Indian Institute of Management graduates are often accused of ignoring politics and public affairs in pursuit of high-flying careers. However, students are beginning to reach out to the wider world by opting for summer internship with political parties.

In a unique initiative, students from IIM-Ahmedabad will work with Communist Party of India - Marxist politburo member Sitaram Yechury and help in planning for the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme this year. They will be involved in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

Provisions of the Right to Information Act will be analysed. Students will assess funds spent by the constituency and create a monitoring system for the performance of the NGOs and local bodies. Talks are on with other politicians for a similar project.

Sitaram Yechury is a regular at IIM-A. The institute invited Dalai Lama to the campus in January this year. He addressed students on 'Ethics and Business' through a humourous hour-and-a-half session. Around 40 students of IIM-A had worked as poll-observers in the Gujarat elections.

Former president, APJ Abdul Kalam and Anil Gupta, an IIM faculty member, recently introduced a course titled, 'Globalising Resurgent India through Through Innovative Transformation'. It will be jointly taught by Kalam and Gupta during the second-term.

Anil Gupta says: "The students will be trained in developing skills for policy analysis and change and contribute to policy decisions in a creative manner through innovations. They will develop a policy scenario for inclusive growth for various sectors."

The institute had invited Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in quick succession. While Nitish Kumar had been the Chief Guest during 'Confluence 2006', the institute's annual business school summit, Lalu Prasad had charmed the one-year executive programme students with a talk on 'The turnaround of the Indian Railways'.

The institute introduced a one-year post graduate programme in public management and policy last year. A full-time residential programme, it focuses on governance, policy formulation and implementation etc. Last month, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi visited the institute for a discussion with students of this course.