Happy Bday

Innumerable people come in our lives, stay for some period and then physically leave the place but some of them still continue to live in us because they belong to the esteemed class of teachers. Among those "Architects of my Life", there was one such person, whose Birthday is today but i can't wish him, because physically he left this world five months back. He has been a teacher, a friend, a moral builder, a spiritual awakener............ everything for me. If he would not have been in my life, specially in the early years of childhood, possibly I would also have been running in the rat-race of earning money ignoring the stark deprivation which people around us in different parts of the world are facing. Prof. Channiwala was not wrong when he asked my parents that he often wondered that there must be some other great teacher also behind this student of mine . Channiwala sir wanted to him, but then it couldn't happen....

My vocabulary doesn't have words for expressing my gratitude to the enlightened soul.
Down the years in my life, If I will be able to do something worthwhile for the suffering masses across the world, it would be my greatest guru-dakshina to  this "Architect of my Life" who has in one way or the other made me realize the essence of life.
Happy Bday Nanaji

Vidharbha Farmers Suicide

As they say, problems are often blessings in disguise, (might be an optimistic view of looking at things), loosing Jharkhand project and what all followed aftermath started a new chapter. Somnath Sir (VP of the organization i m working with & next one in the list of Architect's of my life) gave a free hand to evolve the development projects which i intend to do, and so the journey has begun again!!.
Most probably immediate step would be to devise some support program in Vidharbha. I was reading through the reports of farmers suicide and factors leading to it, got reminded of the "Narayanpur Express" simulation game during IRMA induction. That simulation game had  touched me from within, when as a farmer with 2 acres of land and one buffalo with 4 members to feed under the vagaries of pest attack, uncertain rain and variable subsidy  policy of the government, with my partner in the game Samantha we had to sell  more than half of the land at the end of imaginary 3 years of the game. I felt very miserable selling the land which was the only asset in the game for me as a farmer but then that's what farmers face in reality which was just a 4-5 hour game for us. While reading through the suicide cases of Vidharbha,  misery and vulnerability of their life appeared vividly, but as promised to Somnath sir, this time tears are withheld within the heart to ignite the cause v are striving for.

Future is yet to unfold

The thursday

This thursday(24th sept), I shouldn't say was a bad day but indeed I can't call it a good day too. Our Jharkhand rural electrification project was lost, due to some changes in bureaucratic circle in the ministry at the last stage of approval. Loosing or getting a project funded is part and parcel for all not-for-profit organizations, but then this project could have positively impacted lives of some 500 odd families in the two villages, children in these villages would have got light to study in the night (day time  they have to support their parents on field or in forest), some local enterprise (wheat four mill/ rice dehusking) would have come up with the electricity in place, rabi crops could have been possible with irrigation ................ but all this now got delayed with this....till we get some other donor to support the project.

I might sound pessimistic but at times I feel very suffocated, we are witnessing the problem, with some professional training (thanks to IRMA) and bit of experience evolved after discussing with the rural community we develop some solution but then we have to sit helpless till it fits in the policy agenda of donors. (now which has tilted to climate change issues).....

Was just thinking about alternatives to this... the buzzword these days are social enterprises..as a panacea to this dependence on donor.. but the way its being driven makes me feel ..it has got too much of enterprise and social is somewhere lost... young entrepreneurs r meddling into as it seems to be an easy option for establishing their ventures on the name of social...(i m sorry if i sound offensive but i think these social entrepreneurs should really ask their conscience how much is really social)
Got reminded of the e first page of our TAU in Managing Cooperatives course, where Dr. Kuriens (for those who are not familiar with this name- Amul and White revolution are credited to him/) statement which meant "Till date I have not found any better alternative form of organization than co-operatives to really involve people and uplift their socio-economic status..........."
But then setting up co-operatives in naxal affected areas (co-ops have to have democratically elected functionaries) of India or civil war affected areas of sub-saharan africa demands a lot..

Newer structures of producer company also have not shown much promise......
.....Quest is still on.........Some solution has to be found out......as we say at IRMA..
."If  we won't..... who will ?"