The morning of the 22nd held promises for yet another day of visiting eminent people and places. The first thing in the schedule was a visit to the Birla's Laxmi-Narayan Mandir. Having spent some time in the temple offering prayers, the group headed to the Supreme Court. Adv. Ashish Wad threw light on the working of the Supreme Court. The delegation was divided into ten groups of about five people each and sent to the ten different courts where they observed different proceedings.

 

Then the group visited Communist Party of India (CPI) office. A meeting with ex-MP and CPI champion Mr. Nilotpal Basu was arranged. Mr. Basu spoke about the various aspects of the party, such as its inception, history, ideology and Leadership. He spoke at length about the applicability of Socialist philosophy to solving the problems of the present day albeit with a modern blend. The importance of international capital, inequality, inflation and such other issues were spoken about by this intelligent and erudite man who is justifiably known as one of the best orators in parliament in the present times.

 

Among the prestigious visits that the participants and staff made as part of their Delhi tour, the Embassy of the Netherlands was one. This truly informative experience gave them all a general idea of what all embassies work like and a detailed insight into how The Netherlands one does. Mr. Jeroen Roodenburg, Minister Plenipotentiary and Deputy Head of Mission, who spoke about the general working of the embassy, chaired the first session. The Head - Press, Culture and Information, Mr. Hans Schutte followed suit with his speech on the comparative socio-cultural aspects of India and the Netherlands. Mr. Erik De Feijter, the Political First Secretary, gave the third speech.

His talk also shed light on the political systems of both the countries especially from the democracy point of view. The last session was about the working of the organization from the operations perspective by their administrative head. After the speeches, a question-answer session was thrown open for the participants of MITSOG and The Hague University. A look at the growing relationship between the Netherlands and India opened up avenues even as the session came to an end.

 

The next stop for the day was a meeting with Mr. Dasahari Narayan Rao, MP as also a famous film personality in the South of India. Although Mr. Rao spent very little time with the participants, he did infuse a spirit of enthusiasm and character in the leaders of tomorrow. His little communication with them said a great deal about his zeal to serve the nation and fight corruption and he also expressed his wish that the youth of our country feel the same.