Internship Experience @ Action Aid, Jaipur: Work on grassroot issues of Dalits

Your Name, College, Year of Study, Email ID

Ankit Tripathi, 2nd year, 14BAL133@nirmauni.ac.in

Name of the organisation, Location (city), Team strength

Action Aid, Jaipur ,3

Application process with contact Details

The selection procedure is quite easy. One need to send a cover letter along with his/her C.V. to Shabnam Ma’am at her email id i.e. Shabnam.aziz@actionaid.org. I got my confirmation within a week.

Duration, Timings

One Month i.e. 11th May- 11th June 2015. The timings were usually 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 P.m.

First impression, First day formalities, Infrastructure

On the very first day, we were basically introduced to the NGO and its different projects. The program manager took our interview. The interview had basic questions such as:

1. What do you know about NGO?

2. How you got to know about Action Aid?

3. What are your expectations from this internship?

Planner and lots of guidelines were provided on the first day of the internship. We were asked to attend a meeting at our alternative office i.e. Dalit Adhikar Network (DAN) with different stakeholders related to projects related to Dalits.

Main Tasks

Our main task basically involves:

1. Implementation of the SC/ST Act 1989

2. Analyzing the files related to the issues of Dalit

3. Addressing the current status of Kalbelia Tribes

We were given numerous case studies related to dalits issues and land issues. We used to analyze each case after proper reading of the case. After analyzing the case, we used to translate those reports in Hindi.

We used to give our inputs to the given case. Every time we use to read a case, we use to come across several laws which had its application in the case.

We went through those case and case laws. We use to give our suggestions to the given case as to what remedy could be granted to the victims and what law can be further added to the given case.

Secondly, we were given the work related to Right to Information (RTI).

We read different files where RTI was filed and reply was awaited. We checked the implementation of those pending files. We read about RTI and its implementation.

Thirdly, we worked on the issues of Kalbelia tribes in the Rajasthan. We analyzed different files related to them. We worked on the rights of this tribe.

We also went to Trial court under senior Advocate of High court of Rajasthan, Ajay Kumar Jain. We went to both District and session where we observed the court’s proceedings. We use to read pending files before the court. We use to bring dates from the client.

Work environment, People

The work environment is friendly. Our supervisor and convener was very helpful, they were very caring regarding us

Best Things

The best thing of internship was that I got a firsthand experience of some of the pressing issues in the state of Rajasthan. I studied different statutes and supplemented the learning by working on cases

Bad Things

The hot and humid weather was the only bad thing that we experienced during our internship. We use to travel in 45-46 degrees for our task.

Stipend

None

Biggest Lessons

One should read about dalits and their problems before accusing them of opportunist because they get reservations.

Any Other Thing

A perfect internship for a freshers.