Local Visits

Hyderabad Educational Trip:
9th to 15th February, 2009

The participants of MIT School of Government (MPG-04) visited Hyderabad, as part of their educational trip in order to assess the social and political situation of state from 9th to 15th of February 2009.

In the first day of their visit, they visited Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, and attended the budget session of the house. This visit gave an opportunity for the participants to experience in detail the functioning of a house and the procedures involved therein.  Witnessing the debate, fight and walk out in the house, informed the participants, the necessary change in the attitude, behavior and political culture of the people’s representatives to dream about a developed India. 

The next Visit to Loksatta Party  headed by Dr. Jayprakash Narayan, was an enriching one for the MIT-SOG participants.  Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan is a physician who joined the Indian Administrative Service in the aftermath of the Emergency and during the failure of the Janata Experiment.
He was a topper in the IAS exam. During the 16 years of distinguished public service in various capacities, he acquired a formidable reputation in the State of Andhra Pradesh. He has accomplished various policy initiatives such as law for the self reliant cooperatives and empowerment of local government and stakeholders.  According to him what India needs today is a fundamental change in the rules of the game and not a periodic change of players.   In order to translate his vision into practical reality, he resigned from Service (IAS) in 1996, and worked with like-minded colleagues for the formation of Lok Satta party and is currently its National Coordinator.  Lok Satta  has now emerged as a leading civil society initiative for governance reforms. It has wide reach, name recognition, credibility and passive support of about 20% of the population of Andhra Pradesh. Lok Satta is also  building alliances across India.
Dr. Narayan discussed with MIT-SOG students about the issues in Indian politics, such as corruption, criminalization of politics, current political processes, political culture and the related developmental challenges in India and the type of change in the system essential to enable good Governance in India.  Hesaid the country is ripe for basic changes. “For the first time in India’s history, people all over the country have come to believe that the political system needs to be reformed.  He discussed in detail about the origin and history of Loksatta party, its contribution in legal reforms, the social advocacy and activism undertaken and the challenges and opportunities in front of Loksatta Party today.    In conclusion he defined leadership as “Leading from the front based on one’s virtues without looking for any particular position”. >

The next visit to the Indian School of Business (ISB) was an inspiring one. It is the one of best Institute of its kind in India creating corporate leaders.  In ISB, MIT-SOG participants interacted with Dr. Ram Mohan Rao, the Former Dean of ISB and Corporate Icon of India. He discussed with MIT-SOG team, the industrial growth, industrial policies and corporate policies of India.

He also elaborated on the Corporate Governance and the relevance of Business Ethics in India. While discussing the Agricultural sector in India, he also mentioned about the corporate farming methods to improve the agricultural sector.   He also informed us, his idea of starting a new course in Public Policy in ISB and the challenges to the implementation of it. He appreciated the efforts of Prof. (Dr.) Vishwanath D. Karad and Mr. Rahul. V. Karad for initiating the concept of political leadership in the form of MIT School of Government.  When asked about how he defines success, he said, “It is satisfaction in whatever we do”.  

The participants also attended the 5th Young Indians National Summit 2009, organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Young Indians (Yi) in ISB.   In this summit the participants attended the presentation of Prof. C.K. Prahalad, a scholar from the University of Michigan, who talked on Wake Up to India @ 75, a presentation portraying   his dream of India after 75 years of Independence.   Through this presentation he described the challenges of India’s development as well as the positive growth witnessing in various sectors. The presentation was about his dreams of India after 14 years.    Another session on Terrorism: A Trigger for a breakthrough agenda was also enlightening for the participants of MIT-SOG.  This session focused on, how young Indians can take on Terrorism with a response that is reasoned, inclusive and long-term.  The panelists for this discussion included Mr. Raghu Raman, CEO, Mahindra Special Services Group, Mr. M.M. Pallam Raju - Minister for State for Defence, Government of India, Mr. Vijay Kumar, Director - Sardar Vallabhai Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad and Mr. Sreenivasan Jain - Manging Editor NDTV, Mr. D. R. Kaarthikeyan - Former Director General of NHRC, CRPF and CBI.  The discussion directed to identify workable solution to the issue of terrorism.  Everyone from the panel agreed that Good governance, awareness to people, people’s participation, and resources allocation to the local police officers, army, Navy, and NSG is the need of the hour.  They also mentioned about the moral panicking of the media in this issue also. 
The next session in ISB was on Governance: Participatory Democracy and Moral Leadership.  In that discussion the  discussion panel consists of Mr. Anu Aga - Director, Thermax, Mr. Madhu Goud  Yaskshi - Member of Parliament (INC), Mr. Gopal Srinivasan -  Chairman-CII Mission on India @75 and CMD, Mr. Trilochan Sastry - Professor and Dean, Indian Institute of Management, and Mr. Mrigank Tripathi - Director, QED Venture Advisors and Organizer of Tata Jagriti Yatra.   In this session the discussion directed towards the question of how one protects the rights of an individual without compromising the larger benefit of the society.  The discussion concluded with the key learning that Good Governance coupled with Moral leadership based on participatory democracy is the need of the hour to develop India into a superpower. 

The next appointment for MPG-04 was at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel National Police Academy, (SVPNPA) an institute preparing leaders for Indian Police.  The MIT-SOG team attended a training session of the police officers, facilitated by Mr. Shri G.H.P. Raju - the Deputy Director of the Police Academy. He briefed the participants about the police organizational structure in India and its implications. He interacted with the MIT-SOG participants and clarified their queries related to bad image and performance of police in India. While answering to the query he focused on the police recruitment and procedures of promotion, which he confirmed as responsible for the bad image of police in   India today.    After observing the infrastructure facilities of the academy, the participants interacted with Shri Shirish Jain - the Deputy Director of SVP National Policy Academy.

 

He informed the students the details about the police training courses, the curriculum and various activities and the functioning of the NPA.  After this interaction, MIT-SOG team got an opportunity to meet the Director of the Academy Mr. Vijay Kumar (IPS), who is famous for his bravery and the rare achievement to trap the most wanted “Veerappan”.    

Mr. Vijay Kumar congratulated the MIT-SOG participants for taking this difficult and the demanding path of Political Leadership. He also shared his views on the nature and type of leadership India demands today. 

National Institute of Rural Development was the next destination for the MIT-SOG students, which is an institute, facilitating rural sustainable development with particular emphasis and focus on the rural poor by improving the knowledge, skills and attitudes of rural development officials, non  officials.

The visit to the Institute enabled the participants to understand various rural technologies available for the rural people. The information about self help groups, cooperatives, housing technologies, low cost toilet facilities and various finished products from the available raw materials in the rural area broadened the horizons of the MIT-SOG participants.

The next visit of the MIT-SOG team was to Congress Party office in Hyderabad. Here they interacted with Mr. Rapolu Anand Bhaskar - General Secretary of the  Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee.  He discussed about the relevance of youth leadership in Indian politics and the requirement of new and innovative ideas to appeal to the people. He also briefed about the working of Andhra Pradesh Congress Party.

MIT group also visited Telugu Desam Party (TDP) office and met Mr. Dadi Veerabhadra Rao -  opposition leader of the A.P. Legislative Council and also interacted with Prof. Suryanarayana, an intellectual and retired professor of politics working in TDP.   Both of them talked about the history, vision and mission of TDP and the detailed manifesto which includes economic security, food security and health security and strategy of TDP in the coming elections.  The highlight among its 64-page election manifesto is a unique Cash Transfer Scheme for the vulnerable sections, free color television distribution to below poverty line families, comprehensive health insurance covering ailments from fever to heart problems, creation of 1,250 Modern Development Corridors for generation of about 25 lakh jobs, creation of a Rs 1,000 crore market stabilization fund for the agriculture sector.

Other promises include,   implementing a five-day week for state government employees, enacting a legislation to check political corruption in the state and agriculture sector too would be promoted to the international level on par with the Information Technology sector.  The discussion also directed towards the shift of TDP’s stand on separate Telengana issue. According to the TDP office, TDP will take all required legal and political steps for creation of a separate state.  In the interaction, D.V. Rao also shared his experience as an opposition leader in the AP Legislative Council.   

The MIT SOG teams visit to the Centre for Political Development (CPD) was a proud moment, as CPD is an institute created by one of the alumni of MIT-SOG.  The vision of CPD is to bring positive political change and to develop the political system of the country.  In CPD, the MIT-SOG team interacted with Mr. Shyam Mohan, who is the Chairman of the Intellectual Cell of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee.    As an experienced person, who has written various articles on different topics, Mr. Shyam Mohan, mentioned about the role of intellectuals in Indian political system.    He also stressed that as future leaders; one will have to focus on one particular area and must be specialized in something. He elucidated the relevance of values in Indian politics and value based leadership.  While sharing his experiences in politics in India he highlighted the relevance of Gandhian values even today.    The participants of MIT-SOG also got an opportunity in CPD to meet Dr. Bhagya Reddy, a Psychiatrist and Social worker who discussed with the student the individual and social behavior necessary for a leader, and the importance of emotional strength and confidence.   He also indicated about the social psyche, which is necessary for a successful leader to   comprehend and to act accordingly. 

MIT SOG participants also visited National Academy of Construction (NAC) during their Hyderabad trip.  National Academy of Construction (NAC) has emerged as an apex body for development of all types of construction resources, technologies and methodologies for fast track completion of projects.   
Registered as a "Society" and incorporated as a "Public Charitable" institution in September 1998, it is managed by a Board of Governors with the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh as its Chairman.

The mission of NAC is to develop a technologically advanced and competitive construction industry which serves India's economic needs. With this goal, NAC runs various training courses and programs of relevance to the construction industry. Training of construction technicians and supervisors is a part of the activities of the NAC. The visit to NAC has given diverse ideas and perspective of rural and urban development, technologies and projects which can be implemented in their  own home state to  the budding leaders of MIT-SOG.  They also interacted with the team of Andhra Pradesh centre of the Builders Association of India.
             

MIT SOG team also visited and interacted with Mr. Kondireddy Raj Gopal Reddy, an aspiring congress MP from Bhongiri   parliamentary constituency, from Nalgonda District.  He discussed his field experience in politics as he is from a political family. Through the interaction he expressed the voter’s psyche, demands, voting patterns and people’s views and expectations from elections and from their votes.

The Participants also interacted with one of the famous Naxalist leader in Hyderabad. The meeting with him better informed the participants about the Naxalism as the movement and clarified many of the queries they had in the classroom about the milieu and psychology of the people who choose the path of Naxalism and to the dangers to this type of uprisings to the state and the people as a whole.

The last visit of the field trip in Hyderabad was to the media house, namely, Progressive media, a media house created to communicate leftist ideology.    In Progressive media house, the participants interacted with Mr. P.L. Viswewara Rao - the Professor of Journalism who talked about the media activism and the need of a effective media portraying the realities of society.  In his speech, he elaborated on social justice, the origin and future of social movements, media hype and activism in the world today. In the discussion that followed, the question answer session, together with MIT-SOG team, many other social activists and student leaders also joined.

In the last day of their visit, the participants also got an opportunity to visit Golkonda fort, Birla Mandir , Charminar, and other monuments, portraying a unique culture and history of Hyderabad. Each monuments has a different stories of its own.

The six day visit of the participants of MPG-04 to Hyderabad and interaction with various institutions, leaders and experts came to an end, with ample knowledge and wisdom of the socio-political situations of the capital of Andhra Pradesh. The key learning from the visit includes knowledge about the socio- political culture of Hyderabad, abundant experience of the iconic institutions, interactions with leaders, acquaintance of the social movements, awareness about Andhra Pradesh Developmental model and the acquaintance of the pulse of the people of Hyderabad.

VISIT OF THE STUDENTS FROM THE HAGUE UNIVERSITY,
THE NETHERLANDS

 Field Visit Report of MPG-04

March 18, 2009

A delegation of 24 students from the Hague University, the Hague (the Netherlands) had come to MIT School of Government, Pune as a part of the student exchange program from March 18, 2009 to April 2, 2009. The delegation was led by 4 faculty members. The students mainly comprised of the undergraduate students, studying different courses such as Safety and Security Management, International European Law and Healthcare and Management. They underwent a rigorous academic program on ‘Good Governance and Human Rights’ for about 15 days. Their Program comprised of classroom sessions, field visits as well as presentations on the key learnings from the program.
CLASSROOM SESSIONS
The following classes were conducted for the Dutch delegation.

• On March 19, 2009, Mrs. Kavita Dwivedi, a government officer took a session on Urban and Rural Governance in India. As the students were undergoing a program on Good Governance, it was necessary for them to understand the system of governance in India.
• Same day a Workshop on ‘Role of Police in Maintaining Law and Order ‘by Dr. Sanjay Shinde, the Superintendent of Police from Pune was also conducted.  He explained, in detail, the structure and functions of the police department as well as their role in the process of governance.
• Mr. Yashwant Rajwade, a former senior bureaucrat and also the former Election Commissioner, state of Maharashtra and an Advisor to Prof. Rahul V. Karad, the Executive Dean, MIT School of Government took a session on March 23 on ‘Indian Administration and Good Governance’. Issues related with international politics such as US attack on Iraq and Afghanistan, the issue of terrorism etc were discussed.
• On March 24, 2009, Mr. Sanjay Upadhye, conducted a session on ‘Spiritual India’.  Mr. Sanjay Upadhye, being a versatile personality, discussed the spiritual and cultural side of India with the foreign delegates in a crisp and interesting style. His lecture was followed by a question answer session, in which various queries of the students from the Hague about Indian culture were answered satisfactorily by him.
• Mr. Prashant Kothadia, a well known personality from the social and development field from Pune conducted a session on March 25, 2009. Mr. Kothadia has experience of working with many prominent NGOs in Pune for more than 25 years. In addition he is also the resident director of the Alliance for Global Education, and the Head of Sakaal Social Foundation. He spoke about the Role of Media in social change in general and the Role of Sakal Foundation in particular.
• On March 30, 2009 a Debate on ‘Human Rights Perspective: Western vs Asian’ was organized in the class. The students from the Netherlands debated with the students from MIT School of Government. The issues such as can human rights be truly universal or they have to be culture specific; whether globalization will promote or hinder human rights; are human rights a cloak to hide western cultural imperialism etc were discussed and debated in the class. The debate was led and coordinated by Ms. Mukta Kulkarni, the Academic Administrator, MIT School of Government and Mrs. Vanishree Ramnathan, Research Associate, MIT School of Government.
• Prof. Rob Ruts from the Hague University, the Netherlands took a session on ‘Network of Policing and New Spheres In Public Governance’ on March 30, 2009. The lecture was very informative and was well appreciated by the students.

FIELD VISITS
Following field visits were organized for the

• Katewadi –

The students from the Hague University and the students of MIT School of Government went for a field visit to a model village – Katewadi, Tal. Baramati, Dist. Pune. The field visit was held from March 20, 2009 to March 22, 2009. The highlight of this field visit was the fact that all the students, including the students from Netherlands stayed in the houses of the villagers in groups of 2/3, which itself was a great learning experience, especially for the foreign students. The students were overwhelmed by the hospitality shown by the villagers. The students visited Sharda Milk Collection Centre, Chhatrapati Cooperative Sugar Factory, Vasundhara Community Radio Centre, Wrestling Centre, Primary School, Vidya Pratisthan educational complex, Panchayat Samiti, Krishi Uttpann Bazar Samiti, Dynamics Dairy, Winery as well as the Aviation Academy at MIDC in their 3 days visit to Katewadi. The students were highly influenced by the kind of development that has taken place in Katewadi and they also understood the role of political leadership in the development of the village in terms of the efforts taken by Shri Sharad Pawar ji (Hon. Union Minister for Agriculture), Shri Ajitdada Pawar  (Minister for Water Resources, State of Maharashtra) and especially of Smt. Sunetra Pawar, whom the villagers revere a lot. 

• Dalit Bastis/Urban Slums –

On March 26. 2009 the team also visited poverty-stricken areas of Pune to understand the realities of the people living in those areas.  They visited the slums of Yerwada, Laxminagar,  as well as Laxminagar Muncipal School, and Kondwa region.  An analysis on the issues and problems of the people living in this area was done.  Lack of proper housing is the main issue coupled with issues such as unemployment, illiteracy, lack of toilet facilities, water shortage, alcoholism, big sized families, garbage etc.  They also observed that even though people of this area are poor and lack various facilities, they seem to be happy which was the main learning outcome for the foreign students. 

• Sarhad – An NGO from Pune

The team visited an NGO named Sarhad in Pune on March 30, 2009. Sarhad  (meaning Border) is a Non - Governmental organization (NGO) based at Pune, Maharashtra. Sarhad has devoted itself for the upliftment of the civilians of these areas esp. women, children and orphans who have been affected by the conflict. They are running a residential school for around 76 children from Jammu and Kashmir. Some of these children are those whose parents died in the crossfire between militants and security forces. Some are even children of militants.  The Dutch delegation was informed about the work of Sarhad by Mr. Sanjay Nahar, the President of Sarhad himself. The students taking education in this school also interacted with the Dutch delegation.

PRESENTATIONS
The students from the Netherlands as well as the MPG 04 students made group presentations on the key learnings from the Katewadi field visit on March 24, 2009. Apart from highlighting the hospitality of the villagers, they also touched upon issues like gender inequality, income inequality in the village, health and sanitation, education and overall rural development.
On April 1, 2009, the students from the Netherlands and the students of MPG 04 made group presentations jointly on issues related to ndia and provide practically implementable solutions to them. Four different themes such as Education, Urbanisation, Slums and Garbage were picked up by different groups and they tried to explain the problem as well as attempted to suggest practical policy alternatives to solve these problems. The group ‘Lotus’ who made a presentation on the problem of Garbage in India won the first prize.
At the end of this 15 day intensive program, the students from the Hague University, were awarded certificates for participating in the program on ‘Good Governance and Human Rights’ at the hands of Prof. Rahul V. Karad, the Executive Dean of MIT School of Government on     April 01, 2009.  

Chattisgarh Election 2008

 Field Visit Report of MPG-04

9 to 14th of November

The participants of the MPG 04 visited Chattisgarh, a recently created state of India, which was preparing for the second General Assembly Elections in November 2008. The field visit was scheduled from 9 to 14th of November, during the peak of the election campaign. The team visited four districts of the state namely Bhilai, Raipur, Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund.  In these four districts MIT-SOG study group had stopped at nine constituencies, namely; Bhilai city, Vaishali Nagar, Rajnandgaon, Arang, Abhanpur, Raazim, Raipur Rural, Kurud and Durg Rural. Students first visited the office of the Deshbandhu, a popular newspaper of the Chattisgarh. The owner and Editor of the newspaper, Mr. Lalit Surjan, shared the socio- economic and political situation of Chattisgarh and informed the history, geography, diverse culture, and cosmopolitan nature of the state.  Surjanji’s interaction had given a brief background of the political landscape of Chattisgarh that equipped them to analyse the field thoroughly.

During the tour the participants interacted with various leaders, attended rallies of many contestants and conducted an inclusive survey of the Chattisgarh people. The leaders with whom they interacted also included the Governor of Chattisgarh, His Excellency E.S.L. Narasimhan. His Excellency explained the MIT-SOG team about, what they must focus on while pursuing political leadership careers and mentioned that leadership; especially the political leadership is not an easy task. In his speech he clarified his views on development and leadership and encouraged the participants to become more ethical and efficient, which according to him is the need of the hour.  The team also interacted with the Chief Minister of Chattisgarh Dr. Raman Singh at his guesthouse. Dr. Raman Singh is a leader who is always seen in the midst of the people, accessible and available to the common man. Perhaps this could be the reason for his success and the clean image. The other noteworthy leaders with whom the group interacted includes, Shri Prem Prakash Pandey, Speaker of Chattisgarh, Ms Saroj Pandey the BJP contestant from Vaishali Nagar Constituency and former mayor of Kurd, Mr. Uday Mudaliyar, the congress opponent of Dr. Raman Singh, Mr. Ajay Chandrakar, who was the Education minister of outgoing Government and BJP contestant from Kurud, Mr. Devendra Verma, Secretary of Chattisgarh Vidhan Sabha and Mr. Vidhyacharan Shukla, a veteran congress leader and former Chief Minister of Madya Pradesh. These interactions undoubtedly bestowed the practical leadership lessons to the participants of MIT-SOG.

The Chattisgarh trip also enabled the MPG-04 batch to have direct experience of election campaigns and rallies. The participants attended, witnessed and experienced the campaigns and rallies of Mr. Rahul Gandhi, Ms. Saroj Pandey, Mr. Ajay Chandrakar, Shri Raman Singh, and Shri Uday Mudaliyar.  This taught them the nitty-gritty of organising a rally and   efficient management of an election campaign. The team also visited the Chattisgarh Vidhan Sabha, and the Rajkumar College, school of historical relevance, where first Chattisgarh Assembly was held.  The visit to Sirpur and Rajim depicted the vibrant cultural heritage and natural beauty, architectural excellence, simplicity and uniqueness of rural village life. Participants also got an opportunity to visit Lord Buddha’s monasteries established by his followers. The Sirpur village comprised of many temples on the banks of the river Mahanadi. The team visited Laxman temple, which is one of the rare temples in India of its kind and also a Jain temple in Nagarpura, situated in Durg district. 

During the visit to various constituencies the MIT SOG team got adequate opportunity to interact with experts, academicians, political activists, senior citizens, tribal folk and people from different caste groups, gender and youths. The one-to-one interaction with local peoples in nine constituencies equipped the participants to predict the election results of those constituencies and also to dig out the key issues disturbing the populace of that region.  Out of the nine constituencies visited, MPG-04 participant’s prediction is favour of BJP contestants except in Raipur Grameen, where the team predicted that the Congress contestant Satyanarayan Sharma would get the majority. Based on the sample collected they also predicted the state level results as well.

Chattisgarh field visit potryed the main poll issues of development, more specifically of food, agriculture, price rise, public distribution system, unemployment, hygiene & sanitation, electricity, education, and industries. Both Congress and BJP promised through their manifesto to distribute rice to BPL families for lower cost. (Rs.1/kg (BJP) and Rs.2/Kg (Cong).) The land acquisition for industrialisation by the earlier government caused some disgruntle among the farmers. Congress claimed that it would not allow any persons from any other states to buy land and one could acquire land only with farmers consent.

The public in Chattisgarh seems to be more matured that their voting preferences are based on candidate’s credibility rather than party lines or ideology. The Chattisgarh election prediction of MPG-04 participants is that even though none of the major parties (BJP and Congress) are expected to get a clean sweep in these elections, BJP appear to have an added advantage over Congress and will get a majority with a small margin.  At the same time, the participants envisaged that Congress might acquire some additional seats in the assembly compared to what they got in the last elections.    In their view, the factors that are working in favour of BJP are Dr Raman Singh’s charisma, clean image and popularity. He is very simple, approachable and accessible and BJP is successful in projecting him, whereas Congress has not yet declared their prospective candidate for the Chief Minister’s post. 

The presence of BSP will cut many of the Congress votes, which is going to play a decisive role in the election results.  BJP has put many new candidates in this election, as 18 of the sitting MLA’s and some of the ministers are not given tickets on accusation of corruption and criminal charges. In this way BJP has prevented anti-incumbency factor to play its spoil for them.  Internal conflicts about congress leadership and the mistake of not declaring or projecting their Chief Ministerial candidate is acting negatively to the Congress party. The BJP manifesto, comprised of the scheme of Rs. 1 per kilo rice, will become a major factor pulling votes among the slum- dwelling population. The projection of the developmental work done by the current government of the BJP has been positive which will create an impact on the people to vote for the party.  Politics in Chattisgarh seems to be unaffected by the internal threats of Naxalites and Maoists which proves the states unity and determination to fight against such threats.

The trip together with ample experiences highlighted the lesson that if we need to implement successfully various governmental policies or developmental programs, people’s participation is crucial.  It also taught the participants that together with the leadership traits of a leader, the group dynamics and teamwork facilitate, one to reach to the goal. The MPG-04 batch returned from Chattisgarh with plenty of experiences, which no one can accomplish within the four walls of the classroom.

PAUL A. FOLMSBEE, CONSUL GENERAL	With Paul J. Houge, Deputy Ditector, US Dept. of State & Mrs.Elizabeth Kaufman, American Center Director.	Elizabeth Kauffman, American Center Director.

Report of Field Visit to Congress Bhavan, Pune

September ,13th 2008

The participants of MPG (Batch-04) from MIT SOG,Pune, visited Pune city Congress  Committee office on 13-09-08 with the aim of understanding how a party office works at the bottom level as well as to make an acquaintance with the local congress tenures.
The office is situated at Pune near Municipal Corporation. It was a good initiative for us to start from the ingrained level before going for the principal offices as well as for the eminent leaders of the nation. So we started from the congress committee office in Pune .They arranged a warm welcome for all of us.
It was spellbinding to know that the building was first erected in 1937, renewed and extended in 1942 and that the office is well functioning in the premises from this very early days. Mahatma Gandhi also paid a visit here. Among his rousing memoirs we can see his holograph with signature, in the office. It was a haunt for the congress freedom fighters since 1930‘s. Later on many celebrated congress leaders like Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and etc also made their visits and the office is a liver arm for the Congress centre leadership as far as the politics in the western India is concerned.
An official meeting with the Pune city congress committee president Mr.Adv. Abhay Chajed was arranged. He well explained us the hierarchy of different tenures in his paty. According to him the local political activities are more or less of a collective individual efforts. The “centre” may support but often not financially. So the raising up and collection of funds at the local level, initiation,organisation and management of  different political activities  which concocts the general public and the party at the nubile level as well as motivational and catalytic support to the ordinary members at the basic level comes only from the local offices only. The different tenures starts with National President at the top, goes with state President, District President, Block President and ultimately ends with Ward President in the foundational level.
Congress also keeps its own wings like Sevadal, National Students Union of India (NSUI), Youth Congress, Indian National Trade Union Congress and Mahila Congress. They are garnering and regimentising the individual power  and channelizing these different streams to go with the main stream within the party in the process of building up of the developmental politics of our nation; Of course, politically ,the main stream issues may  far apart from the local issues. Different tenures are the connecting link between individual members and the higher ups in the party.
Mr. Suresh Kalmadi,M.P. from congress represents Pune Constituency at present. He also chairs at this office. The office is well equipped with a good library where from we can have books but mostly on congress ideology, starting from the pre- independence era. Membership is open to all and the library is open to general public for reference only. Bagging a membership in congress is not a sophisticated progress; but as simple as to the  filling up your Application Forum and payment of a membership fee. Your dedication to work with the party  is the worth counted. The peaceful atmosphere in the office took us to the rejoicing memories of former congress leaders. Certainly, Late.Mr.Yashwantrao Chavan, the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra, after the separation of the State of Maharashtra in the year 1960 and Narayana Prabhada are well remembered in their statues.
Again, we got an opportunity to meet the Vice President of the committee, Mr.Arvind Shinde in his office at Samrajya Hotel,Pune.He is a well established businessman as well as an unbeaten counsellor to the Pune Muncipal Corporation for the last three consecutive elections from his ward. He shared with us some of his professional experiences.
Pune Municipal Corporation also works under “The Bombay Provincial Muncipal Corporation Act 1949 (BPMC Act 1949).Under the Law ,in every Corporation  there is a  General Body of Councillors who are the elected representatives of different wards or political units in the  grassroots level. The General Body elects the Mayor who is the in charge of a corporation. The election is held in every five years. There are also permanent office holders apart from the elected members in a corporation.
The Pune Municipal Corporation is kept as a clean and green city with well equipped and well managed cleaning and garbage management system and by the protection and promotion of the greenery respectively. In every ward the cleaning, waste management etc. are well organised all the round of a year under the guidance of Engineers appointed in this behalf.
There are a lot of traits and skills that one can sort out from a politician. The dedication to the profession of Social and political work, the energy level that a leader must keep ,the power of determination, the inspirational traits that he follows etc. can be well assessed from his attitude. It creates positive changes and development in our society. The visit as such gave us an insight over the local administration as well as the local political system which is the pivot of main stream politics as well.

Visit to Hivre Bazzar:

MPG-04- Report Date: 21-10-08: MPG-04 participants together with their faculty Mrs. Vanisree Ramanathan visited Hivre Bazar, a village in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district. Shri Popat Rao Pawar, the village sarpanch, who is famous for his tireless efforts for the village, has welcomed MIT School of Government team. Mr Pawar briefed the students about the activities that he had adopted along with the villagers to convert the village from water scarce to a self-sufficient model village. He revealed the relevance of urban-rural collaboration and mutual understanding between both for the nations development. The basic policy adopted by Hivre Bazar village was need-based policy. As water scarcity was the major problem identified for the miseries of the villagers, water conservation was the first priority. With the support of the local labour donations, the panchayat built 40,000 contour trenches around the hills to conserve rainwater and recharge ground water. Residents took massive plantations and forest regeneration activities. Mr. Pawar stressed the need for long term planning for the villages, and he portrayed the relevance of village youth's participation to achieve this. He informed that today in Hivre Bazar, it is the Gram Sabha, which budgets for the water. He elaborately explained the nitty gritty of both community farming and dry land farming. He also highlighted the relevance of education in changing the mindsets, attitudes and awareness of people, which is the precondition for any development. He revealed that as per the 1992 Household survey, 74% of the families in Hivre Bazar were Below Poverty Line (BPL). But today only three families are BPL. Hivre Bazar adopted the policy of no land selling to outsiders. While asking about the elections and party ideologies in the village, he said, "in Hivre Bazar, there is no single party, villagers are having the freedom to vote any party but money and drink formula will not work in the village. As sarpanch he mentioned that he don't have any affiliation any particular political party. Youth and women organisations are active in Hivre Bazar and delegations of duties were followed. Education, health and sanitation have been prioritised by the panchayat. The village have an Emergency fund created to deal with emergency needs of the people. Village provide zero percentage interest rate loans for the marriages of their daughters. The panchayat created bio gas plants also. After question answer sessions, the pawarji clarified that identifying the root problems, psychosocial analysis of that problems and people's participation (right from identifying the problems and innovative solutions to that) is the crucial steps for the village development. He said that if there is a will there is a way. The villagers and the government should be partners in the process of development but villagers must be in the drivers seat. In his concluding remarks Village Sarpanch mentioned that people's participation is the essential for any village development and also how the nearby villagers are motivated to take Hivre Bazar village development model.