Understanding the Pohlig-Hellman algorithm
Note that $\alpha$ is a primitive element in $GF(p)$ and $\gamma_i$ is a generator of a subgroup $G_i\subseteq GF(p)$ with order $p_i$, i.e., $G_i=\{\alpha^{(p-1)/p_i},\alpha^{2(p-1)/p_i},\ldots,\alpha^{p_i(p-1)/p_i}(=1)\}$. Since $y^{(p-1)/p_i}\in G_i$, there exists a unique value $b_0\in \mathbb{Z}_{p_i}$ such that $y^{(p-1)/p_i}=\gamma_i^{b_{0}}$. To compute $b_0$, you can for instance apply the baby-step giant-step algorithm.