lok sabha now offers one year internships
rs15,000 to 20,000 monthly stipend
kay benedict. new delhi
akin to us congress internships, for the first time, the lok sabha is launching an internship programme for young men and women with outstanding academic and extra curricular achievements from january.
like the us congress, the interns will be attached with the offices of various political parties in parliament to enable them to get better insight on how political parties operate in parliamentary system. they will be invited to attend parliamentary functions, attend press briefings and other functions held in parliament.
the selection process for the one-year internship is likely to be completed by november 30. open to indian citizens between 21 and 28 years of age, the programme will enable interns to understand and appreciate the working of parliament, parliamentary democracy and democratic institutions.
the interns will be paid between rs15,000 to rs20,000 per month during the one-year period. an additional rs10,000 will be paid towards stationery and typing expenses during the last month of internship to facilitate completion of the project.
the popular internship of the us congress range from doing economic research for a committee to preparing news clips for a senator’s press office.
the lok sabha secretariat officials, however, denied that they were inspired by the us congress. “ours is no match to capitol hill, we are just beginning and if we succeed, the programme will be extended to cover more and more applicants. the programme may also be made monetarily more attractive ,” said an official.
the applicants should have a post graduate degree with 60% marks in any of the areas – social sciences, environment, law, journalism, finance, management etc. the interns will be assigned to different branches or services of the lok sabha secretariat. they will interact with political faculties of bureau of parliamentary studies and training and attend lecture series and application programmes organised by the bpst.
the students will be attached to the rajya sabha secretariat for one week with a view to familiarise them with the importance of the upper house in a democratic set-up. they would be exposed to various aspects of the multi-functional institution – from law making, financial accountability,ensuring executive accountability, constituent functions, representational role, educational role and also as a grievance redressal mechanism.
the programme also aims at helping the interns to develop a proper perspective about the role of the legislature in a parliamentary system which in turn would help them while working in their own chose fields in the future.
sources said the programme will not be aimed creating a think tank or lobbyists for business houses. “there are opinion making bodies funded by big corporate houses and ford foundation to influence law making process in the name of doing research for law makers,” said an official.