The Despande Fellowship Program- Now Accepting Applications !!! Hurry

We are pleased to inform you that the Deshpande Fellowship Program is now receiving applications for tenth batch. Deshpande fellowship program was begun in order to empower a major untapped resource in the development field: hungry young people with plenty of potential to go for in their field who are held back only by their skills and self- confidence. DFP seeks change that and help participate to realize the true potential and ambitions.

This rigorous 7½ month residential leadership development program,Through NGOs visits, village studies, entrepreneurial and Leadership activities and intensive course work, fellows gain skills needed to become true leaders in their chosen field.  

With a concentration on social entrepreneurship and innovation, the DFP has transformed over 200 fellows into entrepreneurial young leaders. Kindly spread the words with your colleagues, friends and who interested to become part of the Fellowship Program.  

Interested one apply directly by using attached application or can be downloaded from online-http://www.dfp.org.in/. 

For more information you can reach us at fellowship@dfmail.org or   9740011883 

We look forward to hear from you soon.

Note: Last date for application will be 28.11.2012, Hurry to apply!

Political party vs movement

Most of India against corruption supporters are people who dislike/hate politics, they are people who can contribute in spurts of anger but do not have the spirit of political cadres, Arvind kejriwal's attempt for a political party is welcome step but in the short term looks very hard to be a difference making reality.His audience-the youth is an impatient group who wants to see quick changes. However 5-10 years down the line if the resilience continues it would surely be a force to reckon with.

While they may win 1-2 lok sabha seats on account of the anti-corruption media coverage and the actions of the current government,but the ideological difference between a party vs movement is a huge setback. Kejriwal's attempt looks logical, a much needed step, it speaks of an impatient reaction that any crusader is bound to take sometime or the other, when all he sees is a deadlock. However the reality of an election is different, fighting an election would show them why netas are the way they are. they make every day decisons which would bewilder them,everyday ethics tests,friends and allies who maynot be upright and inevitably compromising the ideals of any sane/educated individual.

Good people having political ambitions is a good sign for the country and Arvind must not be potrayed as the one selfish guy.I personally think there is a need for a political role for young educated Indians, but converting the movement into a party will not work. Politics has its way which goes far beyond the imagination of the movement. A more grassroot movement from villages is required to change politics, since it is they who tide the scale and actually elect governments.Social media youth votes add but do not decide the course.

The best thing that can happen now is that Ram Dev and Kejriwal come together to make a party. This can work since Ramdev appeals to a much wider audience and compliments Anna's movement.Organically the Anna team would get a new set of leaders who steer the movement to a much focussed path of truth and course correct Kejriwal when his compulsions overwhelm him.It can be the much required moral guide and people's force, providing support and channelizing the youth energy to a political goal. This adds pressure to the current framework both as a party and a movement.In this way the movement has a political voice, but is itself largely neutral allowing new people to jump in the path of righteousness.

Who knows in the next 10 years the relationship of Anna movement to Kejriwal party would be similar to the one between RSS and the BJP, sans a tint of religion.

Sanitation work in villages

After a long time !!

It’s been a long time since I wrote, much of this is because I was seeing if it would be appropriate to write or not given the setting in which I work. However I would love to tell stories, stories that keep me going, stories I wonder about, for their sheer truth rural India offers. Here are two of them

 I go to a household in Haryana trying to ensure the villagers have toilets and hear a moving story. A lady in 40s tells me that she has 3 adolescent daughters and how it is a real problem for them to go out in the open. I specially recommend construction of a toilet asap. The next day as work is to be started my team finds that she was lying. She had a toilet built up a bit far from the house. I wonder why did she lie, if she had said she has issues in using them, I would still have considered it. The problem with the experience is that once you hear another such a story I would be suspicious, in case there is a real family that has 3 adolescent daughters it would be hard for me to believe it is a true story. The question now is how we filter them the fake from the truth because they both come so many times in a day

In this place I rarely see women who are empowered. I saw one today. In a Primary health clinic in one of the villages I meet a staff nurse. In such a setup the doctor is never there in the evening- they are all on call 24x7, Oh ya do not know why they call 24x7. The staff nurse comes to this, out in the blue village 25 kms far on a bus that only runs twice a day. She has a night shift and is worried about her safety. What does she do? She hires a woman from the village to provide company and have someone by her side in case she needs it. Instead of complaining she finds a way, being unmarried and given the eve teasing, I am sure she has a very hard time, but she still does her best in a  male dominated society, trying to provide services to people who need it most. In such a setup with no cleaning staff, a place where the chowkidaar is not provided by government but hired by the doctors themselves and has not got his monthly wages in 6 months. We still have a few who have the heart, treat rural women with care they truly deserve. The staff nurse was one.

It’s been two months since I penned some thoughts, looks words come by a bit difficult when all you do is executionL. 

After a long time !!

It’s been a long time since I wrote, much of this is because I was seeing if it would be appropriate to write or not given the setting in which I work. However I would love to tell stories, stories that keep me going, stories I wonder about, for their sheer truth rural India offers. Here are two of them

 I go to a household in Haryana trying to ensure the villagers have toilets and hear a moving story. A lady in 40s tells me that she has 3 adolescent daughters and how it is a real problem for them to go out in the open. I specially recommend construction of a toilet asap. The next day as work is to be started my team finds that she was lying. She had a toilet built up a bit far from the house. I wonder why did she lie, if she had said she has issues in using them, I would still have considered it. The problem with the experience is that once you hear another such a story I would be suspicious, in case there is a real family that has 3 adolescent daughters it would be hard for me to believe it is a true story. The question now is how we filter them the fake from the truth because they both come so many times in a day

In this place I rarely see women who are empowered. I saw one today. In a Primary health clinic in one of the villages I meet a staff nurse. In such a setup the doctor is never there in the evening- they are all on call 24x7, Oh ya do not know why they call 24x7. The staff nurse comes to this, out in the blue village 25 kms far on a bus that only runs twice a day. She has a night shift and is worried about her safety. What does she do? She hires a woman from the village to provide company and have someone by her side in case she needs it. Instead of complaining she finds a way, being unmarried and given the eve teasing, I am sure she has a very hard time, but she still does her best in a  male dominated society, trying to provide services to people who need it most. In such a setup with no cleaning staff, a place where the chowkidaar is not provided by government but hired by the doctors themselves and has not got his monthly wages in 6 months. We still have a few who have the heart, treat rural women with care they truly deserve. The staff nurse was one.

It’s been two months since I penned some thoughts, looks words come by a bit difficult when all you do is executionL. 

The colonial India of today

Well !! they came,left.. yet they never did so, they mentally enslaved us and continue to entrap us. We wake up from the coma, get small fits, look at one two issues now and then and slumber off again. The Indian public continues to suffer from colonial laws,which are not just irrelevant but in some ways against basic principles of human rights.

1. What was sedition in 1920s is still followed and looks like we are beginning to wake up after making someone suffer badly,a doctor,human rights activist  Binayak Sen's case is a example of such a folly,destroying a family and instead of appreciating his good work booking him for sedition.If just finding literature can make you a traitor then I guess every one of us would be traitors.I have books on Pakistan, U.S, Israel :)
Mahatma Gandhi our father of the nation was also booked under the same law in famous Ahmedabad trial in 1922:He said this “Section 124 A under which I am happily charged is perhaps the prince among the political sections of the IPC designed to suppress the liberty of the citizen. Affection cannot be manufactured or regulated by the law.”

2.Our Mai baap culture is continues to prevail. Why do we not have better ways of taking in talent in the government services.Students slog for an exam and based on rank we provide them postings, take foreign services for e.g, How have we ensured the domain expertise needed for international relations in the exam, I could take Pali and Hindi literature and be a diplomat. This is crazy and provides some reasons for lot things that have gone wrong for India internationally, those are better left unsaid.  Is it not time to have a seperate exam for such services which actually take in your interest to serve as a diplomat or a public administrator like the U.S does. How do we really have the depth to focus on international affairs ? When we take up roles for India in such specialised fora is it the passion, the domain knowledge or just the hard work of years for the exam that should matter?

3. Why do we still have the Railway budget? When 70% of the country is based on agriculture Why not have a agricilture budget? When britishers had this their priorities were clear, they focussed on the loot and railways development formed the backbone of the loot infrastructure.

4. For  53 years after independence until 2000 we presented the budget at 5:00 pm Why because we wanted the Britishers to hear them, and pass it at their noon time.Well even in 1999 thats completely nuts, how could we do that.We forgot, did not realise it, followed traditions?? It took 53 years to understand.

5. The Indian Flag is another case. A lot of us have not really hoisted Indian flags at our homes why?  Because we were told it was inappropriate by law. What a crappy law. Imagine how good it might have been if we could really do so in our childhood. Luckily  today we have better laws,we are allowed to, but it was not granted it took individuals to struggle to get this done.

These are just few examples, some of them came up during my discussions with Kumara Guru who in Boston today, I am sure there are tons more. Why don't we look at all of them for once and set out for better laws that actually uphold liberty, equality and fraternity in our way and really bury our past. They are gone, isn't it really time to bury their laws for once and all.

Dispelling few doubts of the U.N system

A lot of my friends have asked me about the relevance of the United Nations and it being primarily in the hands of the U.S rather than working for global development.This post is meant for people who just see things from the outside and wonder why the U.N is like this, experts will find this post unscholarly and  mundane.

1. The U.N was made to further interest of the powerful nations: While the U.N does great deal of work for the world, it must not come as a surprise, it does so because more than anything else, this is what the most powerful nations want it to do. This is what Veto system means.

2. U.N was never meant to be championing developing nation's causes: It was only a platform where all players could come together and talk on issues. U.N primary goals and intentions must always be remembered and we should not confuse it as a neutral party. The good that it does comes from the leeway super powers provide it.

3.When 80% of U.N's budget come from the United states how can we expect to work for people who do not give in the money. Even in a family it is normally the person who earns who makes decisons isn't it?

U.N is an extremely important organization, every now and then we in the developing nations feel it is not doing much for us. It does what it is supposed to do. We need to see its goals in proper perspective and not have undue expectations. Nothing was ever done blisslfully only for good, there are interests and there are ways nations pursue them.

Answer to some of the criticism of the Jan Lok pal bill

A bill is a technical solution no doubt about it. My friends Akhilesh (here talks here on a facebook note)
talks about technical and adaptive solutions in "silos", Can a technical solution not aid to speeding up of the adaptive process or a lack of it move the adaptive process backward?  This is a complimentary process rather than a mutually exclusive one. Hence positing that Lok pal bill is a technical solution for an adaptive problem and hence summarily dismissing it as a solution is a flawed argument.

Another question raised is the articulation of what  corruption means to a common man, inability to clearly cannot articulate a fitting description does not in any way mean that common man does not understand the problem, , they may not similarly be in a position to say what is education to our satisfaction, but they do know its importance. Connecting the point raised in the paragraph before Does that mean we do not have a higher education bill just because they cannot pinpoint exactly.

I agree we have jumped to the bandwagon but on the contrary to my friend's view i am appreciative of this fact. This is not new, people join the bandwagon when they feel like, this happened in the independence movement. Everyone must have had different interpretations of freedom, we saw that play out in the partition but they had a purpose that Britishers must not be there, i would extend the same logic today we may have different approaches to current events but have a clear objective people in "public offices should be clean"

There is considerable compounding of issues as soon as we take it to a personal level, which i view is critical but needs more depth and a separate focus, the culture of getting away from corruption needs  catalysts, for years we have been in the wrong track, all of us may have erred but we will slowly get to what is needed. U.S is culture that people can become whatever they dream, this has been aided by intellectual property rights, better business laws and likes, applying the same argument the Jan Lok pal bill is just a step to build that culture.

I completely disagree with counterfeit leadership, what is the premise in my friend's write up is not clear to me,if this is counterfeit leadership  than I am sure we have always had one in India after independence. Elections are about completely swaying of the people. Mob mentality is not something I am proud of. I would rather argue that since the Anti corruption movement is being played not just in streets but on the internet we have educated Indians who are making a educated choice than ever before.

There may be a debate on the methods used and the long term impact but it must also be seen that this has happened when left with no recourse, when petitioning, meetings nothing worked. A hunger strike is as good as the people's support it gets, some critics have suggested that so called leaders in the movement should have fought the elections and then raised the issue. This is an impractical view, given the way Indian democracy works, to push this is to turn a blind eye to realities. I would however be much happier if it had happened that way.

I see continuos refrains to "thoughtlessly jumping" in my friend's article, I must mention that if they ever was a more aware generation in India's history it is this one and the one's that will follow us, they will be even more aware just because of better technology.

The article suggests novel thoughts but falls lack of concrete ideas of what can be done, in its very best it can be appreciated, but if I have to ask myself what can I do now to tackle the issue of corruption there seems to be hardly any answers.

We may agree or disagree, we may have other better ways but I see that this movement has caught the imagination of people not without reason, it is a genuine reason and it offers some concrete answers, that have some, if not all the potential to address the problem. 

I would urge critics of the movement to come up with an alternative plan of action, one that is time bound and can address the issues in a much better way, till the lack of an alternative the current movement must have our support.

Jan Lok Pal Bill Solidarity March in Boston

 

Who is Anna Hazare?

Why did countless Indians not know, or may not have bothered to know Mr Hazare until he splashed as a positive tsunami in their lives. 


Mr Ram Gopal Verma popped the question "Who is Anna Hazare ?" and over the last few days many of us have asked this question too. Some may have found their answers in action, some in friends, others in media and a good majority in online sources.


Those who have not will get their answers in the history books of their children. If we pause a minute and reflect, this question is a bit unsettling and although it make look irrelevant now. 

Is it the sheer focus on their work? Is it the utter lack of General Knowledge or Is it plan apathy to public life. The very same people who cheered the Indian team on their victory against Pakistan or talked of 26/11 killings passionately did not know about Anna Hazare. This is a story of how civil society’s champion are so unsung in India. NGOs are not the most talked about words on the dinner table, rather they are always a suspect, most often people find themselves as givers and the NGOs as takers.

Fundamentally all of us are made to be happy when we live for “others”, for some “others” means a family, for some it means the society. What makes the difference in this choice? A person for whom the circle of care is only the family has probably higher degree of happiness quotient in comparison to those struggling for beyond family issues. This is because the latter make greater sacrifices of the immediate family sometimes to no great result, this makes their happiness quotient lower, further lowered if it does not match their expectations of impact. This leads to a premise: being rational, some people would not pursue issues beyond their family because it may ultimately lessen their happiness and this risk of stretching for goals that look beyond realms of accomplishment. This being said a case can be made where a person who thinks beyond his family(may be for short periods) for larger societal goals succeeds exactly as he thought. This would bring in far greater happiness than anything else for people who try and suceed in this . This success of the India against corruption is all about this happiness. 

However having  said this a  a lot of people may not have acted now, their threshold of acting for a higher degree of happiness is still much more higher and these are the ones "Who do not know Who is Anna Hazare" even today.

The movement we witnessed is an ongoing one, are we aware of the higher happiness we can seek for. This needs all of us think beyond ourselves and our families. We did well this time and we need to do well continuously. Anna and countless other civil society member need you, they may be examples for few of us but in the end we are examples for our friends. Our friends are more likely to think "it is possible" if you think so, rather than some idealist whom they did not know 5 days earlier and would not have known if you did not tell them about him. Anna motivated a lot of us but as all movements are, this one too is about people being motivated by one another and believing that the tipping point is near. 

Forget the Lok Pal for a second, it is the sheer impact of Anna’s work in his village and his crusade for RTI that we as a society need to stand up and appreciate. Civil society's work is not cared about until they storm the media. Environmentalist are looked as hurdles to development. Why does this happen? Why do we not track and follow their good work?

Fundamentally what makes so many people uninterested in the work of civil society is that it is hard, it is dusty and has few rewards for the comforts of life, it is inherently "not happening" in the very regular urban sense of the word. I would argue that we do not see such work being done by people who are one among ourselves. We see them nobler in spirit, too ideal in thinking and something what we would not do due to compulsions of our daily lives. We disassociate ourselves to the idea being worked out until its very last moment. We love to play low bet games. This bothers civil society workers everyday, they push for participation, they sometimes succeed but most of the times have a hard time. 

Yes it is obviously a matter of a person’s choices that he wishes to know about Anna or not. He  has no choice but has to know him when he sees the hue and cry all over. Most of today’s India is coming through a generation of middle class, who have fought hard for their education. A lot of them think their role in a broader sense, while a lot of them are focussed on having a better family than their parents. For some it is the best possible life. For some fervent pursuers everything else is a distraction, incidently their movies are not meant to influence their thought but only to entertain them and refresh them for the next work week, their friends are not meant for a support system but are hang outs buddies that change as they hop cities. Its the over arching theme of materialistic goals, with a desire that when all of this is achieved, there will be a time for other things i.e the civil society.

We need to think is it so , is this not the time when we are at our best and we can make the future of coming generations the best. Its a personal choice but one that needs more reflection. We ought to know "Who is Anna Hazare?" if not for ourselves then for our children.