Thane: The sixth edition of the IIDL Model Parliament was held on 17-18 May 2023 at the RMP-KEC campus in Uttan, Thane in presence of Eatala Rajender, MLA Huzurabad & former Finance Minister of Telangana and Siddhesh Naik, Chairperson of North Goa zilla panchayat as the speakers.
The IIDL Model Parliament is a simulation of the actual Indian Parliament and involved 30 students from the Indian Institute of Democratic Leadership’s (IIDL) Post Graduate Programme in Leadership Politics and Governance. The students were divided in to the ruling and opposition and debated accordingly.
The students recreated the look and feel of a real parliament during the event through their debated and speeches. Parliamentary business such as the oath-taking ceremony for new members, question hour, calling attention motion, and bills were conducted. These activities provided the participants with a practical understanding of parliamentary functioning.
The calling attention motion was made on two specific topics: the proposal to rename Aligarh to Harigarh and the ongoing riots in Manipur. Furthermore, the list of business conducted during the Model Parliament session included the introduction and tabling of of three bills. The first bill was the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which aimed to establish a comprehensive citizenship database. The second bill was the finance bill or the budget while 33% youth reservation in parliament was the third bill.
Both the calling attention on renaming of Aligarh and the NRC saw strong views and heated arguments from both the sides. The students debated the history of Aligarh with historical evidences of it being called Harigarh during the calling attention motion. Siddhesh Shripad Naik who specially travelled from Goa to chair the model parliament said “I am happy to chair this model parliament. I appreciate the quality of debates and discussions made by the young students. Even I taking back a thing or two from this experience.”
Devendra Pai, Course Director of IIDL added that “IIDL is an unique institution which is working amongst the youth and inculcating democratic values amongst them. Model Parliament is a platform to gain practical experience in parliamentary proceedings, drafting bills and understanding and debating pressing issues.”
“I have learnt so many new things from the time I have joined IIDL, and it was the same with regards to the Model Parliament. It was honour to represent the Home Minister as it was a big responsibility to live up to the expectations set by the current national home minister” said Divyam Agarwal, who hails from Chhatisgarh and was the Home Minister in the model parliament.
Prince Tiwari, who was the Minister of Culture at the Model Parliament added that, ” It was an enriching experience. I learnt how laws are made in this country. Even while speaking I realised that the speech must be well researched with no room for the opposition to find fault – each word has to be carefully chosen.
About Indian Institute of Democratic Leadership – IIDL
RMP initiated the idea of IIDL in 2017 to broaden the scope of leadership – science from the limited area of management science and provide an interdisciplinary institutional framework to train leadership from socio-political perspective.
Post Graduate Diploma (PGP) in Leadership, Politics, and Governance (LPG) is a unique interdisciplinary course designed to bridge the gap between young talent and India’s democratic political entity and governance. The programme is targeted at students and young professionals who wish to make a career in the field of politics, governance, public affairs and leadership. The course is designed to produce trained, ethical and responsible leaders, in short – “New Leaders for a New India.”
The one-year residential programme is designed to bridge the gap between India’s young talent and India’s democratic policy and governance. Over a 120 students from over 21 states of India have completed the course and are contributing to nation building.
For more information, contact Director Devendra Pai on 9004394955 or visit https://iidl.org.in/
