Initiator MIT-SOG
MIT School of Government, Pune has been established with the clear objective of imparting leadership training to educated youth of India desirous of making a career in politics and government and providing selfless service to the nation. MIT-SOG is the first institute in India and Asia to have started such a program of this kind and I feel proud to have taken the efforts to initiate the same.
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The Genesis
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The General Elections of 2004 were a landmark event in the history of the country in more ways than one. Not only has it almost laid to rest the era of single party rule at the Centre but also given the country for the first time, a Prime Minister who does not have a hard-core political background in the strictest sense of the term. Even more significantly, the elections brought to the fore a large number of highly educated enthusiastic youngsters brimming with energy and confidence, who contested elections with some of the most senior political leaders as their opponents. In these elections the wise electorate of the country signaled to the political machinery of the country that it was ready to stand by a younger and smarter breed of politicians.
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Youth, Leadership and Responsibility
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The breed of young aspiring political leaders is different from the breed of business and professional leaders in the goals and actions they pursue. For the participants at MIT-SOG, the responsibility begins from the day they enroll in this program. During the course in the first year itself, they will be exposed to a large storehouse of information on various subjects that affect the daily lives of the citizens of the country. They will observe at first, the functioning of various democratic institutions of not just India, but some European countries as well. They will be required to undertake significant projects and participate in a number of activities in the interest of the society. Every effort will be taken by the institute to instill in the participants a sense of national pride and the readiness to serve the society in any corner of the country.
I urge you to be a part of the mission.
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