By Bhumika Sharma and Monika Thakur
‘Youth has the power to make choices. The engagement of youth in democratic governance is fundamental to the development of the country.’
National Youth Day is celebrated in India on 12 January on the birthday of Swami Vivekananda. In 1984 the Government of India declared the day as the National Youth Day and since 1985 the event is celebrated in India every year. Thus the role of youth in the society is basic and has to be streamlined in the progress of the nation. They must take interest in the issues affecting the country at large.
Participation can be strengthened by including youth in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of instruments, strategies and programmes. Through active participation, young people are empowered to play a vital role in their own development as well as in that of their communities, helping them to learn vital life-skills, develop knowledge on human rights and citizenship and to promote positive civic action.
In India, the various programmes under the Government of India facilitate their participation through consultation processes ensure their contributions to debates on policy and law-making. At the same time, there exists various private initiatives in the form of support programmes for young people’s civic engagement initiatives, networks and organizations.
Programmes to Engage Youth in Law and Policy Making
Both government and private level initiatives exist in Indian democratic system. Below is the look at some of them.
Government Based Training Programmes
Lok Sabha Internship Programme
Parliament of India announced Internship for Postgraduate Indian citizen for study the role of Legislature in the parliamentary system in 2011. Young men and women with outstanding academic and extracurricular achievements may be acquaint themselves with the working of parliamentary democracy and democratic institutions and specifically the Indian parliamentary system.
The Programme also aims at imparting requisite skills and knowledge to enable the Interns to develop a proper perspective about the role of Legislature in the parliamentary system which, in turn, would help them while working in their own chosen fields in future. It is one year long programme for five students.
The applicant should have completed a two-year Post-Graduate Degree from a recognised Indian or Foreign University with 55% marks in any of the areas/disciplines such as Social Sciences, Law, Journalism, Finance, Management, etc.
Law Commission of India Internship
The law students pursuing studies (2nd and 3rd year of three-year and 3rd to 5th year of five-year degree course only) at any recognized College/Law School/University may apply. Interns will be required to present a research paper on a selected topic at the end of their study and also undergo other studies assigned and prepare notes on it and submit to the concerned officer for evaluation and suggestions, if any, by the Commission.
Clerkship Programs under Judicial System
The Clerkship program of the Supreme Court and the High Courts is paid. It allows the selected candidates to work under the sitting judges. Generally, one ‘law clerk’ is assigned to each judge for a year, though some justices are known to engage two or more law clerks at a time. These programs are mostly for one year and after completion of law graduation. Variety of work may be given to them which may include preparing briefs, helping over judgment writing etc.
Candidates are expected to have an excellent academic track-record and should preferably be from a Centre/Institution of excellence. The duration of the internship will be for maximum period of 6 months. The interns will be required to present a report/paper at the end of their internship to the Head of Division.
Department of Disinvestment
It intends to offer an internship programme for Undergraduates pursuing five year integrated course in law and graduates pursuing post graduation, research in economic/finance/management. The programme provides an interface with the academic institutions and help to get fresh ideas from the field of academics which will enable the Department to critically analyze its activities and take corrective steps in an objective and impartial manner.
It also simultaneously provides an opportunity for the interns to gain valuable hands-on experience that would let them put their education to work especially in the areas of corporate law and corporate finance and familiarize themselves with the overall process of formulation of disinvestment policy of Government at the macro level.
Students possessing first class graduation degree pursuing Post Graduation/high second class post-graduation degree (with at least 55% marks) pursuing Research courses in Economics/Finance/Management/Law at National Schools of Economics/Central Universities/Recognized Financial/Economic Institutions/Recognized National Management Institutes can apply for internship. Duration of internship is of two months. The interns are required to attend the programme full time for two months.
Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation implements a scheme of summer Internship for Postgraduate/Research Students of recognized universities in India. The scheme is for students doing post-graduation/research in the field of Statistics, Mathematical Statistics/Applied Statistics, Operation Research, Demography and Economics etc.
The main aim of the scheme is to create awareness and understanding of the prevailing system of official statistics with specific reference to collection, processing & analysis, publication and dissemination of data. Under the scheme duration of the summer internship is two months and is normally being held during April-July.
The Human Resource Development Ministry
It started an internship programme from 2014 for students of higher educational institutions to provide them with exposure to the functioning of the government and policy-making at the ministry. The scheme is meant for students pursuing graduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes in any stream, including engineering, at a recognised university or other higher educational institution. Indian students pursuing higher education abroad may also apply to avail of the opportunity.
This is the first time that the HRD Ministry has offered such a programme. There will be six batches of internship, with the first starting from October. The ministry will select a maximum of six candidates in each batch. The internship will be offered initially for two months, which could be extended to six months.
Candidates pursuing a three or four-year programme are required to have completed at least two years or four semesters of the course. Those pursuing a five-year integrated programme should have completed three years or six semesters. On successful completion of the internship, students will be awarded a certificate by the ministry and a token stipend of Rs 10,000.
Independent Private Programmes
Under PRS with MPs and MLAs
PRS was founded in 2005 as an independent research initiative. The initiative was incubated in the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi, which is a leading Indian think tank. With the intellectual and institutional support of CPR, PRS has been able to build and deepen its engagement with legislators, media and citizen groups to strengthen the legislative process. Recently, the initiative has been institutionalised as a not-for-profit Section 25 Company, the Institute for Policy Research Studies.
Currently, the work of PRS is supported by a number of Indian institutions and individuals. PRS Legislative Research seeks to strengthen the legislative process by making it better informed, more transparent and participatory.
The research team analyses legislative and policy issues of topical interest, the outreach team tracks the working of the legislatures and legislators, manages citizen engagement and is PRS’s interface with the MPs and MLAs. A prospective intern can apply for an internship in either/both departments.
The internship varies from session to non-session time. During a Parliament session, PRS’s work is guided by the issues taken up in Parliament and interns are expected to work with the analysts on any and all projects. During non-session periods, the interests of the individual intern are taken into consideration, and he/she is matched with an analyst(s) doing related work.
The successful completion of a PRS internship requires the intern to pursue an internship project. The project is decided upon by the individual intern in consultation with analysts. At the end of the internship period, the intern would be expected to submit an internship project report and make a presentation to the PRS team on their project work.
The duration of the internship is flexible, but is normally between four and eight weeks. The intern will be working out of the PRS office in New Delhi, assisting analysts in their research, as well as undertaking an internship project. It is an unpaid internship.
Centre for Legislative Research & Advocacy – CLRA
Centre for Legislative Research & Advocacy is an independent, not-for-profit, non-partisan initiative, which works to support and strengthen Parliament and legislatures so as to realise the values of democratic governance. Through research, advocacy, networking and other allied activities CLRA seeks to promote and reinforce the constitutionally assigned roles and functions of parliamentary institutions.
AAP’s Lok Sabha Internship Programme
The party had successfully experimented with the idea in the Delhi assembly elections when the interns helped the party in profiling each of the assembly seats and also helped it reach out to the masses.
Young graduates interested in exposure to political environment and gaining on the job experience may soon find an opportunity to intern with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which is going to launch a short internship programme ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The interns, who will be hired in each state, will manage party’s social media outreach and also help it with election activities for each constituency. The interns will be given an option to choose between the two. Those who will be responsible for handling the party’s social media will help the Lok Sabha candidates in its effective use. Others will be expected to be involved in door to door campaigning.
The Youth Parliament
It is a support organization for young people in India. It was established in July 2002 by social entrepreneur Ishita Chaudhry with support from the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. In 2007, The Youth Parliament was legally incorporated The YP Foundation as a charitable trust working with the express mandate of developing innovative ventures by minds, facilitating leadership skills and thinking power and increasing awareness on issues of global importance amongst young people.
The organization funds and supports innovative work by young people, by providing young people between the ages of 13 and 28 years with a resource base to conceptualize and execute their own projects and initiatives working with socio-cultural, economic, legal and environmental issues they are passionate about.
It has supported work in multiple fields through varied mediums such as community initiatives, the performing and visual arts, literary and research projects, interactive workshops, policy and government interaction and research and advocacy work amongst others.
In Conclusion
Most of the government programs are unpaid. The programmes which are private are also not necessarily remunerative in nature. But the exposure and experience given to the youth is more valuable.
The suggestion of engaging youth in the democratic working of the country is made practical by having such programmes under various bodies. It is also commendable that not only youth from legal stream are encouraged and involved under these programmes but youth from various streams are given opportunity to contribute in decision making.