Abhinav Raj
Participant ISPP Bangalore 2010

It was the first time that I was participating in any extra-curricular activity. I reached Bangalore on June 20th morning around 11 o’clock. I was running late and had already missed the reporting time by two hours. I was very excited about the day ahead and the seminar as a whole. It took me 2 hours to reach the venue from Yasawantpur railway station. When I entered the vicinity of Fireflies Ashram, I was thinking why the organizers had chosen this faraway place for seminar. The place was out of the main town and 2 km away from Dinnepalya village. I had been expecting to be accommodated in some 3/4/5 star hotels but this place was nothing like it. Anyhow I compromised. I took my room keys to put my luggage and rush for the sessions. I locked the room and was heading towards the seminar hall when I suddenly stopped for a few seconds. I observed the beauty of nature and I could only marvel at the natural beauty outside. This Ashram, the venue for the seminar was surrounded by a range of hills and sat in the midst of an enchanting forest.

I attended the first session at 11.00am by Amir Ullah Khan on “India’s experience with Liberalization, Privatization, & Globalization”. I think this was the one of the best sessions conducted during the entire seminar. And since seminar was based on public policy and the role of civil society in public policy, Amir presented ideas on the ground that related to the said theme. Here we came to know what kind of political games are being played, how some big corporate families have come into existence, so on and so forth… He explained how and why he feels that LPG policy works in India. Not only is there an enhancement in terms of Economics but there is an increase in cross-border flow of people, information and culture. Thus, this means that there is more travel and tourism, immigration, investment, trade and on the whole a creation of a universal set of values. Different people have different perceptions of globalization. Some see it as a beneficial process – something that leads to economic development in the world and is inevitable. On the other hand, a set of people believe that it increases inequality within nations, causes unemployment, deteriorates living standards, and prevents social progress.

I liked the discussions and thought provoking sessions. They taught me how to put forth my point and argue to prove it.  And I thank Gideon (a fellow participant and a graduate from St. Stephens College) who always encouraged me to put my thoughts before everyone.

Beside this it was a great experience for me where I could share my views with fellow participants. There were participants from various fields like Laws, Engineering, and Social Science. Interacting with people from various backgrounds helped me in learning many interesting and unknown facts. Two of the participants had attended international seminar in USA and Hong Kong and they shared their related experiences. CCS café and Reflection were one of the most revolutionary methods of interaction where we sat in groups of 4-5 participants and we discussed certain issues. The most important part of these sessions was that it’s important for every participant to give his own view. No one used to sit idle. Here I shared some of my experiences on Migration and Gay pride parade (gender and sexuality) because I had worked on these issues in my first year of internship. I also benefited from Parth’s ideas on India’s liberal tradition and public policy & principles.

I can say that this seminar has put in action a change in my thought process and in me. Now I can apply all these not only in my academics but also in my professional work as well. I also learnt how to work with the community people and make policies according to the needs of the people. CCS had also called Mr. P D Rai (MP of Sikkim). We had a chit chat with him. In the end we got a prize in policy making which was based on our field work in the nearby village. We enjoyed the seminar, we had great fun there and I am still missing that place. At last I thank the entire CCS team for giving me such a great opportunity.