Mumbai: The Mumbai BJP is making efforts to involve Gen Z in policymaking, devising an internship programme to get inputs from the youth on governance and urban planning in the city if the Mahayuti alliance wins the elections to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
The BJP is part of Maharashtra’s ruling alliance that also comprises the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
Mumbai BJP president Ameet Satam announced the internship programme earlier this week while interacting with a bunch of students at Mumbai’s YB Chavan auditorium.
Speaking to ThePrint Friday, he said: “We intend to involve Gen Z in policymaking and governance process and utilise their valuable inputs for welfare of the city. They can come up with some innovative suggestions for the betterment of Mumbai.”
Gen Z refers to those born between 1996 and early 2010s. According to Election Commission data, the share of youth (aged 18-29) is around 20% in the Maharashtra electorate. This was after addition of around 4 lakh voters prior to the state polls last year.
During his interaction with students, Satam spoke on a range of city issues, including roads, flooding, open spaces, waste management, environment, walkability and safety and security, and shared his vision for Mumbai’s future.
“After the BMC elections, we will launch an internship programme for Gen Z students interested in public policy and governance,” he said.
The programme will provide opportunity to 50 young individuals who have completed courses in public policy and governance to observe civic systems, offer suggestions, and prepare research papers to strengthen urban planning and civic administration, he explained.
Under the programme, two interns will be assigned to each of Mumbai’s 24 administrative wards, with an additional two at the BMC headquarters, according to Satam.
“The youth were very excited on hearing my plans for Gen Z internship at BMC as they would get an opportunity to participate in governance of Mumbai,” he told ThePrint.
He elaborated that they would contribute to research, observing the system and making suggestions. “Involving them in governance and administrative process is the main intent. They will be the third eye as far as civic governance is concerned,” Satam said.
The internship programme will have a structured professional selection process with clear criteria. The party is in process of fine tuning it, he added. “This will ensure the most deserving Gen Z candidates are chosen to contribute to civic governance.”
“We can expand this programme by increasing their numbers if the pilot is successful,” Satam said. Details of the initiative will be finalised in the coming days.
The proposed internship programme is similar to the Chief Minister Fellowship run by the Chief Minister’s Office, that was launched in 2015 during Devendra Fadnavis’ first term as CM. This too aims to involve the youth in governance. Fellows part of the initiative work directly under senior government officials, who mentor them and submit a monthly report.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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