Report on Lectures by Guest Speakers
Wednesday, 8, 2006
Topic – “Functioning of Democracy in India” and “Universalization of primary
education”
Mr. Vijay Arora began his lecture congratulating the participants on their decision of joining MITSOG, which is the only institute in India that has taken the first step in introducing a course for training political aspirants.
Then he said it is always important to make “conscious choices” in life, especially for the youth of India. With the current population of India, within the next few years it is definitely going to have a major hold on the world politics, so it is the youth of India who have to shoulder the responsibility of taking India to greater heights. So it is important for the youth to realize the energy in them and channelize it properly.
Mr. Arora told the participants that since they have decided to join politics as a career they must know the strengths and weaknesses of Indian democracy. Presently our democracy is facing many problems like corruption, criminalization of politics etc. Not only the politicians but also the bureaucrats have very narrow vision. But there is also a brighter side to the whole story. The greatest achievement of India is the successful survival of democracy through a very strong free and fair Electoral system. It is amazing to understand how such a highly populated country conducts regular and timely elections with 65% of population voting. The IT revolution and Infrastructural development are changing the face of even rural India. Now it is the responsibility of youth to accelerate the speed of reforms in Democracy and minimize its vices.
In his second session he spoke about Universalization of Elementary education. He stated that the government has taken a right step by introducing elementary education as a fundamental right. The government is taking efforts to reach out to the rural and poor children and imparting primary education to them through “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan” and other such policy initiatives. There has been a fair success in reducing the number of school dropouts all over India. There are certain lacuna in the implementing machinery however those can be removed with a strong political will and peoples participation.
Saturday, March 4, 2006
Mr L.K.Advani visited MITSOG at 4th March, 2006 and gave lecture to MITSOG students. He highlighted on his background of how he started as a leader and rose to the higher echelons of power during the NDA regime. He appreciated establishment of MITSOG as a concept for educating political leaders. He felt the need that in a country like India there is to educate a politician before entering politics. Emphasized on the coalition politics and was critical of the present UPA government. Generally, his lecture delved into the oblivious moorings of the political system in India. Advani also stressed on the Jinnah controversy surrounding his political stature.
Friday, February 17, 2006
Jaya Jaitley spoke on “ Party structure, criminalisation and women’s participation”. Addressing the participants of MITSOG she said the biggest challenge before us is to struggle for public causes. Today in India, the system has deteriorated, justice is not being imparted thus politicians should engage themselves 24 hours for public services.Role of the political party is to gain credibility among people as an agency to fight for public demands. Speaking about party structure she said party should be a voluntary organization and for this internal democracy is important. Thus the party President and other office bearers should be elected. The main function of a party is to voice the concern of public but it is seen that political parties serve the purpose of limited section or class. It is here where role of funding comes in. Parties require money for elections and its other activities. This collection is done through either from funding or donation, which usually comes from business houses or people who want their interests to be served. The dilemma is if the party doesn’t accept money it does not have any other source. Hence this raises a spiritual question “ How do we serve the public in this situation?”For this we need to introspect. Further she explained that the other problem faced by political parties today is criminalisation and women’s participation.
Concluding her lecture she said that for a genuine politician winning or losing election should not matter but only fighting for a cause should be guiding principle. Giving examples of Gandhiji and Ram Manohar Lohia she cited Gandhiji who had said, “Creative work is politics”
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Shri. Anupam Mishra, Secretary, Gandhi Peace Foundation spoke on “ Tradition Wisdom in Rain Water Harvesting”.To begin with, he gave a brief background of problems of drinking water faced by people of eight districts of Rajasthan. To name few, Chunur, Bikaner, Jaisalmer etc.He told the participants that only 10% of the villages which come under desert areas have roads, only 3% have electricity but according to government gazette 99.94% of these villages have the facility of drinking water. Now the question arises as if these villages receive only 16cm rainfall in a year, how do they manage to get drinking water and water for irrigation through out year. He then with support of slides showed them different types of “BAWRI” built across the desert areas to collect the rainwater and store it for use through out year. He also explained them the how the villagers work together to build these bawri, preserve it and maintain cleanliness and hygiene. He told the participants that all this work and methods are innovated by the common people without any help or aid from the government. Thus he gave the message that if you are going to be future leaders you should trust the potentials of a common man and civic participation.
Thursday, 9th February 2006
A.Vasudevan, Former Executive Director, RBI and UGC Visiting Professor,GIPE spoke on” Monetary Policy Formulation in India”. His main areas of focus were:
1.Processes and Procedures of Policy Formulation
2.Considerations in Decision Making
3.Execution issues
He explained that the process of monetary policy making includes collection and assessment of the latest information, discussions on what policy measures need to be taken and international perceptions are also taken into account.He further explained that before reaching any concrete policy decision four issues are taken into consideration:
A. Objectives of the policy
B. Policy instruments available to the authorities
C. The transmission channels of policy
D. Structural/Institutional issues
He also explained the issues involved in execution of the policies like uncertainties, market credibility, risks involved in interest rates and international developments. Concluding his lecture he said that monetary policy couldn’t be viewed in isolation because of its effects on fiscal, real sector, financial sectors and foreign sector.
Friday, February 3, 2006
Digvijai Singh,Janata Dal(U), Ex-Union Minister of State, Ministry of External Affairs spoke on “Coalition Government and the future of Parliamentary Democracy in India”. Giving an insight on coalition party system in India he said that the first coalition government was in Kerala. “It is said for India that there is unity in Diversity but in reality we see that there is lot of diversity but no unity and I feel that coalition government is the answer to all the problems in this country.” The national parties do not fulfill regional aspirations so incorporating regional parties is the only solution to meet their aspirations and strengthen the democracy.
Addressing the students of MIT-SOG he gave them the message that “ Tomorrow you will become the voice of India” but for that it is important that speech should come from heart, oration is just not a skill, you should be true and speak from heart. Leader is one who facilitate others, if you are in public life then everything you do is in public, Every action of yours will be known to people, thus your actions should be such which inspires people and set example them.
Thursday, February 2, 2006
Addressing the students of MIT-SOG, Mr. Swadeen Singh Kshatriya, G.M., B.E.S.T, said, “ this is an unusual course which is important to all, the MDG programme is a new development that was much needed. This course is addressing an important concept of democratic leadership and I am happy to know that MIT has identified the area where people need training. “ MIT is concerned about tomorrow’s India and has a vision for what is to be planned”. Coming to the topic of his lecture he said “ I have unique experience at BEST and I propose to tell you why BEST is Best.Giving a brief history of BEST he explained that it began in 1873 as Bombay Trombay Co.He said that BEST is omnipotent in Mumbai, in north the public transport is dead because of indiscipline. The main objective of an organization is discipline and to be passenger friendly, this what makes BEST best.The other reason for the success of BEST is the amount of autonomy it exercises. Inspite of municipalisation there is complete autonomy and corporatisation of BEST. It is system driven organization, which distinguishes it from others.Some other provisions that adds to its success are:
1. Absenteeism results in dismissal after six opportunities
2. BEST Budget has to be passed by BMC
3. Day to day decisions are taken by BEST
4. System of reward and punishment
5. Extreme specialization
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Uma Bharti, spoke on “does ideology matter in politics?” Addressing the participants of MIT-SOG Ms. Bharti said that” I will speak what I have learnt from life. I went to school only for six months, so I don’t have the formal education but have learnt a lot from the life”. Today, I have been asked to speak on how does the ideology matter in politics. She told the participants that she was elected as M.P. for the first time in 1989 and said, “ I can say from my experience that when political parties come into power they change their ideology”. She added that if the change in ideology is according to the popular consensus then it is acceptable. She further explained that there is no proper mapping of ideology in historical context i.e. past, present and future. She further spoke on basic elements of ideology. Firstly, in ideology there should be a vision for development. Secondly, the social angel of ideology should work to increase women participation and weaker sections. Thirdly, the ideology should reflect the worldview of the political party. Giving practical examples she explained how every political party has taken U-turn from their ideology. Concluding her lecture she said that there are five principles for political ideology:
1. Self-respect
2. Security
3. Swadeshi
4. Good conduct
5. Good governance
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Mr.Ramdas Athawale, Member of Parliament, Republican party of India(A), spoke on “ Dalit Politics- The Politics in True Democracy” To begin with , Mr. Athawale expressed his pleasure to be invited to MIT-SOG . He said “I am very grateful to MIT for inviting me and asking me to speak on a topic which is not only favorite to me but is also a mission of my life and also because of being a sincere and humble follower of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the emancipator and saviour of untouchables and the Chief Architect of the constitution of India”
His lecture was divided into three broad categories;
1. The beginning of the Dalit Politics
2. Rise of Dalit Politics
3. Role of Dalit Politics
Explaining these three sub-topics he gave an insight into the conditions of dalits in past and then explained the prevailing conditions of dalits in Indian politics. He explained that the dalit politics is a true and honest politics to serve not only the dalit people but also the nation at large. He said,” Ours is the national politics and we stand for national unity, integrity and national progress in all respect.”
Concluding his lecture he said that at present although dalits are divided into many groups and parties, it is not a permanent phase He said“ we strongly believe that Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar’s ideology is the only ideology which can take this country out of all difficulties and dangers and make this country united and strong."
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Susan Stroud, Executive Director, Innovation in Civic Participation, Washington D.C. spoke on “Student leadership development and civic participation”. Addressing the students of MITSOG Ms. Stroud said, “ I am very pleased to be here as this is my first visit to India and this is a great opportunity to interact with the students of school of government.” She began her lecture by giving the details of Ford Foundation which is an organisation engaged in global philanthropy with one branch in New Delhi. It has supported the evolution of civic participation in social institutions. Through its policy innovation the organisation helps in evolution of new social communities.
She further explained that youth service is not a scientific term and has different meaning in different areas. In America there are three branches of Innovation in civic participation:
1. Learn and serve America
2. Ameri corps
3. Senior Corps
These organisations of youth activity are engaged in four areas:
1. improving education
2. public safety
3. environment
4. health and human issues
A continuum of activities actively engage young people in their communities. Continuum ranges from intensive, full-time national service programs to less time intensive service-learning in schools, higher education, and community-based organizations to episodic volunteering . National Service Programs in the United States i s often a full-time service program linked to benefits, such as a living stipend or money for college. Community service teaches skills about participation and leadership.Serving in their communities exposes young people to the realities of their communities and actively participating in their communities demonstrates to young people that they are an important part of the solution.
Concluding her lecture she said “Innovations in Civic Participation envisions a world in which people of all ages and in every nation are actively engage in improving their lives through national and community service”
Monday, January 16, 2006
Jamshed Mistry, Worester Polytechnic Institute, spoke on “e-governance”. He started off his lecture by raising a question as to how IT can help in Governance? Answering it he said that since globalisation most of the states are making use of communication and information technology in day-to-day governance and to enhance economic development. However there is a big gap of knowledge between developed and developing countries. The average person in a developing country does not even know how to access internet and computer. In U.S. 80-90% of the population have some form of technical knowledge to collect information. Due to the lack of IT knowledge the economic transition and the market forces may not work in same way for developed and developing countries. Thus there is need make the people computer literate and for this the government should play two kinds of roles. First, indirect role by providing physical, monetary, legal and political infrastructure. Second, the direct role by providing subsides, direct aid and initiate public prospects.
Concluding his lecture he listed some of the achievements made by computerisation in India:
1. Cut out the number of Babus
2. Computerised land records
3. Computerised inter-state check posts in the state of Gujrat
4. IT enabled health services
IT enabled public administration services.
Monday, January 16, 2006
Mr. Arun Bhatia (I.A.S), Ex-Municipal Commissioner, Pune spoke on “What can be done to improve governance?” Addressing the students of MIT Mr. Bhatia said, “ It’s a great privilege to be here and speak to young people. In my election campaign, I wanted to speak to young people but I was not allowed. If somebody asks me what is my experience in governance, it would be denial of information, denial of freedom of expression and denial of access to young people. In India the dilemma is that the access to young people is blocked. So today I thank MIT to call me here and give me this opportunity to speak to you.”
He started his lecture by sharing his experience where two students asked him that why do you only speak on corruption? Why not on other topics like development. Speaking on his response he said that this annoys me, as young people don’t understand the link between corruption and day today dealings. He based his lecture on two assumptions:
1. India is not a modern state
2. There is need to change the psyche Explaining the first point he said that India cannot be called a modern state untill we treat our people equally, there is freedom of expression, more participation of people in governance and free flow of information i.e. transparency. Explaining the second point he suggested these problems can be solved by educating oneself, holding discussions on issues, calling the ministers accountable for any action and by filing PIL. Concluding his lecture he suggested means, which can improve governance i.e. right to information, protection of whistle blowers, witness protection, physical audit, civil service reform and institutional strengthening .
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Mr. Walter Mead - spoke on US Foreign Policy and its effect in the world on Wednesday, 11th Janurary, 2006 at MITSOG. He gave stress on three factors, which influence the US Foreign Policy. Firstly, the US society is based on the capitalist identity. Secondly, the civil society acts as torchlight to the state. Thirdly, the transformation and extension of British culture to US. He gave a neo-realist perspective of US foreign policy that some people does not structure US foreign policy and it is based on the concept of national interest. He harped on the fact that, US does not have a dualist foreign policy for the world. He delved into the priority of US foreign policy in present times, future times too.
In the text of his lecture certain instances were given where he, proved that US foreign policy is not antagonistic. He was critical of the nonalignment policy followed by India, which led to isolationistic policy in the world affairs. Mead was critical of Pakistan policy of Muslim Fundamentalism and gave insights into Indo-Pakistan relations are not seen from the same lens by the US. He gave special emphasis to Indo-US relations on the parameter that US regards India as a rising regional power in South Asia, he said India and US relations are more based on commonality of factors than the divergences.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
V.G.Narayan, Professor, Harvard Business School, spoke on “ Interaction between Government and Business”. Addressing the students of MIT-SOG he said that we should be proud of being part of this unique school, which is one of its kind in Asia. He told the participants that they will become the future ambassadors of MIT-SOG and he will not be surprised if future leaders of India would be from this room of MIT-SOG.
Speaking on interaction between government and business he said, “ the problem of the interaction between these two is that there is too much of government”. He suggested that the government should pick few areas to manage and leave the rest to be managed by the people. He further specified certain areas where government involvement should be there like public health in terms of preventing the spread of communicable disease and primary education. He also spoke about the taxation policies of the government. He said that there are two aspects to this, first is that common man is smarter than those framing these policies. By this he meant that too many decisions are made at higher level without even considering the need of the people.
Secondly, people can go elaborate ways to evade taxes; this changes their basic behaviour. To conclude he said “the right way would be to move from tax base regime to fee-based regime.” This would be beneficial in two ways. Firstly, it would make government accountable. Secondly, only those who benefit from the facilities rendered by government would be paying fees and others would be exempted from it. This will prevent the change in behaviour.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
N.Venugopal, Director, CDRC, Hyderabad University, spoke on “How external funding influences Indian governance. ” To begin his lecture Mr. Venugopal gave an example of a comparative study of government documents pre 1992 and post 1992, made by Prafful Bidwai. He explained that how in his study he has clearly found that pre 1992 government documents were more influenced by British English and post 1992 by American English. This shows how the external powers influence the government. He further explained the changes in Indian public policy since 1991. He stressed on two basic points. Firstly, the debate about the Nehruvian planned economy in contrast with that of the market economy. Secondly, the decline in sovereignty of states in contrast with the viewpoint that this not decline but integration of global economy. He further explained how through out the last 50 years Indian governance has been affected by global changes. For instance, in 1991 there was a complete overhauling of economic policies as a result of forex crisis, there was devaluation of rupee and to overcome this the world bank put the conditionalties of reduction of budget deficit, reduction of subsidies, privatisation, exit policies and sale of public enterprises. Today even for infrastructure development government go to foreign agencies for funding which in turn affects the government policies. He explained how the remote governance by these external funding agencies has led to marginalisation, crime, militancy and electoral defeat. Concluding his lecture he said that there are four variables that influence the governance:
1. People
2. Government
3. Whims of leader
4. External influence
But out of these four variables, it is the external influence, which is gaining more prominence.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
G.V.Rao, Astt.Director General,UNESCO,spoke on UN and its specialized agencies. Mr Rao began his lecture by saying that “Wars begin in minds of men and women therefore the seeds of peace should be sown in their minds” It was with this aim that U.N. came into being after World War II.” U.N. is an international organisation consisting of 192 member states. Each member state has a single and equal vote. Thus rich or poor , all states are alike and treated as equal sovereign states .Elaborating the objectives of U.N. he stated that the main objective of U.N. is to prevent future wars however U.N. has no power to interfere into the internal affairs of the sovereign states, it is here that conflict arises. Further he focussed on the main functioning bodies of U.N.
He then lamented on the specialized agencies of U.N. He told that there are 16 specialized agencies that undertake various missions & programmes of U.N. He explained some of them. Quoting Jawaharlal Nehru that “UNESCO is the conscience of U.N.” he said that UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is the most important of all the agencies that is responsible for promoting education for all, cultural development, protection of the world's natural and cultural heritage, international cooperation in science, press freedom and communication.
Concluding his lecture he said that U.N. works for spreading the culture of peace. We should also work to replace culture of war with culture of peace.
Friday, December 16, 2005
R.C.Iyer, retd. I.A.S spoke on “How corrupt is India? Few thoughts”.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Mr. Bimal Rupal Patel, member of Organisation of Prohibition of Chemical Weapons gave lecture on “ India and International” law, which was divided into three broad categories.
i) The problems that arise when one deals with a project of international dimensions
ii) Processes and platform used to project the aim to be achieved
iii) Career counselling for working in an international organization.
Speaking on India’s response to the international system he opined that India being a comparatively new democracy has successfully dealt with issues of de-colonization, socio-economic inequalities, sustainable development, space and maritime law. On the contribution of India in the progressive development of International law he took a very pragmatic and practical approach like critical assessment of policy framers and academicians, actors and forums India has used and the vision.
Finally coming to the core of his lecture on India and International law he spoke about how the Constitution of India promotes international law.
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