Students to team up with Mumbai corporators on civic issues

Praja Foundation plans to reintroduce the municipal councillor fellowship for student in August.

College students will soon work with corporators, assisting them in research work and information-gathering. A city-based non-government organisation (NGO), Praja Foundation, plans to reintroduce the municipal councillor fellowship for student in August.

Students will assist corporators on major issues that need to be addressed and prepare a statement that will help them raise questions in various committee meetings. (HT)

According to Praja, the city will be divided into 10 different zones, with two students in each zone. City corporators attend various meetings, which focus on issues such as health, education, environment, law, women and child development. In these meeting, they ask questions and suggests how the administration can address issues. The administration, in turn, is obligated to give a return reply to corporators.

Students will assist them on major issues that need to be addressed and prepare a statement that will help them raise questions in various committee meetings.

Milind Mhaske, project co-ordinator at Praja, said a pilot project of a similar fellowship was run by the foundation in 2014 when it got a great response.

“We are working on this two levels: to strengthen participatory democracy by making students part of governance and help corporators in adopting different perspectives.”

Mhaske said that the foundation was planning to make it an annual fellowship where students will also be paid a stipend. It will be a six to eight-month programme, taking into consideration students’ exams and projects.

The NGO has got about 50 applications from under-graduate and post-graduate students, Mhaske added.

Students will also be trained for three days for the fellowship, he added. Neha Shah, a fifth year law student from the Pravin Gandhi College, said, “I was part of the pilot project where we mainly made corporators aware of ground realities and complaints from the ward. Corporators were very receptive and ready to change their working patters also.”

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