Unique, rare, enthralling – those are just some of the words used to describe the V-Govern competition at the Institute of Management Technology – Ghaziabad’s Passion ’11 festival.
Just one of a myriad of events at the four-day extravaganza which ran Oct. 9-12, V-Govern was geared to get students to not just think, but to act by proposing solutions to the host of problems faced by the government of India today.
The challenge was tossed to them in the invitation to compete: Why should we depend on the last generation leaders or shift the responsibility of improving society on to future generations? The current problems are faced by us, so they should be dealt with by us too. To fight the evils of society that hinder its growth and leading the nation to a better future is our obligation to patriotism.
The challenge was made – and it was accepted, with the best brains from institutes across the country being given case studies, situations and problems faced by four government sectors – education, tourism, environment and employment and labour – and tasked with proposing solutions.
As the old saying goes: If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.
Proving they are part of the solution and coming out on top was the team from Delhi School of Economics: Sunny Jaiswal, Jalaj Singh, Devashya Jyotirmoy, Abhishek Gautam and Vikhyat Aggarwal.
Sunny Jaiswal said the competition was unique because MBA colleges focus more on marketing, finance and human relations, but this dealt with government policies “so in this sense it was a unique initiative.”
V-Govern was a learning experience for Jalaj Singh, who said he learned if you’re going to propose a bill as a policymaker “you should consider the feasibility of things” and to be successful in anything you have to “think a little out of the box.”
Even though there were some “hassles” Jalaj had praise for the organization of V-Govern, saying “with all the problems that they faced with the high-level organization they did pretty well.”
What advice do this year’s winners have for next year’s contestants aiming to solve government’s woes?
“They should look first at the feasibility,” says Jalaj, “cost, to check what is required in the country – what do we have and if the plan is implementable under the current resources and then you should do your presentation.”