Mock City Council | Janaagraha

INTER-COLLEGE MOCK CITY COUNCIL

The City Is Now In Your Hands

WHAT IS MOCK CITY COUNCIL?

Mock City Council is a Yuva Janaagraha initiative to encourage participation of youth in matters of city governance. Through a simulated council meeting in session, the event aims to facilitate an understanding of how local government works. It also gives participants an opportunity to examine local issues and be part of the solutions.

WHY MOCK CITY COUNCIL?

To encourage student participation in local governance.
To understand the functioning of BBMP and its services.
To spread awareness on the civic issues faced by the city of Bangalore.

Event Report

Nine teams from colleges across Bangalore participated in the finals of the Mock City Council. The teams that reached the finals were:

University Law College, MES College for Arts, Commerce & Science, Mt. Carmel College, S.J.R. College for Women, M.S. Ramaiah College of Law, K.L.E. Society's Law College, St. Joseph's College of Arts & Science, Surana College & Government Science College.

Between the preliminary round and the final round a preparatory meeting on the thirteenth of February where the nine finalists had a discussion with Mr. Ramesh Ramanathan, Founder Janaagraha as well as with the Community Leaders of Janaagraha; Mr Vidyadhar and Mr. Ponnukuttam. Also, Mr. Nagaraj former corporator of ward 98 attended the discussion.

Most of the teams, consisting of 2 members each, had arrived at the venue's auditorium by 9:30 am . The Acting Mayor for the event was Smt. Mumatz Begum, the former Mayor of Bangalore city, while the Acting Commissioner was Mr. HBS Aradhaya, retired Deputy Commissioner BMP. The other panellist was Mr. Nagaraj, from the Health Department of BBMP.

The event started by quarter to ten. The event consisted of two rounds. The first round was the oral round, in which, the participants notified the Standing Committee about civic problems concerning their respective wards. The second round was the resolution round, where participants through a presentation, mooted different proposals for improving the city of Bangalore .

The event was judged by IIM-Bangalore Prof. Rajeev Gowda, Mr. Subramanian Vincent, a journalist, and eminent educationist Mr. Syed Sultan.

In the oral round the participants raised relevant issues related to their wards, such as, Surana College who highlighted the nuisance caused by vendors to the pedestrians due to their operating on the footpath as well as improper parking of BMTC buses that led to vehicular congestion in the K.R. Market ward.

In the second round, various resolutions were tabled before the panel, which included an integrated transportation system ( Mount Carmel College ), Hassle Free Roads ( KLE Law College ) and Urban Community Rainwater Harvesting (ULC).

Read more about the resolutions here.

The Winners:

After strong performances by all the finalists, the eventual winners were KLE Society's Law College, closely followed by University Law College . A special mention was made to SJR College for Women , for their high level of commitment and effort they put into their resolutions as well as their rebuttals to the questions posed by their co-councillors.

When asked about the event, Mrs. Mumtaz Begum said “I am glad to be provided with the opportunity to spread awareness about the functions, duties and responsibilities of the BBMP. I hope that this event would be first of many such events aimed at educating the populace about the BBMP”

The judges were unanimously pleased with the level of knowledge and commitment shown by the participants.

Mr. Rajeev Gowda stressed on the importance of community participation in the implementation of various BBMP projects saying that “It is the difficult part of the implementation.” He said that he learned a lot about city problems and the solutions to it. He commented that “the event is going one step below the surface and it is a civilised discourse.” Further he added that the format was thought provoking and a mind-opening processing. He urged the contestants not to stop here, but, to continue the good work. He was also immensely impressed by the high level of knowledge possessed by Smt. Mumtaz Begum.
Mr. Subramanian Vincent, a journalist by profession said that the event was very educating and he personally he learnt a lot. He felt that the knowledge level of the participants, about BBMP's function, was extremely high and it exceeded his expectations. However, he felt that some of the issues and the resolutions mooted were not in the BBMP's jurisdiction and were concerning other civic bodies like the BWSSB, & BMTC. He later clarified that as the event is in it's nascent stage and so such mistakes (in identifying issues related to BBMP) can be overlooked as the event's main purpose is to make the youth more aware about the local government. He also felt that research especially when quoting statistics should improve.
Mr. Syed Sultan, an eminent educationist of Bangalore , felt that: “the event challenged the most basic ability to be aware of your surroundings. He felt that the issues were understood properly.

Chaitanya S.G. & Trimurthy who represented K.L.E Law College felt that “The Mock City Council was indeed a great learning experience for both of us as a team. Prelims were quite easy and we have to admit that our preparation was below normal. But we had the moot experience with us and that saw us easily through the prelims. But we had a strategy in mind before the finals. We prepared well of course (the resolution and the oral question) but the area which we concentrated was asking questions to the fellow corporators. ‘Step into the shoes of a corporator' this statement by Ramesh Ramanathan was all that which we followed. What struck me was that even though we get great ideas, we cannot implement it because of practical reasons. For example we had thought of an idea wherein concrete roads could be built using some serious technologies wherein 20-30 kms of road could be built in a day. Such ideas are lucrative but for the sad reason that for implementation we need more dynamic personalities at the top of the office.”

On being asked about the format he said that there were many gray areas. For example, he stated that, “If at all we had a prior idea/ even discussion regarding rules that would have been really exciting.” He further added that the seating arrangements could have been done better. He felt that some of the teams were denied the opportunity of being heard because of the seating arrangements. Overall though in all other ways he had a wonderful time.

Ms. Shruti Veenam, Co-ordinator of Yuva Janaagraha said that she thinks that the event was a good attempt to educate youth about local governance as they are generally disconnected from what really matters to them. This is evident from the fact that they possess more knowledge about American elections rather than the functions of the BBMP. She felt that some of the teams did well. She also hoped that the BBMP would cooperate with Yuva Janaagraha by being a part of the panel of future Mock City Councils so that they can invest some time in the youth so that they can reduce the disconnect between the officials and the youth.

The event evoked high levels of interest amongst the citizens of Bangalore especially students and teachers, evident from the 200 people who packed the auditorium.

For further information or any queries please contact shruti@janaagraha.org or Contact 080 - 41277102/3