MPG – 05 Batch Set for International Tour

After the completion of the academic schedule, local and national level visits, the MIT School of Government, Pune, organized an international study tour for the participants of Masters Program in Government Batch 5, from 22nd June to 10th July, 2010.  The tour comprised of the visits to UK, France, Belgium, Netherland and Switzerland. The purpose of the tour was to widen the horizons of the participants by giving an opportunity to understand the functioning of  international organizations, to make them aware of the governing system, development pattern, Parliamentary processes, socio economic and political system, and non-governmental organizations of Europe.  The tour also emphasized to uncover potential areas of cooperation between India and Europe, and related affairs of foreign policy.
United Kingdom was the first destination for MIT-SOG team. On 22nd June the participants left from Chatrapati Sivaji international Airport to London.

On the pleasant morning of 23rd June the delegation landed at Heathrow airport, which was an ecstatic moment as most of them were stepping on the foreign land for the first time.  Through a guided tour, the participants criss crossed the city of London and Westminster.  Witnessing the British parliament, Bank of England, London School of Economics, Governmental buildings, London eye, Big Ben and London Bridge was an exciting experience for the participants.  Participants then got an opportunity to witness the Changing guard Ceremony at Buckingham palace

The first appointment in London was at “International Policy Network” (IPN), which is Non-governmental Organization.  Mr. Mark Bailley, the editor of IPN had an interactive session in which he explained in detail about IPN and its philosophy and throw light on Health, fair and free trade policies and free market, Intellectual property rights and Environment, and the issue of accountability which are the main focus areas of IPN and the organization is active in more than 35 countries. Mr. Julian Harris, Research fellow at IPN discussed on Public health.

After the intellectual delicacies in IPN the group moved to the most renowned and prestigious institution London School of Economics (LSE).  In LSE the group got an opportunity to interact with Dr. Ruth Kattumuri, who is the co-director of Indian Observatory in LSE and Co-director of Asia Research Centre. In the interactive session she spoke on recent UK elections, coalition governments in countries, Lok sabha polls, developmental issues in India, and also contribution of LSE to the world economy. After the interactive session, budding politicians of India visited new academic building, Library and classrooms of LSE.  The next destination for the group was High Commission of India, the Bharat Bhavan.

The students got an opportunity to interact with newly posted Deputy High Commissioner, Mr. R.N. Prasad. In the meeting, he mentioned the functioning of the high commission in UK and its significance for both countries. The interactive sessions revealed various aspects of diplomacy and the relevance of international relations for a country. In commonwealth Secretariat they were briefed by Mr. Mark Stevens, in charge of the political and democratic wing of the Commonwealth Secretariat. He detailed about the concept of “Commonwealth” based on common values shared by the 54 member nations.   He opined that commonwealth group of nations contains only 30% of the world population and explained the structure of commonwealth Secretariat. He described that Commonwealth doesn’t have any army, nor imposes sanctions on any member countries and also throw light on the procedure of suspension with special reference to Pakistan.  In the question answer session, he discussed the challenges of commonwealth and the relevance of commonwealth Secretariat today. In the concluding session, Mr. Mark Stevens, informed three challenges to democracy, lack of political will, corruption and lack of institutionalization. 

Participants were very much eagerly waiting for the appointment in  Conservative Party office. Ms. Philippa Broom, the director of the International Office welcomed the participants. Ms Philippa Brown gave a brief introduction about the Conservative party’s ideology, and stressed more on the values of “freedom” and “responsibility”.  She highlighted that conservative Party was a firm believer of decentralization and its constituencies were strong unit and not the high command. In the interactive session she answered to the queries on election campaigning, state funding, and the issue of common currency. She concluded her session by stating that “Both the parties have the same objectives for Britain, but only the paths differ”.