For days, Shikha Bhasin remained in awe of her workplace. The enormity of her office –– a circular building with 257 granite pillars –– took some time to sink in. And what’s more –– she was getting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rub shoulders with policymakers and legislators. For the 20-year-old Delhi University graduate, it was a big leap — from never having had any brush with politics to working in the Indian Parliament assisting a member of Parliament (MP). “The experience was overwhelming,” says Bhasin, who was part of the first batch of legislative assistants (LAs) who assisted MPs during the Monsoon Session in 2007.

The programme, a unique initiative by PRS Legislative Research, was conceived as an opportunity for outstanding university students and recent graduates to get a first-hand look at the policymaking process. PRS Legislative Research is a not-for-profit research initiative based in Delhi that aims to strengthen the legislative debate.

After the successful completion of the pilot course, applications for the second batch of students are being screened at present. The course would last for about eight to nine weeks, beginning early November and ending in mid-December. These students will assist MPs in the winter session.

Officials at PRS, after several interactions with MPs across the political spectrum, envisaged the programme. “MPs are frequently required to discuss a range of issues in the Parliament and in other parliamentary forums. The task of the LAs will be to assist the MP in getting the required research inputs, in a concise and timely manner,” points out Chakshu Rai, analyst and programme co-ordinator, PRS.

So as an LA, Vinayak Uppal, a third-year student of Hindu College, Delhi University, assisted Bhartuhari Mahtab, a Lok Sabha MP from Orissa. He helped Mahtab by providing background research on several bills and reports that were being tabled in the Parliament during the monsoon session. “I worked on the Sachar committee report, the nuclear deal, the spurious drugs bill, the immoral traffic bill and on the flood situation in India,” says Uppal.

Since the course prohibits students from missing classes, Uppal used to do some of the research work at home on the Internet and meet Mahtab in the evening after classes. Like six other students of his batch, he too was given a stipend of Rs 5,000 by PRS for any incidental expenditure that he would have incurred during the course of the assistantship. Though he was extremely happy assisting the MP, the many disruptions in the monsoon session of the Parliament disappointed him. “Because of frequent disruptions a lot of research that I did for some of the bills were of no use in the end. That was depressing as I had worked hard on them,” he says.

Besides gaining valuable knowledge about the policy-making process and parliamentary affairs, the experience shattered some myths for the students. They were surprised to see the dedication of the MPs and the long hours that they put in every day. “Politicians have an infamous image of being corrupt. But I got to see a different side of them. I found them diligent and committed,” says Bhasin, who assisted the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president, Jai Prakash Agarwal. She plans to use this experience while applying for a course in international relations in universities abroad.

PRS too is focusing on admitting students who are interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the policy-making process in India. “Applicants must possess strong analytical, oral and written communication skills,” says Rai. Applicants are expected to send their résumé along with a 500-word statement on why they want to take up the assistantship. The internship is open to students from any discipline. In the last PRS assistantship programme, selected LAs had studied a range of subjects, including, economics, geography and literature. Before the internship commences, PRS conducts an orientation course to familiarise students with functions as well as parliamentary jargon.

Although the internship is open to students across the country, the LAs are expected to be in Delhi for the entire duration of the programme.