[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Nishant Upadhyay (June-August 2007) is a student of Bachelor of Arts (H) at Queen’s University (external link), Kingston, ON, Canada. He is currently writing his Under Graduate thesis on ‘Political Economy of the Indian Power Sector’ at Queen’s University.

Nishant interned at CACIM during his summer vacation for two months during June-August 2007 and contributed towards Political-Cultural Glossary project, assisted in support work to social movements, and also visited to Uttaranchal with one of the key activists fighting against the big dam projects on Bhagirathi where he attended public hearings. He also conducted a brief online survey of the various social movements courses taught globally and prepared a draft framework for short term course on the social movements.

Some reflections on his internship experience at CACIM,

My internship with CACIM was overall good. The only thing I can be critical of is my performance and I feel I could have utilised the time more usefully. I thoroughly enjoyed my interactions with Madhuresh, Aryan and Isha. The weekly seminar sessions were a good idea…too bad it took a long time to materialise. The collection of books is really good and helpful. The democratic non-hierarchical set-up of the office is very creative and efficient. There is definitely a week or two needed for adjustment, but after that I think it works out well. It creates a positive environment in the office.

Although we usually had good discussions about the outside happenings and I got a fair bit of exposure to events taking place outside the office premises, I think the interns should be given more exposure (especially since CACIM and its associated people are involved in so many movements and causes). The research projects are all really interesting, but I think after a while just sitting on the computer makes them a little dull and boring. Thanks ![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]