Bangalore:
Young IT professionals usually wonder how to spend their weekends differently. A group of more than 60 individuals in Bangalore are showing the way.
These professionals have enrolled for a nine month course to be trained in civic leadership. The Bangalore Political Action Committee or BPAC, a citizen's forum in Bangalore headed by Biocon CMD Dr Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and former Infosys board member Mohandas Pai, has started an 'incubation programme' to involve professionals into becoming corporators for a better Bangalore.
"Today most corporators don't have that knowledge and that understanding of what it means to govern, the process of it. That's why we see such poor governance and such poor delivery. Public apathy is fast becoming public anger. They need to use their energy to roll up their sleeves and say I can help with governance. The ignorance of how the system works needs to be wiped out. I hope this brief training programme will have a huge impact." said Ms Shaw.
Girish BS, an IIT graduate from Hebbal in North Bangalore, believes he could bring about a change in the municipal ward he lives in. So this senior engineer from a top IT firm has signed up for a three-month classroom training and a six-month field work training.
"So far, I have been a bystander, an observer, at times being activist. But being on the other side is what would create more value I feel. Influencing the policies, making the policy strong and ensuring that proper policies come or go will have a long lasting impact. I could be apolitical. Don't know yet if I will become a corporator but then why not?" he says.
Within a month of its launch, more than 250 young professionals have applied for a civic leadership training such as this. As part of the course, they would have to shadow a corporator for three months to understand governance.
"The Mayor has a very important role to play. But he has no teeth, cannot change policies. Urban areas have been neglected in the political spectrum. We have got too much of centralization. That must change. The only way to change that is for local leaders to come forth and fight for the rights. Citizens to gather together and demonstrate and say that we want our city to do well." says Mr Pai.