'I, Society and Public Policy' seminar: An Intellectual shock!

Kriti Budhiraja

ISPP, Delhi, 2008

Ninety Six hours of intense debates between right wingers and left, capitalists and socialists, confused and the curious, and voila! You've got the perfect recipe for shocking the intellect way beyond your imagination!

The 'Intellectual Shock' that it claimed to be began in September, when students from across the country wracked their brains to complete a thought provoking application form to participate in the 'I Society and Public Policy' seminar organized by the Centre for Civil Society. However, this shock was bordering on insignificant in comparison with what followed.

The four-day national-level residential seminar held from the 2nd to the 5th of October in Delhi was a blend of lectures and interactive sessions, coupled with field work and a number of presentations by groups of participants on various policy-related issues. It covered a wide range of themes, including accountability in governance, education, poverty, property rights, etc and addressed them from a liberal individualistic perspective.

That it was residential added to its charm, as it provided a space for participants to connect with each other over highly impassioned debates that often lasted way beyond midnight. Finally, borrowing from Bill Drayton, as Tania Jain put it, "CCSians would never be content to give a fish, nor by teaching how to fish. They probably, would never rest until they revolutionize the whole fishing industry".