Saturday, August 23, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Dilemma
Life for most of us takes sharp 'u' turns at one point or the other which is often professed as "Man proposes God disposes". All development interventions are principally aimed at serving weakest of the weak in the system, but somehow our attempts touch only the layer which is more visible and more easily accessible and we feel successful when we find better results coming out for this layer. BUT DOES THAT NOT MEAN THE DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTION DIDN'T MEET ITS BASIC OBJECTIVE OF ASSISTING THE WEAKEST. I was reviewing the objective with which my naive experiments with reforms started and course they followed while being established.
Drishti-"My first experiment with reforms" was pioneered as an organization which will support all the students at SVNIT and promote their technical endeavours. More so it was an attempt to specifically guide and nurture students with low inclination towards tech things because fundamentally students who were already motivated for tech endeavours could attain good results even in absence of Drishti. In nutshell Drishti's existence was with a mandate that it will prove prowess of SVNITians in technical arena by ensuring that everyone in the institute is involved in some way or the other. We got best results in almost all tech competitions and there is no doubt about it but if give a micro look did Drishti really create platform for "so called less technically inclined students" I personally don't get a satisfactory yes. All the people involved in the noble endeavour of transforming NIT-Surat to a technical hobby centre of excellence did best job and year after year results are shining like anything. BUT IS THIS THE REAL CHANGE WHICH WE FROM DRISHTI WANTED? DO THESE RESULTS REPRESENT THE WORK OF THOSE WHO REALLY NEEDED DRISHTI?
This is not to judge past but to join it with the next experiment "Disha". Our team dreamt of serving the weakest, through a model of organization which is not dependent on charity for doing development interventions. Therefore after much deliberation we undertook a midway path and attempted to keep in virtues of market driven organizations (for profit), NGO's( not-for profit) and Co-ops (sharing of profit/surplus with original producers i.e. poor).
We started our journey 8th august 2007 and explored all possible options to set in this model. As a mode we principally agreed to create what Mahatma Gandhi calls "production by masses" and that too in sync with not disturbing environment ( any intervention which disturbs ecology will not be sustainable). We decided to begin our work from one of the poorest state Jharkhand (known as sudan of India). As a part of curriculum of IRMA, we stayed their for two months in a tribal village "Supa" and tried to asses how people there can be involved by building upon their strengths. As area is not getting investment (possibly bcoz of naxal problem) and there are no alternatives other than to migrate during non-farming season, we thought we should start some productive work in which every one in the village can be involved, so first option before us was to give training to people (alike NGO's work) for very basic handwork (what we popularly call as handicraft) and then provide market linkage (alike for-profit organizations )so that they can earn a decent livelihood by remaining in the village itself. Our objective was to share back the profits with the original producersi.e. rural poor (alike Co-ops but not democratically as naxal problem is hindrance to democratic process) and our team serving as employees of the organization with producers as owners of Disha. Along with this we attempted to take up rural innovations with support of NIF, Ahemdabad so that innovation at the grass root can be brought forward.
But as its said "Man proposes God disposes" today i see things not going the way we thought of. Bcoz we couldnt convince venture capitalists to support us (as equity & not grant) our attempts have stuck up. The cause for which our team is moving is what we never want to leave in between, so an alternative way we are planning- we are now thinking ( not sure yet ur valuable views will help us decide) to begin with a for-profit venture on e-waste recycling (which fulfills only one social objective of caring for environment) which will make organization financially sound and then will carry forward the mission of serving the weakest.
But as it happened with the first experiment "Drishti" i sometimes apprehend will WE BE ABLE TO FULFILL THE BASIC OBJECTIVE OF SUPPORTING THE REAL NEEDY. This drift is bit more sharp WILL WE BE ABLE TO JOIN BACK THE STREAMS?. Only one answer i find coming from the heart "If the feeling for the cause is true this drift will not hinder the mission and we will be able to contribute our best for the REAL needy"........
The quest is on.... with all actions being filtered on Gandhiji's talisman
"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."
Disha Moves Ahead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Drishti-"My first experiment with reforms" was pioneered as an organization which will support all the students at SVNIT and promote their technical endeavours. More so it was an attempt to specifically guide and nurture students with low inclination towards tech things because fundamentally students who were already motivated for tech endeavours could attain good results even in absence of Drishti. In nutshell Drishti's existence was with a mandate that it will prove prowess of SVNITians in technical arena by ensuring that everyone in the institute is involved in some way or the other. We got best results in almost all tech competitions and there is no doubt about it but if give a micro look did Drishti really create platform for "so called less technically inclined students" I personally don't get a satisfactory yes. All the people involved in the noble endeavour of transforming NIT-Surat to a technical hobby centre of excellence did best job and year after year results are shining like anything. BUT IS THIS THE REAL CHANGE WHICH WE FROM DRISHTI WANTED? DO THESE RESULTS REPRESENT THE WORK OF THOSE WHO REALLY NEEDED DRISHTI?
This is not to judge past but to join it with the next experiment "Disha". Our team dreamt of serving the weakest, through a model of organization which is not dependent on charity for doing development interventions. Therefore after much deliberation we undertook a midway path and attempted to keep in virtues of market driven organizations (for profit), NGO's( not-for profit) and Co-ops (sharing of profit/surplus with original producers i.e. poor).
We started our journey 8th august 2007 and explored all possible options to set in this model. As a mode we principally agreed to create what Mahatma Gandhi calls "production by masses" and that too in sync with not disturbing environment ( any intervention which disturbs ecology will not be sustainable). We decided to begin our work from one of the poorest state Jharkhand (known as sudan of India). As a part of curriculum of IRMA, we stayed their for two months in a tribal village "Supa" and tried to asses how people there can be involved by building upon their strengths. As area is not getting investment (possibly bcoz of naxal problem) and there are no alternatives other than to migrate during non-farming season, we thought we should start some productive work in which every one in the village can be involved, so first option before us was to give training to people (alike NGO's work) for very basic handwork (what we popularly call as handicraft) and then provide market linkage (alike for-profit organizations )so that they can earn a decent livelihood by remaining in the village itself. Our objective was to share back the profits with the original producersi.e. rural poor (alike Co-ops but not democratically as naxal problem is hindrance to democratic process) and our team serving as employees of the organization with producers as owners of Disha. Along with this we attempted to take up rural innovations with support of NIF, Ahemdabad so that innovation at the grass root can be brought forward.
But as its said "Man proposes God disposes" today i see things not going the way we thought of. Bcoz we couldnt convince venture capitalists to support us (as equity & not grant) our attempts have stuck up. The cause for which our team is moving is what we never want to leave in between, so an alternative way we are planning- we are now thinking ( not sure yet ur valuable views will help us decide) to begin with a for-profit venture on e-waste recycling (which fulfills only one social objective of caring for environment) which will make organization financially sound and then will carry forward the mission of serving the weakest.
But as it happened with the first experiment "Drishti" i sometimes apprehend will WE BE ABLE TO FULFILL THE BASIC OBJECTIVE OF SUPPORTING THE REAL NEEDY. This drift is bit more sharp WILL WE BE ABLE TO JOIN BACK THE STREAMS?. Only one answer i find coming from the heart "If the feeling for the cause is true this drift will not hinder the mission and we will be able to contribute our best for the REAL needy"........
The quest is on.... with all actions being filtered on Gandhiji's talisman
"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."
Disha Moves Ahead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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