ―If any one slew a
person it would be as if he slew the whole people; and if any one saved the life of a
person it would be like he saved the life of the whole people‖.
Apparently he was making an attempt to unravel the beauty and benevolence of Islam
which has been much maligned in the public sphere by irrational fundamentalists. And
this was another of his themes in the address. He spoke at length about the basics of
Islam; he explained how Islam was not born in the Second Millennium. Islam has its
origins way back during Adam‘s time and there have been a total of 124,000 prophets
(which included Jesus Christ) and of which Prophet Mohammad was the last. He
traced the historical context of Islam‘s growth, how in a matter of 50 to 60 years from
the time of the coming of the Quran, it has spread from Spain to India. How from 711
to 1948 Islamic rulers ruled in India—1948 being the year when Hyderabad was
liberated from the Nizam.
Speaking of this long history, he sought to dispel many myths that were built around
the Islamic influence in India and for example he explained how when Muslim
invaders came to India, amongst the chieftains who stood in the defense of Hindu kings
where staunch Muslims. He spoke at length about the contents of the Quran and also
explained in detail how Islam had three important components: Aqaid (which stood for
faith and belief in the oneness of God, in the prophet, in life after death and in the
holiness of saints of other faiths), Ibadaat (which included specific practice of faith in
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the form of Prayer, fast, alms and pilgrimage) and Muamlat (which indicated a social
code and behavior).
Moving on to the influence of Islam in India, he spoke of the Ganga-Jamuna Tahazeeb
(Ganga-Jamuna culture) which had evolved over the years. He symbolically spoke of
the monuments built in the name of Islam on the banks of the Jamuna and the
sacredness of the river Ganga to Hindus and spoke about the confluence of the rivers to
give what is called the confluence of cultures, which has evolved in the more than a
thousand years of co-existence. He spoke of the Urdu language which has played a
unifying role amidst the 1,625 mother tongues and 3000 languages with written scripts
known in India.
He finally ended his talk by pointing out that this nation India will truly rise to heights
on the day when, if a fire burns, everyone will respond in an earnest effort to turn it off
without so much as to pausing to ponder as to who is the owner of the belongings,
whether the fire has ignited over the belongings of one community or that, this religion
or that.
Q & A: He then took on questions
and the participants did not spare
the scholar in asking what was on
their minds, though of course they
ensured they were not aggressive
in their demeanor. And the
scholar responded well from his
vast wisdom.
When he was asked why people cannot be just humans and should be Muslims, or
Hindus or whatever, he responded at length and the sum and substance of what he said
was that the aim of any religion is to build an ultimate human being. Since the
universities were not offering degrees to develop ultimate human beings the religions
were taking on the task.
Answering to a question on dietary practices he pointed out that it was a ticklish issue
since the concept of ‗life‘ was yet to be defined precisely. He said that even grains and
plants have life in them. Then there are tiny live microbes in curds; so the question is
where does one draw a line? He pointed out that only four animals were admissible for
slaughter in the Islamic parlance and he also pointed out that dietary habits also
depended on the vegetation in a particular region; how logical would it be if we were to
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force vegetarianism on to people in Siberia or in desert lands where there was hardly
any vegetation?
In an answer to another question, he also explained that in Islam there was complete
codification of what has to be done in a particular situation. He explained how the
system of Fathwa is used to give clear cut decisions in terms of yes and no. Where there
is supposed to be no confusion and that there are rules on even the latest things like
cloning. He explained how after his arrival at Madina, the prophet had helped bring
peace there by creating what is popularly known as the first written constitution. It had
72 points in all and he explained the significance of some of the points there in, how
they helped people come together as a team.
One very interesting question was about doership… one of the participants wanted to
know if everything was done by God, was the bad that is in society also done by God?
The scholar seemed amused for being put in a tight spot but in his humble demeanor
said that he would try to answer it.
He explained it through and Islamic perspective which indicated that there is a
franchisee kind of principle that is in effect where an individual has been given
individuality in this world by God that he may respond to situations and in this each
individual is accountable for his deeds. It is wrong to blame the Headquarters for the
acts of the franchisee he said. There was a question on terrorism. Elaborating on the
same, he discussed the realities of the present situation. He pointed out that one of the
biggest terrorists were the police themselves and specifically singled out the practice of
encounter deaths to indicate that this is not acceptable to good society. He talked about
the steps taken to wean away Islamic youth from terrorism and despite adversities how
youth in Islam are advised to use the legitimate means available in the democracy to
solve problems. He said much effort was on and he himself was involved in the same.
Finally there was a question regarding loyalty to Islam and to the Nation; ―which
came first?‖ A participant wanted to know. He answered that it was Islamic to follow
the law of the land in which they dwelled. He explained the rituals that were practiced
during the burial of a Muslim and explained how there is a deep connect with the soil
of that land in the prayers. He also explained that when Muslims of India went to
Arabia they were guests there and had virtually no rights there and had to follow what
they were told to do; there they are identified as Indians. In India though it was home
for them and they had their rights.
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When the law said something in India they were bound to follow it, but as citizens they
had the right to seek redressal for something that was not proper, they had the right to
make demands to the Prime Minister and the President, they could elect someone or
reject them, they had the recourse to law and the courts, and staying within the
framework of the constitution and the laws they had to practice their religion.
All in all the participants came out with questions covering possibly the entire spectrum
of misconceptions regarding Muslims in India; and the scholar clearly came out with
convincing answers in the short span of time he had. It was a revealing interaction.
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DATE: October 7, 2009
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Anil Dave
DESIGNATION: Rajya Sabha, MP and Madhya Pradesh State,
Vice-President of BJP
SUBJECT: Leadership Development: Ancient Indian Way
On 7th October, we were fortunate to have Mr. Anil Dave as an eminent faculty. Mr.
Dave is Rajya Sabha MP (Member of Parliament) and Madhya Pradesh State Vice-
President of BJP. He gave us a lecture on leadership and politics. He said that
leadership can be inculcated six months prior to the birth of a child. To become a
leader, three things are necessary. Firstly, a person should spend two days with Patwari
(one who maintains land records). Secondly, spend a day at a police station and thirdly,
spend a day at collector‘s office. Talking about perfection, he said that perfection is
nothing but perfect balance and one needs to have spiritual, physical and mental
perfectness. He asked everyone to do at least one non-political work in life. According
to him, there are three stages in leadership – creation (raw material should be good),
construction (build up) and cremation (good approach makes good landing). On being
asked about team building, he said that allocation of work is very important and for
making strategy, selection of words is very important. He highlighted three qualities of
a good leader – lok bhasha (the leader should use the language of the people), lok
bhoosha (the leader should dress up decently) and lok vyavahar (the leader should not
ignore the ground-level activists). Through his interactive sessions participants got to
know the nuances of leadership and the hard realities of current political situation in
India.
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DATE: October 9, 2009
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Tushar Arun Gandhi
DESIGNATION: Management Trustee, Mahatma Gandhi Foundation.
SUBJECT: Gandhian Ideology: Panacea to the challenges in front of the world
Tushar Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma
Gandhi visited the school of government on
9th October 2009 and interacted with the
participants. He gave a talk on ―Gandhian
ideology: panacea to the challenges in front
of the world‖.
At the outset, he expressed surprise that
today the leaders of the future are being
groomed in air conditioned classrooms, in
his opinion; the leaders of the freedom struggle had it hard. Gandhiji, he said, had
come up by working in tough environments and through intense struggles at the
grassroots.
His general theme was to take up quotations from the Mahatma and talk about the
relevance of the same in today‘s situation and age. He began by referring to the famous
talisman from Mahatma Gandhi, given to those who found it difficult to handle their
prides for work they had done. He therefore concluded that it is in serving the poorest
of the poor that true leadership manifested itself. Unfortunately, according to him, in
the past sixty years, the policies were in favor of the leaders and not for the poorest of
the poor or the weakest of the weak. He said that the two nation theory was a reality;
one side of India was shining and the other was dimming or weeping; one was marked
by development and the other was marked by backwardness.
Shifting on to the realities of leadership he said that this disparity also leads to skewed
representation in leadership. He said that even as it is the reality now, true leaders can
only rise from the villages because it is there that the real experience of struggle is
happening. In contrast he said people like Mr. Chandra Babu Naidu, who did
admirable work in Hyderabad was eventually rejected by the people because he
understood little about the plight of the villagers. He explained how Gandhiji stressed
on the importance of working in the grassroots; according to Gandhiji the requirements
of the nation are very basic.
Further discussing leadership he brought out the point regarding leadership. Quoting
from the example that Gandhiji placed before his followers he said that the leader is not
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one who sits on pedestals and passes orders, rather a true leader is one who has the
humility to do the smallest possible task.
Unfortunately, the leadership and the protest of today are focused on nuisance value.
He said that all protests of today work on the principle of creating or threatening to
create as much trouble as possible rather than making statements in a constructive
manner.
Another of the characteristics if the present leadership, he said, was cosmetic. If a
leader adopted some manner of clothing or a style the followers merely imitate, so the
followership is on the basis of fashion rather than substance. This, he said, lead to small
coteries and did not account for true leadership.
Another characteristic of the present leadership is a certain delusion with the notion of
greatness. A certain sense of being invincible enters those who take up positions of
power and the others treat them as such. This in his opinion is totally contrary to the
fact that leader should be truly humble. There seems to be a yearning for things big
which leads to disparity. In fact this is ‗leader centric‘ policy that was adopted by the
leadership after independence and the Gandhian economic ideas were not accepted for
the designing of the nation. The so called ‗Gandhian blueprint‘ of development and
leadership was rejected. In fact, there is a certain sycophancy that has entered society so
much so that leadership is seen to be hereditary in nature, where, amongst other things,
socialist leaders travel in convoys of Mercedes cars and land at villages in their
helicopters.
The present model of development seeks sacrifices but is very eccentrically biased
against the villages. People who have stayed for scores of generations on a piece of land
are made to move out in the name of development, as if what they hold has no value at
all. Lands are acquired at throw away prices and then transferred to rich industrialists
for ‗development‘. ―Why are the farmers not allowed to form cooperatives and then
having come together allowed to deal with industrial houses?‖ he asked. He spoke of
how in the pursuit of SEZs, people are promised jobs, that too of a low category, and
eventually even that is hardly delivered.
He ended his talk by calling the participants‘ attention to another quote of Gandhiji
where he had urged the youth to work for work‘s sake and not for money: ―put your
talents in the service of the country instead of converting them into pounds and dollars‖
he had said. Further, speaking of the talents of doctors, lawyers and engineers he had
said: ―There is nothing you have learnt that cannot be put to good account‖.
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Unfortunately in today‘s world the average person deciding his direction with dreams
of pounds and dollars in his eyes. And this is not merely the view of the young; he cited
the example of parents at an interview in a college who wanted to know from the
principal about the minimum salary that a previous student of the college had received
through campus recruitment. The tragic part was that the parents did not care to
enquire about the quality of education which the prospective student was going to
receive from that college. He emphasized that as leaders the participants had come
forward to serve. Leadership would definitely come automatically but the real task is to
serve. Indeed it is this class of leadership that is missing in the world now.
He said that a certain group of American students, who went around India on a study
tour came up with the conclusion that the nation had all the ingredients required to
trigger a revolution but miraculously this was not happening. This, in Mr. Tushar‘s
opinion, was on account of the fact that the Indians are fatalistic and say; ―this is our
fate‖.
After his address he took on some questions and in the process expressed his views on
various important issues. He sympathized with Naxalism to the extent that they were
our own people and it was a reaction to great disparities that were happening in society.
But he did not support the methods of Naxalism because he agreed with Gandhiji‘s
objection to the use of violence by the communists; Gandhiji had disagree with their
use of violence because they would have to be cowed down by an even larger violence
and therefore it would all reduce into an orgy of violence. Speaking of the use of the
legacy of Gandhiji, he said it was fair enough if it was used properly and gave the
example of the Raymonds company using their punch line ―Raymonds salutes the
complete man‖ in an advertisement and in the process paying tribute to Gandhiji.
Speaking of the legacy of Gandhiji per say, he said that what Gandhiji did was not an
invention; he actually implemented a long standing idea. The most important part of
his work was in his being Bapu. Clarifying the point he said that there was a tendency
to call him a mahatma and then say that those things were possible for a mahatma and
not for common people like us; the truth however was that in his simplicity, in his
being human, in his being Bapu, he made his work accessible and possible for every
average Indian. The point to be seen in his work is that there is a Mahatma and a
‗duratma‘ in every individual and it is up to an individual to realize his best potential.
Answering a question on gender issues he said that under Gandhiji the women folk
came out and stood shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts and in that sense
the women were empowered. This is completely different, he said, from the idea of
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‗patronizing‘ women where one speaks highly of them as if doing them a favour. The
important part is to be able to accept women as equals which was evident in Gandhiji‘s
work.
As for corruption he said that there is hypocrisy in the common man; he will break the
law on the road and feel nothing about it but will point fingers when Bofors happens.
He said that in general people have become selfish; they will pay great tributes to the
son of the neighbor who lost his life on the battlefield but will do nothing to encourage
their own sons to join the fight.
To a pertinent
question on Bhagat
Singh and
Gandhiji‘s role in
not asking for
pardon, Mr.
Tushar Gandhi
pointed out to
important truths. He explained that the British had dealt very firmly with anyone who
took up arms against them all across the world; it was their policy. Except in the US
they were successful in all other areas. It was unlikely that they would wish to spare
Bhagat Singh who had used violent means against the empire. The other fact was that
even Bhagat Singh had admitted to his guilt and was freely courting martyrdom; in his
view the awakening of many Indian youth would happen if he were martyred. In that
context the chances were bleak that the British would have listened to a plea from
Gandhiji.
Mr. Tushar Gandhi there after visited the library, saw the painting on Indian
Independence struggle in the Executive Dean‘s office and left for a visit of Rajbaug.
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DATE: October 28, 2009
GUEST SPEAKER: Dr. D. K. Sankaran
DESIGNATION: IAS officer
SUBJECT: Role of Chief Secretary in the State Government
At the outset Dr. Sankaran, who is an alumnus of the
Loyala College in Pune and an IAS officer of 1970
Batch in Maharashtra cadre, appreciated the concept
of School of Government.
He commenced his lecture by bringing out the basic
difference between previous and contemporary
bureaucratic systems. He said that earlier the
bureaucracy acted like a fulcrum between executive
politicians and administration and contemporary
bureaucracy is giving inputs to political executives in the field of policy making and
policy formation. Of course he was trying to draw attention to the fact that the earlier
leaders were statesmen who knew how to drive things and the bureaucracy acted in
support but then there has been a general degradation in standards and more or less the
bureaucracy acts in total submission to the political leadership. He said that for the shift
one needs to consider the Socio-economic–political conditions which influence the
bureaucracy. He highlighted the recent situation of Vidarbha as an example which
shows the limitations of bureaucracy such as lack of commitment, corruption, leakages
in money channels, and various loopholes in monitoring system etc.
After independence the basic function of the administrative services had not changed
much but post 1950 an evolution in the field of bureaucracy has indeed taken place. In
such situations like Vidarbha, and such other or worse cases, the role of bureaucracy is
very cruicial, but there is little
expertise in the present
arrangement. According to him, in
order to avoid such extreme
circumstances there is a need of
well-trained people and
sophisticated infrastructure which
needs to be a part of the
bureaucratic system.
22
In his opinion this will reduce lots of vulnerabilities and embarrassment to the political
executive. As a paradigm shift in a bureaucracy is observed from advisory to
contemporary situation where it is giving less input, the introduction of technology in
all sectors such as Mumbai Varali sea link, e-tendering, and various procedures etc. is
playing a constructive role.
He also made references to the bureaucratic problems of transferring administrative
officer from one post to another after short tenures and explained its role in weakening
the structure though it gave the political leadership authority over the bureaucracy.
In his opinion the administrative services should learn something from Armed forces in
respect of the transparency and procedure of promotions of officers to higher levels.
This will help to manage system in time bound manner and will save a lot of
Government money spend on moving people around.
In respect of policy making there is a great paradigm shift that has arisen out of a
massive shift from the conditions required in a slow and undeveloped economy to those
required in a fast growing impressive economy; the challenges are new. To reach to
these ambitious goals the system has to be planned well in advance. In this procedure
agriculture sector cannot be ignored and shift in employment pattern cannot be
overlooked.
To run the most expensive Government schemes and to make them available to aam
aadmi the entire system has to be well connected and reformed so as to channelize the
resources from centre to state to gram panchayat. This will help the cause of
development at all levels of the society and catalyse the process of development.
23
DATE: November 16, 2009
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. James Michael Lyngdoh
DESIGNATION: Former Chief Election Commissioner
SUBJECT: How good is Indian Electoral Democracy?
Mr. J. M. Lyngdoh, former chief election
commissioner has visited our institution on 17th
Nov. 2009 and had given an insight in the electoral
processes and need for electoral reforms both through
lectures and question answer session.
He has talked about the election commission and its
powers. He talked about plenary power of the
election commissioner has been used for free and fair
elections. He talked about role of money power in Indian politics and the state funding
of election. His view about state funding was that state can‘t prevent the use extra
money, for which an efficient mechanism is needed. He shared his experiences and
problems he faced as an election commissioner and also stated about the power of
election commission in which it acts as super police force also. He sought for many
electoral reforms and report of National Commission on review of working of Indian
Constitution, which suggested for introduction of List System. He supported the
current procedure of removal of Election Commission and supremacy of Chief Election
Commission. He said that Election Commission power to regulate election is unlimited
which should confirm to the law made by the parliament and rule of law.
We got a great insight of the Election Commission functioning, electoral process and
need for electoral reforms.
24
DATE: November 19, 2009
GUEST SPEAKER: Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe
DESIGNATION: Director General, Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, Mumbai
SUBJECT: Democracy, Populism and Political Parties
Mr. Vinay Sahasrabudhe, Director General,
Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, Mumbai,
visited MIT-SOG and interacted with the
participants on 19th November 2009 on the
topic ―Democracy, Populism and Political
Parties. In his session, he has highlighted
various challenges of the current political
process; most of them according to him are
based on populism which is flourished through political system. In his view, in the
present day fragmented political system unless having a charismatic leader like Gandhi,
consensus is very difficult. For a better system one will have to think about the changes
which we can inculcate and introduce for a better system. He assessed the strengths and
weakness of populism. In his view even the positive decisions, genuinely in the interests
of the people at large may ultimately hamper the cause of democracy since it will betray
the lack of judgments also conviction on the part of decision makers. A surging wave of
short lived but aggressive public opinion, driven more often than not by myopic and
hence potentially anti-people positions, can do nothing but disservice to the concept of
participative democracy.
In his conviction which is why,
populism ultimately can only harm
the very concept of democratic
governance. He asserted that today,
when we as a nation are faced with
multiple challenges populist politics
is eating into the vitals of our
democratic institutions and
weakening with every passing day,
whatever the elements of good governance that we may still be having. He mentioned
that there is little wonder that senior American journalist and political commentator
David Broder, has often pointed out that there is a widening gap between the
25
‗acceptance of democracy‘ and its ‗effectiveness‘. Mr. David Broder primarily held five
different factors responsible for this situation and they are the death of ideology, the
decline of state, the decline of religion, low esteem of politics as a profession, and the
irresponsible role of media in general. As one can make out, the roots of all these
factors are fundamentally in populism. In his view, Populism—like terrorism—knows
no ideology, it reduces the relevance of state, it brings the relevance of any doctrine,
including religion; to an end, and all this naturally leads to the low esteem of politics as
a profession.
The next factor i.e. the irresponsible role of media could be described as just another
byproduct of populism. In his concluding remarks he propagated that it is urgently
required that a comprehensive law regulating and disciplining the functioning of parties
is a need of the hour. According to him, Such legislation should cover the following
aspects of party functioning –Establishing a political party – Making the process of
forming a new political party more serious and elaborate., introducing a provision for
mandatory publication of Annual report of Party activities, recruitment – Mandatory
maintenance of Party Membership Register at the State and District levels., Internal
democracy – Mandatory holding of elections for party office bearers under a framework
to be laid down by the Election Commission, transparency -- Mandatory publication of
annual accounts of parties, at the national and state levels, human Resource
Development -- on the lines of party supported foundations in Germany (stiftungs),
efforts should be made to explore establishing training and research foundations for and
by parties with a partial financial assistance from the government. In his conclusion he
said that if populism is to have no place citizens will have to assert. Alert and active
citizenry could be the only guarantee conditions in which politicians and parties may
not be able to take voters for granted and then for a ride. Remembering Harold Laski‘s
words, he said ―let us elect leaders who refuse to be led by the masses. Let us elect
those who will ably lead us from the front‖. He also detailed the activities of Rambhau
Mhalgi Prabhodini and functioning as the training institute and the challenges ahead.
26
DATE: November 20, 2009
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Awadesh Kumar Singh
DESIGNATION: National Vice-President, Jago Party
SUBJECT: The Evolution of JAGO Party and its relevance in the present scenario
Mr. Awadesh Kumar Singh, National Vice-President, Jago Party, visited MIT-SOG
and interacted with the participants on
20th November, 2009. He started his
session by convincing the participants
the need for a new party and the vision
and mission of Jago party. He mentioned
that in order to know any system one
must know the changing economic
principles of that system. He elaborated the economic history of India, failure of the
socialist system, and the future plan to implement the missions of Jago party‘s
manifesto, strength and weaknesses of Jago party and their future strategy. He
reminded the participants that Jago party was started by Mr. Deepak Mittal. He
mentioned that the entire governance system is too complicated. In his interaction, he
compared the both systems or socialism
and capitalism. Our country is not
socialist or capitalist, it is socialistic
system. While highlighting the features
of socialistic system he mentioned that in
socialist system government is core
stakeholder, mainly in charge of major
functions. Private sector will be there,
but under strict regulation. Attempt towards redistribution of income will be there. But
he mentioned that socialist system generates corruption. He also elaborated the
imbalance between demand and supply of skilled labor as per our current educational
system.
He elaborated the details of inefficiency, lack of innovation, job security and lazy
culture of government office. In his views government is funding for their inefficiencies
and impotency. Socialist system in his views is failure everywhere in the world, as
human psychologies is same everywhere.
27
As there is high taxation will not allow the growth of corruption and lack of
performance of private sectors. In the name of the poor, the middle class I being looted.
He has given the examples of collapse of USSR, Fall of Berlin war as failure of socialist
system. He stressed that even Chinese are going for Capitalist type of economy through
corporate farming and special economic zones. He stressed that the capitalism is the
only system that work to have efficiency and success. He has given the examples of
success of capitalism. In his view more freedom will lead to lessening of poverty. His
Jago party also is advocating for the capitalistic form of economy, which is the solution
for good governance and corruption in our administrative system. His party is also
against the reservations of all kinds. The interaction with him has given a new thought
process to the participants which in future enable them to clarify their stands about the
best economic system available for future of India.
28
DATE: November 21, 2009
GUEST SPEAKER: Dr. Neelam Gorhe
DESIGNATION: Member, Legislative Council, Maharashtra
SUBJECT: Women’s participation in the Democratic Process
Dr. Neelam Gorhe is the Member of the Legislative Council, Maharashtra and is the
chairman of Stree Adhar Kendra, a Non-Governmental Organisation working to
protect the rights of the women. While trying to look at the history of women‘s
participation in political process she divided it into 3 phases. The first phase from 1848
to 1920 was an era where the debates were around the age of marriage for girls. It was
in the same period which saw the rationalization of the social evil of Sati. From 1920 to
1947 the women‘s involvement in the political process, in the struggle for independence
increased tremendously under the stalwart leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. There was
a positive impact on the women‘s participation in the political process. From 1948 to
1975 the five year plans started and the emphasis was laid on the reproductive rights of
the women. All the welfare schemes in this period are related to the motherhood of the
woman. It is only in 1975 when International Decade for Woman was declared that we
saw more emphasis on the empowerment of women. It is evident that the women‘s
participation in the political process is a struggle that has evolved over the period of
time.
29
DATE: December 1, 2009
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. G. V. Rao
DESIGNATION: Ex-Assistant Director General, UNESCO, Paris
SUBJECT: UN and its specialized Agencies (UNESCO, ILO, WHO, FAO) and its
relevance to member governments
30
DATE: December 7, 2009
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Praveen Togadia
DESIGNATION: International General Secretary, Vishva Hindu Parishad
SUBJECT: Role of Hindutva in Nation Building
MIT School of government, first ever school for the studies
of politics had arranged yet another session, after some
chief political personalities such as Sharad Pawar, Uddhav
Thackery, Lal Krishna Advani, Jasvant Singh and more,
Dr. Pravin Togadia who is International General
Secretary, Vishva Hindu Parishad had shared his
knowledge on the topic of ―HINDU RASHTRAVAAD‖.
This seminar was arranged in classroom of SOG on 7th December 2009.
Mr. Togadia threw light on three main topics—Hindu Sabhayata, Hindu Sanskuriti
and Hindu Bhumi. He stated that the minorities that have stayed in India should follow
the rules and regulations of Hinduism. In one of the examples he gave he pointed out
that minorities like Islam follow western rules, culture and regulations in countries like
USA. Togadia was against composite culture of India and according to him there has
to be only one culture in India and that is Hinduism. After this session, students of
SOG freely interacted with Togadia on their doubts; for instance one participant
wanted to know ―according to you when will India become a complete Hindu nation?‖
on then another asked ―when will the Ram Mandir be built in Ayodhya?‖ Still another
wanted to know why despite this being a Hindu land there was so much suffering of
Hindus in Kashmir. These brought crisp and tactful answers from the eminent
personality. He felt that if things fell in place the Hindu nation would be a reality in ten
years. According to him it was not the temple which is the body that is important; it is
Hindu Nationhood, the soul, that is important. The session concluded with a
presidential address by Dr. Vishvanath Karad, the founder president of MIT. He spoke
of the vision of the World Peace Centre and how the essence of all religious text is
beautiful and how it is being used by vested interests to create disharmony in society.
He also focused on the fact that Indian Spiritual geniuses continue to be neglected in
the long list of philosophers beginning from Socrates, Plato and their likes and ending
in people like Marx. He ended by commenting positively to his thoughts and thanking
him honorably.
31
DATE: December 14, 2009
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Nidheesh Tyagi
SUBJECT: Media: The Fourth Pillar of Indian Democracy
He spoke out of his experience of years in the media field. He
is a unique person in the sense that he has taken up many
ventures with an intention of initiating and developing
projects and having done fair justice to them moved on since
he wanted new challenges. He pointed out that Democracies
need the valuable content of media. In his words, ―Any
Democracy will not be able to work unless People talk to
themselves as to communities, communities teach to talk to
themselves, communities need to question things‖. Elaborating further on the character
of people who need to be involved in the media he said, ―I see Journalism act as
courage because we can ask questions in public domain it might be politician, business
organization, judiciary administration, unless we cannot those thing and out of the
open the democracy not be healthy, functioning healthy, constructive democracy‖.
He also pointed out that media has great demands on an individual and there cannot be
arbitrariness; in his opinion journalism bestows on one the responsibility of handling
things in a ―sensitive, smart, effective manner‖. He said that in a democracy if we stop
questioning then nothing happens and therefore there is an immense responsibility on
the media. If we keeping
asking question we will
improve was his refrain.
In an answer to a question
whether the media was
the fourth Pillar of
democracy or corruption is a fourth pillar of Democracy he said that democracy is an
approach for a solution, it was not the solution. It was meant to help people get there—
attaining happiness. In contrast corruption is a habit or a characteristic of society which
belongs to another dimension. To a question about what it takes for someone to write
for the papers he said that the whole idea is for what is written to be read. He said that
people read only on account of two reasons; the first cause is if something touches their
hearts, the other is if it excites the mind...
32
DATE: December 15, 2009
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Anerood Jugnauth
DESIGNATION: President, Republic of Mauritius
SUBJECT: Role of youth in promoting the culture of Peace in the World
His Excellency Rt. Sir Anrood
Jugnauth [G.C.S.K., K.C.M.G.,
Q.C.] President, Republic of
Mauritius accompanied by first
lady of Mauritius Mrs. Sarojini
Jugnauth visited our institution on
15th December 2009. He blessed our students and explored the relations of India with
Mauritius. He mentioned the need of peace in contemporary world. On this occasion a
book was released by his auspicious hand named ―HEARTBEATS OF INDIA‖
authored by Prof. Lari Azad, an eminent writer and a successful academician. The
guests and eminent audience were welcomed by Prof Vishwanath D. Karad, [Founder
and Head, World Peace Centre, MAEER‘s MIT, Pune].
In his welcome speech he introduced guests about the Indian peace culture and focused
on the role of youth in nation building peacefully. In his Presidential speech His
Excellency Anrood Jugnauth has briefly introduced about the comprehensive culture of
Mauritius based on
unity in diversity. He
also stressed upon
building new bridges of
friendship worldwide
spreading the culture of
Peace when there is an
anarchic situation disgracing the world through the act of terror. This function was
graced by young thoughts of the students of MIT-SOG stating the role of youth in
promoting the culture of peace by Mr. Sagar Agrawal and Ms. Vandana Seth.
We were privileged to have key note address by Mr. Mookhesswur Choonee, High
Commissioner of Mauritius in India. Vote of thanks was proposed by Prof. Mangesh
Karad, Director, MITCON, Pune.
33
DATE: April 6, 2010
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Ramnarayan Venkit
DESIGNATION: Process & People Management Consultant
SUBJECT: Interaction with participants
The class had an interactive session with Mr.
Ramnarayan Venkit who is a Process & People
Management Consultant based in Singapore. He is an
alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and has between 25 to 30
years of corporate experience. He is currently the
Managing Director at RV Consulting Group Pvt. Ltd
and also the Principal Consultant at Anakin
Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd. He also is a Corporate Advisor at Bilcare Singapore
Pvt. Ltd.
Having left the nation while he was very young, he cherishes a deep desire to give back
to the nation in any way he possibly can, and his association with the MIT School of
Government is a step in that direction. In the first of what promises to be a series of
interactions, he exchanged views with the participants for an hour and a half on
organizational behavior and learning. Giving insight into the motivational profile of
members in an organization he explained how commitment gradually trends to reduce
even while skills and competencies grew. He then explained the significance of how it is
possible to maintain high commitment despite the passage of time. He gave some
insight into his work as a turnaround specialist and change manager while explaining
how it is important to jolt people out of their comfort zones so that they are willing to
change and he pointed out how such success can indeed be achieved.
He also spoke about the focus of training being knowledge, skills and attitude. He
classified the content of training into the three areas and showed the importance of
each. Ultimately it is attitude that is difficult to take care of and possibly the most
significant of the three. His insights into the success of the Singapore story and the
success of renowned millionaires gave much food for thought-passion, lack of interest
in money and a close brush with death-the ingredients of successful millionaires indeed
something to think about seriously. The session ended with a promise that he would
continue to interact with the participants.
34
DATE: April 7, 2010
GUEST SPEAKER: Prof. Ratanlal Sonagra
SUBJECT: Vidhi Vidhan se Samvidhan tak
The reason for his wide spectrum of achievements was
left to no doubt after his interaction with the participants.
An all India first, Vachaspati, for the year 1967, and the
winner of the Geetanjali Gold Medal, he went on to excel
in the field of dalit literature. His works include plays,
lectures, articles, a short film, essays, articles that have
won for him much acclaim. His play Krantiba Phule has
been translated into five languages. He has held important social positions and
positions on important boards and trusts mostly, but not exclusively, related to Dalit
activities; he has held important positions in government, non-government, literature
related, education related organizations and in cooperative societies as well and is
author of several books.
He spoke to the participants on the topic, "Vidhi Vidhan Se Samvidhan Tak" which
happens to be the name of his book. It is an expression of Dr. BR Ambedkar's work
where he expresses the transition from a consciousness that dealt with 'fate' and
'destiny' to a consciousness that dealt with 'rule of the constitution' or the 'rule of law'.
He explained at length as to how the known enemy 'the British' had united Indians and
were eventually thrown out, but the unknown enemy in the form of suppression and
non-inclusion of the 'invisible nation' - the dalits-is still to be defeated.
Sharing from the life of Dr. Ambedkar he explained as to how absurd it was to explain
to a foreign audience that someone had to take up 'satyagrah' merely to drink water
from a common town tank in
which it was alright for animals
to bathe. He narrated the
incident when Dr Ambedkar, a
distinguished lawyer had
returned from England to serve
as an official in India and the
peon who was supposedly of a higher caste would toss over files to him since he was
not to be touched.
35
But then speaking of the theme of his lecture he said how eventually poetic justice was
dealt when Dr. Ambedkar got the opportunity to draft the constitution of India and laid
the foundations for the new order.
Continuing on the theme of poetic justice he brought out how Mr. Kanshi Ram was
suspended from his government office for having celebrated Dr. Ambedkar's Birthday
but the same gentleman had gone on pull the rug from under a national government
leading to a national government's demise. He also brought out as to how people from
all castes were falling head over heels to touch Ms. Mayawati's feet and how that
brought poetic justice to 5000 years of suppression.
Attributing a lot of the ills to the slavish mentality of Indians he said that people in
India through the ages were alright with the idea that someone from outside was ruling
over them but resented being ruled by someone from inside. He said that as Indians we
are not sure that we will be able to do justice to our own.
Sharing from his personal experiences he spoke about his interaction with former Prime
Minister Mr. Vajpayee who had gone, on to eloquently introduce his book at a public
function. How explained how prejudices continue to act to this day, even amongst the
most educated of people. He spoke of his struggles and hoped that by a century after the
passing of Dr. Ambedkar, we would reach a stage in society where reservations would
not be needed any more.
36
DATE: April 16, 2010
GUEST SPEAKER: Prof. Mukul Asher
SUBJECT: Good governance in India
True to his reputation in his area of specialization he gave deep insight into the
economic aspects of public policy and explained how important it is for us to know the
various economic realities of nations and societies. He explained that we should also be
further apprised with the significance of the changing trends if one needs to take care of
a nation.
He centered his talk around elaborating on a list of five elements required for good
governance. According to him there are three C‘s and two P‘s that need to be taken
care of; Competence, Corruption Aversion, Consistency, Performance Orientation,
PPP Management Skills. Drawing from various examples he explained how each of
these are important for achieving good governance. He also emphasized that those in
the public sphere need to exhibit deserved Trust characteristics through their
competence and integrity. He also expressed need for a system of formal and informal
checks and balances facilitated by modern accounting and management information
systems.
Ultimately the outcome of good governance in the Indian context would be, Security of
person and property, a Fair Degree of Public Amenities, and their Management to
facilitate daily life of citizens, and empowerment which includes a good secondary
education, appropriate human resource development, and labor market policies.
37
DATE: May 4, 2010
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Digvijay Kapadia
DESIGNATION: President, Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry &
Agriculture (MCCIA)
SUBJECT: How to become an entrepreneur
DATE: May 7, 2010
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Vinod Tawde
DESIGNATION: Member of Legislative Council,
Maharashtra & Leader, BJP
SUBJECT: Relation of BJP and RSS
38
DATE: May 10, 2010
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Arun Yadav
DESIGNATION: Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises
39
DATE: May 14, 2010
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Arvind Inamdar
DESIGNATION: Former DGP, Maharashtra
SUBJECT: Police-Politics Nexus
―For healthy functioning of the system the nexus between
the police and politics needs to be broken and both should
restrict to their respective spheres,‖ was the message given
by Mr. Arvin Inamdar, former Director General of Police,
Maharashtra. In his highly inspiring and motivational
speech Mr. Arvind Inamdar informed the students that if
bureaucracy functions honestly and without succumbing
to the political pressure, that will put the system in order
and make it more pro –people.
Mr. Inamdar expressed the need of police reforms and
good treatment to the police force by the society. The
present police force is working on a meager salary and they are not treated with respect
by the society. It is painful to see them when they are carrying bags of vegetables or
some household items to the officers‘ house. He blamed the politicians and IPS officers
for the present degeneration and demoralization of the police force.
40
DATE: May 29, 2010
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Arun L. Bongirwar
DESIGNATION: IAS (Retd), Advisor, Jindal Mansion, Mumbai
SUBJECT: Administration in Maharashtra
DATE: June 18, 2010
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Pratapsingh Rao Rane
DESIGNATION: Hon’ble Speaker, Goa Legislative Assembly
SUBJECT: Role of Speaker in the Legislative Assembly
41
DATE: June 21, 2010
GUEST SPEAKER: Dr. Suneelam
DESIGNATION: Former MLA, Madhya Pradesh
SUBJECT: Career in Politics and Constituency Management
Dr. Suneelam interacted with the participants of MIT-SOG on
21 June and gave some valuable suggestions about the career
in politics and constituency management. ―If you want to do a
politics of change then you will have to be on the other side of
the politics and face some hardships; and if you want to
participate in the mainstream politics then you will have to
win the confidence of the leadership at the top,‖ was his advice
to the aspiring politicians and leaders.
"In politics if you come forward for the transformation of the system, the establishment
always tries to suppress you, only with your dedication and with the people‘s support
you can take ahead the movement". "If your goals are clear and if your politics is clean
the support from the society automatically comes". "If you want to become a leader in
politics you should know your constituency well and people of that region need to
identify themselves with you", Dr. Suneelam advised the participants.
42
DATE: June 21, 2010
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Premnath
DESIGNATION: MLA, Kalikat, Kerala
SUBJECT: How to manage your constituency
DATE: July 8, 2010
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Joan Higginbotham
DESIGNATION: NASA Astronaut
43
DATE: July 21, 2010
GUEST SPEAKER: Prof. Bhanoji Rao
DESIGNATION: Adjunct professor at National University of Singapore
SUBJECT: Economics & Development
―Equality of status and equality of opportunities means equal primary education and
equal health facilities for all‖, is according to Mr. Bhanoji Rao. For him the
development means good quality education for all children in government schools, and
secondly good health facilities in Government hospitals. According to him a quality
education and health facilities for all can change the fate of India.Bhanoji Rao received
his degree at the age of 18, and is an expertise in several areas of development
economics and policy, with special reference to India and East Asia. He got his Ph.D.
in Economics from National University of Singapore and served there as a professor.
His research output includes over a dozen books, several chapters in books and over 60
published papers and a regular writer in Economics Times, New York Times etc.
Bhanoji Rao shared his success mantra through an interactive session. He shared his
experience as a student, as a job seeker, and helpless and depressive situations in life.
He spoke of three mantras- hard work, blessings of mother and belief in God, which
can take one to reach the goals of life. The entire students were motivated by listening
to Mr. Bhanoji Rao‘s success stories. In the interactive session with the faculties he
motivated them to work hard and also provided some valuable tips of how to become a
good teacher and a good researcher. In a nutshell his visit to the MIT campus was
fruitful for the entire MIT family as his own experience, and life history is motivating
for the staff and students.
44
DATE:
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Anand Paranjpe
DESIGNATION: MP, Shiv Sena
SUBJECT: The role of youth in Indian Politics
At the outset he said that his prime motive of
coming to the institution was not to give a talk
but rather to get to know the participants better.
He expressed his gratitude to the Dean, Mr.
Rahul, for having given him the opportunity to
interact with the participants. He also spoke
glowingly about the fact that Mr. Rahul had
been following up for more than four months to
have him visit the School of Government.
Speaking of youth he started with the thought
that the highest power given in a democracy is
the power to vote and it has to be used
effectively; he said that people need to come out
and participate in the process and specially so
the youth. He pointed out that while the first
parliament had an average age of 67 years of age, in the present Parliament it has
considerably lowered (57). He said that now the youth are being favored in political
parties across the board; they are promoting youngsters, involving them in decision
making and giving them tickets in large numbers in corporation elections and elections
to local bodies. This trend is more prominent in the last 10 to 15 years he said. He said
that except for the communist party, all of whose parliamentarians are way above 70
years of age, the others are investing in youngsters.
He gave the example of Mr. Nitin Gadkari of the BJP who has been made president at
the age of 52 years. He said the trend started when Mr. Rajiv Gandhi reduced the
voting age from 21 years to 18 years. He pointed out that our nation may not have great
capacity in the field of defense but still China is frightened of India since we have
human resources and youth power.
But he ruled the fact that the youth were not using their strength in democracy. He said
that the youth lacked the will to enter politics; even for voting, if the election date
45
happened to be in a weekend, they would pack their bags and move for an outing
instead, he said. He was hoping this would change.
Speaking of the people in polity he said that the nation gets the leaders it deserves.
There is a way of entering politics by being off springs of political families he said, but
he pointed that dynastic politics made no sense in the present world—‗Perform or
perish‘ is today‘s mantra. One could get voted into power on the basis of the party
ideology once, but the next time he would be judged both on the basis of his party
ideology and on the basis of how he performed during his reign as the representative of
a constituency. He pointed out that the other problem was that the other method by
which fresh leadership was inducted into politics, namely through college elections was
no more a reality in Maharashtra since such elections have been banned in
Maharashtra. Then he also pointed out that there is a stigma attached to joining politics
and the result of it being that people do not encourage their youngsters to join it.
Speaking of his own example he said that he that he was a technocrat and not a
politician by heart but was propelled into the position by fate. His father was a MP four
times from Thane, but at that time, he, even though being an MP‘s son, hated politics.
He said that he only participated in the political process when the party was revved up
for an election campaign. But then he was pitch forked into the contest in a bye-election
in the same seat, Thane, which fell vacant owing to his father‘s demise. He has been
elected twice to the Lok Sabha ever since on the Shiv Sena ticket—into the 14th Lok
Sabha through that bye-election and then the 15th which is part of the current
Parliament.
Having been elected to the house he now saw the political process differently. He
understood the true extent of the responsibility only after he was inside. He said that
people treat politicians as a favorite punching bag.
The truth is that it is a thankless job, where you need to be dedicated, where you need
to make the biggest sacrifices and where, when people come to your help and
assistance, you cannot say no. He said that, having understood his responsibilities, he
was now doing his best to fulfill them.
He also narrated an interesting situation he was in after his election to the house on the
first occasion: he was one of seven MPs who were elected in the bye-elections in 2008
and he joined the house on 21st July 2008. At that time the then Congress government
was facing a test on the floor of the house in connection with the Nuclear Deal issue.
The vote took place the very next day. Had the government fallen, he would have been
46
MP for one day, he said. It is another matter that less than a year later he was re-elected
to the house in the general elections.
Of the proceedings in the Lok Sabha he said that despite the bad reputation, good
debates did take place. He said that owing to the media coverage of the happenings in
the house, there were many in the house who played to the galleries completely focused
on the audience in their constituencies; but such vociferous behavior stopped the
moment the TV telecast was switched off. This, he said, happened only during the
question hour. Similarly he said that the press had something to report only when
negative occurrences happed in the parliament and not when there was a quiet but
dignified debate that happened; therefore the result is that a skewed image of the house
gets relayed outside.
Of the MPG course he
said that he would like to
be here and does the one
year course himself if he
had the opportunity. He
said that when one of
these youngsters became
an MP in the future, the
dean Mr. Rahul Karad
would be proud. He
pointed out that it is important to know what is good governance and what is bad
governance but then he also pointed out that in the present political context, good
governance did not ensure election victory; ―In a democracy what matters is not what
is in your head, rather, it is how many heads you have on your side that matters‖, he
said. Further speaking of the ironies in the political set up he pointed out that
everything is now being offered free by the government, whether it is rice or electricity;
it is important to know that these things do cost money to produce, but still the
government pursues the policy and the people do get elected on that basis. But despite
these ironies, he pointed out that the elected representatives are indeed accountable to
the people. The citizens now do look for roads, wells, schools and other facilities; there
is, therefore, a need for a political activist to work and it is on this basis that people are
sent back to parliament.
47
But with the youth becoming more demanding there are many difficult questions a
peoples‘ representative needs to face. He said that it is not a part time job any more—it
is a full time job.
He expressed that the old guard should step down from taking on roles in government
and should switch over to mentoring and advisory roles in political parties after they
are 65 years of age. ―There should be a retirement age for politicians in government‖,
he said, but in the same breath he also pointed out that youngsters should take the
advice of the seniors. In practice, though, he said that there is reluctance to any change
from the seniors. In this context he made mention of the ‗Parliamentary Forum on
Youth‘ which the young MPs from across party lines have created in order to discuss
issues related to the youth. He also mentioned the climax of the movie ‗Yuva‘ in this
context in order to indicate a shift towards youth and dynamism that is required.
Speaking of standing up for one‘s views he said that there are three different views,
one‘s own view, the party view and the government‘s view, there needs to be a
synchronization but one needs to stand up for his views. In other words he said that it is
important to be in the system and fight rather than sit outside and crib. He spoke even
of his friends, who he said, sat in AC rooms and spend a lot of time on Orkut and
Facebook; ―but even on a free Sunday would they take time out to come and slog with
me?‖ He asked. He said that politics was a difficult path and he thanked the young
participants for coming forward to do the course and for looking forward to make that
change happen.
His address was followed by a question answer session: In answer to a question on the
SEZ he said that in principle he did not agree with it completely (though he was an
industrialist). He said that development should come, but not at the cost of cultivable
land and it should not be taken forcefully from anyone. He decried the trend in which
the farmers were foxed into parting with their lands, ―jobs are promised and not
delivered, meager remuneration or cost is offered, signatures are forged…‖ He said that
ultimately the government and the bureaucracy also play into the hands of exploiters.
So he summed it up by saying that though the idea of SEZ is good it should not be at
the cost of cultivable land and not at the cost of such atrocities.
In reply to another question on salaries of MPs he went on to say that it looked huge
but it was not significant. He dealt with the figures in detail and showed that the
amounts were rather meager. While the MPs got Rs. 26,000/- as salaries and Rs.
16,000/- for stationery the Chief Secretary working under them received in the range of
Rs.1, 20,000/- per month. To a question on the Shiv Sena‘s ideas and thought process
48
and its impending re-organization in wake of the retiring of Mr. Bal Thackeray he said
that the Shiv Sena was a dynamic organization. He had his personal views too and
might not be in total agreement with a certain line taken by the party, but as secretary
and having to take care of the youth wing of the party he had his responsibilities and he
knew how to balance the same. Speaking of the fortunes of the party he said that it was
a cyclic process and being out of power at some time did not mean anything really. He
said that as far the party was concerned, the mantle was effectively being transferred to
Mr. Uddhav Thackeray and as a team the members of the party are putting the house
in order.
As for the MNS threat he said that indeed the new party has created a dent and there is
nothing to hide. But he said the Shiv Sena is currently reworking on its strategy. He
pointed out that as of now the MNS has nothing to prove, they could just say
something and get away with it without have to stand up to any testimony. He said,
―Let them come to power in some corporation, within a short duration and people will
be able to see who is Gold and who is Copper‖ and will vote for the Shiv Sena. He said
that the MNS was were selling dreams to the youngsters but this will only lead the
youth being misled—those who trust the leader of that party are eventually going to
lose, not gain; ―People will know the truth,‖ he said. On the issue of making voting
compulsory he said that he was apprehensive of such an approach; he instead suggested
that the Election Commission should be given an opportunity and a free hand to find
other ways of encouraging people to come out and vote… but then he said that the
voting percentage should indeed rise.
49
GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. Sanjay Puri
DESIGNATION: Founder & Chairman US India Political Action Committee
SUBJECT: Indian independence movement since 1857
It was just the second day of the second
term when SOG was fortunate to be
honored by the visit of one of the
prominent American Indians, Mr.
Sanjay Puri. He is the Founder and
chairman of two organizations, the US
India Political Action Committee
(USINPAC), which gives voice to more
than 2 million Indian Americans intent on exercising their political clout; and the
Alliance for US India Business(AUSIB), a goals-driven trade body that effectively
represents both US and Indian companies. Mr. Puri has been repeatedly recognized for
his work in furthering the economic dialogue, bolstering US-India energy security, and
galvanizing the Indian American community in support of the historic passage of the
US-India civil nuclear cooperation agreement which may redefine the way the US
strategically thinks about Asia.
For the grandeur of his achievements he came through as much of a sober, down to
earth and unassuming personality and he spoke off the cuff with excellent diction and
much clarity of thought. Taking off from an excellent introduction by the MC Mr.
Devendra Pai of the School of Government he sought to rest any doubts about being
whole-and-sole in the efforts of his institutions. He pointed out that, though he heads
the organizations, he is merely a figure head for a lot of hard work put in by many
people.
There on he started his address by mentioning about the great opportunity ahead of the
youngsters in India. He pointed out to the demographic profile of India and said that
there was much that could be achieved by youngsters. Careful not to sound boastful, he
made it a point to highlight that "if an immigrant can achieve so much in a country he
adopts, how much more can youngsters like you do in your own land". In his address
he shared extensively from his experience and made attempts to explain and to advise
his young listeners on the manner to approach public life. He spoke about the fact that
it is important to look at processes bottom up rather than top to bottom for better
success. He compared the presidential campaigns of Mr. Obama and Ms. Hillary
50
Clinton to make his point. In the way of need for training for the participants, he
sought to highlight the use of technology for getting in touch with the common citizen
and institutions at the grassroots levels. He was all praise for the work which President
Obama‘s team did in respect of use of technology in the campaign. He said that it lead
to setting up a social networking that eventually brought the results he desired. Mr.
Puri, later on, promised to send across to us a case study on the successful campaign.
Speaking of his personal experiences he talked about when he started: ―Ten years ago I
was living the
American dream‖ he
said, "and was in all
ways the success that
anyone would have
wanted." But of those
times he said that
people of Indian
origin just met and talked about problems which they faced and discussed politics in
general and did not do anything much about it. When realization dawned that if
something ought to be done then it was for each Indian to take the initiative, efforts
were made by contacting people during Diwali gatherings and other get-togethers and
an organization took birth and in a matter of ten years the organization grew up to be
eighty thousand strong.
"As on date, the Indian lobby is presumed to be the second most powerful lobby in the
US after the lobby of the Jews," he said; but also cautioned "that could be an
overestimation though". In any case he pointed out that in the US lobbying is legal—
allowed for any issue a citizen may feel hard pressed to address. And having taken up
the issue of the Nuclear deal with India, he recounted how he personally went about
meeting each of the 435+100 members of the two houses of the American Parliament
in order to make them understand the importance of the deal to the American nation.
He indicated the extent of influence of the lobby from the fact that they were able to
obtain apologies from eminent people like President Obama Who ultimately wrote
personally to Mr. Puri as representative of the Indian community and from Mr. Glenn
Beck, who has a 30 million strong viewership, when there was a degrading
misrepresentation of the truth, affecting the sentiments and dignity of the Indian
American community.
51
He ended his fluent diction with promise to support, in any way possible, the SOG‘s
efforts towards exploring opportunities for internship, cooperation, exchanges and such
other with potential partners in the US. He also made it a point to stress that the
participants were a fortunate lot since they were training for a role in government
which, to his mind, was the 'highest cause' in society.
A brief question answer session took place in the end, where the questions were mostly
in the area of Indo US relations and the approaches of the Presidents of the US. In
replying to a question on Indo American ties, he said that unlike the US-China
partnership which was lose-US-win-China in balance, the Indo-US partnership was a
win-win relationship. He also spoke of constraints in the taking forward of the Indo-US
ties at the political level, but then he also assured that at a cultural level, in education,
in issues like immigration and the like, the ties have grown beyond a point of no return.
In the political context he spoke of the gesture of the US President inviting Dr.
Manmohan Singh as the first state guest in his presidency; "it was nice‖ he said, but
then he also pointed out that one needs to evaluate the same not on the outer
appearance of it but rather on the content—―It is important to see if the PM come back
with something substantial" He said.
In an answer to a question he said that though Mr. George Bush could not do much for
India, he was truly a good friend of the Indians. As the School of Government looks
forward with a vision of entering the areas of policy research and into being a medium
for track 2 or track 3 diplomacy, it looks on with anticipation, hoping to take the
outcome of this interaction to a higher level. Indeed the opportunities are many and
hopefully all this will benefit the new breed of leaders who are honing their knowledge
and skills in the SOG in their quest for national leadership.
52
Local Field Visits
53
Visit to Gram Panchayat
MIT School of Government organized
a one day visit to Walava (Islampur)
Panchayat Samiti and Koregaon
Grampanchyat in Sangli district on 1
April 2010. The emphasis of the visit
was on understanding the
administrative and political
arrangement at block and village level.
The participants interacted with Mr. Satyajit Bade, the Block Development Officer of
Walva and also the departmental heads of Child Development, Primary Education and
Agriculture. The BDO explained to the participants that the work done at this level is
of immense significance in view of nation building because all it is related to the very
basic needs of life.
The participants learnt that if the team of dedicated officers is headed by a dynamic and
cooperative officer it certainly accelerates the developmental tasks. The Walva
Panchyat itself was a testimony to the fact. Few days back the Walva Panchayat
Samiti ranked 138 out of 256 block in the state, now it ranks 38th in the state.
After the Panchyat Samiti, the next visit was
to Gram Panchyat of Koregaon in Islampur
block. In this village the participants observed
the dynamic leadership of the Sarpanch
(village head). A well maintained Gram
Panchyat displaying the Citizen Charter on
the wall.
All the walls in the office displayed the demographic chart, Irrigation scheme, Indira
Awas Yojana and other such schemes. The village had won the prize of ‗Gram
Swachhata Abhiyan‘. By using the prize money of the scheme the villagers had
purchased a Ghanta gadi’ (Motor Vehicle with a bell) to collect the garbage.
The participants got an opportunity to interact with a group of women who were
successfully running the self-help group for saving and giving loans. At the end of the
day the participants visited the Jal Swaraj Project and a Biogas Plant in the village.
54
Village Visits
There are not so many villages in India that has made mark in the national map in
terms of successful sustainable development. We SOGians were fortunate enough to
visit the star villages in Maharashtra namely Nidhal Gram, Hivre Bazar and Ralegaon
Sidhi. Now the success stories of all of them are based on two major aspects, i.e. the
leadership and watershed development in the area.
A leader is someone who serves the people selflessly. We could see the identical
fundamentals of the leaders of these success stories. The protagonists here knew the
root cause of the situation of their hamlet. All three namely Shri. Chandrakant Dalvi,
Shri. Popat Rao Powar and Shri. Anna Hazare hail from complete diverse statures.
They had the moral obligation towards their soil which made initiate measures for the
people and more importantly by the people themselves. There‘s quote,‖ Do not catch a
fish for someone, teach him fishing‖. This is the contribution of the above personalities
towards society building.
We saw how one of the unique concepts of watershed has been brought up in the
villages. As rainfall is less in these areas, it is becoming one of the major problems of
the farmers but people of these villages have given one of the finest solution that how to
maintain water level by different water conservation tactics and also with the help of
the unique concept of water shed recharge and that too they have taken a task to recycle
the water to heighted areas so as to maintain good ground water level.
55
Nidhal
A village of Satara district in Maharashtra has created its own identity by itself and
become one the model
villages of Maharashtra. On
12/09/09 MIT-SOG visited
this village to make out the
secret. Firstly, the village
high school Hanuman
Vidyalaya which has been
named as the best school of the entire district and also is credited with a cent percent
SSC result. The administration of the village was self-explanatory as in the functioning
of the gram panchayat the people have a consensus while choosing a candidate during
panchayat elections.
Also, interesting to know was the small credit society meant for helping the villagers.
The main source of income here being agriculture, the villagers have reaped benefits of
cash crops like Amla, Onion, Guava etc. Last but not least, the biggest achievement of
the village was a lady being the sarpanch which was symbolic of women
empowerment.
56
Hivre Bazar
In Ahmednagar district of
Maharashtra, a village named Hivre
Bazar is setting an example. As it is
called as a ―Model Village‖, it
proves its worth as a glowing
diamond and a feather on India‘s
cap. But this wasn‘t the story until
Shri. Popat Rao Powar, the
Sarpanch of the village had put in
untiring efforts.
There‘s a famous saying that when the world is full of evils, a human superpower takes
birth to make over the destroyed. The rise of Shri. Popat Rao Pawar is no different than
this. Sidelining the geographical conditions of the village, today there is enough water
for the people under the ‗Water Conservation Plan‘ which is sufficient for the means of
ploughing as well as domestic purposes. To have the social stability he took up projects
like building schools, temples, mosques and gymnasium for the youth. He not only
advocated for the safety of the village, but also for the nearby forest with the help of the
local Forest Department. The unity of the people of the village is real gift to the nation
as they come forward voluntarily for every such activity. Social transformation also
included eradication of usage of liquor or drugs, controlling noise-pollution which is
rare even in urban India.
The efforts of Shri. Popat Rao Powar is accepted the world over today. He had been to
different countries on the ground of his
social reformations. The changes of
Hivre Bazar have been an example for
the best of the countries as they visit
this small locality quite often.
I request to all you reading this article
to have the will power to initiate an act,
the path will be discovered too. As the
saying goes, ―Charity begins at home‖- let us come forward and commence the work of
progress right from our own houses, societies, villages and towns. Then we can entitle it
as a sincere initiative for the human race.
57
Ralegan Siddhi
Anna Hazare, the central
character in the story had
given 5 principles on which his
total concept of model village
is established are Nashabandi,
Nasbandi, Shramdaan, Tree
plantation and to stop animals
to graze on fertile lands.
This village is entirely different from others i have ever seen. There was a school for
education, a hostel having very good infrastructure and facilities. Plantation of fruits
plant was nicely planned and
implemented. Organic farming
was one of the best examples of
educated farming.
One of the most important things
was that in this village women
are also given equal importance
as they handle the cultivation of
fruit plants and their sale which
gives them an income of Rs. 6 Lakh per annum. This village has touched new heights
in milk production which is about 3000 liters /day. So, it is very clear that for
constructing which a village people will have to come together having a vision to come
together having a vision above individual interests.
Building temple, eradication of alcoholism, establishment of Money bank were keys for
the development of social scenario. Anna Hazare arranged group marriages for the
poor and made several self-help groups. He brought a concept of Shram daan in village
in which every earner will fully contributes 10 percent of his income for betterment of
villages.
At last l would like to conclude with a quotation by Anna Hazare that ―One grain has
to bury itself alive to give birth to a field of crop. By burying itself the grain does not
die. India today needs activists like that grain.‖
58
SARHAD
―…hum honge
kamyab ek din, man mein
hain vishwas, poora hai
vishwas, hum honge kamyab
ek din‖.
As this popular
strain fell on our ears, we
realized that the spirit of
this song was best
represented by the children
singing it.
We set off on a Saturday afternoon to Sarhad, a non-governmental social and
educational organization that has dedicated itself to peace, humanity and development
in the strife-ridden border regions of India, such as Jammu & Kashmir and the North-
East. On reaching there, we were welcomed by Mr. Sanjay Nahar, President of Sarhad
and, about fifty odd children of varying ages. The programme began with Mr. Nahar
recounting a brief history of himself and of Sarhad, followed by an interactive session
where participants had an opportunity to raise queries. The children, shy and hesitant
at first, slowly came
forward and began to
speak. Later on, MIT-SOG
participants arranged an
informal games session. It
was delightful to watch
both the children of Sarhad
and MIT-SOGians
participate whole-heartedly
in the games. After that,
some of the people were
persuaded to sing, and in this it can be said without doubt that the children of Sarhad
outshone by far, the performers from MIT-SOG. All too soon, it was time to leave.
The mission of Sarhad is a noble one. It aims at giving children affected by terrorism
a chance at having a normal life, that they may spread the message of peace.
59
The story of Mr. Sanjay Nahar may be said to depict the saga of youth in areas where
violence is predominant; one that starts with anger followed by more violence,
disillusionment and finally the dawn of understanding. He was one of the fortunate few
who realized the futility of furthering a cause through violent means. There are many
others who haven‘t been as lucky, who have fallen into the trap of terrorism and have
reached the point of no return. Then what chance does the present generation of
children have of leading a normal life, of knowing the world outside of their four walls
of bloodshed, poverty, ignorance and isolation.
There is an urgent need to bring these children out of such strife-ridden areas into an
environment that is wholesome and educational where they are made to realize that
they are not so very different from us after all. It is with precisely with this objective
that Sarhad was founded. Here‘s hoping that it goes a long way in realizing its dream of
peace and unity- ―There are no boundaries‖.
60
Visit to BAIF
The participants of MPG-05
visited Bharatiya Agro
Industries Federation (BAIF)
on 28th November as part of
their curriculum. BAIF is a
reputed Research and
development foundation
situated in Urali Kanchan, committed to the sustainable development over 3.0
million rural families, spread over 45,000 villages and 12 states of India. The BAIF
goal is improved quality of life through livelihood, literacy, and health using available
natural resources and appropriate technologies while building human capabilities and
moral values. It is a non-profit, Public Charitable Trust established in 1967 by a staunch
Gandhian, Shri Manibhai Desai. BAIF has now been renamed as BAIF Development
Research Foundation. It works in areas such as Livestock Development, Water and
Land Resources Development, Empowerment of Women, Community Health,
Renewable Energy and Environment etc. The participants visited and got briefing on
Lives Stock development program, Agriculture Development Program, Water Shed
Development Program,
Peoples Organization and
Women in Development
Approach. The MIT-SOG
group visited various centres
of BAIF and observed the
various activities going on
there. The participants got
first-hand information about
Cattle Breeding Laboratory,
Semen Laboratory, Cattle
61
Feed Factory, Mineral Mixture Unit, Sericulture Department (Silk Emporium), Vermi-
culture Unit, Bio-Gas Plant, Embryo Transfer Laboratory and Fish-breeding pond.
They also attended the exhibition portraying the he activities and centres of BAIF.
The experts from these centres informed the MIT-SOG participants about the activities
being carried out there. The participants also got the information about the founder of
BAIF, Shri Manibhai Desai and the various awards conferred upon him such as
Magsaysay Award for public service, Jamanalal Bajaj Award, Padmashri etc.
The participants were also updated about various activities and projects of BIAF. The
visit was a learning experience to the MPG participants as a role model that a single
organisation itself can change the developmental challenges of India.
62
Visit to Aga Khan Palace
This palace was built in 1892 by
Imran Sultan Mohamaad Shah
Aga Khan III. He was elected
as the president of the League
of Nations in 1938 and was well
renowned in the field of politics
and sports. The place was later
donated to India by Aga Khan
IV in 1969 as a mark respect to
Gandhiji and his philosophy.
The Aga Khan palace is a national monument of Indian freedom movement. Following
the launch of Quit India movement in 1942, Gandhiji, his wife Kasturba, his secretary
Mahadev Desai was interned at the palace from August 9, 1942, to May 6, 1944.
Mahadevbhaiand Kasturba passed away while in captivity at the Aga Khan Palace and
their Samadhis are located in the campus situated near the river Mula, the Palace is a
simple memorial to Gandhiji‘s and his life.
The palace has developed into a national and international place of pilgrimage with
over a lakh of visitors every year who come to pay homage to the samadhis here. The
palace is surrounded by a sprawling garden. The famous movie Gandhi was shot here.
The management of the
museum, samadhis and the
palace campus was transferred to
the Gandhi Memorial Society in
1980. The society has been
trying to make this place living
memorial to Kasturba Gandhi
by organising a number of
activities throughout the year
63
Events
64
US Delegation Charms MIT-SOG
The participants of MIT School of Government got a firsthand chance to interact with
young leaders of the United States of America as a delegation of Council for Young
American Leaders the campus on
9th of November.
It was a session of two hours
conducted by MIT School of
government. All the delegates and
participants of MIT-SOG actively
contributed. The session was
beyond doubt very informative and
interactive. From the very presence
of my fellow participants and delegates it was obvious that our country is going on the
right track with the training process of governance and thereby increasing the quality of
policy making.
The discussion that took place was of high worth with special emphasis on changing
world order from uni-polar to multi-polar world and the change of American policies
towards India. It was great to clarify to the questions on their part which related to the
biggest social issues concerning India and India‘s relations with U.S.
Thereafter Poornima, one of the participants of MIT-SOG talked about the facets of
challenges for the budding Indian leaders.
Educated politicians or informed politicians are indispensable today. What we lack in
our country is the political will. The elected representatives are indulged in all possible
blame-game among themselves but never on the development issues.
Human behaviour reflects his work and it is factual in any field. Our efforts somewhat
reflect our own persona which is usually unseen in Indian politicians. I am not saying
our politicians should go for suit but they should change the way they respond and
react.
The best thing to learn from the delegates was the blend of idealistic and realistic
approach that will foster the development of a society. The blend is the policy that
should be ideal and also implemented to the best attainable extent. So with skilled
legislative we can bring the transformation we are determined for.
65
Earth Day Celebration at MIT-SOG
It was a quiet ceremony that took place in the MIT-SOG classroom—quiet but solemn.
It began with a few opening lines by the Course Head. Mr. Sankalp then played a short
film about the rapidly melting ice at the polar caps and in Iceland and followed that
with a power point presentation highlighting the condition of the globe, the real threat
to it and motivating messages calling for suitable action. The stage was then left open
for volunteers to express their views and three persons made their points. Mrs
Vanishree spoke about the need to be sensitive to the environment as it was important
to life on earth. The Course Head explained the importance of prioritizing and re-
framing the definitions of prosperity and contentment so that it would be more resonant
with the human spirit and more conducive to the future of humanity on the planet. Mr.
Ramanand spoke of the need to do something/anything to make a change.
Finally all arose and repeated after Mrs. Vanishree the Earth Day pledge.
“We the members of the MIT School of Government believe that we need to actively preserve
the Earth, the only home of the human race, for the sake of future generations and for all
forms of life dwelling on it.
We pledge to endeavor to leave this planet in a better condition than it was when we came to
inherit it.
And we shall do everything within our means to promote, amongst our fellow humans, the
preservation and nurturing of the environment.”
Short but sweet; the program did have the effect of a prayer. As we broke up for the day
we had revisited a quiet resolve to doing our part for our planet. For all we know may
be the time is not far away when it will become mandatory for us to do something
about it and vigorously too…
66
World Aids Day 2010
1st December is marked as World AIDS Day since 1988. The day is to increase
awareness, decrease ignorance, fight against stigma and discrimination and improve
education. This day commemorated to remind us that AIDS is not yet gone and we
need to unify to fight against it.
Dr. Raman Gangakhedkar of National AIDS Research Institute (NARI), Sanyogita
Dhamdhere of Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) and Mahendra Sonavne of
Network of Positive People, Pune (NPP+) interacted with the participants of MPG. Dr.
Gangakhedkar explained the medical aspects of how HIV is transmitted and the status
of treatment in India. He stressed on the necessity of opening more ART centers so that
there is access for treatment.
Sanyogita shared her experiences of working with media to sensitise them on writing
positive news, articles and stories related to People Living with HIV. The sensitivity
from the media is very important so that the myths around HIV/AIDS are demystified
among the general masses.
Mahendra Sonavane shared some heart touching experiences of his journey in knowing
his positive status to being a member of network of positive people to spread awareness
of HIV. He is working to help more positive people come to terms with their positive
status and to live life.
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We the People of South Asia: South Asian Youth
Camp in MIT-SOG
South Asian Youth Delegation visited MITSOG under Centre for youth development
and activities exchange program. MITSOG has hosted an interactive session between
MITSOG participants and South Asian delegation. At the beginning of program Miss
Vandana Seth Introduced the topic by expressing her views on “Evolution of
democratic process” and
Mr Towfiq Ahemad
Khan, North South
University, Dhaka
expressed his concerns
about instability of
Democracy in South Asian
region especially in Bangladesh. Mr. Rahul Kumar introduced MIT School of
Government to the delegation and career opportunities for the participants. Masters
Program in Government (MPG) explored the new dimensions of democracy and
pathways to peace.
The session was chaired by Mr. Nixon Fernando, Course head, MIT-SOG and Miss
Vandana Rai, Director, Programs CYDA. The students has healthy discussion on
“Three solutions to democratic process” facilitated by Mr. Ramanand Garge. The
entire discussion was healthy
as Participants and
Delegation exploring new
dimensions to democracy.
Students across Bangladesh,
Nepal, Maldives and
Afghanistan contributed to
the discussion and Mr.
Devendra Pai, Mis. Vandana
Seth, Mrs. Vanisree
Ramnathan, MIT-SOG expressed their views on Indian stand on spreading democracy
and solutions to the world peace. The program was anchored by Mr. Pawan Kumar,
Participant of MIT-SOG. During the lunch session students across countries in South
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Asia had a warm discussion and later MIT-SOG participants gave friendly farewell
before the delegation head towards their Motherland.
Voting Awareness Campaign
“Vote Karo, Vote Karo, Vote Karo; ya 49-O karo‖
This was the message given by the participants of MIT‘s Masters Program in
Government-05 (MPG) batch as they concluded their last performance of the street
play performed to encourage voting and also create an awareness about the concept of
‗None Of the Above‘ (NOTA) or in short Section 49-O of the Conduct of Election
Rules, 1961. It was observed that most educated people avoid voting as they think none
of the candidates contesting elections are worth their vote. The group decided to appeal
to the people to come out and vote or exercise the right under Section 49-O that gives
the voter right to record his/her name not to vote.
The concept of the street play was compiled in less than a week‘s time before the day
of performance. 10 participants of the MPG-05 batch actually performed in the street
play. Most of them were giving their public performance for the first time in their life.
The street play was performed on October 11 at Chandralok Canteen at MIT Campus,
Big Bazaar and Chaturshrungi Mandir. All the performances and the message of the
street play were well received by the audience. In addition to the street play the
participants had designed banners, placards and pamphlets. Prathmesh Gokhale of
MIT‘s International School of Broadcasting and Journalism helped in directing the
street play out of sheer passion to contribute to the noble cause. The event helped in
enhancing the team building spirit where each participant was contributing to the street
play and awareness building in a creative way to help in upholding Indian democracy.
69
Model Parliament
70
Model Parliament
As a part of the academic curriculum of Master‘s Program in
Government at MIT School of Government, the participants
of the fifth batch put up a brilliant performance in the Model
Parliament conducted on 17th June 2010. H. E. Shri.
Pratasingh Raoji Rane, Hon‘ble speaker of the Goa State
Assembly occupied the chair as the Speaker of the House.
The business of the house began with the National Anthem followed by Question
Hour. The members of opposition asked question on the current issues like IPL Tax
Exemption, Aero plane crash at Mangalore Airport, Right to Education and border
issue with China. Respective ministers and the Prime Minister answered the questions.
The consideration for the Bill on compulsory voting was an interesting part of the
business which raised some heated debate in the house. The opposition members
questioned the practicality and relevance of the Bill. Also the issue of developmental
opportunities for the natives in Mumbai and farmers‘ issues were taken in the special
mention speeches.
The adjournment motion put by the leader of opposition proved to be the climax of the
parliamentary session. The motion was introduced in the context of the inept handling
of the naxalite issue by the Government. The opposition criticized the government for
the atrocities committed by
the paramilitary forces on
the tribes, lack of basic
necessities among the
tribal belt and siphoning
off of the funds meant for
the tribal development.
In the gallery of audience
were present - Prof. Dr.
Vishwanath D. Karad,
Founder President of
MAEER‘s MIT Group of Institutions and Shri. Rahul V. Karad, the Chief Initiator and
Dean of MIT School of Government.
71
Convocation Ceremony
72
Convocation Ceremony
MAEER's MIT School of Government
held its Annual Convocation Ceremony
of the fifth batch of Masters Program in
Government at Saint Dnyaneshwara
Hall on April 28, 2011 at 11 am. The
Chief Guests on the occasion were Shri.
Gopinath Munde - Hon'ble Leader of
Opposition, Lok Sabha and Shri. Padmakar Valvi - Hon'ble Minister for Sports &
Youth Affairs, Govt. of Maharashtra and Guest of Honour was Smt. Pankaja Munde
Palve – MLA, Maharashtra State.
The ceremony commenced with the procession led by Prof. (Gp. Capt.) D.P. Apte,
Director MIT-SOG, holding the Mandanda in his hands, accompanied by Prof. Dr.
Vishwanath D. Karad, Founder President, MAEER‘s MIT group of Institutions, Chief
Guests of the Ceremony, Hon. Shri. Gopinath Munde, Leader of Opposition, Lok
Sabha and Shri. Union Minister Padmakar Valvi - Hon'ble Minister for Sports & Youth
Affairs, Govt. of Maharashtra, Prof. Mangesh Karad, Executive Director – MIT Group
of Institutions, Dr. Sanjay Upadhye, Executive Director – MIT World Peace Centre,
Prof. Rahul V. Karad, Chief Initiator
and Dean, MIT-SOG and Dr. Shrikant
Paranjpe, Honorary Academic Advisor
– MIT-SOG and the MPG-05
participants who were well-attired in
their convocation robes.
The function started with the lighting of
the lamp by the dignitaries. The
ceremony was declared open by Founder President, MAEER‘s MIT Group of
Institutions – Prof. Dr. Vishwanath D. Karad. The opening speech was given by Chief
Initiator & Dean, MIT-SOG Shri. Rahul V. Karad. The Course Completion
Certificates were distributed to the MPG-05 participants by Hon‘ble Shri. Gopinath
Munde on the auspicious occasion. Special Awards were given to three MPG-05
participants, namely –
73
‗Academic Excellence‘: Shri. Devendra Pai, ‗Best Participant‘: Shri. Ashwinee Kumar
and ‗Be the Change‘: Shri. Nagesh Cherukuri.
While addressing the audience, Shri. Munde said for India‘s development – there‘s an
urgent need to Control Population Explosion and introduce Electoral Reforms. State
Minister for Sports & Youth Affairs, Shri. Padmakar Valvi spoke about the need and
importance of leadership training in India for all budding political leaders. He said
proper training & leadership skills are needed for development of good politicians. This
can be achieved through proper training at schools dedicated for imparting training in
politics and good governance.
74
Academic Team
75
Director
Prof. (Gp Capt) D P Apte
Faculties
Mrs. Vanisree Ramanathan
Mr. R. Garge
Mrs. Rama Sarode
Mrs. Mukta Kulkarni
76
Academic Awards
77
Best Academic Performance
Mr. Ashvinee Kumar
Best Participant
Mr. Devendra Pai
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