The decision of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Rohit Pawar to launch the ‘Maharashtra Vision Forum’ was propelled by what he calls the gap between policymakers and the ground truth. Pawar, who was speaking to The Indian Express on January 12, said the reason he decided to launch the forum as an apolitical initiative was because the youths shy away from direct politics. Explaining the nature of the forum, Pawar, who was recently elected as the president of the Maharashtra Cricket Academy (MCA), said this forum would invite and encourage participation of the youths to vote for and frame policies which affect them. “The three-pronged process would see people voting for three major issues which they think affects them the most. Issues like health, education, employment etc are what can be flagged by the participants. Following the voting pattern, separate teams would be tasked to form policy level interventions which they think would be necessary. Experts would help the teams dovetail the policies,” Pawar said. He added, “The policy document would be presented to the state government and all political parties. The topics chosen for policy level intervention are based on the Sustainable Development Goals.” Asked about the need to keep the forum apolitical, Pawar said the youths shy away from politics. “Yes, I am a politician, but this forum and the policy document would be completely apolitical. We would invite and collaborate across party lines. It is true that the youth of the day are not comfortable with politics,” he said. With 60 per cent of the state in the age group of below 40 years of age, Maharashtra, he said, needed a separate youth policy which would address the need of this age group. For Maharashtra, this would not be the first time when crowdsourcing for policies has been done. Pawar’s initiative comes at a time when Opposition leaders claim witch hunt by the central agencies. NCP MLA Hasan Mushriff’s home and sugar mill in Kolhapur was searched by the Enforcement Directorate over the former’s alleged corruption in the sale of a cooperative sugar mill in Kolhapur. Other leaders have also faced the wrath of the central agencies and some leaders are now in jail. Pawar’s leap in the political arena has been mostly through his apolitical platforms which helped him establish himself as a brand.
