Kalikesh Singh Deo / Biju Janata Dal / Lok Sabha
The last six months of my life - in my first ever job after college, as a legislative assistant, has been a greatly eventful period. Even as I underwent the gruelling three week training session with PRS, reading several dense, important looking documents and attempting to turn them into 'briefs' and summaries, I knew that this was a job, that could have a significant impact on the Parliament of our country!
I started off in the Monsoon session this year, eager as much as anxious. It all happened very quick - three weeks of non-sleep training time, a lot of 'which MP will I get' conversation and getting to know the fifteen freaks (I mean it in the warmest way!) that were going to be my colleagues for the next few months.
The first session flew by. There were a lot of documents to read, and very many fifteen minute deadlines. I felt like I heard learnt and done more in that period, than I had in all of college. I started to understand better the entire process of policy making in our country, and in many ways, my opinions underwent an alteration and refinement.
I remember this one evening, when I walked out of my MP's office, at about six in the evening. He had just expressed his appreciation for a speech I had written out for him. I think I danced a bit as soon as I was a decent distance away!
In between session, I spent three weeks in Orissa, meeting with the district officials and getting a basic understanding of the ground level issues in the constituency. I took back to Delhi a lot of information, some which I poured through, identifying what specific issues I could help my MP raise - as questions, 377 notices or Zero hour discussions.
I would say that the best thing about my role is actually seeing the results of my work. I think it is fantastic when the question I have made gets asked on the floor of the house, or a point I have raised in an issue brief becomes part of my MP's speech or statement.
I would highly recommend this program. At 21, and looking to study policy in the future, I couldn't hope for a better exposure.
Life after the LAMP Fellowship : Post my eleven month stint as a LAMP Fellow, I've had the opportunity to work on a reasonable variety of subjects with different organisations. –The first of these was a study for UNAIDS, on the Role of State Legislatures on HIV and AIDS related interventions. Working at a UN agency was perhaps one of my most cherished high school dreams, and I was able to leverage upon my experience as a LAMP Fellow to get there. I am also doing some freelance writing for the Confederation of Indian Industry and have sat in on some very interesting industry - government interaction sessions in the last few weeks. In October I will begin work as a volunteer for Global Xchange - I will spend three months in a UK community and another three months in Rajasthan along with a 20 person contingent of UK and Indian volunteers. I realize that my work as a LAMP Fellow has helped me understand the domain a lot better, and my experiences have certainly added credibility to the positions and programs I have applied for.