An Open House with the Associates
Last week, on Friday, 16th March, the Government of Haryana and Ashoka University held a press conference and open house for the CMGGA programme. At the event, Dr. Rakesh Gupta, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Haryana and Vineet Gupta, Founder and Trustee, Ashoka University, announced the opening of applications for the next cohort of the CMGGA programme to an audience of potential applicants, members of the press and professionals from the development sector. In addition, Associates from the previous and current year of the programme shared their stories of learning, change and triumph.
Dr. Rakesh Gupta, the Additional Principal Secretary to Haryana’s Chief Minister, kicked-off the open house by welcoming everyone present, and introducing the CMGGA programme. He spoke about the origins of the programme and its commitment to good governance, what he described as a combination of transparency and efficiency. He went on to talk about the impact that the programme has made in the last two years, elaborating on projects such as Dial 100 (a centralized emergency police line), Saksham Haryana (a program targeting learning level outcomes in government schools across Haryana), and E-disha (delivery centers for over 90 citizen services). In the third year of the programme, Dr. Gupta suggested that there would be a greater focus on the implementation of development programmes run by the states, and that they were looking for hardworking and passionate youth to apply.
Vineet Gupta, went on to talk about the programme from an educational perspective. The CMGGA programme provides an opportunity for young students and professionals to experience public life with the chance to work with all levels of the state government. In return, these young, bright individuals bring, to the government, a fresh perspective. They are guided by the CMGGA programme team, who coordinate and manage day-to-day operations of the programme and are able to craft ground level observations into recommendations for the state. If you were curious about the previous CMGGAs and their career path post the programme, Vineet had the answers. A quarter of the CMGGAs from the first cohort have continued to stay engaged with the programme, either as Associates, or with the CMGGA programme team. Another quarter continue to work in the development consulting space, while the remaining are scattered between working for other government programmes, the CM’s media cell, or companies in the private sector. A few aspire to pursue higher education, and three associates are preparing for the UPSC exam.
Following the address from Dr. Gupta and Vineet Gupta, Abhinav Agarwal from the CMGGA programme team, who oversees and coordinates all efforts of the programmes between the Chief Minister’s Office and Ashoka University, spoke about the design of the programme. The structured nature of the programme, with work modules, pilot initiatives and capsules has been one of the strengths of the programme, offering a range of work and opportunities for the government as well as CMGGAs to engage with one another. Abhinav also spoke about the role of the CMGGA as crucial, both to district level implementation and state level strategic planning.
After hearing from the visionaries behind the programme and its daily functioning, it was time to hear from the Associates. Robin Keshaw, CMGGA Kaithal, spoke about his journey from studying engineering to teaching as a Teach for India Fellow. His teaching experience made him appreciate new learning opportunities, and he thought the CMGGA programme would be one way of experiencing first hand development change led by the government. In the last nine months as a CMGGA, his learning curve has been steep as he has been able to contribute immensely, across the breadth and depth of work of the programme. According to him, nation-building is a long and arduous journey and needs the involvement of more youth through programmes like the CMGGA.
Karn Ailwadhi, who returned to the programme for a second year as CMGGA Yamunanagar, went on to talk about a project called Swacch Maps. What began as a district level initiative under the aegis of a Deputy Commissioner, has now scaled to all municipalities in the state of Haryana. The Swacch Maps, a mobile application that allows citizens to directly report and send complaints to the sanitation workers in municipalities, is an example of the private sector’s contribution to the implementation of the Swacch Bharat Mission. Today, reports received via the app, are monitored on a weekly basis by the district administration and municipal commissioner, with support from the CMGGAs.
Shubhi Kesarwani, CMGGA Jind, has been instrumental in coordinating one of the modules the CMGGAs have been working on. She narrated the process by which Associates, in each of their districts, conducted research to understand citizen pain points while availing services at Tehsil, or land record, offices. A step by step experience journey of each citizen shadowed was drawn out, from which conclusions were drawn about the complexity of availing land record services. In addition to this, Associates also understood where the potential of corruption of malpractices entered the system. Their learnings and recommendations were shared with the CM, and today they continue to work with Deputy Commissioners to establish a Standard Operating Procedure for the tehsil offices.
Khush Vacchrajani worked as a Gandhi Fellow in Dungarpur, Rajasthan before joining the CMGGA programme in Faridabad district. Not only did he draw on his experience in education, but he also chose to continue efforts that were initiated by his predecessor Anul Jain (CMGGA Faridabad 2016–17), and leverage the strong presence of the private sector in the district. Only recently, he facilitated the establishment of the Faridabad Education Council as a private-public partnership that seeks to match private sector Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding to specific educational needs on the ground, identified by the district administration and the department of education in Faridabad.
Ankit Jain (CMGGA Jind 2016–17), is now a member of the CMGGA programme team. As someone who has experienced working closely with the district administration, the department heads and the Chief Ministers Office (CMO), he was able to provide examples of the kind of change a CMGGA could expect at the district level and the state level. He spoke about how as a CMGGA Jind last year, he was able to conduct field visits, use data analysis and facilitate meetings with the electricity distribution company to bring down line losses. The pilot project he initiated last year, to revitalize the district library, has found its way to the department at the state level and the CMOs, and was announced as a mandate for all districts by the Chief Minister.
Harshali Dalal, CMGGA Hisar, had an interesting experience when she first arrived in Hisar. She realized that many officers in the districts were confused about the role of the CMGGA, and were worried she’d be monitoring their work. Quite the contrary, Harshali was keen on learning. She requested her Deputy Commissioner to mentor and guide her, as if she were a student. When he was busy, she would make sure all other officers were up to date with the latest feedback from her field visits to schools, and anganwadi centers, and tehsil offices, so they could then provide that feedback to the Deputy Commissioner when needed. Small efforts on her part allowed her to position herself as a consultant to the district administration. Today, she feels a sense of pride when she is called into a meeting to develop a framework or create a strategy.
Deepa Agarwal (CMGGA Ambala 2016–17), initiated several pilot projects in her year in Ambala. The Art of Play, a program that uses sport and play to teach students, came to her as an idea when she realized the underutilization of resources available in government schools in Ambala. With guidance from the Deputy Commissioner, she began facilitating conversations with the organisation that developed the Art of Play. They began by piloting the project in a few schools, engaging with local coaches and eventually providing them with employment. Today, the project has been rolled out across all schools in Ambala.
Mohit is a second CMGGA posted in the often neglected district of Nuh. In his storytelling style, he narrated instances of how his experience over the last two years has taught him to overcome the hardships of striving to bring about change in resource constrained environments like Nuh. He gave the audience an example of securing an ISO certificate for the Mini Secretariat in Nuh, as a means of boosting morale, which can otherwise be low. Mohit’s mantra is humanity, and the programme is a mere channel through which he seeks to find it.
Palak Rawal, has continued with the programme for the second year as CMGGA Rohtak. She’s all too familiar with the pedagogical approach adopted by Ashoka University, as prior to the CMGGA she was a Young India Fellow (YIF), a liberal arts programme also run by the university. She joined the CMGGA program, as the youngest member of the cohort, at only 21, with lots of trepidation about working in the development space. Looking back, she reflected on the unique opportunity she had with the programme, which still allows her to be a part of large scale projects like Dial 100, and Jaagriti, a gender sensitization pilot supported by UNICEF. Palak spoke emotionally about her tremendous personal and professional growth over the last two years.
Last year, the CMGGA programme received close to 2000 applications. The program brought together a diverse cohort of Associates, all with varied levels of work experiences, from across 15 states in India/. We hope to continue to attract some of the brightest minds to work with the Government of Haryana and build their knowledge and networks at Ashoka University. We’re accepting applications, APPLY NOW!
