that career in politics is neither easy nor attractive. He elaborated on what one should focus while pursuing the political leadership career. In his speech he explained his views on development and encouraged the participants to become more ethical, efficient and output driven, which according to him is the need of the hour.  The team interacted with the Chief Minister of Chattisgarh Dr. Raman Singh at his guesthouse. Dr. Raman Singh seems to be the leader who always seen in the midst of the common people, constantly accessible and available to them.  Perhaps this could be the reason for his positive image. Dr. Raman Singh found to be dynamic, a motivator of his team, comfortable in all groups and a leader who initiates innovation. 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  the 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.  Mr. Vidyacharan Shukla, an experienced person who had witnessed two generations of Indian politics, expressed his concern over the changing political culture of India and stressed the need to have a proactive youth participation in the political process. 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 fundamentals of organising a rally and   efficient management of an election campaign. The team also visited the Chattisgarh Vidhan Sabha, and informed about the functioning of it in details.  The participants also visited Rajkumar College, a place of historical importance, in Chattisgarh’s history, where first Assembly of the state was held.  The visit to Sirpur and Rajim depicted the vibrant cultural heritage, natural beauty, architectural excellence, simplicity and uniqueness of rural village life of Chattisgarh.  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. The team also visited a Jain temple in Nagarpura, situated in Durg district. During the visit to various constituencies the MIT SOG team got enough opportunity to interact with political and other 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, 90% of the MPG-04 participant’s prediction favoured BJP contestants except two constituencies.  Based on the sample collected they also predicted the state level results as well.

Chattisgarh field visit portrayed the main poll issues of development, more specifically the issues of price rise, unemployment, agricultural development,    public distribution system, hygiene & sanitation, electricity, education, and industries.  Both Congress and BJP promised through their manifesto to distribute rice to BPL families at lower cost. (Rs.1/kg by (BJP) and Rs.2/Kg by (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 BJP manifesto mentioned that one could acquire land only with farmer’s consent.
The common public in Chattisgarh seems to be more matured, as their voting preferences are based on candidate’s efficiency record and  credibility rather than party affiliation or ideology.The Chattisgarh election prediction of MPG-04 participants is that BJP will get a clear majority in the coming elections, but their vote share difference will be very minute. All the five groups of participants predicted that BJP appear to have an added advantage over Congress and will get a majority. 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. BJP is very successful in projecting him, whereas Congress had not yet declared their prospective candidate for the Chief Minister's position.

Participants got an opportunity to learn the most important lesson that ‘people’s participation is crucial for the successful implementation of various governmental policies or developmental programs.  This literarily explains the definition of democracy; ‘Government of the people, for the people and by the people’. Chattisgarh election highlighted the fact that caste ,  tribal identity ,  the ideology of the political party or the leader is not the major influencing factor in the success, but the effective performance and efficiency of a government or the leader. The trip taught them that in democratic settings, not only the efficient  leadership traits, which dictate the triumph of a leader but also the group dynamics and the spirit of teamwork.  The MPG-04 batch returned from Chattisgarh with plenty of practical experience, which no one can accomplish them within the four walls of the classroom.