Being a law student, I have to work as an intern during my studies. This was my very first internship. I was an intern at PUCL (People’s union for civil liberties), Jaipur office for about four weeks. Ms. Kavita Srivastava was our coordinator. She is an ideal woman, energetic and fully devoted to needy people. Though my first face-to-face interaction was not so good with her, as I reached the office very late on my first day but after knowing her actual self, I changed my perceptions.

This is a total non-government, self-organized organization. It works for the well-being of people around. PUCL Head office is in New Delhi. PUCL, Jaipur works mainly under the guidance of Ms. Kavita Srivastava.

Our main task was to conduct a survey in the nearby police stations of Jaipur East. Jaipur East comprises of total 16 Thanas. We conducted surveys in 14 Thanas, out of which I had surveyed in 2 Thanas, Adarsh Nagar Thana and Kho-Nagoriyan Thana. Where Adarsh Nagar Thana was almost properly maintained, Kho-Nagoriyan Thana was still working under a non-constructed, temporary building. Rajasthan govt. has instructed all the Thanas to maintain a special desk for females, known as “Mahila Desk” since 2003. Not a single Thana in the whole Jaipur East has properly maintained it. The final report was submitted by us on 31^st December, 2013 and was released in press as well.

We also surveyed night-shelters provided by the govt. for the homeless people. Out of the 2 night-shelters I surveyed, 1 was good enough while the other was in a worse condition than we could ever imagine.

I can say that overall experience with PUCL was much better than I expected, but after taking the glimpses of such govt. organizations, I realized the reason of ‘why India is not really progressing’. I know that 4 weeks in total is a very small span of time to know about the overall govt. functionalism, but I can say that I’ve got a perfect introduction.

From the very beginning, I’ve heard people comment about the extremely slow functioning of the govt. organizations, be it the police stations, or the courts, etc. I can barely remember anyone telling me that his/her work was easily sorted-out.

Even my past experiences make me realize the same. I lost my laptop bag with a laptop, purse, ATM card, and a mobile phone 2 years back in a place called ‘Kota’ in Rajasthan. I had lodged an FIR. The policemen didn’t contact me ever after I lodged that complaint. I even provided them with all the tracking numbers of my laptop and mobile phone, but there was no action. Something should be done to so that these organizations can work properly without showing such lethargic behavior.