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10:34 am  •  25 May 2012

Internship at Research Foundation for Governance in India (RFGI).

This was my second internship. It was supposed to last from April 2009 to June 2010. Fortunately, it is still on and will hopefull always be on. I wouldn’t call it an internship. It something I like to do, I do it because I believe in it, I have fun in doing it. :)

RFGI is a think tank. It was established in January 2009. I was their first intern. It was a very young organization when I joined. Only four months old. I found out about it through a poster in the university. I liked it as soon as I read the poster. It worked on Research activities, Consulting activities and Awareness activities. I was interested in the awareness activities in the beginning. Slowly and gradually I started to like the idea behind the organization. All the three founder member, Kanan, Kelly and Swar are awesome! All of them are young and ambitious. They all believed in the organization and its objectives whole heartedly.

When I joined, they were planning an event. The topic was, “Entry Barriers to the profession of Litigation”. It was my first event since I joined the organization. They had worked with Jaago Re before this. This was the first event for the organization too. I was very excited as the preparation for the event was shaping up really well. I had helped with a little research. Everyone made me feel as if I was an important part of the organization. I was over-joyed when I was given the responsibility of taking care of Prof. Madhav Menon. He was THE man for a national law university student. Just attending a function he was coming to, was an honor and here I was going to pick him up at the airport. A lot of other distinguished guests had come too. The event went by very smoothly. I was happy that my first event in the organization was a super success. It was a team effort. The RFGI team.

The number of people who knew about RFGI grew rapidly. Soon we had foreign interns coming in to work on different projects. I worked with Catherine, Ramiro, Katie, Josh Stark, Josh Rennie, Hannah. A lot of interns from across the country also came in. Students from law schools in India, other colleges. It has been an amazing experience working with all of them. In one year RFGI had 72 interns who had worked or were working with the foundation. It is growing, and how !

The projects that I have worked on with them are:

1)      Entry Barriers to the profession of litigation

2)      Inner Party Democracy

3)      Is our constitution hampering our economy?

4)      Debates on current topics

5)      Moving Ahead- The RFGI Film Festival

…to name a few. The list will be subject to change.

It not like we work all the time. We eat, play and roam around too. Dabeli, Peppy, Manek Chowk, Heritage walk. The time we made dinner at Kanan’s house. :D

RFGI is not a normal NGO. We do not restrict ourselves to social topics. It is an organization which works on political and legal rights. The number of organizations doing that in the country is very few. Fewer of them are able to make an impact.

RFGI is different in another way too. People who intern there are not treated like employees. They are treated like they are members of a family. You are not forced to work. You like to work. The atmosphere in the office is very jovial. People talk, crack jokes, log onto to social networking sites and side by side work for the society’s benefit.

For more information on RFGI, just ask me.  :)

All the best to the organization.

I hope I can keep on writing about it for long.

Time with RFGI: 1 year 3 months and counting.

:)

Apoorv 

8:47 pm  •  8 June 2010

We are in law school. We intern. I am trying to write a post about all my past internships. This was the first one. I don’t know how ironical is it to write a blog post about your internship while you are at your current internship office. :)

I interned with Gujarat State Legal Services Authority (GSLSA) in November-December 2008. It was a six week internship. I had the company of my batch mates, Gursharan and Ajay. This was my first internship after joining law school. I was very excited by the very idea of an internship. It was supposed to be my first feel of an office. I was given GSLSA because I could not get my internship at Center for Environmental Education work out on time. So basically GSLSA was second choice. Something which I had been forced to go to as nothing else was left. All my batch mates had taken the supposedly ‘lucrative’ internships already.

The first day when I went there, I met the project officer there, Mr. K.J. Darji. He was a very young judge. First thing he asked all of us was why did we want to do law and why did we choose GSLSA and all that basic stuff. He then took us for a tour of the pretty huge area of the Legal Aid Clinic.

The clinic was unique. It was open 365 days a year and 24 hours a day. It was never closed. It provided free legal service to a specific class of people. The clinic also had a bus which used to travel all the year around to different districts in the State to solve the problems there.  The class had been defined in the Legal Aid Services Act. We were shown the different places that were there in the area of the clinic. The clinic’s functions were not diverse but the importance was a lot. They tried to solve cases before they went to court. The worked for solving the problem of backlog of cases. The problem was, they were not that efficient.

Although the clinic was open all the time, the concerned officers there worked in shifts. In the morning there was a lawyer who used to come at 7 in the morning and leave at 11. We also have retired judges coming there. They also heard cases. We had a special women’s cell. It handled all the cases which were brought by women complainants. It started at 3 pm and used to be open till 6 pm. Women could also go to the normal cell if the women’s cell was closed. Thus, there was always someone there all the time but the frequency of people coming there was low. On some days, there were more employees who would come to the clinic rather than clients.

I liked the concept but hated the work. We basically were not given any work. We just sat there and heard the clinic employees talk to the clients. We were not allowed to say anything. We could not give opinions. We just sat there and heard them. We were supposed to stay there from 9 am to 5 pm but we rarely followed it. We usually left around 2 pm.

The type of cases that came to the clinic were petty cases. Mainly family disputes, workers dispute and accident cases. All there cases would take around two to three years if the court’s procedure is followed but the clinic solved it within 6 months.

The prescribed procedure for the clinic was:

1)      The complainant comes to the clinic and registers the complaint.

2)      The nature of the case, the name of the defendants and their address is noted down.

3)      The complainant then gives his/her side of the story.

4)      The clinic then sends a letter to the defendants asking them to appear at the clinic.

5)      The letter is sent three times till the defendants come to the clinic.

6)      After the third letter a warning letter is sent and after that a legal notice is given.

7)      If the defendant turns up on the day he/she is called then the defendants side of the story is also noted.

8)      Both the parties are then asked to decide on the disputed facts in front of the clinic official.

9)      The clinic official is unbiased in his approach.

10)  He will then try to get them to an amicable settlement.

11)  If they reach a settlement then it is noted down and signed by both the parties.

12)  Periodic checks are made to both the parties to see to it that they are abiding by the agreement.

The place is for an extremely noble cause and should be encouraged. Awareness should be made to let more people know about it so that it can make a difference and the resources given to them are fully utilized. If possible then more and more clinics should be made. This clinic is the only clinic in Gujarat and the only one in the world which is always open.

Cheers

Apoorv 

:)

7:25 pm  •  3 June 2010

“There are three types of people in the world: Those who get things done, those who watch things getting done, and those who wonder what’s going on.”

2:15 pm  •  2 June 2010

“ Procrastination is my sin. It brings me naught but sorrow. I know that I should stop it. In fact, I will–tomorrow! ”

7:42 pm  •  22 April 2010  •  2 notes

“The greatest pleasure in life is to do things which people say, you cannot do.”

1:33 pm  •  19 December 2009

Today on the 16th of December 2009. Gujarat government announced that it will pass an Act on the Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2009.The amendment will voting compulsory for all citizens of Gujarat to vote to elections to a self governing body. This will make the right to vote, a duty. It will apply to all qualified voters Municipal Corporations, Municipalities, district, talukas and village panchayats.When it is done. Gujarat will be the first state in India to do such a thing. It will be implemented for the first time in October 2010 during the Municipal elections in Ahmedabad.

I am not taking sides here. I just want to point out the pros and cons of the action.

Voting in India is not compulsory. We usually have 50-60% turnout. We also see some candidates winning and being elected even though they have just received only 10-20% votes of the total registered voters. I mean how can someone be chosen to rule over the constituency even when he/she has received only 1/5 of the total votes. Most people don’t vote because of two main reasons. First, they think that their votes don’t count for much. A single vote won’t make a difference. Second, they think that none of the contestants are good enough. I read it in a book named Freakonomics that a very very low number of elections are won by a margin of one vote. Does that mean that your vote doesn’t matter ? No if everyone thinks like that then it will be very tough to choose good candidates. Why should people be forced. They know that voting for a good candidate is in turn going to benefit them only. They have to understand that. If we consider them as adults and give them the right to vote then we should treat them like adults and let them make the decision on whether to vote or not. To make my point more clear I would like to quote a analogy.

The Lifeboat Analogy.

You are one of twenty two people who are stranded on a life boat after the pleasure cruiser sinks.

Yes there is enough room and supplies for all of you for the immediate future so no decision has to be made as to who has to be thrown overboard. However there is one problem: the navigator has gone down with the ship and no one actually knows which direction to row to ultimately reach the shipping lanes. Even though no one knows for sure, eleven members of those on board have formulated ideas. Some think they can operate the sextant which has been saved, some believe they can tell which way to go by the currents, some by the sun, and some by the prevailiing winds. The problem is that there is not general consensus from all there theories, and existing provisions will only allow for one attempt. It is ultimately decided that a vote has to be taken to decide whose theory will be accepted to decide the course to follow. Because the decision may well result in the life or death of everyone on board it is decided that everyone will have the right to vote. Even though you yourself have come to no theory, you decide to vote with one person who, to you, gives the general impression of being slightly more astute and knowledgeable that the other amateurs navigators. This leaves the remaining ten occupants. Not only do they have no idea which is the best direction for rescue, they also share equal faith in all of those who have suggested theories. Therefore because they fear their vote may lead to the wrong decision, they have decided to abstain from voting.

Will you allow the ten to abstain from voting or will you insist that, because lives are at risk, they must partake in the vote?

On the other hand, let us consider the scenario where voting is compulsory.

So its election day and you HAVE to vote. Sounds weird. We are so used to voting being a right that we cannot grasp the thought of it being a duty. The first question that comes to your mind is,” Why would someone want to do that ?” . The reasons given are :

“It is a central conservative insight that democracy confers both rights and responsibilities. Attending a polling booth on election day is the mildest possible responsibility”

“Voting is a civic duty”

“Obligations may be imposed on individual for the benefit of the society generally”

Many countries like Australia, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Egypt to name a few have compulsory voting.

Government of Gujarat is thus not the first to come up with the concept. On April 17, 2009 the Supreme Court of India had dismissed a plea to make voting compulsory. The plea was filed bu Atul Sarode from Savda district in Maharashtra. He wanted to make voting compulsory for all elections. His plea also mooted the idea of not allowing any one to represent a constituency unless he/she fails to get a minimum of 51% of votes. If that doesn’t happen then there should be re-elections. We cannot choose the best from the worst. After all its a matter of running our constituency. We do not want some random person to govern us. We want responsible people. Why can we not have re-elections ? Some say that it is too expensive. I say if he/she is going to govern us then we definitely should take all precautionary measures available to see to it that we choose only the best. The plea also mooted the idea of e-voting.

A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice P. Sathasivam dismissed the plea and observed that a greater voter turnout could be ensured only by increasing people’s awareness. They also observed that voter turnout of 60% was satisfactory. (?!?!?!)

Well, this is the state of our India.

We also have a No vote provision in our constitution. Article 49-O of The Constitution of India gives the right to its citizens to not vote for any of the candidates even after going to the pooling booth. This provision has been very nicely hidden by our politicians. I have never seen a News Channel run a report on this provision. Even when it comes to the papers, it just a small article stating the basic things. Even poll booth volunteers don’t know what steps are to be taken when someone wants to exercise this right.

The Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2009. allows negative voting. The manner of negative voting and its impact on other candidates will be worked out by the state government through special rules framed later. It is also under consideration that all candidates will be disqualified if negative voting is the highest.

In countries that have compulsory voting, there are certain sanctions imposed if people fail to vote. Some of them are :

• He has to give a legitimate explanation for not voting. ( I think this can be easily abused)
• A fine is imposed on him/her. The amount of fine depends from country to country.
• It can also lead to imprisonment. No cases have been filed under this but sometimes when a person does not pay fine even after repeated warnings then he is sentenced to imprisonment. Although the reason for imprisonment is given as failure to pay fine and not failure to vote.
• Other sanctions are like in Belgium, it is difficult to get a job in public sector if you have not voted. There are also social sanctions, in Mexico it is difficult to get a day care place for your child if you are a non-voter. Salary of government employees is sometimes stopped if they don’t vote.

Gujarat government is also thinking of something like that. An official has said that people who do not vote will be deprived on Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards, government service and subsidized loan. Defaulters will be served a one month notice and in that time they have to give a reason to the election commissioner for not voting. The exempted categories will include people who are physically incapable due to illness, or absent on the date of election from the country or the state of Gujarat.

India is a land where Bills and their corresponding Acts can sometimes be so different that its difficult to find something common between them. We can just hope that this time they come up with a logical Act.

Long live Democracy.

3:24 pm  •  16 December 2009

Hello,

I am totally new to tumblr. Still trying to figure out most of the stuff here. I already have a blog of my own. It is for all not-so-serious kind of stuff. I wanted to start a blog which can be exclusively for good posts. Posts which are thought out. Posts which are relevant to the current times.

So here I am. Starting a new blog. Constructive comments are welcome. :)

Keep Smiling.

8:56 am  •  16 December 2009