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Table of Contents 1. “Poorest India” Losing Out?! ...... 6 2. Economic and Social Climate Change ...... 8 3. CHANGING times...... 10 4. Development Priorities! ...... 12 5. Engineered Livelihoods Contexts! ...... 15 6. Oppression of Our Times! ...... 17 7. Livelihoods in Tradition? ...... 22 8. Education-Life-Livelihoods ...... 25 9. Elephant and The Six ‘Blind’ ...... 28 10. Opportunities for the Poor?!? ...... 31 11. Poor Are Increasing!...... 34 12. Why Are We So Desperate? ...... 37 13. Change - We Must! ...... 40 14. We Cannot Escape Change! ...... 43 15. Leaders of Legacy of Change - Can We Build? ...... 47 16. Next Generation Leaders? ...... 50 17. Working with New Emerging Leaders! ...... 53 18. Hope, Now is the TIME! ...... 57 19. Youth in the Lead! ...... 61 20. Be together! Collectivize! ...... 65 21. Entrepreneurs! Collectives! ...... 69 22. Skilling Youth! Integrating Facilitators! ...... 73 23. Campaigns, Cadres and Collectives! ...... 77 24. Workers, Professionals and Entrepreneurs! ...... 81 25. Development needs everyone! ...... 84 26. Right to be Independent and Developed! ...... 87 27. Leading in Knowledge Domain! ...... 91 28. Learning to Learn, Practice and Lead!...... 95 29. Investing in Social Leaders! ...... 99 30. Transforming Leaders! ...... 102 31. Leaders for Transforming Institutions! ...... 106 32. Leaders are not enough! ...... 109

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33. Giving Leaders and Leading Givers! ...... 112 34. Caring Givers and Loving Givers! ...... 115 35. People’s Professionals! ...... 118 36. Pyramid > Diamond! ...... 122 37. 10,000 Hours! ...... 124 38. Another 10,000 Hours! ...... 126 39. Learning to Share Learning! ...... 128 40. Let Us Argue and Learn! ...... 130 41. Let Us Argue, Teach and Learn! ...... 132 42. Movement of Giving! ...... 134 43. Be with Them! ...... 136 44. Let Us Know and Be With Them! ...... 138 45. Hope Is in The Resilience of The Poor! ...... 140 46. Collectives Bring in Responsible Business Behavior! ...... 142 47. Towards Inclusive Growth! ...... 144 48. Antyodaya? Sarvodaya? ...... 146 49. Collectives of Self-help and Food Production! ...... 148 50. Mainstream from Vulnerable Streams! ...... 150 51. Fellows with Poor and For Poor! ...... 152 52. Staying With the Vulnerable With Love!...... 154 53. To Manoharan With Love! ...... 156 54. Inclusion’s SHG Highway! ...... 158 55. Huge shortage of high-caliber men and women! ...... 160 56. Rare Social Entrepreneurs with/for Poor! ...... 162 57. Local Enterprises and Decent Jobs! ...... 164 58. Architecture to Reduce Asymmetry in Access ...... 166 59. Dr Verghese Kurien: Rest in Peace; Poor are Coming Together! ...... 168 60. Let us Learn Livelihoods! Let us Join Hands!...... 172 61. Learn to Know, Do, Be, Co-exist and Beyond! ...... 174 62. Gear up, Lead and Mentor People Working with the Poor! ...... 176 63. Reaching Out! ...... 178 64. Livelihoods Management Universities! ...... 180 65. National Centre for Livelihoods Learning! ...... 182

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66. Grounded Assumptions! ...... 184 67. HR For the Poor ...... 186 68. HR for the Poor! ...... 188 69. Prosperous and Equitable Telangana and Seemaandhra! ...... 190 70. Food, Nutrition, et al for All! ...... 192 71. 10,000 is not a Difficult Number! ...... 194 72. Double Dozen in 12 Years ...... 196 73. Kurien is The Way! ...... 198 74. Manoharan Shows a Way! ...... 200 75. Livelihoods Channel and Double Dozen Mentors!...... 202 76. Integrators for Transformation! ...... 204 77. Academy for People! Channel for People! ...... 206 78. Next 5 Years! ...... 208 79. 100-days of Hope! ...... 210 80. New Golden States! ...... 212 81. 0.1% Budget for Planning up! ...... 214 82. Visions for India ...... 216 83. Invest in Community for Community! ...... 218 84. Invest in Right Talent Rightly! ...... 220 85. Leaders of Choice! ...... 222 86. Professionals with Communitization Focus! ...... 224 87. Support to ‘livelihoods’ and ‘communitization’ ! ...... 226 88. Co-existence Workers and Partners! ...... 228 89. Mentoring Mentors! ...... 230 90. Communitization and Integration Mentors! ...... 232 91. Janaandolan needs Campaigners! ...... 234 92. Truly TRU! ...... 236 93. L-campaign for Poverty Reduction! ...... 239 94. Poverty Reduction Janaandolan! ...... 241 95. Aadivaasi Girijana Gareebi Janaandolan! ...... 243 96. Communitized Convergence ...... 245 97. Poverty Reduction Campaign, Cadre, and Connect! ...... 247 98. Poverty Reduction Mission and Corps! ...... 249

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99. Employment Continuum! ...... 251 100. Skilling Value-chain? ...... 253 101. Budget for Institutions Platforms of Poor? ...... 255 102. Budget for Institutions of Poor? ...... 257 103. Facilitating Hands!...... 259 104. Coalitions for Janaandolan! ...... 260 105. Portfolio 25 ! ...... 262 106. Towards Rural Transformation! ...... 264 107. Impacting Enterprising but Less Organized ...... 266 108. Smaller is the way ...... 268 109. Way Forward for Poverty Reduction ...... 270 110. Demonetization...... 271 111. Holistic Living ...... 272 112. Self Learning ...... 273 113. Leadership, Entrepreneurship ...... 274 114. Digital Life ...... 275 115. Integration…Uberization ...... 276 116. Mentoring Collectives ...... 277 117. How do we address poor, poverty..? ...... 278 118. Transcending from self to All ...... 279 119. Turning Inwards ...... 280

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1. “Poorest India” Losing Out?!

Perspectives November, 2007

It was a month of festivals - Dusserah and Eid. It was also a month of fights – fight for enhancing Minimum support Price for Paddy. Everybody ‘wants’ it. Nobody ‘grants’ it. A news analyst confirms, if we grant it, the price of rice crosses Rs.25 per kg. If we do not grant it, the price will be crossing Rs.40-50 as farmers get out of paddy. While all this is going on, Andhra Pradesh announces Rs.2/kg rice through PDS for 18 Million card holders. It may need about Rs.15000 million/year. The state reiterates ‘interest subsidy’ for all the loans to SHGs (Rs.1 lakh crore). This burden is Rs.90000 million/year. India announced universalisation of NREGS in the country in all 620+ districts. It means a whopping Rs.1.5 lakh crore/year. Manmohan Singh announced at Red Fort this year to all poor elders above 65 years to get a pension of Rs.400 per month. This would mean at least Rs.20000 crore/year. While it may take 3-4 years to reach these figures, the questions that arise are – Does Government have the money? Will these schemes last long? I was going through the website of Indian School of Business. One calculation showed struck me. The opportunity cost of the MBA student from a premier institute at the entry level is just Rs.5000/day, equal to 62 times the wage ‘employment guarantee’ promises. Any senior employee of a retail chain earns anything between Rs. 1-2 crores per year. How can the livelihoods sector attract the best brains to work for them? Now Mukesh Ambani becomes, thanks to the zooming share prices, the richest man in the world with more than Rs.2.5 lakh crore – this can feed the entire poor of India for one year. In fact, richest 1000 Indians can feed all poor for their entire life time! This confirms our worst fears – the number of poor in the country may be coming down, but the disparity between the rich and the poor is increasing and increasing sharply! A dedicated and active community leader in Mahabubnagar, as part of the policy of rotation, had to retire and handover the leadership to new person. After that she has withdrawn. This is not an isolated case. How do we ensure the tribes of active and dedicated community leaders continue to grow and be the resource persons to the community? With the Peace prize, discussions on climate change and its impact on the livelihoods of the poor might gain pace and find room in larger forums. Adaptation of the poor to the climate change is being talked. Global view of climate changes and their impact are being discussed. Local view of their impact on communities and individuals, particularly poor, has to be discussed. Different communities face different impacts and they adapt and succumb differently. Will these be appreciated? Will the poor find their voice heard? This means the poor and the people who work with the poor have to work on livelihoods strategies locally that integrate these climate change aspects, in a manner the poor get immediate, continuous and long-term gains. Surely, others also have to invest in the processes of mitigating and the infrastructures for coping with climate changes. Recently in July 2007, the World Bank has approved additional financing for AP Rural Poverty Reduction Project to the tune of US$ 80 Million (Rs.350 Crore). The evaluation of the Velugu/ Indira Kranthi Patham (as per the World Bank Report in March 2007) says that incomes increased for close to 90 percent of poor rural households, including around 8 million poor

6 women in rural areas organized into 629,870 self-help groups and 28,282 village organizations; per capita income increased by three-folds (this would mean most of them graduated out of poverty!); in Andhra Pradesh. 6 million households could access credit; the increase in credit flow to poor is 20 times now, compared to seven years ago; women, in their households, are bigger economic contributors than the men; more than 1.2 million rural poor have death and disability insurance coverage; Some 20,600 young people were trained and offered placement in the service and construction sectors through partnerships with private companies. All these too good to be true results could be achieved with Rs.1200 Crore (about Rs.1500 per household) from World Bank, as this leveraged about only Rs.15000 of cumulative investments per household in loans from commercial financial institutions. Inspired by its success in AP, the project is being replicated in more states in India including Bihar and outside India including China. In view of this, all of us can learn a lot from this project. We need to appreciate its nuances, processes and results in their entirety from both bird’s view and worm’s view, preferably from all its key stakeholders – people, staff, civil society, banks, PRIs and other concerned citizens, through an independent assessment or otherwise. These ‘results’ coupled with funding trends – funds move away from South India to North India, more funds available for disasters but not for chronic poverty reduction, funding not available for human resource costs, rupee appreciation, and venture capital in place of charity – may reduce the development funding dramatically to AP. Has AP really reached that stage and can it cope with this dearth of funds? At the same time, as the issue of funds is seemingly addressed by the self-help movement and micro-finance growth effectively, two issues crop up – 1. What are the ideas to which these funds accessed are being put? 2. What are the uses of the surpluses from micro-finance operations by the MFIs and banks? We need to explore. Finally, as DFID points out that there are three distinct Indias' - The Global India, which is the modern face of India as a global power, and plays an important role in international affairs; Developing India, where people live on low incomes close to or below the poverty line and access to basic services are limited; Poorest India, where the great majority of people are living in extreme poverty, mostly migrant urban slum dwellers, marginal farmers and excluded groups facing discrimination. How do we ensure that the Poorest India does not get lost? This is the question that is engaging any responsible concerned citizen of India.

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2. Economic and Social Climate Change Perspectives December, 2007

From the month of festivals to the month of lights and darkness. The fight for enhancing Minimum Support Prices for various produce including Paddy continued. Manmohan Singh yields a bit and offers to enhance the bonus from Rs.50 to Rs.100 per quintal. After the Nobel Peace prize started drawing attention to climate change and its impact on the livelihoods of the poor, Human Development Report 2007/08 launched in November 2007 has also focused on ‘Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World’. The report argues that there are already observable signs of threat to human development, mainly among the poorest and most vulnerable populations. It calls for our acting together now to protect the planet we all share. Major areas that get seriously affected by the climate change include agricultural production and food security, water stress and water insecurity, rising sea levels and exposure to climate disasters, declining health, collapsing ecosystems etc. The projections for 2080 include, if we do not act, 600 million people affected by malnutrition, additional 1.8 billion people living in water scarce environment, 330 million people displaced through flooding, large number of the poor affected by killer diseases, including 400 million exposed to malaria, etc. The report argues for putting the climate change adaptation at the centre of partnerships for poverty reduction everywhere. This would mean enabling vulnerable people to adapt to climate change by building resilience through investments in social protection, health, education and other measures; integrating adaptation into poverty reduction strategies that address vulnerabilities linked to inequalities based on wealth, gender, location and other markers for disadvantage, shifting the locus of support from projects to programme-based financing etc. In addition to ecological climate changes, the economic and social climate changes have significant impact on the people, poorest in particular. The following trends, among others, have mixed impacts on the poor: • Government is withdrawing from social sectors but growing into a large development organization for administering schemes and mobilizing poor and women. • Government Projects, CSR Foundations, Large NGOs, CBOs etc., are edging out ‘small’ CSOs. • Declining charity, money going to Foundations/Trusts and venture capital mechanisms are gaining currency. • We are certainly on the path towards complete Globalization and Liberalization. • There is a huge Human Resource Gap in servicing poor. • We see booming retail, shining ICT, zooming real estate, new opportunities in the service sector, growing ‘urban’, and SEZs on one hand, dying traditional occupations, graying population, reluctant youth to take up ‘hard’ livelihoods options, evolving new divides, acute un/ underemployment and reduced food, assets, skills, livelihoods and life security on the other. These trends have significantly higher impact on the poor vis-à-vis non-poor. The impact multiplies in the case of the poor with triple and quadruple burdens (like a dalit poor woman,

8 disabled tribal etc.). Small livelihoods are getting ignored or lost in the process. Known coping mechanisms are not effective. The impact increases with the absence of the security cover, as is the case with the poor. The security that comes from multiple livelihoods deteriorates. The dynamics of livelihoods are too dynamic for the poor to realign with. The poor are impacted more with the spurts in expenditures and exposure to idiosyncratic and covariant collective risks than the fall in incomes. Urbanization is fuelled by both push and pull migrations. These cause urban poverty as well as push the urban not-so poor into poverty. The impact is, sometimes, intergenerational (like malnutrition). Poor have become victims of lack of ideas for ‘realigning livelihoods’ to new realities. In the process of experimentation, they are getting into serious debt-traps, sometimes resulting in suicides. A sort of dependency is getting created and they are not able to visualize a way of not looking towards ‘state’ for support. These impacts and vulnerabilities need investments to address them. However, we are increasingly expecting the poor to invest rather than the people who in the first place generated these changes that have such adverse impacts. Further, the only important element in the solution is solidarity, collective action and ownership of demand and supply within the Gandhian dictum – enough for everyone’s need. There are costs in coming together, to be made available. We need to work with them. Will we do this? But we MUST. The poor owe their competitive edge to the diversity in their livelihoods. We need to protect this diversity. They need metafishing/metaskills – the skills to identify the gaps and opportunities, and acquire the skills/capitals to tap them. As a paradigm shift, we need to move from poverty reduction to prosperity of the poor. This would mean working with not so- poor and non-poor on one hand and bestowing special attention on the marginalized and the poorest. As the access to finance is improving, various needs of the poor have to be met on differential terms and ideas to be found to invest the new found access to finances. Still support will be required in ensuring rightful endowments, entitlements, rights, access etc. Further, the need is to develop businesses for poor and by poor individually and collectively. We need to attempt both the incremental shifts and steep shifts, as we do the oases and scalable/replicable models. We need intensive research into typically poor dominant livelihoods (including dry land agriculture) and food, employment and livelihoods security, risks/fluctuations and institutions and the processes therein. Of course, there is also a need to collate, analyze (micro-macro), and disseminate the best practices for people’s informed choices. We need to develop livelihoods generalists at the interface with people. One major fear that is troubling all of us is whether all this would end as a ‘rhetoric’ Sustainable livelihoods [a la a decade-ago PRA!]. We hope, no other go, that all of us concerned for the better world and poor, go beyond the ‘rhetoric’ and make a difference!

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3. CHANGING times... Perspectives January, 2008

Computerization and Iris tracking of ration cards in AP identifies about 1 million duplicate cards. ‘Pavala Vaddi’ is extended to weavers as the opposition promises Re.0.10 paisa interest. When we all remember that Congress Working Committee resolved in favor of small states some five years ago, the people who matter do not seem to remember any such thing. As I write this, I hear that we are going to have a release of Citizen’s Report on the progress of India towards Millennium Development Goals in India. One can easily guess – it is a mixed bag. Forbes has released a global list of 50 MFIs, bringing out the importance of micro-finance on the people. We hear that steps are being taken to form a national consortium of state-supported poverty reduction agencies/ projects, may be like Rajiv Gandhi National Urban Renewal Mission. Alternatively, Economic Survey of India 2006-07 sums up the Indian Economic Situation – In the last 5 years, 60% of the population has lost 4% of the GDP; 1% has gained 13.5%. Better-off sections are caught up in the grip of consumerism. This threatens resource allocations for meeting basic needs of the people. Our daily per capita poverty line is fixed sadly at a mere Rs.12 which cannot even guarantee the calorie intake required for the poor. As against this, the world talks of US$2. At least 60% of India then has to be reckoned as poor. Traditional Livelihoods, including Agriculture, that meet the basic needs of the people, have caught up in acute poverty phenomenon. Incomes are inadequate. Agriculture is characterized by growth slower than the population growth. Its GDP share has fallen to less than 25%. Reduced returns, increased input costs, cheap imports, continued subsidies in western countries have made Indian agriculture less competitive. The pace of life has increased manifold. A farmer from Netherlands has summed this up very succinctly – my grandfather was taking decisions every year; my father every month; and now I take every week and more often. Unless the unorganized small farmers and poor get organized and command at least 10-15% of the market of the produce/service they produce/provide and sell, they will not be in a position to realize their legitimate share of consumer rupee. This can be enhanced with ownership on/ access to better market intelligence, holding capacity in terms of infrastructure and financial ability, seed production and seeds and inputs and involvement in value-addition. Organic production, reduction in marketing costs with logical logistics and production for local consumption, and risk covers will add to this increase in share. Capital infusion needs to be enhanced substantially from the present 2% of GDP. More importantly, the farmers need to acquire meta skills to see gaps and opportunities and find ways and means to utilize them. They also need to take decisions more frequently and strategically. Collectives, solidarity, collectivization, collective action and ownership of demand and supply pave this. All this is true for other traditional livelihoods as well. At the same time, the farmers need to diversify first within crops, within the farming system, beyond farming and nonfarm products and services. They need to get into the business of offering the products and services the neo middle class and upper class want, without foregoing their grip on their existing farming. The country has to facilitate skilling in a variety of these vocations/trades, may be 10000 such trades. Developed countries talk of more than 3000 of them. For a country like India with high

10 diversity and large population, this should be substantially higher. But there are costs to achieve all the above. These have to be made possible and available. We need to work with them. Will we do this? But we MUST. When NT Rama Rao, who stormed AP politics 25 years ago, came up with smaller blocks, called mandals, it was heralded as a step towards bringing the government nearer to people. A mandal has 25-30 Gram Panchayats. He, however, stopped short. The next major administrative unit is a district. A typical district in AP has 50-60 mandals. This is undoubtedly large. A smaller state like Tamil Nadu has 50% more districts. Many districts are like small states. Typically a district officer should be able to visit the remotest village in the district and come back in half a day. Therefore, AP should go in for at least 50-55 districts forthwith. This will improve the efficiency of the administration. This will make the Government accessible to the people. When the USA with less than 40 crore population has 50 states, with an average population of less than a crore, India should think of 100 states/union territories. This process should be expedited. This will help the prosperity of the area and the country. Planning processes will also become more straightforward. As and when local population aspires for a separate state, India should grant such status on that area. The loss and the expenditure that is being incurred by the people in the name of Telangana are huge. By granting it forthwith, this expenditure/loss can be curtailed forthwith. This will also pave way for building second-tier and third-tier towns and cities in the country. Along with these, if we can achieve improved facilities in rural areas, growth in the country becomes truly inclusive. Still we need to move into prosperity of the poor paradigm. This would mean poor, not-so-poor and non-poor working together on one hand; this would mean special attention on the marginalized and the poorest; this would mean meeting various needs of the poor on differential terms; and this would mean finding ideas to invest the new found access to finances in required lots. Finally, we need to redirect all our energies in building and supporting businesses for poor and by poor individually and collectively. For this to happen, we need to develop livelihoods generalists at the interface with people, in terms of professionals and paraprofessionals to be the staff of CBOs and support organizations and build their capacities. We, concerned for the better world and poor, go forward and make a difference!

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4. Development Priorities! Perspectives February, 2008

January presents an interesting mix of events – English New Year, Pongal harvesting festival, Republic day and Gandhi’s death anniversary. For the record, it is sixty years since Gandhi was assassinated. As I write this, the steps to start the YES (Youth Empowerment Summit) Academy at Hyderabad, in collaboration with Government of AP are underway. The Academy is expected to start this year. NDTV and CNN-IBN have announced Indians of the Year in various categories. Some of these include Abul Kalam as Inspiration Leader, Manmohan Singh as the Leader, Chidambaram as the Politician etc. Sridharan of Delhi Metro is the CNN-IBN Indian of the year, representing discipline and values, integrity and technology savviness. Indian Soldier is the NDTV Indian of the year, representing the deep inside of Indian heart. RK Laxman receives the Life Time Achievement from CNN-IBN, for his sixty years of creation of ‘common man’. Our Narayan Murthy receives the highest civilian honour of France. Just before Pongal, we have visited Papikondalu (stayed at a village Kolluru, a border habitation in Khammam district; incidentally, this borders East Godavari and West Godavari districts), expected to be drowned in the upcoming Polavaram reservoir. The locals think it will take another 6-7 years. When it gets completed, it will take water from Godavari River to Krishna River. And the Krishna water will flow downwards to Rayalaseema. It is also displacing 2,00,000 tribals from the reservoir bed. The compensation is Rs.1.0 lakh for a hut, and Rs.1.5 lakh for a pucca house. There are fishermen who have been depending on the Godavari for fish. They are not getting compensated for the loss of livelihoods. Further the tribals are losing lot of their common resources, social resources, familiar terrain and confidence etc. We have no idea how this loss can be compensated. The principle of rehabilitation calls for providing irrigated fertile land on the other side of the reservoir. This is not happening. It is talked that Bhadrachalam Rama, one of the principal deities, is going to be drowned. Do we need all this? Is Medha Patkar wrong in Naramda’s case then? And why is this hurry? We hear the cases of not finding cremation/ burial grounds where they have gone for rehabilitation. We hear becoming ‘insecure’ and ‘new poor’ out of sync with the ‘new world’ they are placed in without adequate resources. In anticipation of the disappearance of Papikondalu, there is a huge tourist turnout. At least 2000 people via Bhadrachalam and a similar number from Rajahmundry are making quick visits. The tourist rush is high during the weekends and holidays. On a typical tourist rush day, the tourists contribute more than Rs. 50 lakh a day to local economy. At least 1000 persons are able to have decent livelihoods with decent earnings. However, unfortunately, some of them are child labourers. Participation in the discussion on the pilot for youth entrepreneurship in Greater Hyderabad slum areas has let off a ‘brain-storming’ within me and my team. When 50% of the active population of the country is youth, our energies have to get directed more in this direction. All the poor youth in a slum have diverse employment or job needs. Some are cut out for taking up production on instructions; some are cut out to be entrepreneurs; some are struggling in becoming self-employed and building up a micro-enterprise; some are capable of highly skilled technical work; some are good at relationships; some are valuable service providers; some need security and some can tolerate uncertainty; some are focused inside and some can be

12 community leaders; some have a need to remain anchored in the location, some can relocate and some like mobility etc. In this context, the pilot management has to zero on a location, understand the current reality using LEAP processes in terms of its social and resource mapping, livelihoods mapping and opportunities mapping for individuals, families and the community groups etc. This may take a solid month of intense, deep and long interactions individually, severally and collectively in a variety of time slots. These interactions, coupled with screening behavioral competencies, will throw up youth who are community centred and who are enterprise centred, in addition to job seekers around the opportunities. These job seekers need to be attached to the livelihoods skill providers and placed in the jobs. There are others who need to be provided vocational training and linked to government, foundations and banks for grants and loans for self-employment. The enterprise centred, particularly the struggling ones, need to be picked up for entrepreneurial mentoring and support in building micro-enterprises. The community centred youth can be picked up for leadership mentoring and support. Gradually, they can also be imparted enterprise management skills and offered support. An indicative breakup of these four types may be 40%, 40%, 15%, 5%. It is possible that youth in category 1 and 2 can be absorbed by category 3 and 4 when the micro-enterprises and collective enterprises grow. It is also to be noted that some are educated well and some are drop outs. In due course, some of these micro-business leaders and community leaders take the process to other slums and expand. Can some of us take this forward? Further, we know if poor do not get organized and command significant bulk in supply of products and services or in buying their needs, they will not be in a position to realize remunerative and legitimate share in the growth. More importantly, the poor need to acquire meta skills to see gaps and opportunities on their own and find ways and means to utilize them. Collectives, solidarity, collectivization, collective action and ownership of demand and supply support them in this. At the same time, the poor need to diversify into the businesses of offering the products and services the neomiddle class and upper class want, without foregoing their grip on their existing livelihoods portfolio. For this, the skilling in a variety of these vocations/trades, may be 10000 such trades, needs to be facilitated. Ten Technologies that offer promise in 2008, a write-up suggests, include Grid computing (that may reduce hardware costs), photovoltaic’s (that promises increased solar electricity), software as a service (that requires us to pay as per the use rather than the license fee), mobile-enabled solutions, mobile entertainment, radio and television, cyber crimes, ‘open source’ software, biometrics, computer viruses, and flash memory. The technology-business trends in managing relationships - co-creation that allows outsourcing innovation to partners in the value-chain (as in Linux Operating System), using consumers as innovators (as in encyclopedia Wikipedia), outsourcing to top talent (wherever it is, calls for talent management, talent aggregation and redefining tasks) and freelancing, and value from interactions; in managing capital and assets – expanding automation frontiers, and unbundling production from supply chain/delivery both on supply and demand side; in leveraging information in new ways - more science and technology into management, and business from information – coupled with the above promising technologies offer insights into opportunities for enterprising entrepreneurs and smart professionals in which direction they have to move and acquire new knowledge and skills. According to a study conducted by KPMG and The Indus

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Entrepreneurs (TiE), entrepreneurs are finding it hard to earn skilled workforce for their business even though they have identified the growth trends and building enterprises around these trends, including globalization. Can we step up building new workforce around these trends, reorient the existing work force? Can we build micro entrepreneurs around these trends? Can we take the poor into these trends (knowing fully well, if not they will continue to remain in the margins)? How do we build leaders in this pursuit? When we know for sure that there are no sure steps for building them and there are no sure steps that a leader can follow in leading. Gathering appropriate information, evaluating it thoughtfully, and making choices that provide the best chance for success, all the while recognizing the fundamental nature of uncertainty of outcomes is the crux of leadership. These choices (complex decisions) made without any guarantee of success, are ultimately the main contribution of the leadership. If a set of steps that could guarantee success did exist, and if greatness were indeed simply a matter of will, then the value of clear thinking in would be lower, not greater. Helen Fischer at World Economic Forum this month has articulated so well about the need for bright men and women to work together in families, businesses, communities and governance. Because they complement each other so well. One is long-term oriented and the other is focused on the task; one is sensitive and the other is analytical; one considers all angles and the other offers the eagle’s eye; and so on. A perfect case for gender balance is everywhere from SHGs to Parliaments! In this context of indicative trends, uncertainties, and need for a better world for everyone, we have to go forward and make a difference!

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5. Engineered Livelihoods Contexts!

Perspectives March, 2008

February has many significant dates this time around. Valentine’s day – 14 February; AP Budget –16 February; Laloo’s Rail Budget – 26 February; Chidambaram’s Union Budget – 29 February. 93-year tireless social worker and Gandhian, Baba Amte expired on 9th February. He will continue to inspire us! By the time we go to e-print, we will also see Women’s Day – 8 March. As I write this, I have piled up more than 5 weeks of 70 hours each in a row. 29 February was a bonus as we are in a leap year. Starting with the launch workshop for developing Management Information System for various players in the Cotton Textile Supply Chain, it was a marathon. Towards zero-waste at Pochampally. Satisfying yet grueling 15 days for inducting in program planning and evolving an exciting plan for a decile of India. Spending time at length with a development professional discussing agenda in the livelihoods domain and loading livelihoods agenda onto MF. Discussing the way forward about Pochampally Ikkat Cluster. Discussing MIS for MF and MIS and ICT with two professionals visiting from Africa (Gambia, Senegal) separately. Preparing A Score of Existence – Context, Path and Work, as reflections of a development worker. Looking at and considering some long-term partnerships. Livelihoods Orientation Campaign. Thinking about Livelihoods Yatra. Days were packed. They were rewarding. The compelling Vision 2013 that emerged for HelpAge Programs ‘HelpAge India develops, demonstrates and uses expertise, experience and resources to animate the stakeholders including older persons to fulfill the needs of 10 million disadvantaged older persons, comprehensively, across the country. Of these, 200,000 would be covered directly, and 800,000 indirectly through partners; during this process, HelpAge India transforms itself into a predominantly rights-based organization, organizes elders and builds movement(s) to demand and exercise their rights and entitlements.’ has excited both the teams – HelpAge and Akshara. Starting blindfolded and placing a flower in September to the six-monthly plan for transformation and taking back a fruit in February, it was a journey of challenge, excitement, wonder, life, learning, leadership, legacy and love. Even as development workers we hurt the poor. We hurt them badly. It has been reinforced once again when we subjected ourselves to the ways we subject the poor and marginalized. Solidarity, advocacy and collectivization seems to the mantra for the poor and marginalized – be it women, be it tribals, be it dalits, be it disabled, be it aged, be it farmers, be it weavers, be it garment workers, be it sanitation workers or be it livelihoods workers themselves. The MIS exercises, the discussions on aged and the discussions with weavers endorse this. Budgets make an interesting read as we started to see through livelihoods lenses. First come first. AP Budget. As expected, a true election budget. It talked of a growth rate in GDP beyond 10%. It is interesting to note that more than 40% of the state GDP of 2007-08 is the budget for the year 2008-09. It is more interesting to note that less than 70% of the previous budget actually got used. The trend is likely to continue this year. Budget estimates exceeded thousand billion rupees. It is the second largest state budget in the country behind UP. The major income source is Value Added Tax (VAT) amounting to a quarter. About 10% comes from land sales.

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Major allocations, apart from irrigation and Indiramma housing, and salaries, have gone for rural and urban development, Rs.2 a kg rice (and dal and oil), rural roads, pensions, pavala vaddi (0.25% interest) support, education institutions, ambulance and treatment (Rajiv Arogya Sri) etc. The emphasis is on giving directly to the citizen rather investing in sustainable solutions to the problems of the poor. Largest Rail Budget. Turnover of Rs.81,901 crore and Rs.37,500 crore is the plan. Last year, the return on capital was 21% with an operating ratio of 76%. Senior citizen concession enhanced to 50% (women). Token reduction in passenger fares and freight rates. Important agenda announced include: One time exercise of appointing Railway Porters as gang-men and to other Group D posts. Vision 2025 - roadmap for coming 17 years. IT Vision 2012 – IT applications on a common platform. Public-Private Partnerships for attracting an investment of Rs.1,00,000 crore over the next five years. Commercial use of Railway land. Passenger-friendly and cost-effective and noninflationary budget from Laloo, as usual. Largest Union Budget. GDP has risen at 8.7% with drivers being ‘services’ (10.7%) and ‘manufacturing’ (9.4%) with inflation under 5%. 55% of GDP is services. It is interesting to note that Union Budget is about 25% of India’s GDP. This coupled with States’ Budgets, we might have 50% of the GDP in Budgets. The size of the budget is Rs. 7500 billion (or Rs.7.5 lakh Crores). Of this 32% is planned and the balance is non-plan. The unspent amount in Union Budgets is in the range of 7-8% only. The Government has launched Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (Rs.25,000 crore) and National Food Security Mission (Rs.4,882 crore) in Eleventh Five- year Plan. As is the need, the Union Budget focussed on the basic needs through Bharat Nirman – drinking water, roads, housing etc. Education, particularly literacy, universal primary education (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan), Mid-day Meals, model schools, etc., have received attention. A portion of the funds also went for higher education – IIMs, IITs, central universities etc. National Rural Health Mission got a major share of Health Budget. Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana initiated on a pilot basis. A National Programme for the Elderly to start two National Institutes of Ageing, eight regional centres, and a department for geriatric medical care in one medical college/tertiary level hospital in each State, is planned. Bima Yojanas – Janashree through SHGs and Aam Admi are pursued. Gender Budgeting has been scaled up. A massive Skill Development Mission through a non-profit corporation is proposed. The major election agenda include roll-out of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to all 596 rural districts, Rs.60000 crore loan waiver to farmers and of course, change in the income tax rate slabs, guaranteeing Rs.4000 savings at Rs.1.5 lakh income and Rs.44000 at Rs.5.0 lakh. The small mercy to service providers is increasing the threshold limit of exemption to Rs.10 lakh per year. These may not benefit the deserving, as the NREGS could provide only 40 days in its best implemented state, AP, as against 100 days/year; most farmers including small and marginal farmers are more burdened with informal credit and non-agriculture loans, 2-hectare limit benefits the rich in irrigated areas and does not provide for all the poor in dryland areas, etc., middle-class benefits from the tax proposals a year later, not now. Therefore, I doubt whether they bring more votes. I do hope some high ways also got some budgetary support for their completion soon. Otherwise, a progressive budget with focus and emphasis on right drivers. It is amply clear now, if poor do not get organized and command significant bulk in supply of products and services or

16 in buying their needs, they will not be in a position to realize remunerative and legitimate share in this impressive growth trajectory. More importantly, the poor need to acquire meta skills to see gaps and opportunities on their own, on a constant basis, and find ways and means to utilise them. Otherwise, they will not be able to compete with the rich entrepreneurs with large financial muscle and huge clout. When we are talking to Pochampally weavers, it is clear that they need to collectivise to survive on the Ikkat tie and dye. They need to develop intricate designs that cannot be imitated easily. They also need to seek reservation of a category of weaving products for them, like sarees. A new handloom park that is coming up in the vicinity with 2000 looms, with weavers (existing or new) employed will take away the complacence of the weavers. They need to lose their self-employed status and be a job holder in the park or have a slow death. The third alternative is to collectivise. The skill development mission, I presume, will facilitate the poor to diversify into the businesses of offering the products and services the neo-middle class and upper class want, through skilling them in a variety of these vocations/trades, may be 10000 such trades. We keep hearing about growing MFIs and increasing availability of bank linkages. Chidambaram mentioned that some 30 lakh SHGs are linked to banks. Another similar number might be on their way to get linked in the coming couple of years. May be sooner than that. Most people have now access to more than one formal loan and matching informal loans. What they are all and we are all struggling with is how do we use this access to money for investing on ideas that can give the poor remunerative returns. When Vikash from Benguluru came to see how livelihoods thinking can be loaded on to the micro-finance vehicle (Grameen model), it immediately appealed to us. We need to sit and think through on how we do it, without compromising the fundamental principles of participation and decision-making by the persons whose livelihoods are being discussed. Around the same time, SHG-Federations with corpus and own funds, are discussing with us how they can take up significant livelihoods activities. We need to put time, energies, and thoughts and have consultations in this direction. 8 March 2008 is another women’s day that reminds us that gender equity is still a long way in the absence of free mobility and gender norms. Gender balance in decision making and access to resources is still limited. How do we integrate gender aspects in the livelihoods agenda where micro-finance works through mostly women? All this brings back to the issue of increasing the availability of livelihoods workers at various levels. Can we augment them? And how? How quickly? This is troubling me. Hope we emerge out surely from this cesspool and go on to make a difference!

6. Oppression of Our Times! Perspectives April, 2008 March symbolizes spring and ushering in new flowering. In addition to the workshop for fine- tuning MIS (Management Information System) for various players in the Cotton Textile Supply Chain, a series of hops from one consultation workshop to the other have marked the month that went by. All this have taught us to spend more time on ‘new ideas’ to build arguments in

17 favor of the poor, articulate the arguments logically, learn from the piloting of these ideas, and finally disseminate in a variety of forms that appeals to the minds that ‘receive’. While we have more than 80% of India oppressed broadly, some have felt multiple oppressions and some have faced generations of oppression. These include disabled poor, vulnerable women, tribals, dalits, traditional service providers, artisanal poor, bonded labor etc. Some have acquired enough escape velocity to get out of the clutches of oppression successfully. Some others are struggling to escape out. Many more are still languishing. The issue is how we could facilitate them to have decent portfolio of livelihoods that offers them remunerative enough income with less risks. Related issue is how we could reduce their expenditure without compromising the quality of life. The most important thing is how they could live dignified lives with confidence and self- respect. Their oppression and their vulnerabilities have made them strong in certain aspects of life. These can be leveraged, without compromise and loss of dignity. Their ‘weak points’ can be converted into their strong points. We need to ‘manufacture’ new lenses and offer to the mainstream society so that they see this new picture. We need to catch them young so that using new lenses becomes a habit with them. Sure enough, like the spectrum in non-oppressed (should I say, not-so oppressed) mainstream, there exists a spectrum in the oppressed. Like everybody else, oppressed should acquire meta (fishing) skills so that they have insights, skills and tools to identify the gaps and opportunities and build up one’s capacities towards tapping them. Interestingly, historically, the oppressed are a large number vis-à-vis the oppressors and/or the non-oppressed. This is a good base for further action. It is amply clear that all oppressed are not a homogenous lot. Some carry a burden of generations on them. They need infrastructure to unburden themselves. They need space. They need to have some additional capitals. Importantly, they need more equal treatment so that they catch up. They display, it appears, stamina and mental toughness to face difficulties and uncertainties, better than many others. In addition to soft life skills for leading productive lives in the quick-paced dynamic contexts, they need to assimilate what it means to be moving from one set of ‘oppressions’ to other. I am not able to visualize a situation without any oppression. I wish I am proved wrong! There was an argument in the AP Assembly whether the previous leadership of government made more money or this leadership of government for themselves. For a neutral listener of the arguments, it comes across as if both leaderships have built properties. No other player could demonstrate that meteoric rise, with such a low base with which they started off. Government of AP suddenly woke up after more than 10 months of the High Court decision in the MACS contention to continue as MACS. It appears seeking stay on this. Supreme Court has maintenance of status quo before the Government Action to bring the dairy MACS under traditional cooperatives’ Act. Let us see what becomes of it. The draft country strategy (2009- 12) of the World Bank in India has mentioned three themes – inclusive growth, government effectiveness and responsible growth, in line with XI Five Year Plan. The key principles that govern it are: be more strategic and selective; do fewer things better; focus on better design and implementation. The quick pointers that come to mind are –

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• Is it not time for advocating prosperity paradigm for poverty reduction – working with the poor, who are moving out of poverty; simultaneous special focus on the destitute/last decile. • Is it time to think about investing in generating, analyzing, evaluating, testing, piloting ideas rather than focusing on access to finance [this has become a more or less perfected art]? • How do we ensure that poor have more choices in terms of institutions that work with them? Need to transcend direct projects of Government and consider direct funding within the projects and direct from the donors. • Most models are still in the realm of Civil Society. Is not that its job? • Is it not time to ensure availability of authentic institutional framework and Acts with autonomy for building people’s institutions? Recent controversy has ensured that no state Act guarantees that autonomy. • Most growth is in the service sector. It has a deep effect (negative) on the traditional occupations. The time is ripe for re-skilling and meta-skilling (the skills to identify opportunities and acquire abilities to tap the opportunities) people. • Communities need market intelligence and information like all others who have access to it. That is the huge catch! • Responsible growth demands responsible and concerned cutting-edge and integrating professionals to work with the communities, their organizations and their support organizations. We also need paraprofessionals and other service providers, and some ‘structure’ to hold them. • We need to understand and integrate Corporate Social Responsibility Mechanisms, Public-Private Partnerships, Civil Society Networks and CBO Federations so that the poor do not lose. This needs lots of time, energy and effort to appreciate and build mechanisms. • Some thinking on Food and other social security to the poor and the growth engines helps. • More insights into the effects of Liberalization, Privatization, and Globalization on livelihoods of the poor and the lower middle class are needed. This in turn has to throw up the areas of competitive advantage for the poor. Foundation Lecture at Kuchibhotla Vasanthi Foundation has helped me to see two decades of development with hindsight. Livelihoods Framework indicates that Livelihoods are a Play of Six Capitals towards Four Arrows within Four Contexts. The spiritual capital is the most important capital and denotes the spirit to survive, improve upon the present conditions and fight back in the case of shocks. From the framework emerges the agenda for the livelihoods work. The poor themselves have to take informed decisions about their way forward. As this is not one time affair, particularly in this dynamic age, they should internalize the processes themselves. At least, they should have access to a system or an institutional mechanism that provides support in these processes. There are some elements of the livelihoods spectrum, not attempted adequately – and some are not even considered crucial for livelihoods development. New initiatives in this area need to be attempted. Further more and more people have to be working on the complex but critical issue of enhancing livelihoods of the poor. These have to be brought in a variety of forms including professional full-timers, volunteers and staff with the

19 communities/their organizations, paraprofessionals, community livelihoods resource persons and best practitioners from community. The self-help movement of women has reached a stage to move on to livelihoods from the micro finance/microfinance+. They are willing to experiment with various collectives that could meet their livelihoods needs. The time has come for the community to move b e y o n d taking ‘fish’ to learning ‘fishing’ to learning ‘the skills to identify and learn the skills that can fetch a livelihood dynamically’ (meta-fishing skills). This would require handholding support for a while. Community would also require service providers. They would require backward and forward linkage providers and marketing supporters. It is amply clear now, if poor do not get organized and command significant bulk in supply of products and services or in buying their needs, they will not be in a position to realize remunerative and legitimate share in this impressive growth trajectory. Therefore, we need to think about decentralized but widespread/replicable/scalable/self- replicating systems, processes and structures so that we move beyond one more or two more additions to these sporadic examples. That may mean a network(s) of Livelihoods Support Organizations anchored by committed, talented, bright and passionate social/development entrepreneurs/professionals or their groups, instead of organizations with centralized pools of professionals may be the way forward. People - the bright and young minds - make all the difference and therefore, working on them matters. The need is huge. Therefore focus is on identifying, inducting, training, mentoring, encouraging them to be entrepreneurs/ volunteers/ staff/ field practitioners and ensuring quality support to community. Our critical appreciation is that the bright and young minds like to get freedom and independence, not bound by bureaucratic chains to be in development. They need to be handled with care and mentored. Gradually, advocacy towards mainstream institutions responding positively to support poor in their endeavors to enhance their livelihoods in terms of policy, design (of poverty reduction/livelihoods projects), infrastructure, regulation, market access, partnerships, financing, jobs etc., has to begin. And some organization(s) has to anchor this agenda. Its role is facilitating individuals and organizations to take up parts of the agenda and the processes to integrate these different parts. With this in context, we at Akshara are after a dream. In ten years from now, we reach out to at least 50 million poor families; 5 million with skills for productive jobs; a quarter of 500,000 volunteers mobilized provide one-day a month towards enhancing livelihoods of the poor; 100,000 paraprofessionals/community livelihoods resource persons from diverse livelihoods situations/backgrounds, 10,000 livelihoods professionals (created afresh and/or upgraded from the existing development workers’ pool) service the poor directly/ indirectly through LSOs; 100 LSOs with 1000 livelihoods professionals service the poor in their livelihoods domain; 600 CBOs/Development Organizations/PRIs as field partners/stations in livelihoods domain; 10 large Collaborators (Government, Corporate Bodies, Donors etc.) in livelihoods domain. This scaling- up and replication for significance begins by the end of 2010. Can this be a reality? Can we be able to build life-workers, mentors, anchors and core team members who pursue this dream? Are we day-dreaming? We hear universe conspires to help the strong and good desires. Is it not? This is driving us. Hope you & me forge ahead and make a difference!

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7. Livelihoods in Tradition? Perspectives May, 2008

Dr BR Ambedkar’s Birthday, Ramanavami, May Day, and Jatras marked the month that went by. May symbolizes Hot Summer and tests our stamina. Travel and no power during the day, the test can be grueling. Thinking about sustainability of people’s institutions, going beyond meeting the credit needs of the poor, inducting the cutting-edge development workers into livelihoods and fine tuning Management Information System for various players in the Cotton Textile Supply Chain, have taken the bulk of our time. We needed to respond to the articulated need for distance education in livelihoods. Some thought, discussions and effort have taken us to initiate Akshara Adhyayan to offer self-learning livelihoods programs. I have spent some time in a village recently to participate in its once-in-five-year Mother Goddess Jatra/Festival. A village of 1000 families is estimated to have about 50000 persons spending time in the village for 2-3 days. The expenditure incurred is in more than Rs.20 million. The major expenditure is on consumption of food, meat, alcohol and clothes. A lot of travel cost is also there. Interesting rituals are part of the festival. The main deities (in their original form) (goddesses) move out of the temple, in a procession to the tank outside (may be for their bath), and return to the centre of the village to a decorated pandal. Most of the families in the village offer ‘turmeric rice’ to them. The offerings in cash, apart from rice, clothes, jewellery etc., to the deities have crossed Rs.2 lakh on that occasion alone. Then, the families of the brothers of the sisters offer ‘turmeric rice’ along with clothes. By about midnight, the deities move to the temple. This is in sharp contrast with other temples where the main diety does not move out of the temple at all. Most people are awake the whole night to see the kalyanam and ‘bali’ (animal sacrifice). There are traditional cultural activities throughout the night. Interestingly, the kalyanam of the goddesses is with the Gods in coconut form. My repeated enquiries about the ‘bride grooms’ could not get a response. When the Goddess is Adi Parasakthi, who is her husband, remained a mystery to me. Then, the animal blood is sprinkled all across the village boundary. Till that time, nobody is allowed to go out of the village. The celebrations Eating, Drinking, Masti - follow. Some 3000 sheep/goats have become the meat. Lots of Alcohol and Toddy has flowed. Most of the other shops (like bangles, sweets etc.) put up specially for the occasion are owned and manned by Muslims. The main priest to perform the kalyanam is a dalit. The temple priest is from a backward caste. Most artisans have some role or the other to play. The expenditures have more than doubled vis-à-vis festival five years ago. All this tells us that the rituals do contribute to the livelihoods in both ways and we need to work on tailoring them or evolving new ones so that the livelihoods of the poor get enhanced. The cyclone in Myanmar has killed more than 60000 people so far and 1.5 million people have been affected badly. The relief is coming but the ruling junta is not allowing the relief. Fortunately, they are allowing India to help. This is considered to be the gravest cyclone in 15 years. India boasts of a huge coastline, more than 8000 kilometers. More than 10% of India, say 120 million people lives on the coast (within a range of 25km). They live myriad livelihoods. While a majority of the families are marginalized and vulnerable, prosperity is not absent. Lush

22 green delta lands, Coconut gardens, Plantations, Beach Resorts, Ports, occasional industrial belts etc., are also part of the coastline. Three metros – Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata - are on the coast. Some Tier-2 cities are also on the coast like Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, etc. But the marginalized communities of the coast live in between. They constitute some 30 million. The lives and livelihoods of these people on the coastline present a picture of highest vulnerability. The fishermen, the salt workers, marginal farmers with saline lands, people on the coastline prone to low-pressure, cyclones and tsunamis – all of them are included here. Literacy levels are low. Lower diversity in the livelihoods portfolio of each family is the norm. Cooperatives and Panchayat Raj Institutions are not working. Yet the presence of strong traditional institutions is there in almost all the villages. The issue is how we could facilitate them to have decent portfolio of livelihoods that offers them remunerative enough income with less risks. Related issue is how we could reduce their expenditure without compromising the quality of life. Their economic oppression and their vulnerabilities have made them strong in certain aspects of life. These can be leveraged. Sure enough, like the spectrum in mainstream, there exists a spectrum in the coastline marginalized. Like everybody else, coastal marginalized should acquire meta (fishing) skills so that they have insights, skills and tools to identify the gaps and opportunities and build up one’s capacities towards tapping them. The numbers are large. This is a good base for further action. It is amply clear that all the marginalized in the coast are not a homogenous lot. Their livelihoods patterns vary. Some carry a burden of generations on them. They need infrastructure to unburden themselves. They need security against natural calamities. They need safety nets. They need disaster preparedness and mechanisms to cope with disasters, before, during and after. They need space. They need to have some additional capitals. They display, it appears, stamina and mental toughness to face difficulties and uncertainties, better than many others. One needs to leverage this. Climate changes affect them badly. Due to changing climate, the natural disasters have become more frequent, and more uncertain, with more severity and intensity. The traditional safe zones are becoming disaster-prone. For the fishermen, the catch is coming down. The markets are dynamic. ‘Everybody loves disasters’. The communities live lives disaster-to-disaster. The NGOs, Governments, Donors etc., it appears, look forward to disasters. We have many a sincere civil society organization that has evolved from their relief work in disasters. Politically, we are seeing elections in Karnataka and by- elections in Telangana. All of us are eagerly awaiting the results. This will have a bearing on the landscape of AP and India. After presenting the election budget, the governments have taken a step back, faced with rising inflation and price rise. If they crack this, the elections will be coming. The livelihoods the elections offer are immense. I will delve deep into this in my subsequent columns. Many people get lucrative assignments including journalists, consultants, researchers, painters, e- communicators, advertisers, channels, vote-mongers, processionists, activists, so on and so forth. Already our friends in political parties have started their campaigns for the general elections. Chandrababu started 150-day ‘meekosam’ (for you) campaign. Rahul Gandhi – his discover India campaigns. Campaign Chariots - Chaitanya Rathams are coming up. Chranjeevi has been planning to start the party with a clean image – many of his fans will get political

23 livelihoods. Lok Satta has become a party with ‘citizens are rulers’. More parties are opening shops making the scene cluttered. Let us see what happens. Surely, some people have improved livelihoods although for a short period! The exploration of MFI area and clients suggest that the Micro-finance is getting saturated with many players and people availing credit from multiple formal sources. The need for each and every MFI to have niche in future is clearly coming out. If one picks up livelihoods agenda for this niche, some ideas that offer potential are: • Businesses of sourcing raw materials, value-addition and marketing of the products of the poor • Universal interventions to market/distribute food and other essential items of the poor • Businesses that supply materials to the groups of micro entrepreneurs and shop keepers and traders • Encouraging entrepreneurs to start enterprises that provide products and services to the poor • Linking one cluster to other cluster of producers that have dependency on each other • Providing finance for jobs and credit to swap existing high-cost debts • Responsible growth demands responsible and concerned cutting-edge and integrating professionals to work with the communities, their organizations and their support organizations. We also need paraprofessionals and other service providers, and some ‘structure’ to hold them. • Mechanisms for social securities to the poor and the growth engines • Figuring out areas of competitive advantage for the poor, in the context of globalization and encouraging with this in context, Akshara pursues its dream to reach out to at least 50 million poor families, serviced by at least 10,000 livelihoods professionals and 100,000 paraprofessionals/community facilitators.

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8. Education-Life-Livelihoods Perspectives June, 2008

5th June is the World Environment Day. At least we should begin to think about environment now, given the early warnings of climate change. Personally, I am starting on a trip to explore ways and means to enhance livelihoods of the poor in Sunderbans. We continued May like April, thinking about sustainability of people’s institutions, going beyond meeting the credit needs of the poor, inducting-edge development workers into livelihoods and fine-tuning Management Information System for various players in the Cotton Textile Supply Chain. We began to think about baselines. We began to conceptualize livelihoods enhancement in eco-fragile and marginalized zones. We began to look at livelihoods beyond the soil and moisture conservation efforts in watersheds. We have started approaching Universities and Management Institutes seeking them to introduce livelihoods thinking and livelihoods management in their curriculums. Simultaneously, we began to develop and offer self-learning livelihoods programs from Akshara Adhyayan. However, summer has taken its toll on all of us. Many of us have fallen sick. The situation has forced many of us to take off for a while. We have also become less efficient and less effective for a while. Amidst all this, I could manage to take a three-day off traveling in Warangal and Karimnagar districts. Low-end tourism invariably boils down to visiting religious places broadly. Summer Holidaying and Tourism, as the children have holidays for school, is rising. I could see thousand plus visitors in a day to Ramappa Temple. Not even half of them visited nearby Ramappa Lake. A single Ramappa is providing a turnover of more than Rs.1 million/day. Transport, Food, Water, Soft Drinks, Priests, Photography, Security, Boat etc., are the key livelihoods that are being supported. With this reckoning, India might be talking of a whopping Rs.30-40 thousand crore low-end domestic summer tourism business. This would be supporting a whopping one million livelihoods in this summer. Interestingly, Warangal and Karimnagar districts have been selling chilled Rs.1-2 per litre water (defluoridated) instead of bottled water. This might be true all across. This is the new trend and tourists are happy with this. I have also seen the increase in affordable luxury hotels in second and third tier cities. We also see the increased availability of air-conditioned transport. Most of the prominent temples have got face lift. And new temples are being discovered for their ‘sacredness’. As part of our visit, we have been to Kaleswaram to see Mukteeswara, and Dharmapuri to see Yoga Narasimha in Karimnagar, apart from Ramappa, Thousand Pillar temple and Fort in Warangal. In both the places, we also worshipped Yama, so that he will not come in the way of our Mukti. For starters, Yoga Narasimha and Balaji idols are from Salagrama. Our visits to two watersheds to look at the watershed plus possibilities, from the livelihoods of the poor perspective, have confirmed that National Rural Employment Guarantee has really made a huge difference to the poor in terms of employment and incomes. Surely, the work is not at all qualitative. Possibilities for the poor are in collective purchases, sales and value- addition; skills for services within the village; collectives for the market; skills for jobs outside – these need to be explored and comprehensive village livelihoods plans need to be evolved and

25 attempted with linkages and convergence. Again, the confirmation is that the funds are not the real issue. Real issue is ideas and institutions that handhold. June is the time of admissions. We are forced to look at Education emerging as an industry and sector. This engages more than 20 million people in the country (2 million in AP). At one end, we have the fundamental issue of illiteracy – at least a third of the adults are illiterate. The standards of education, for a vast majority, are abysmal. Most graduates, if we go by my experience of recruiting cutting-edge professionals, have failed to clear the 3R – Reading, Writing and Arithmetic – Test satisfactorily. Then that larger question – is education for life or for livelihoods? It appears that there is no doubt to say that education has failed to make a mark in life. Now, the surveys have revealed most of our professionals are not employable. Employability index for many of them is a single digit percentage, except for medicine. We are facing a GIANT paradox – there are jobs that are not finding suitable candidates and there are candidates without jobs. We have children not going to school; we have children dropping out of schools; we have youth stuck at school education level; yet we have youth not willing to join/continue traditional livelihoods like agriculture, handlooms, etc. Of course, even if they want, these livelihoods are not able to offer decent earnings to them. There are not enough vocations in which training is offered. There are professional graduates on the road without satisfactory jobs. Yet, education is a growing sector. We are talking about having a university in every district. We are also witnessing private universities. English Medium schools are growing. School chains are burgeoning. We are seeing takeovers and mergers. Teachers are increasing. Tutors are increasing. Coaching centers are growing. There are coaching centers to coach students to enter coaching centers. Foundation courses start as early as Class VI. Residential schools are growing. Concept schools are growing! In a school, we see both teachers and lowly-paid tutors. More ‘engineers’ are being produced. More ‘managers’ are being produced. More ‘computer’ boys and girls are being produced. They are quickly learning ‘accent’. They are getting ready to join ‘call centers’. They are getting ready to join ‘retail chains’. They are getting ready to sell cell phones, credit cards, insurance products, real estate plots/flats, etc, and are becoming sales men and women. We hear that the richest of the world are from India. Their tribe is increasing. We also hear that Indian middle class is growing. They need services. They can afford services. It is clear that rest of the people has to service them and live or else they have to be outside of the ‘economy’ leading food secure natural life in some corner. McCauley or otherwise, our education prepares us to service the ruling elite! Middle class is taking over the slot of truly ruling elite! For long, I thought we are an agriculture economy. Actually, it was an agri-centric economy. Guruji, Ravindra Sharma, says we were a krushi-pradhan (industrial) nation. In due course, we are becoming a service-based economy. More than 50% of our GDP is from services now. A moot question is – if the crisis looms large, what matters most is the air, water, and food. Can we forego the future food security (for all the people) in India for better economic prospects now, compromising this position? From this perspective, we need to have standard education for life till certain age, say 16-18 years that prepares people for better lives. The education thereafter can focus on offering education for livelihoods including wage employment, self- employment, entrepreneurship, and providing services. Surely, the brightest minds have to be engaged for addressing the needs of the poor and vulnerable.

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We have reckoned that we are in a fast paced world. Things change fast. The education has to offer the people meta (fishing) skills so that they have insights, skills and tools to identify the gaps and opportunities (as and when they unfold) and build up their capacities towards tapping them. In my humble estimate, this is the true education. The true education liberates. It makes them come together and stay together. It explains them why they are here now and what can take them forward. It guides their way forward. After the cyclone in Myanmar killed more than a lakh people and severely affected more than a million people, the earth quake in China did larger damage. Sad to hear a celebrity talking about Karma of the Chinese that has brought this earthquake! If that is the case, largest polluter of the world should face all the disasters. Unfortunately, it does not happen that way! With this in context, Akshara continues its journey in livelihoods education. Livelihoods Education for the livelihoods workers! Livelihoods Education for the community leaders and facilitators! Livelihoods Education for the people! Livelihoods Education for the children! More and more people have to join in this pursuit. More and more spiritual, human, social and financial resources are required. The scope needs to be expanded. Please join us in this pursuit.

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9. Elephant and The Six ‘Blind’ Perspectives July, 2008

Monsoon has set in. While some areas are getting more rains and some others are not getting good rains! The month that has gone by included our trips to explore ways and means to enhance livelihoods of the poor in Sagar Island in Sundarbans, going through Tushar Kanjilal’s ‘Who killed Sundarbans?’ and interactions with people who ‘know’ Sundarbans. SHG movement and MFIs have continued to engage us. We have moved a bit on the baselines for various segments of the Cotton Textile Supply Chain. We are seeking people’s reactions to the rising food prices. We continued our engagement with the community organizations to look at Livelihoods interventions as their projects. We have moved further with the Universities and Management Institutes. One University is considering a Post Graduate Diploma in livelihoods. One institute is seeking our help in offering ‘livelihoods management’ in their flagship program. We continued to receive demand for self- learning livelihoods programs. We began Akshara Adhyayan to specifically address this need. Summer, followed by sultry windless days, followed by storms – the nature has ensured that we take rest for a while. Sagar Islanders engage in agriculture as farmers and labour. Major crops include paddy, betel vine, chillies, potato and vegetables. Coconut, palm, date palm, and banana plantations are abundant. Marine and cultured fisheries, dry fish, duck rearing, shrimp seed collection, dairying, goats and sheep rearing, bidi rolling, shell craft making are other livelihoods, apart from transport, trade, education and related services. The scope is in increasing the crop intensity with rain water harvesting, expanding the acreage in remunerative betel vine, fisheries etc., and collectivization (of purchases, aggregation, storage, value-addition and sales). Vocational training will also be important. Sagar Island exploration has culminated in figuring out a way forward for enhancing the livelihoods of the poor. Some elements of the way forward include organizing women and youth around savings, credit and micro-insurance into SHGs and their higher order federations; undertaking participatory livelihoods planning appreciating livelihoods current reality, gaps and opportunities; facilitating bank linkages and convergence with other programs to realize these plans; organizing people around livelihoods activities; organizing shops that sell essential items; building skills of the youth for meeting the services required; exploring employment opportunities outside and providing training; and building human resources for working in the people’s institutions. One area that has been troubling is how we could ensure that the people whose lives and livelihoods are threatened and affected are involved in planning, managing and maintaining the plans and planned elements. The case in point is embankment breaches. This is the same situation in many aspects in many an ecologically fragile and marginalized zone. We, the blind, are grouping for solutions without understanding the ‘elephant’. How can we, if we don’t make all the blind to come together and unravel the ‘elephant’ first? How can we, unless we reach the ‘ant’ when the ‘fish’ does not dry-up (in the seven fish and the ant story)?

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The most prominent issue is how we could offer ‘metafishing’ skills to the community, in addition to offering ‘fishing’ skills, instead of offering fish. This is the need of the hour. The entire project has to gear up for this effort. And I understand that this takes time 5-10 years. This can begin with appreciation of current reality and pooling up knowledge skills-resources in people’s domain with K-S-R in our domain and outsiders’ domain. This in turn generates a variety of informed choices for the community to choose from. The community implements the plan so developed. In these iterative and repeated rounds, the community acquires metafishing skills and, I guess, learns to adapt to the changing needs and changing contexts. Visit to UP and Bihar, as usual, confirms the issue of the equity that is plaguing them. These areas have fertile lands and water exists. Two crops are normal. But these resources are in the hands of the non-poor. Mechanization has peaked. Except transplantation, most farm activities are mechanized. Poor are typically landless or have a fraction of an acre. The credit access is weak. The interest rates are as high as 1000% per annum. Other terms are equally harsh. Majority of the poor are still illiterate. Ill-health consumes the most of the family’s expenditure. Gender disparities are huge. Migration is not uncommon. Civil Society efforts are, at best, Weak. MFIs have started to enter these states. SHG movement has begun. These are facing stiff resistance from the non-poor. Large Government Poverty Reduction Projects, like in South, have not been planned, except in Bihar. Under the circumstances, efforts by NGOs are important. I could visit an NGO which has taken up this task on a scale. Picking up the principles and processes from the largest poverty reduction project of the country, AP Rural Poverty Reduction Project, it builds SHGs, their federations at the cluster level and the block level. In the absence of a good act like the Mutually-Aided Cooperative Societies’ Act in other states, they are contemplating Associations at cluster and block level under Society Registration Act. Their well-orchestrated seven principles – weekly meetings, weekly savings, credit transactions, repayment in installments, books, plans and activists - and seven steps – identifying the poor and poverty, forming groups, building capacities, mobilizing capital, identifying appropriate livelihoods options, identifying and taking up human and social development activities and managing risks – are allowing them to roll-out group formation in 4-5 districts. Interestingly, they could secure cash credit limit to the SHGs from the banks, initially Rs.25000 and after six months of further transactions, grading and planning, Rs.500000. In 2-3 years, this cash credit limit can ensure each member an access to more than Rs.1.0 lakh for investing in livelihoods activities. Significant amount, indeed! No other project/organization in the country could ensure access to such a high magnitude amount. NABARD and other banks have promised this CCL and delivered. This effort is in need of funds to mobilize poor into institutions (groups and federations) and build their capacities. I am wondering whether somebody would like to chip in and support this initiative to go to scale. Recognition to the effort and plan of building Pochampally Chenetha Kalanetha Collectives as the Standard chartered. Best Business Plan of Srijan 2008 has endorsed the following: one needs to work with all the poor, once entering the village, even if it is a weaving village; livelihoods interventions are essentially people’s projects; the needs of the poor extend beyond financial capital; and there is a need to bring all the blind together to unravel and address the ‘elephant’. It has also provided us to approach people for grants, debt and equity for taking this effort forward. I am sure we will have more people interested in us now, thanks to Srijan 2008.

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June brings monsoon in India. Vagaries of monsoon have big effect on the dry lands. We are forced to look at dry land agriculture as an important sub-sector within agriculture. Dry land agriculture engages more than 30 million families in the country (3 million in AP). On this land, the rainfall is scanty. This rain is not harvested except for some watershed efforts, of late. The earlier tanks have been silted, breached and lost their functionality. Groundwater has depleted. The productivity is low. The dry-land research does not attract the attention of the scientific community so much, although ICRISAT and CRIDA are doing a bit in this regard. The minimum support prices do not generally exist for dry-land crops. Fortunately, most of these crops are food crops. Horticulture crops are finding some place. Since about half of the Indian families are engaged in dry land agriculture, it needs attention. It cannot be ignored. The per unit land productivity, per unit water productivity and proportion of consumer rupee realized by the producers have to go up and the costs of cultivation vis-à-vis realization has to come down. I hope these will be the agenda of the scientific community, civil society engaged in agriculture and NRM, and government (s). The risks of dry-land, which are very high, with productivity ranging from 0- 100%, we need to invest in building risk reduction and diversification mechanisms. It may have to be reiterated here that the dry-land crops contribute significantly to the food security of the poor. Since we do not want to forego the future food security in India, we cannot ignore dry-land agriculture any longer. When crisis envelops us, what matters the most are air, water and food. The rest is a matter of opinion really. With this in context, Akshara works closely with the field partners in ecologically fragile and marginalized areas. It inducts livelihoods workers for them. It builds capacities in them. Where, there are no partners, it attempts field stations. Importantly, it disseminates best practices to the workers, people and to children. I invite more and more people to pursue this, wherever they are, in their own way.

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10. Opportunities for the Poor?!? Perspectives August, 2008

It is pouring all over now. It is compensating more than the drought of monsoon in South in June and July! Another disaster struck! The month that has gone by included our endless interactions with farmers, weavers, workers, consumers, students and people who work with them. We continued our engagement with the community organizations to look at livelihoods interventions as their projects. We have begun to work with NIRD in offering their one-year program in Rural Development Management. We are involved in offering the course - Rural Development Management – Principles and Practices - that introduces the entire program and the other course – Rural Organizations – so that we are able to introduce the elements, concepts, principles, tools and practices of Livelihoods Management that are relevant to Rural Development Management, to the new young professionals. It is heartening to note that Government of India is investing to produce development management professionals directly. It endorses our belief that we need more and more bright minds have to come into this development and livelihoods domain. I hope, taking the cue, more and more players enter the ground to produce more and more professionals. Conservatively estimated, we may need 50000-60000 professionals servicing the poor even if we provide one professional per 1000 poor families. We are nowhere near this figure. We continue to receive demand for self-learning livelihoods programs. This demand cannot be ignored. We need investors; we need volunteers; we need support providers; so on so forth. Since two years, there is an upward trend in the prices of various agricultural commodities. The increase is more pronounced since January 2008. The spurt in food prices has the potential to precipitate into a crisis exacerbating poverty, hunger and malnutrition. In this context, our survey in AP has revealed that there is an increase in the income of all the households during the past two years. NREGA, that provided 100 days of employment, is the main contributing factor to the increase in income of the poor in rural areas. The general increase in the services and the boom in the construction sector appear to have contributed to the increase in income of the urban poor. All the households are spending more on food now, vis-à-vis spending on food two years ago. The acreage under paddy is decreasing. The fertile and irrigated lands are getting diverted away from paddy; and new irrigation areas are coming under paddy. Diversion of paddy fields is towards commercial crops like tobacco in Guntur and Prakasam, and horticultural crops across the state. Government is also discouraging water intense crops like rice. Additionally, areas near the cities and towns are being converted into real estate. A contributing factor for increase in food prices is the decrease in the number of farmers growing paddy for self-provisioning, which resulted in an increase in the number of purchasers of paddy; and thus, demand. An overwhelming majority of the respondents feel that the government has not made any serious effort to reduce the increase in food prices. There is a popular perception that the government is giving small benefits in the form of including Rs.2/kg rice, red gram and oil in the PDS while fleecing the people by (a) increasing the prices of other items like diesel, fertilizers,

31 etc., and (b) not regulating the trade that is increasing the prices of other items like seeds, and other essential commodities. The two shifts - a. from security in ‘having a stock of grain at home’ to ‘having ready cash’; and b. from eating ‘coarse cereals and local varieties’ to ‘eating rice and processed foods’ - are resulting in more farmer households having to depend on the market for their food needs; and sub-optimal use of the dry lands that are otherwise good for the production of coarse cereals. As the local varieties are not being consumed, the food is being transported over longer distances. With an increase in the cost of transportation, the food prices are also increasing. In the quest for cash crops, the acreage under food crops is declining. It is heartening to note that the decisions on the food to be brought and prepared are taken by the woman in most of the households. However, the impact of food prices is felt by the women, with cutting down on travel and other expenditure, decrease in the intake of nutrition, decrease in consumption of alcohol, reduced expenditure on festivals/celebrations, etc., and some women joined the workforce to earn the extra-income required to support the family. The lower middle class is shifting from the finer varieties to normal varieties of rice. The urban poor and small service providers, who have more or less a constant income, are badly affected by the rise in the food prices. The worst affected appear to be the migrant labor, who have no identity of their own, at the place of migration. They do not have access to PDS and suffer the full impact of the rise in the prices of food items. Most of the increase in food prices is only in the marketing channels. The benefits of the price rise are not accruing to the end channel partners – farmers or consumers. Regulating market channels, converting indirect subsidies to direct subsidies to the farmers (like MSP), reducing the length of the market channels by collectivising consumers (like APNA Bazar) and producers, need to be encouraged and supported. Amidst the international food crisis and increased food prices in the country, with inflation little over 12%, Indian Government makes definitive steps on Nuclear Deal after winning the confidence vote. Beijing Olympics 2008 (29th Olympics) has begun with a most spectacular inauguration beyond nay one’s imagination on 08 August 2008 at 08.08 PM. It is estimated that more than US$ 43 billion have gone into it, three times the investment in the previous Olympics. About 15000 performers with 6-12 months practice time have welcomed 10000+ players from 205 countries. It is any body’s guess a million livelihoods for this year might have been made by this Olympics, with substantial incomes. The inaugural investment alone would provide for 20 lakh poor families! Despite economic slowdown, some sectors are doing well, according to International Business Report 2008 of Grant Thornton International. 30% of worldwide net increase in employment of 140+ million new jobs by 2020 will be in India. These include – Retail (frontline sales staff – about a lakh per year for 3-4 years, retail management graduates and MBAs for merchandising, supply chain management etc.); Real Estate/Infrastructure (1.5 lakh+ engineers, real estate brokers, appraisers, managers and consultants); Healthcare/Pharma (75000+ doctors, other healthcare professionals, scientists and pharma documentationists); Financial services (1 lakh+ portfolio managers, insurance and retail financial services); Hospitality/Facilities management (2 lakh+ hotel-related and other hospitality jobs, technical maintenance people for facilities); Consulting services (0.5 lakh+ HR and start-up specialists, business strategists); Entertainment (10000+ people in channels); IT (10 lakh+ multitasking professionals per year in IT, ITES and

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ITES-BPOs); Customer services (1.5 lakh+ customer service technicians/managers); and Telecom (2 lakh+ professionals). Importantly, there is an increasing demand for people who have a blend of two functional skills, like a financial services person with business and marketing skills. Thus, middle class will continue to grow. What are the alternatives for employment for the poor who want to or who are forced to get out of the overcrowded farm and traditional occupational sectors? How do we increase the incomes for the poor who continue in declining sectors? What are the items that can be added in their portfolios of livelihoods? Monsoon affects people differently. Good monsoon is what farmers look forward to. Bad monsoon can ruin their fortune. The definition of ‘bad’ monsoon varies from place to place and time to time. Road users have difficulty when it pours, so on so forth. The people without roof over their heads get affected badly with rains, particularly if they are incessant. Some of these people are migrants. Some others are nomadic and semi-nomadic. They did not have the constitutional protection available to the Scheduled Tribes; they did not have the security and access like the resident communities. They number more than ten million families all over the country. They face extinction of their livelihoods patterns. They need to adapt to the new opportunities and face new challenges emerging from the changing face of the technology, entertainment, and environment. Will they? Who will help them? When we do not even know how many are there exactly, when some of them are not in the reckoning at all, when we do not have a clear account of the ways of their lives, how do we proceed? How do we organize them? How do we collectivize them? Interesting issues and interesting livelihoods! There are a lot of people who make rakhis (raksha bandhans) and live. There are some others engaged in making Ganeshas for the Ganesh festival. Some of them are made with plaster of Paris. Can we think of them making with clay, like in the olden days? This looks feasible, and my colleagues are making a small attempt at Pochampally. The Independence Day Celebrations offers livelihoods to significant numbers in making flags, poles, photos, garlands, fireworks, campaigns and parades. With incessant rains and heavy downpour, life halts. Meetings get postponed and/or cancelled. Water logging and overflowing streams halt travel. Drinking water runs out. With water in the pits of the looms, weavers get out of business. Farm works gets halted. Lives, Crops and Livelihoods are lost. Some in agency areas become sick. In the ultimate analysis, what matters the most for life is air, water and food. The rest is a matter of opinion really. An informed debate on what matters the most for life on this planet or for that matter a human being is to be pursued in this hour of changing times, climates and priorities. I invite more and more people to pursue this, wherever they are, in their own way and contribute to this debate in a big way.

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11. Poor Are Increasing! Perspectives September, 2008

We never seem to get out of disasters! Bihar has been struck with floods, dubbed to be larger than the Tsunami! 5 million people have been displaced, displaced for days! During the month, we have continued to interact with farmers, weavers, workers, consumers, students and people who work with them and interpret the data from the interactions. We continued our engagement with young professionals in appreciating poverty reduction, development and livelihoods management effort. Are the people below poverty line increasing? The calorie norm for the poverty line of spending defined in the seventies remained till today. The revision is only for accounting for the inflation. Accordingly, about Rs.1.63 per capita per day in seventies translates to Rs.12 per day after three decades. 56% were poor in India in seventies. Now (three years ago), it is 28% according to the Planning Commission of India. In due course, we seem to have missed the understanding that spending on calories was not to be equated with entire food and non-food expenditure for survival or decent existence. Thus, the spending to ensure adequate nutrition, adequate shelter, adequate clothing etc., was to be added with calorie-spending. This additional spending would be more or less equal to cost of calories. Thus, at Rs.12 plus 12 i.e. Rs.24 per capita per day, the poverty figures would change dramatically from 28% to 70%. Taking purchasing power parity into account, poverty line of spending (calorie norm) today would translate, I was told, to US$1.25 per capita per day. This is what the figures of the World Bank have kept in mind, in releasing the latest figures. Even at this level, the World Bank figures are troubling all of us. According to them, the poor in India are now near to 55%, making India having largest percentage of poor in South Asia, next only to Nepal. The poverty line of expenditure would be more than US$2 per capita per day and the figure would then be close to 80%. This is in sharp contrast to the projections of growing middle class in India. What does it mean? Does one of them is wrong? Are the differences between the poor and the middle class rich rising sharply? As a population, are we moving away from food security? Are we spending more on ‘other items’ at the expense of the ‘food’? This juxtaposed with increased credit availability with large numbers of groups of women, are the women servicing the debt, albeit cheaper debt, rather than consuming food? Where are the surpluses of the middle class going? Are they not going to services that are provided by the poor and not-so poor? Are they servicing themselves and living in their own economy, different from the economy of the poor? What is happening to the jobs created by the growth, booming sectors etc.? What is happening to the new jobs coming up at the low-end? Are they not matching up with the pace of creation of the unemployed and the displacement in livelihoods in the traditional sectors? We are at a loss to explain this out! Religion is one of the greatest employers! This month we are seeing Krishnastami, Ganesh and Ramzan. A Ganesh offers a variety of livelihoods – Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, where it is prevalent talk about 2-3 million small idols and 1- 1.5 lakh big idols of Ganesha. The sourcing of raw material, transport, making the idols, purchasing the idol, transporting the idol, making the mandap, lighting the mandap, the priest for each mandap, flowers and leaves, puja and Prasad, a group 10-12 youth servicing one

34 mandap, for 9 nights and 10 days, procession, Ganesh immersion in water, excavation etc. A quick estimate would mean 25-30 million days of employment/livelihoods per year! Ganesh is a business of more than Rs.1000 Crore all put together! Lots of it contributes to enhancing the livelihoods of the poor in a more certain manner than the new livelihoods options. By the same token, Krishnathami might have added a business of more than half of this amount easily as Krishnastami is celebrated all over the country. Month-long Ramzan fasts end on Ramzan day. Ramzan would surely provide business of more than Rs.5000 Crore of Haleem, Iftars, Festivities, Gifts etc. Next month, we have the Durga Puja/Dusserah and Deepavali. They will be generating many more livelihoods days for the poor. With corporate social responsibility foundations coming up and taking up implementation role increasingly and their operations being on a massive scale on one hand, the new generation of community-based organizations taking up development into their hands and taking up development projects, and the governments are taking up large-scale poverty reduction and other projects across, the traditional members of the civil society – NGOs are losing their staff, not able to mobilize finds for their ideas, and their ‘business’ is dwindling. These organizations need to redefine their agenda, role and methods. This is accentuated further with decreasing grants and increasing venture capital for local entrepreneurs with a promise of return on investments beyond the social impact. Small organizations have to give way to the big or to the networks. They need to quickly find partners in the CSRs, CBOs and Government Projects. They need to combine for-profit and no-for-profit business. They need to source volunteers and learn managing volunteers from the corporate world. They need to perform ‘big’ or transform else they face the threat of loss of form and substance. Under the circumstances, when we see an effort in Greater Hyderabad for bringing together Civil Society Organizations as a united forum, we get excited. Yes, we agree that more efforts, more geographic forums, more thematic forums are required. That is the only way forward. Should we bank more on the disasters? We seem to be moving towards ‘everybody loves good disaster’. The NGOs and the networks around the disasters are in demand. Tsunami, Kashmir earth quake, multiple droughts and floods have been postponing the ‘transformation’ of NGOs. Now, we have a massive disaster in Bihar in the form of floods, affecting 5 million people for days. Manmohan Singh is quick to announce a Rs.1000 Crore immediate relief. Railways and Bihar Government are doing well to provide more relief. CRPF and Army are assisting in the relief. Conservatively speaking, the floods cost more than 100 million livelihood days, amounting to a staggering Rs.1000 Crore in livelihoods, in addition to the loss of lives, property, assets, crops, etc. Last month, we had floods in AP that caused substantial loss in livelihoods and crops. Policy making never stopped baffling us! 1991 Coastal Zone Regulation Notification is being replaced with Coastal Management Zone Notification 2008. Nobody cared to tell why such a policy is required. The token consultations with public are underway. The notification is expected to be effective in a month. This hurry is not ‘understood’. When 250 million people live within 50 km of the coast, is not there a need to consult a 0.1% of them, i.e. 2.5 lakh people? Is not there a need to consult in every habitation/Gram Panchayat of 3600+GPs or a 10% of them? Does not the preamble state the rights of the coastal communities on the coastal resources and the protection of traditional coastal livelihoods upfront? And finally, the scope

35 for multiple interpretations of the words like ‘essential development’ is the big issue. ‘No’s need to be clearly spelt out. No ‘Yes’ should take away the rights of the coastal communities and traditional coastal livelihoods. Microfinance activities have become fairly systematic and the processes have become ‘standard’ for easy replication and scaling-up. The communities have responded well to these processes and are endorsing them with 99%+ repayment rates. The investors and the bankers are responding with increased investments for microfinance. It is able to attract a good number of human resources into it. The remunerations, it is able to pay, are comparable with the corporate sector. Bright and young minds are getting attracted to give a try. Micro-finance organizations across the country are debating mainstreaming, micro-finance plus is being explored and multiple hues and colors are joining this ‘plus’. The moot question before us livelihoods/development workers is – is mainstreaming the way forward for all of us? Are there any alternative ways? This question is important because - livelihoods activities are too large in number to attempt any standardization and/or systematization. For example, a small village of 100-200 families may have a number of crops, some once a year, some twice a year and sometimes thrice a year. It may have some plantation crops and some horticulture crops. It may have some trees and some fruit-bearing trees. It may have fisheries and produce a variety of fishes. It may have livestock including sheep and goats, cattle, buffaloes etc. It may have handlooms and handicrafts. It may have stone cutting, bidi rolling, and other miscellaneous activities. There may also be some support services like transport, trade, education etc. The people may be casual labour, skilled labour, self-employed, enterprise owners etc. Some may be full-timers and some part-timers. Some may not be engaged in direct income generation activities. We have very few people who can appreciate and support these livelihoods in toto. In fact, there are very few who can appreciate and support a single value chain in its entirety. The so- called experts master a bit of the value-chain. Yet, the poor and their collectives cannot afford them. All this would mean the need for multiple alternative ways. Hope we succeed in identifying and adapting some. In the ultimate analysis, what matters the most for life is air, water and food. The rest is a matter of opinion really. An informed debate on what matters the most for life on this planet or for that matter for a human being is to be pursued in this hour of changing times, climates and priorities. I invite more and more people to pursue this, wherever they are, in their own way and contribute to this debate in a big way.

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12. Why Are We So Desperate? Perspectives October, 2008

We never seem to get out of disasters! World at large and USA and Europe have been struck with a huge financial tsunami. During the month, our interactions have been mainly with the communities, their organizations and the organizations that support them in Jharkhand and the Trans Himalayan Region, apart from the interactions related to endogenous tourism in general and in Pochampally in particular. We continued our engagement with young professionals in appreciating poverty reduction, development and livelihoods management effort. As I traversed from South to North, from Ganges in the East to the Indus in the West, from the land of the highest population density to the land of the lowest population density, from forever marshy lands to the cold deserts, from the philosophy of leisure maximization to the philosophy of let us first survive, from religious tourism areas to nature and experiential tourism areas, from plains to peaks, from completely concretized jungles to pristine natural habitats, from hottest areas to subzero areas and so on, it has been a study of contrasts on the surface, yet similar deep within. Sunderbans, hilly and mountain areas and cold deserts are telling us to appreciate the power of nature and surrender to it. They, in fact, are urging us to appreciate and experience the bliss of being with the nature. The snow capped mountains, the glaciers, the rivers, the hills, the lakes, the valleys, the islands and the seas are wonders of the nature, for us to be with. This year’s Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel is given to Paul Krugman, for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity. His analysis concludes that economies of scale combined with reduced transport costs help to explain why an increasingly larger share of the world population lives in cities and why similar economic activities are concentrated in the same locations. Lower transport costs can trigger a self reinforcing process whereby a growing metropolitan population gives rise to increased large- scale production, higher real wages and a more diversified supply of goods. This, in turn stimulates further migration to cities. The key question then is – can we reverse this? How can we? My recent visits to Sunderbans, Jharkhand, Spiti Valley and Ladakh have given a glimpse of possible food security dependent integrated organic farming. We seem to have forgotten the integrated farming system practices on the way. Can we get back? When the tribals in Jharkhand maximize leisure, when the spitians and ladakhis are happy with whatever little they have– why are we after growth, profits and stress? Are we wrong? Chewang Norphel at the ripe age of 73 is in a creative tension of building artificial ‘glaciers’ so that some lands in the cold desert get some water during the early summer before the natural glaciers start melting a bit and give water to these lands. Nomads in the cold desert take their livestock into the hills even at 5000 metres above mean sea level. Ladakhis and Spitians pool up cow dung cakes, fuel wood, fodder for the cattle, provisions etc., for a long winter exceeding six months with temperatures falling down to -30 to -35 degree Celsius with no electricity most of the time. Still when a visitor meets them, they welcome with a greeting ‘Julley’ and offer

37 some hot tea to drink. Even when land is there for use, the tribals in Jharkhand and Dandakaranya are content with using a portion of it. The people in Sunderbans are fighting the river, sea and the crabs, day in and day out. The fishermen in the coasts of India are in the sea for days together waiting for the catch. The migrants into the cities are sleeping on the foot paths and slightly less crowded roads and flyovers displaying enormous grit to survive. When everyone around is so bold, generous and happy with ‘life’, why are we so desperate to accumulate, cheat, exploit, hide, flaunt and runaway from our share of contributing to the life around us? Ladakhis dream of food-security driven self-sufficient and self-reliant economy. Strangely, the economy of Ladakh is driven by the army, because of border with China and Pakistan and the tourism. For example in Leh district, army personnel outnumber the 1.2 lakh locals. In season, 70000- 80000 tourists visit Leh. While the poor are negligible in number here, and the area has the best equity that can be seen in the country, the harsh ecology of cold deserts tests and tires them out with lowest rainfall of 50-60 mm and a long and lowest temperatures. Look at them. It beats our imagination why there are poor in other parts of the country. Surely, the blessed non-poor should have no complaints whatsoever! When the needs of the human beings are essentially air, water, food, clothing and shelter and most of these exist in plenty for any one for their use and not for storing and wasting, when we did not own any resources that give us these, when the value of each one’s time is more or less the same, the inequities are strange and appear to be results of some ingenious engineering! It is beyond a common man’s comprehension why a young and physically hardworking person gets Rs.50 per day of his labour and why another gets more than Rs.100, 000 per day. There appears no fair and just logic behind this. This is a cause of deep frustration to many of us. Can we do something about this? Or should we accept and resign ourselves to this strange equation that governs us? With the global financial crisis, it became to clear to us that we cannot bank on these dynamic opportunities that come from the liberalization, privatization and globalization processes. These LPG processes are as risky as LPG in our houses. Its availability is not reliable. Safety is not guaranteed. Surely, prices are not going to remain low. While the very purpose of the Non-Government Organisations and Civil Society Organisations is to show models for replication by the CBOs and the Governments, and the collaboration between the NGOs and Governments contributes to the public good, to develop models and build communities, NGOs seek autonomy and independence and the arms of the Governments resist in accepting that they are indeed independent organizations. An angry and upset District Magistrate can stop the funds to the NGO from foreign sources and Government sources, as in the case of SECMOL in Ladakh. The lesson here for the civil society is to build local sources of funds and revenues from activities and business. It needs to combine for-profit and not-for- profit business. It needs to source volunteers and learn managing volunteers. It needs to have wider base of work beyond a district or a state. It needs to be networked for solidarity and learning. King Nono of Spiti explains the need for integrated and holistic approach succinctly – when the farmers produce barley, they get food for the winter and fodder for the cattle. That encourages them to have livestock. These give manure, milk, wool, meat and all other things. The organic farming is then feasible. Micro-hydels can provide electricity to the area. This can also reduce

38 drudgery. Additional land can be brought under cultivation with more snow and water harvesting. This land can be for growing vegetables, fruits and horticulture crops. The surplus can fetch high price because of the off-season in the market. The bio-diversity conserved can give us a variety of non-timber forest produce, medicinal and aromatic plants for local use and a little additional cash. The youth can be provided with skills to provide services that are required in the local area. The producers can be collectivized for sourcing goods from outside, for exchange of goods between them, and surplus disposal with local value-addition. The youth clubs can take up zero-waste management and revival and conservation of social and cultural practices, art forms, etc. The traditional systems blended with modern technology improve the quality of life including appropriate housing and guarantee sustainable well-being and development… This is just for Spiti valley in Himachal Pradesh. Each and every compact area in the country requires this kind of integrated and holistic thinking on the livelihoods. We have very few people who can appreciate and support this integrated and holistic way of living and livelihoods. We need to build and run campaigns for that all over. We need volunteers and articulators. All this would mean the need for multiple alternative ways. Hope we succeed in identifying and adapting some. Of course, the critical element in our success is in most of us becoming less desperate to live ‘better’ than most others at any cost to themselves, others and the world.

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13. Change - We Must! Perspectives November, 2008

It is becoming clear that the financial tsunami is actually the depression. The month that went by saw mainly the interactions with the communities, their organizations and the organizations that support them in the Trans Himalayan Region. We continued our engagement with young professionals in appreciating poverty reduction, development and livelihoods management effort. This time around, it is our assessment of their performance. United States of America and the world is still celebrating the victory of Barrack Obama. We have a GO now – no smoking in public places. A cabinet decision – Ganga is a national river. Government of India recognizes that Telugu and Kannada are classical languages, apart from Tamil and Sanskrit. As we moved from Delhi into Himachal, the snow fall on the famous Rohtang Pass prevented us from traveling to Spiti Valley through the pass. As a result, we had to take a circuitous route through the Jalori Pass - from a mere 200 kilometre drive became a long 700 kilometre sojourn, lasting a long 20 hours. The ghat road was along the course of river Satluj. Of course, we were moving towards the source of the river. The construction of the biggest hydro-electric power unit(s) on Satluj is going on at a brisk pace all across. Slowly we got hooked on, ‘lost’ in the power of nature. We slipped into the bliss of being in the nature. A blessing in disguise! Interesting it may sound, in Spiti Valley, we were put up in a hotel run by a Naga family. From the borders of Bangladesh to the borders of China! The windows of the hotel offer a breath- taking view of snow capped Himalayas, may be a kilometre away. Then we began to appreciate what it means to be an area of sparsest population density. What it means to be living in sub- zero temperatures. What it means to be struggling to survive yet be happy and generous. The long drive back to Delhi, flight to Leh and travel on the world’s highest motorable road and hanging around for a few minutes near Khardung La (pass) at 5500+ metres, touching the cold waters of river Indus, seeing the yaks, zomos (cross between yak and cow), and two-humped camels, seeing the households getting ready for five-months for the seven month long sub-zero winter, the impact of the presence of army, the ‘tourism’ and the civil society efforts in education, building youth, and tapping solar energy etc., have reinforced our faith in the capacity of people and their ability to surrender and live in harmony with nature. As the financial tsunami spreads and we are more or less certain that this is economic depression, the quick observations that help a majority of the common people are: • When a bubble is building up, the debt of individual in a country to one another is also building up. It appears that everyone in the game is making money. In this phase, it is worthwhile to borrow money and take part in the game. The knack is to know the timing to withdraw and convert all that into cash. • The actual worth of assets/stocks depends largely on psychology. • When the bubble bursts, the value of assets may go down below its original/initial value.

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• When the bubble bursts, the fellows with cash are the likely winners. The fellows having the assets, stocks, or extended loan to others are the losers. They may go bankrupt. • At the end of the day, the non-participants in this game, may neither win nor lose. But the value of their assets and money may go up and down like a see saw. This makes them worried and they hasten the processes of bubble bursting out. Let me explore a bit more on ‘finance’. There are six rates of the banks - the RBI and Government of India play with in dealing with financial aspects. These are Repo (repurchase) Rate (the rate at which banks borrow from RBI), Reverse Repo Rate (the rate RBI pays for deposits from banks), Bank Rate (rate at which RBI lends to other financial institutions), Call Rate (rate which bank’s daily funds are borrowed), CRR (cash reserve ratio – the minimum portion of the bank’s deposits to be retained as cash) and SLR (statutory liquidity ratio – portion of the bank’s deposits that has to be deposited in government securities). By increasing/decreasing the rates and ratios, RBI tries to decrease or increase the money flow in the market which in turn may control the inflation, interest rates on the loans to the consumers/investors and on deposits to depositors, psychology of the investors etc. Interestingly, the common man only gets affected in all this. S/he is not aiding or contributing to any of these issues directly. When the needs of the human beings are essentially air, water, food, clothing and shelter, the transition of these becoming insignificant in the economy and all other aspects taking control of the economy is always intriguing. When the food producer, when the educator, when the health care provider, when the people who help people to meet their above basic needs do not get rewarded adequately, but when the people who speculate, gamble, abuse/destroy natural resources, when the people who facilitate products and services that meet not-so-basic demands getting rewarded exceptionally, it troubles the common man deep within. This gets compounded as s/he is only a mute spectator in the whole process. Further, this process appears to be refined first with the introduction of monetary system, later with centralized production unit(s), subsequently with technology and of late with ‘soft’ technology and globalization. When an item is produced locally and consumed locally, the producer gets the most of the consumer rupee, mostly as wages or compensation for the use of capital for the purpose. When the distance between the production and consumption increases, only a fraction of the consumer rupee reaches the producer. The rest of it goes to a variety of the players – storage providers, aggregators, transporters, supply-chain managers, distributors, retailers, financiers, so on and so forth. All these players hover around the centralized production unit or a retail chain. This establishes that the control shifts away from the small producers and small consumers. Of late, we are hearing that the retail chains are bleeding internally. Retail chain is a concept of the west, where large producers supply to the retail chain for distribution and retailing. The management – supply chain management – concepts are from this premise. When the producers are small, the reality in India, the aggregation is the first step. When a number of retail chains compete at the aggregation stage and each one invests in their own infrastructure, the costs of aggregation go up. These costs are to be borne by the chain itself or the consumer. In this growing phase, the chains are taking it in and are bleeding. This will trigger more

41 processes of mergers and acquisitions, which is the case now, and/or common infrastructure by a group of chains. The small producers may find it useful to come together, in this context. Any perfect system, without consideration to its ideological background, is fine. The truth is that we never had, we will never have a perfect system. These imperfections cause problems. The problems caused by centralizations are large and acutely painful to the people even though they are not a party to it. The questions before us are - How do we get back to decentralization? How do we preserve diversities? How do we pursue/promote local production, local value-addition for local consumption? How do we get rid of the effects of artificial demands and supplies? How do we get out of artificial psychological aberrations? Is it the literacy, is it the communications network, is it the internet, is it the new technology, or a combination thereof – that is going to help us in this pursuit? Do we or do all of us have to get back to fundamentals and take our governance into our hands? It requires a lot of hard work, over long periods of time. From the lady who sat in the bus in USA almost a century ago, to Martin Luther King Junior to say ‘shall overcome … one day’ to Barack Obama becoming the President-elect of USA to say ‘YES, we can’ – it is a long way. When the leaderships find it difficult to be generous in handing over the reins to more new leaders, what is the legacy of change we can talk about? Is it the structure, a piece of paper, or a minor tinkering in the system for a little while? How do we build these first generation leaders is the ultimate question before us who are concerned about the world and about ourselves. Very few of us are willing to work on this process of building first generation leaders for legacy of change. We, the ones who recognized this, need to be the first to be taking this forward – thought, conceptualization, articulation, campaign, action, plan and follow-up. We cannot continue to get frustrated and crib. We need to take the next steps. When we do not want to be ‘desperate’, we can plan to be joyous (if not blissful) and one with joy spreads joy around, to all beings, all life and the world.

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14. We Cannot Escape Change! Perspectives December, 2008

These are difficult times. Financial depression, expected to last a couple of years! Terrorism on its prowl world over! Increasing corruption! Welfare schemes are not able to off-set the slipping well-being! Articulation and organization notwithstanding, 80+% of Indians are reckoned as poor, by one calculation. The month that went by saw mainly the interactions with the elders, the communities in which they live, their organizations and the organizations that support them in the coastal areas, in the tribal areas and the areas in between. Our engagement with young professionals in appreciating poverty reduction, development and livelihoods management effort continued. Mumbai witnesses an unprecedented terror attack. This time around, it is no longer bombs. The sixty-two hour encounters caused more than 200 to die – mostly Indians, some foreigners including Americans and Israelites, apart from the 9 terrorists and 20+ security personnel. Marinos and Commandos, South African private security agents, unsuspecting frail ordinary men and women did their best to reduce the death toll. Only one terrorist could be caught alive. There were angry outbursts against the politicians and the ‘neighbor’. Solidarity marches, candle light vigils, saluting the martyrs, processions and rallies, 24x7 chats on the channels went on. Some political heads rolled. Chidambaram took charge of internal security! Quite strangely, intelligence and bureaucratic heads remained untouched! The USA and the world said they were with India. UN has banned some organizations. Some action to take on the sources has begun. Five states went to elections and the results have come. The long-drawn election process in Jammu and Kashmir is still in progress. The voters, it appears, have not taken the ‘terror’ as an election issue. Local development and performance, the analysts say, have been rewarded. These results keep the two main alliances for the general elections guessing. Slogans have not worked. In fact, the third alternative has picked up quite a bit, to influence the decisions at the local level, making the selection of the candidates, particularly genuine honest and young, important. We need to wait and see what the J&K voters are going to tell us. Amidst all this, Chief Election Commissioner indicates that the general elections may be in April/May 2009. Constituencies have been re-carved out. Parties have begun to draw their election manifestos. The time has come for setting the agenda for the next five years. We need to think about what we need. RBI went ahead with its marginal corrections of repo rates and reverse repo rates, expecting the banks to cut interest rates. It has provided Rs.7000 Crore and Rs.4000 Crore to SIDBI and NHB to augment the availability of funds for the small and medium enterprises. Government of India waived central VAT on automobiles. Still, the jobs continued to be lost in the world and by a small measure in India. These are difficult times and fasting helps the times and the individuals. Fasting once a week for a whole day – from after the dinner previous night till the breakfast next day – 36 hours - should be the target. We need to gradually move into this regimen, say over 3-4 months. This

43 helps in cleansing the system within, and the toxins, in emptying the energy store house liver so that it wakes up from its dormancy, in being fit and of course, in helping the economy. As I go through the trials, tribulations, conflicts, chaos and struggles, never did I realize that when the intensified ‘mathanam’ (churning) takes us through cleansing and testing processes. Then when we become ‘yukta’, the bliss arrives to remain with you forever. Till such time, one can only intensify the explosive process of churning deep within and around. As part of our attempt to understand the current reality of elders, particularly the assisted/dependent elders, we are numbed to listen to an elderly woman saying I starve so that my bowel movement is less frequent. Another elder has to move to four houses, one after the other every 15 days or so. This ensures that the four children get the rightful claim on her property for taking care of her now. She dreads each shift and silently and loudly she wishes her death is sooner than later. An elderly man does not take medicines because he could not eat. He cannot afford and he was not provided for. Another man longs to live even in a far away age-care home. Aged and arthritis-driven old man has to take care of his spouse who is bed- ridden and immobile although children are well-to-do. It became clear that the next generation is looking at the elderly as a burden to get rid of, at best a burden to live with. Then, our hopes zeroed on the younger generation – children and youth. We do not know how this generation reacts. And this is the case of a rich Godavari area of Andhra Pradesh! State Government just passes on Rs.200 per month pension from the Central Government without adding their share of Rs.200. Will the ration suffice? How will it be cooked? What about other needs? Hindu Mythology talks of 84 lakh life species. Of these, the human species is bestowed with highest ability of making choices and discretion. It can see the possibilities. It can in a sense guide future possibilities. And this person is rarely aware of it; if aware, rarely uses it; if uses, mostly for meeting now and base level needs; and these are not to ensure well-being of others now, but for the well-being of self. Strange! So much for our wisdom! How do we explain such glaring differences? When we are blessed with a ‘different’ gift, knowledge, insight, skill, competence, wealth, why are we not able to see it as a blessing by the universe to serve the universe and its human species and other life forms now and in future? Human Rights Day emphasizes our belief that every family has a right to live a life without poverty. The agenda for the next five years should, therefore, include: • Smaller administrative units. For example, AP may have some 50 districts. Elsewhere, blocks have to become small. • Smaller states. 1-2 Crore population states are feasible, viable and sustainable. Governance is superior. • Federal Polity with limited Union items • Regional Unions like South Asia as Confederations with common currency, free trade and free movement. • Empowered Local Governments with clear sources of funds and responsibilities • Comprehensive Livelihoods Plans in each habitation/ cluster of habitations, consolidated at the sub-district and district levels and their implementation • Quality Education to All in Mother Tongue and Offering English Language Skills, Computing Skills etc., as part of Education • Access to Quality Healthcare to All in their cluster of habitations/neighborhood

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• Schools for 3000+ vocations; paraprofessionals and community leaders – at least one per 10 families • 100% Drinking Water and Sanitation • Re-organized local economy to meet local needs • Development/Livelihoods Professionals – at least one per 100 families • Adequate social security to all who need • Community mobilization of all poor – women and youth and support mechanisms for planning and accessing resource support • Increased % of consumer rupee to producer/service provider – at least 60% • Increased % of government rupee to the poor – at least 75% Universe and Nature has a way of telling us to take rest. A 10-day acute bronchitis taught me how nature works its way. You cannot push it hard. It knows how to push you back. As the vocal chords went silent for a while, as every inch of the body cried for attention and care, and as ‘necessary breaks’ extend the period of ‘rest’, reinforced my realization that nothing is more important to us than what universe is asking you to do. We are happy struggling to survive. We can be generous only if we are happy. I remember the faith reinforced by the Ladakhis the Spitians, the Jharkhandis, the tribals in Dandakaranya, the elders in our midst - faith in the capacity of people and their ability to surrender and live in harmony with nature. Why can’t we? Silently, we have allowed the international volunteer day for economic and social development to let go. We know that we get benefited by little help from others. We also know that we can help others a bit to better their situation. How do we build platforms that bring out this mutual volunteerism – in minutes, in hours, in days or in insights, knowledge, skills etc.? We, as part of the common people, are at a loss. We are globalizing. We have become aware the food producer, the educator, the health care provider, the people who help people to meet basic needs do not get rewarded adequately. We do not seem to have a way of influencing these processes. Most of the products and services by the poor are less competitive in the global market. We have no clue what-so-ever about the services and products in which we have a global competitive edge. Does it not mean, as the bubble bursts/expands, most of us, the poor, continue to poor or become poorer with no productive choices except to be a slave in a less competitive and therefore less rewarding product or service chain? How can be the products and services that are competitive because of low labour cost continue to fulfill the aspirations of the poor? As usual, as ever, we need the best brains cracking this nut or these nuts! Can we hurry up, before we lose out? Of course, one option is to revert to our earlier system - produce locally and consume locally, because this offers the most of the consumer rupee to the producer/service provider. Can it withstand the rolling global juggernaut? Can we find ways, including ways to build coalitions, networks, solidarity groups, collectives etc.that has inherent mechanisms of mutual support and cross production and consumptions within? How do we decentralize further? How do we preserve diversities? What is going to help us in this pursuit? Is it the new leadership? Therefore, to my mind, it appears critical that we concentrate on building the first generation leaders who are concerned about the world and about ourselves. All of us are aware – it is a lot of hard work, over long periods of time.

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These leaders can talk and bring the legacy of change we are yearning for. We need to put ourselves to this task diligently – from thought, conceptualization, articulation, campaign, action, plan and follow-up.

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15. Leaders of Legacy of Change - Can We Build? Perspectives January, 2009

We were in difficult times in 2008. 2009 offers hope. Elections are round the corner. Youth are coming forward with promise. Let us wish ourselves ‘excitement, change, peace, love and happiness’ in 2009 and thereafter. The month that went by saw our continued engagement with young professionals in appreciating poverty reduction, development and livelihoods management effort. Our ‘dialogues’ on eldercare, youth empowerment and poverty reduction have occupied most of the time. Balance of the time went into reflecting the voices of the poor and not-so poor through the lens of livelihoods and poverty reduction in People’ s manifesto for the next five years and taking this into appropriate forums towards inclusion in the common minimum program of the next government (s). India continued under the influence of Mumbai terror attack. Pakistan is still seeking evidence and India handed over a dossier of evidence to them and USA, hoping that some serious action on the sources of terror soon. The verdict of J&K voters is telling us that majority of them are interested in the democratic process and local development issues too are bothering them. It is clear now that the elections will be, more or less, in April/May. RBI went ahead with its some more marginal corrections of repo rates and reverse repo rates, expecting the banks to cut interest rates. Still, the jobs continued to be lost in the world and In India. Already a million jobs are lost and we are heading towards losing more than a ten-million jobs in India itself. The economic recession has moved from the stage of pricking to the stage of hurting. My move towards fasting is slow and I may take another 2 months to reach the full 36 hour fasting per week. With my 50% grade, I feel better and my physiological, emotional and spiritual systems are functioning better. You may also like to try fasting, if you have not tried or if you are not already practicing fasting. If you taste it, you will get addicted to it. As I go through the trials, tribulations, conflicts, chaos, struggles, and intensified churning, the process is taking me through cleansing and testing. This is intensifying further and becoming explosive deep within and around day-by-day. I have tasted love and joy and I am sure (am I overconfident?) I am on the path towards lingering taste of love and joy forever. Our recent efforts to find professionals for development and/ or livelihoods for the sector are repeatedly revealing that we do not have enough numbers available to be recruited/ inducted. The quality is mediocre and not appropriate. The situation is slightly better at the community level. But they lack adequate skills and pay is not commensurate. When the staff of a unit is involved in fighting with each other rather than fighting on how we can better the lives of the clients you are working for, how do we get forward? When a professional wants to have 100 times or 1000 times the average income of the people whose lives they are affecting, what is the way forward? The moment a community level professional gets employed, and then s/he loses the ‘empathy’ for the community, what is the way forward? When the governance and management systems in which these professionals have to work are not willing to recognize

47 and not ‘able’ to manage them, what is the way forward? As a senior development practitioner has put it – “extra-ordinary inflation in the salaries of the professionals”, particularly outside the development/livelihoods domain, makes it difficult for the domain to attract and retain professional talent. What are the ways forward? As part of our attempt to understand the current reality of youth, particularly in the age group of 18-25 years, a good 60-70% of them have been in school for 10 years. 3R Skills - Reading, Writing and Arithmetic – are weak for considerable proportion of them. They are not interested to get into traditional livelihoods and they don’t seem have the aptitude and competencies for the upcoming livelihoods. They do not have vocational skills. They like entrepreneurship and self-employment opportunities but the capabilities need to be honed. Except for the doctors, the employability of the graduates is low and is less than 10%. Further, some 20 million youth are joining this flow at the left end with this background. At the right-end, the elders are taking more time to leave the flow. And at least half the people living on farming, artisanal livelihoods and related labor need to be ‘rehabilitated’ in off-farm services and nonfarm services. All this makes a huge number – say 400 million – as of now and growing. Even if we take 5 years for this, we are talking 80 million per year. Added to this, now we see people losing jobs because of recession! Then the moot question is – do we know the domains, activities, skills etc., into which they can be taken to accommodate so many people? When liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG) processes are indicating to us that we are not having competitive edge in items that we need like food etc. Our production per unit is not high. As LPG processes progress, we may realize more and more of our products and services are not competitive and many of our farmers, artisans, etc., may not be able to get remunerative wages for their effort and have to find alternative vocations. What are they? Many a youth will do a service to himself or herself, if they invest in 3R skills. As the first skill of 3R is Reading. Some quick steps in improving reading and for speed reading: • Stop reading loudly. Stop the lip movement. Stop the epiglottis movement. Stop the eye movement. Of course, this is a gradual progression over a period of time, say one year. • Relax. If you’re in the stressed mode, it would be much more difficult to concentrate. • Focus on the areas that you really need to learn. • Try not to focus too much attention on structure words like a, the, or etc. • Practice, practice, practice with setting a goal and upping it gradually. Similarly, get going on writing and on arithmetic as you cannot go far without 3Rs. As we celebrate Christmas, New Year, Moharram and Pongal, the celebrations contribute to the livelihoods of the people in terms of employment and incomes through the festivities, foods, greeting cards, diaries, calendars, travel, vacations, etc. A little question then – is it ok even if it hurts other, even if it hurts you later? Christmas reminds us of Jesus, the master leader with legacy focus. What a legacy he has left on this planet that lasted more than twenty centuries and likely to last many more! When you think of youth, National Youth Day and another legacy -centered leader, Swami Vivekananda flashes before us. For him work was dearer than his life. For him, youth were the future. For him both spirituality and reduced human suffering mattered. Therefore, Ramakrishna Order! And Ramakrishna Mission! Amidst all these, we have allowed international migrants day, international day for south-south cooperation and international human solidarity day, to pass

48 by. We know migrants need identity cards, ration in the place of migration, access to social infrastructure for their well-being, and safe remittance mechanisms. Aajeevika Bureaus and Livelihoods Missions, can they meet all these needs? While the women in India in general and in Andhra Pradesh in particular are demonstrating the fruits of solidarity to some extent, we still remain a divided house. How do we come together and be together for our solidarity and our wellbeing? This would also mean the solidarity of the development/ livelihoods workers cannot be relegated to margins. This need gets accentuated when we do not look at ‘development’ work as a mere career but as a vocation, a work for life. The economic crisis in USA is explained well by Bruce Judson of Yale School of Management. In essence, he is saying it is a domino effect – housing prices -> housing bubble -> housing crisis -> credit crisis -> sub-prime borrower defaults -> stock market decline ->lower consumer spending -> decreased company profits -> layoffs and job cuts -> spiraling vicious cycle. This may take anything between 3-10 years for reversing the cycle. Since we are globally connected, many of us are affected depending on the degree of connectedness. As Bruce says, crisis is a chance to rebuild our society in a better way. It is the time now to focus on solutions. The crisis at Satyam is an example of, probably, this compulsion. The mortgaged shares of the promoters required to be released. Slowly, the equity of the promoters has come down below 3.6%. It may slide further. Four directors have quit. Registrar of Companies is digging deeper to know what went wrong. Lots of companies are waiting to take over. Confessing the fraud in economic transactions the Chairman Ramalingaraju resigned to his post. We have to watch how the story unfolds this month. Mean while, the role of independent directors is coming under scrutiny, here and everywhere! As usual, as ever, we need the best brains cracking these issues of churning. Can our governments see the people’s issues from the lenses of the people, their livelihoods and poverty? Can we see anybody really responding to ‘People’s manifesto’ evolved through this lens? And take the elements into the party manifestos now and later into the common minimum program(s) of the government(s) they form? Then, will they deliver? Will they allocate budgets? Will they spend the allocated budgets? Will they ensure that a 80-90% of the spending actually reaches the targeted activity/institution/individual? So many questions. Therefore, to my mind, it appears critical that we concentrate on building the first generation leaders who are concerned about the world and about ourselves. All of us are aware - it is a lot of hard work, over long periods of time. But we know these leaders can talk and bring the legacy of change we are yearning for.

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16. Next Generation Leaders? Perspectives February, 2009

We are incorrigible and live on hope and optimism, as there is no other way to be. We are into 2009. Sun turned northward. Obama took charge of USA. Prime Minister went through a successful by-pass surgery. We have taken the progression of recession in our stride. Elections are going to be in April/May. Election Manifestos are on the anvil. All parties want to invest in youth, women and social justice. The month that went by saw our continued engagement with young professionals in appreciating poverty reduction, development and livelihoods management effort. Our ‘dialogues’ on eldercare and poverty reduction occupied most of the time. Balance of the time went into reflecting further the voices of the marginalized through the lens of livelihoods and poverty reduction to fine-tune elements in People’ s manifesto(s) for the next five years and ushering them towards inclusion in the common minimum program of the next government(s). On the Republic Day, President of India touched upon poverty reduction, youth and women empowerment, equitable growth etc., apart from terrorism and security. She says, obviously on behalf of the government: “….. The development process itself is becoming an increasingly participatory activity. …. The richness of a few cannot be at the cost of depriving others ….. • Economic development serves a social purpose when it is for the welfare of the people. It is our effort to work towards providing education, health and better living conditions for the poorest of the poor and the weakest of the weak...... • Economic opportunities should …be accessible … The poor and the disadvantaged people need to be drawn into circles of growth, to avoid their alienation from the mainstream. Welfare and development schemes implemented in earnest can bring about tangible difference to the lives of the people. … Improvement in the human development parameters is important to create a productive work force and an enriched society. It is Gross Domestic Product along with welfare of the people that are the twin pillars of a progressive nation.…. • Youth … Productive employment generation prospects can be created through skill development and vocational training. … • A woman has a right to live with dignity and a right to be an equal citizen of the country…. Government has introduced gender budgeting… Self Help Groups have proved to be effective vehicles for the economic transformation of women. It should be our endeavor to bring every eligible woman under the cover of a Self Help Group for her economic empowerment. …” Instead of annual budget, only the vote-on-accounts (interim budgets till the new government(s) take over) are on the anvil – Government of India on 16 February. Vote-on account does two things – it revises expenditure estimates for the year; and it also provides estimates for the period till the new government takes over and gets the full budget approved in the next year. Given that elections are around, the government will tell its achievements and announce higher expenditures in the social sectors and some direct/ indirect sops. RBI is also likely to announce some more changes in the rates like repo etc.

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I am inching towards full 36 hour fasting per week slowly but surely. Consuming more water and fiber helps in general and during the fasting in particular. With the grade of 60% or so itself, my physiological, emotional and spiritual systems are functioning far better. If you are not already practicing fasting, you may like to try. I am sure, if you taste it, you will get addicted to it. As I continue, and I cannot help, going through the intensified churning processes, deeply explosive within and around, I am getting cleansed and tested for the immortal touch, light and power of the universe and to ‘lose’ my limits in joy forever. I am excited and enjoying every bit of it, in my quiet ‘progression’ in flow. We get repeated endorsements that many of our educated youth lack employable skills - as our recent efforts to find professionals for development and/or livelihoods for the sector are repeatedly revealing that we do not have enough numbers available to be recruited/inducted. The quality is mediocre and not appropriate. Now a study by Purple Leap, a talent management institute, confirms this. Interestingly it finds more than 50% of them in the category of ‘hard-to- train’ in three employability skills – communication, problem solving and technical skills. 80% do not meet the qualifying criteria in communications. Most of the 20% lack in problem solving and/or technical skills. Thus, only a fraction – less than 10% are employable! Of these, how many opt to work in the development or livelihoods domain is any body’s guess! How can we attract them? Not-so-employable may be interested to an extent but they need extremely rigorous induction over long periods. What should be this induction? How this can be imparted to so many? And who will invest in this? This situation gets further compounded when this not- so-competent professional wants to have 100 times or 1000 times the average income of the people whose lives they are affecting. Then, what is the way forward? When the development projects of the government employ staff with an intention to make them accountable to the community and fail to truly make them accountable to the community rather than making them accountable to the officers in the project or government or their political masters, we see strikes and agitations for making them government staff a la staff of Indira Kranthi Patham, the largest and model development project in the country. If they have nurtured the communities to get organized and demand things, they would like to be role models to the community by getting organized, and succeeding in government acceding to their demands. In the process, the communities fail to have these staff accountable to them. Sensitivity of the staff can be a casualty! These large projects in AP, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Orissa etc., have to remember this. The new organization at the national level or the nation poverty reduction mission in the pipeline has to begin its course keeping this reality in perspective! The situation is slightly better at the community level, with the community leaders, activists and paraprofessionals, service providers etc. But they lack adequate skills and pay may not be commensurate. Thus, skills for jobs inside cannot be neglected. Skills for Jobs for outside employment – what is the potential? An assessment in a district indicated some 8 skill areas - automobile mechanic, electrical motor repair and electrical work, hospitality, construction - masonry, nursing, cell phone repair, IT enabled services, trade, etc. Will they suffice to meet the numbers in the reckoning? This gets compounded with economic recession and the frauds around. More than a crore of individuals without jobs get added to the natural supply of unemployed annually. Then the moot question is – do we know the domains, activities, skills etc., into which they can be taken to accommodate so many people? With liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG)

51 processes progressing, we may have more and more jibs, skills and occupations getting out of the reckoning as we are not competitive. Warren Buffet’s suggestions to cope with recession may not be out of place here – do not bank on financial experts, work hard, be alert, have multiple sources of income, buy things only you need, spend what is left after saving not otherwise, monitor expenses rather than just counting, look at and correct small leaks, do not put all eggs in one basket, and never test the depth of the water with two feet. Can we pass on this wisdom of our elders which Warren Buffet has managed to put together for us to all who take decisions in general and financial decisions in particular? Then, what are the ways forward for us to influence, support, and nurture and design now and in future? This would also mean the need for increased number of people working in the development and livelihoods domain. Even at one per 100, this would mean a crore of them. A minimum of 10% have to be professionals. One out of 10 of them, at least, have to look at development/livelihoods work as something beyond a career, like a vocation, a work for life with passion. Can we help increasing their numbers, their abilities and their performance? This is a task before us, who are interested in decent livelihoods for all. Naturally, some of these have to be the best brains immersed in cracking these issues. When a Chief Minister recommends stoppage of live transmission of the proceedings of the legislative assembly, we can be sure that transparency in public governance is a casualty! After five years of non-effort, a government talks about a joint committee to look into statehood for a region, we can be sure that the political establishments do not put the faith in the wisdom and capacity of the people, the quintessential value of any development worker. Then, it is difficult to visualize our governments seeing the people’s issues from the lenses of the people, their livelihoods and poverty. It is difficult to imagine anybody really responding to ‘People’s manifesto’ evolved through this lens. But, can we lose hope? As incorrigible optimists, we do not lose hope. We continue to ensure that these ideas float around. We continue to appeal to the ‘vested’ interests why addressing these helps them. For now, let us fine-tune the people’s manifestos further with more nuances from the specifics of a marginalized, in addition to the equity, justice and right to life and livelihoods perspectives. Then, can we take them to appropriate and multiple fora so that the parties, governments, bureaucracy and opinion makers agree to some of this at least? Can we pressurize them to allocate budgets? Can we see that they spend the allocated budgets? Can we keep a watch and lend a hand in 80-90% of the spending actually reaches the targeted activity/ institution/individual? Therefore, can we concentrate on people, the new generation leaders, who reach out to these appropriate fora and influence them in favor of the just, equitable and sustainable world in general and the poor and marginalized in particular, now and in future. All of us are aware - it is a lot of hard work, over long periods of time. But we know these leaders can talk, walk the talk and bring the legacy of change we are yearning for.

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17. Working with New Emerging Leaders! Perspectives March, 2009

We are going through a recession and the trough of the recession is still to come. Yet we have taken it in our stride, living on hope and optimism. New possibilities - Obama took charge in USA. Prime Minister comes back to office but may not lead from the front. Viajypayee has given way to Advani. Third front and fourth fronts are emerging. Pakistan is in crisis. Elections are announced – five phases through 16 April to 13 May. Social Justice, Women, Youth have come to centre-stage. Time for new phase, new lease for the people in general and poor in particular in India! While we have not celebrated World Day of Social Justice (20 Feb) and International Mother Language Day (21 Feb), there has been a modest ‘toast’ for International Women’s Day (8 Mar). With elections announced, we may ignore the World Consumers Rights Day (15 Mar). Certainly, recession has subdued festivities for Sivaratri, Milad-un-Nabi and Holi to an extent, but the spirit has not been dampened. The fasts and jaagarans of Sivaratri – the night of celestial dance of blissful Siva and Parvathi, the rains of colours of Holi – the play of the playful Radha and Krishna have put aside recession, elections and exams, albeit for a while. March is also a month for examinations - of students going through the exam-stress. The stress symptoms will be similar for the stress on the projects and deadline-based assignments. Well- researched, documented and articulated way to cope with this stress is: • Prepare for the assignment (paraphernalia); • Schedule (regular time and place); Prioritize (list and schedule); Plan (difficult first); • Set milestones, rewards; • Take breaks; • Avoid getting stuck; Break up into smaller bits, and complete those bits one by one; • Review and re-schedule; • Say “No!” to distractions The Election Commission has announced elections for Lok Sabha in five phases. The election code is effective from 2 March 2009 itself. Next Union Government is expected to be in place by the end of May. Andhra Pradesh and Orissa are also having Assembly elections simultaneously. A guest mate making rounds is that Indian Elections are going to spend more than Rs.10, 000 Crore, more than Rs.100 per citizen in the country. This makes these elections costlier than the recent elections in USA. We hear the candidates aspiring for tickets have to show more than Rs.1.0 Crore to be considered. It is anybody’s guess to understand that most of this money flows to voters. Again we hear that the voter has become smart to take ‘gifts’ from all contestants and votes by his/her conscience. Let us have some back of the envelope calculations. Five years ago, about 60% of the voters voted. UPA and the present ruling coalition may have got 45% of these polled votes. NDA and the opposition may have got slightly less. The electorate has gone up from 671 Million to 714 Million. Of the 671, about 50 Million elders/ non-youth might have passed away. The new voters will then be about 100 Million. The people who did not vote were 250 Million. Thus, the total number of voters who are in the realm of unknown are 350 Million, roughly 50% of all the voters in the country. This should be the approximate trend across the country. The parties and

53 candidates who make an impact on this ‘new’ half can cause miracles. If they can find a way of staying together, if they can inspire ‘new’ voter turnout, they will serve our country through the new government. Else!?! If we have to single out 10 most significant social development sector programs of the governments, they will be: universal compulsory education for 10-15 years; access to health care and insurance; universal pensions to elders, disabled, widows etc.; universal subsidized public distribution system; universal self-help groups and their higher order organizations to meet their credit and other livelihoods needs; universal access for 100-150 days of employment/ year; minimum wages and minimum support prices to produce; cash transfer to families; skill development for jobs, employment, self-employment and collectives; smaller administrative and governance units (Panchayat, block, district, state…) and devolution of powers, budgets and responsibilities to them. No party, no coalition or no government can ignore these 10 items. While elections may be over just 75 days in the country, when Rs.10,000 Crore flow into the system, they are bound to create/enhance the livelihoods (let me call them Election Livelihoods). These include participation in rallies and meetings, mobilisers, organizers and platform builders, posters/banners, advertisers, transport and public address systems, security for the leaders, writers, cultural troupes, door-to-door canvassers, voter guides, ushers, hire bicycles drivers, logo-makers, flag makers, cap makers, dressmakers, coloring agents etc. At least 50% of the projected expenditure, I can safely assume, will flow to about a Crore poor individuals through these Election Livelihoods activities, amounting to more than Rs.5000. Not a small amount! As poor, we look forward to more elections! It is again, any body’s guess, how much of this will be actually accounted! Apart from the thinking on elections, our now-regular engagement with elder care, with young development/ livelihoods professionals continued. I am almost there on the full 36 hour fasting per week now. All my physiological, intellectual, emotional and spiritual systems are functioning far better. As I am getting cleansed and tested with deeply explosive churning processes within, I remain excited and enjoying every bit of it, in my deep drenching in the rain and quiet ‘progression’ in the flow of the nectar of the universe. Instead of annual budget, Union Government has presented its interim budget on 16 February for 2009-10 amounting to Rs.9.5 Lakh Crore. It includes allocations, among other things, for: i. National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in all the districts of the country; ii. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (access to and infrastructure for elementary education); iii. The national programme of Mid-day Meals in schools; iv. Integrated Child Development Scheme in the country; v. Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (urban infrastructure and services); vi. Rajiv Gandhi Rural Drinking Water Mission (safe drinking water); vii. Total Rural Sanitation Programme; viii. National Rural Health Mission (preventive and curative healthcare); ix. Bharat Nirman (rural roads, telephony, irrigation, drinking water supply, housing and electrification); x. Unique Identity for the resident population of the country; and

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xi. Remote and interior Area Development Fund RBI has also announced reductions in the rates like repo etc., making the loans cheaper and money to circulate more. Let us see what happens. This can be felt only after the elections. ILO projects 50 Million unemployed; if we add partially employed – we may touch 150 Million in the world who are unemployed due to recession. India alone may add 10 million jobless. Is recession an opportunity to transform the financial, economic and monetary structures in this world? Then, what our current leaders, including Obama and Manmohan, attempting is to patch-up rather than transform. Does not this historic opportunity, coupled with the emerging new leadership post-elections, offer India and the world a chance to attempt transformation of the structures and paradigms? Something fundamentally different! If we understand broadly how we reached here - From the barter of products and services, use of generally accepted things as goods of exchange, to use of coins, to mint, store and lend coins, to use currency, to lend money even if here is no currency in the store, to banking, to banks lending without deposits, Cash reserve ratios, and borrowing from ‘reserve’ bank, to essential plastic money and debt-based economy, to its fall and may be collapse! What is the way out? Someone said, “India is safer because it has a lot of black money”. Do we get back to barter as far as possible? Do we build local self-reliant communities, their organizations and networks that exchange products and services? Is not the quality of life intrinsically linked to simplified life patterns and style? If we love the world, if we believe that the world belongs to all human beings, in fact all life, then we need to pool the best minds of the world to work on this structural transformation and paradigm shift. If we become aware that there is enough for everybody’s need, we need to find ways to create wealth differently but equitably, and channelize the wealth for caring the world and the life that needs care, as a right and an entitlement. We need to find ways to redistribute the wealth to all the communities from whom it was taken. We need to discover how we can be a part of the solution. Can we? Should not we? Should not our new leaders? Leaders of the new phase and new lease? Yes, if we love the world. And may be, this is the TIME. Apart from building the leaders in the society and community, we need business leaders with these thoughts. They will come from the entrepreneurs. They will come from the professionals working in the collectives. They will come from the community leaders managing their collectives. They need entrepreneurial induction. Important principles and insights that matter, which we can learn from the successful visionary entrepreneurs, include: listen to people who matter – the clients/customers; have talented people around and let them thrive; keep learning and open to change; appreciate that there are failures and mistakes; focus, specialize, focus; be aware that service provision is a business; feel and have total responsibility; flow with the change and use it; use intuition, all information may not come or it is too costly; do not seek universal acceptance of an idea and go with the believers in the idea; keep improving. It has to be understood that leadership is about leading people and not things. It would mean inspiring people, building new leaders, building relationships and leveraging them. All this is possible for the leader only when s/he is not stressed out and exhausted. It may mean listening, counting the blessings, contemplating and reflecting, knowing and reading, apart from yoga. Of course, they need to live the change they are leading. When you want social enterprises, you need visionaries and inspiring leaders. You need context in favor of them, offered by the leaders in the society, government and community. We need

55 external facilitators to work on them and internal animators to work with them. We need to build them urgently. Therefore, can we concentrate to work with them? They work with the leaders in the society, government, community, business and civil society in thinking and beginning to transform the existing structures and paradigms for creating and channeling wealth differently? All of us are aware - it is a lot of hard work, over long periods of time. But we know some of these new emerging leaders of the new phase and new lease can talk, walk the talk and bring the legacy of change we are yearning for.

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18. Hope, Now is the TIME! Perspectives April, 2009

It is an election quarter – March, April and May 2009. Results are expected on 16 May. Time for new phase, new lease for the people in general and poor in particular in India! We got used to recession now, living on hope and optimism that we will be through it soon. Pakistan continues in crisis. In the midst of the elections, we continue to ignore many international days - World Water Day (22 Mar); World Health Day (7 April). We may not celebrate World Creativity and Innovation Day (21 April) and World Earth Day (22 April). Half of India went through versions of New Years – Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and Punjabi etc. Examinations of students have ended. The students began preparations for their entrance examinations and admissions. The election code is in operation for more than a month now halting some initiatives in the public domain. Of course, a very hot summer has set in meanwhile. There are five National Parties of significance contesting more than 100 out of 545 Lok Sabha seats in these elections. There are two existing fronts - the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Congress, and the opposition – National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by BJP. Two more fronts – third and fourth fronts - have come into being. The regional parties are able to call the shots in many states. The parties have released their manifestos. They have also announced their candidates to a large extent. Many of them are still tackling their rebel contestants. National and regional opinion polls are being conducted and projections are being made. Most projections talk about no clear winner. Simultaneously, the elections for the Assemblies in AP, Orissa and Sikkim are also being held. Most seats are seeing multi-cornered contests. Of the many issues that have been talked about, three things struck me – taking out the black money from Swiss Bank Accounts amounting to a whopping (at least) Rs.25 lakh crore; Cash transfer (to poor) scheme; only BJP (national) and TRS (regional) talk about Telangana and Darjeeling. On many other issues, there seems to be a broad agreement amongst all the players. While the opinion polls talk about ‘hung’ results, still the 50% of all the voters (‘new half’) in the country, can cause miracles. Further, the untiring campaigns for voting by all, the ‘new’ voter turnout, if inspired, can make a huge difference to the country, the people in general and the poor in particular, and their livelihoods. If we take a cursory look at the manifestos of the parties, most of them talk about: universal compulsory education for 10-15 years; access to health care and insurance, health security; universal pensions to elders, disabled, widows etc.; universal subsidized public distribution system, food security; universal self-help groups and their higher order organizations, to meet their credit and other livelihoods needs; universal access for 100-150 days of employment/ year; minimum wages and minimum support prices to produce; cash transfer to families; skill development for jobs, employment, self-employment and collectives/cooperatives; smaller administrative and governance units (Panchayat, block, district, state…) and devolution of powers, budgets and responsibilities to them. Most manifestos talk about security.

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While INC talks about 9% of GDP on education, its manifesto is rather sketchy with no in-depth treatment. While BJP is talking about low tax and low interest regime, its manifesto is more detailed, touching almost all the relevant aspects of development and social justice, and offering insights into their thinking. It is also sustainability-friendly. Both of them project their likely Prime Ministers – Manmohan Singh and LK Advani. The manifestos of the parties in the third front are rather sketchy and does not offer comprehensive inputs for a common minimum programme. In fact, there is no likely three-digit winner amongst them. And no leader is projected for the Prime Minister. Of course, there is also a fourth front. It can be decisive king maker. There is NCP, as part of UPA, with Pawar projected as the PM. As the road shows, rallies and campaigns progress, some meeting with accidents, some getting caught with bundles of unexplained cash, the election juggernaut is rolling on. Forget not to choose a good leader who loves life in all its manifestations and vote. All you know this can be the decisive moment of our history. Let us play our part. Seeing elections with livelihoods lenses, elder care, entrepreneurship and our now-regular engagement with young development/livelihoods professionals are the main foci of the month. Personally, with the full 36 hour fasting per week now, all my physiological, intellectual, emotional and spiritual systems are functioning far better. I am getting cleansed and tested with deeply explosive churning processes within. I remain excited and enjoying every bit of it, including my deep drenching and quiet ‘progression’ in the flow of the nectar of the universe. It keeps coming back to me - recession is an opportunity to transform the financial, economic and monetary structures in this country and the world. Borrowing is nothing but spending our future, unearned, uncertain income today. When we borrow we are committing ourselves to certain payout from future uncertain income. Therefore, borrow if you have to, to meet your basic necessities in life like housing, health care and education. Once you have borrowed, get out of it as soon as possible. One of the prudent borrowing rule of thumb suggests that your liability should not be more than 50% of your assets for which you are borrowing. Further, we need to remember, when we service loan we are earning for someone else. When we pay interest from our hard earned income, it becomes income for the lender. This means we are working hard to generate income for the lender. Recession may mean cut in remuneration for some and for some others, it may be a job loss. Then, the way out is to find another job, to be self-employed or to start an enterprise. First step for going forward is to make an assessment in terms of management capabilities, team engagement/work capabilities, multiple task handling capabilities and versatility, ability to act independently with systematic, meticulous and detail-orientation, and self motivation, apart from the achievements, experience history and technical and other soft skills. The next step is to zero on employment you want – job/self-employment/enterprise. Recession is not a bad time to start new. It costs less! In general and in recession time in particular, please appreciate that our basic needs are food, water, air, clothing, shelter and entertainment. Then, the following tips, gathered together, may help: eat at home; carry a bottle of water; buy the items that you need and not what you come across; buy in bulk; buy local products; choose unbranded items; shop less frequently; buy off-season; and pay cash rather than swipe a card. If we understand broadly how we reached here – from self consumption to local consumption and barter to local market to ‘free mobility of goods’ - from swaraj to interdependent economy.

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This globalization with free mobility of goods and services and this recession has made us realize that we do not know what goods and services make up India’s competitive edge. For sure, we know many of our agri-products are not competitive. It is a bad news for a country with 70%+ living on agriculture and allied activities. While we need to explore the goods and services we are good at globally, do not we build local self-reliant communities, their organizations and networks that exchange products and services? Is not the quality of life intrinsically linked to simplified life patterns and style? While we get used to the impact of global economic recession, our economy seems to be heading towards deflation (negative inflation), driven by ongoing demand destruction. Deflation is a decline in the general price level. It is caused by factors such as low money supply and credit, and a curb in spending by households, industry or government. The lower demand during deflation often leads to a rise in unemployment levels. For starters, in a deflationary environment, sectors with high proportion of variable costs compared to fixed costs are likely to benefit from falling input prices. RBI may cut the cash reserve ratio further by some 150 basis points to reduce/reverse the trend. We always guessed it. Here is an endorsement now. A background paper for the DFID annual conference (9-10 March 2009, London) argues that the current global recession seriously threatens the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, and may push more than 90 million people into poverty. Times are uncertain, because the scale of the downturn is not yet known, and the impact could be even more serious. Already, it is estimated 1.4 billion people live in extreme poverty in the world. 800 million people are food insecure before the recession and the figures might have, now, doubled after onset of the recession. Unfortunately more than a third of them live in South Asia in and around India. No poverty reduction, no hunger reduction, no unemployment reduction can happen in the world, unless they are addressed here. This requires lovers (of life) and believers (that the world belongs to all), pooling the best brains (with heart) of the world to work for hunger-free, poverty-free and unemployment-free world. This would mean working for structural transformation in this world. This would mean shifts in existing paradigms. How can we have a person who finds no work and if s/he finds it, the wage can be as low as Rs.20-30 per day when another person can take wage of more than Rs. One million per day – some 50000 times? How can we have a person living on the street without a roof and another living in 100+ rooms at the same time? If we become aware that there is enough for everybody’s need, we need to find ways to create wealth differently but equitably, and channelize the wealth for caring the world and the life that needs care, as a right and entitlement. We need to find ways to redistribute the wealth to all the communities from whom it was taken/is being taken. We need to discover how we can be a part of the solution. Can we? Should not we? Should not our new leaders? Can we not choose our leaders with passion in this? Is it not a historic time? Yes, if we love life, if we love India and if we love the world. Now is the TIME. Apart from the political leadership, we need community leadership, business leadership and social leadership, with these thoughts, abilities and passion. These will be men and women, mostly young. These will be entrepreneurs; professionals in collectives; community leaders managing their collectives etc. All of them and us need to appreciate that leadership is about leading - inspiring people, building new leaders, building relationships and leveraging them – and living the change they are leading.

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We need facilitators to work on/with these leaders. Can we get into this task, as quickly as possible, and exhaust ourselves in this? I know it takes time, energy and persuasion. It can be tiring, and frustrating, at times. But there is hope - some of these new leaders can walk the talk and bring the legacy of change we are yearning for.

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19. Youth in the Lead! Perspectives May, 2009

Welcome to young Lok Sabha and young cabinet! 16 May - results are out. 15th Lok Sabha is constituted. A more stable and young cabinet (government) led by Manmohan Singh is getting ready to be sworn in! People in general and poor in particular in India are expecting them to deliver, deliver whatever is promised and whatever is needed, with less time spent on managing the coalition partners! We got used to recession now, living on hope and optimism that we will be through it soon. Pakistan continues in crisis with more than a million fleeing Swat area. LTTE gives up in Sri Lanka and its Chief Prabhakaran is dead, with more than a quarter million people running helter-skelter. In the midst of the elections, we continue to ignore many international days – May Day (1 May); World Fair Trade Day (9 May). We may not celebrate World Day of Cultural Diversity (21 May) and International Day for Biological Diversity (22 May). It is also the time of very hot summer. The results show a mixed trend of voting - for National Parties and for Regional Parties. Five National Parties of significance have managed to get 350+ seats. Of the 543 seats, the ruling - United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Congress got 262, and the opposition – National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by BJP got 162. Third front could not cross 100 and the fourth front could not cross 50. The regional parties called the shots in many a state and the multi-cornered contests changed the outcomes dramatically – AP, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, UP etc. Like in the Lok Sabha where UPA consolidated its position, in the simultaneous elections for the Assemblies in AP, Orissa and Sikkim, the incumbent governments swept the elections (in Sikkim – all 32 by SDF; in Orissa – 103/147 by BJD) except in AP (where Congress could get absolute majority on its own) because of multi- cornered contests. More than 200 youth leaders are entering Lok Sabha, making it young and the Cabinet is expected to be young. Further, we can safely assume that the old guard (read Manmohan Singh) is holding it for the youth leadership (read Rahul Gandhi) for some time. The future is transitioning from the old generation to the next generation. The new governments have to deliver the promises made in the manifestos, and also meet the emerging needs of the people. Whether in the manifesto or not, the basics that cannot be ignored by any government include – universal compulsory education for 10-15 years; access to health care and insurance, health security; universal pensions to elders, disabled, widows etc.; universal subsidized public distribution system, food security; universal self-help groups and their higher order organizations, to meet their credit and other livelihoods needs; universal access for 100-150 days of employment/year/person; minimum wages and minimum support prices to produce; cash transfer to families; skill development for jobs, employment, self- employment and collectives/cooperatives; smaller administrative and governance units and devolution of powers, budgets and responsibilities to them; ICT for all and for better governance; security and safety of the citizens; food security for the marginalized; energy security beyond the nuclear energy; and addressing the economic recession and effects of

61 globalization. It will be great if they can announce their complete plan for the five years in the first 50-100 days in office. Black money needs to be tracked and brought in. Universal Education, Health and Livelihoods of the Poor have to remain in the focus. Everybody wants to watch whether 9% of GDP will go for Education or not. Similar investments are required for Health and Livelihoods. Rural Employment Guarantee needs to be expanded to include occupational groups and urban poor. Integrated Poverty Reduction Efforts need to be intensified. As usual, middle class expects a low tax and low interest regime. Cash Transfer to the institutions of the poor has to be considered seriously. Given the climate change considerations, sustainability-friendliness has to be displayed. Devolution of Powers and Responsibilities to the Local Governments has to be delivered – a long standing promise! Smaller governance units are the need – smaller Gram Panchayats, Blocks, Districts and States. Accountability increases. Corruption is the biggest menace that needs serious attention. If this is not addressed, whatever else we do is of little consequence to the people at large. It is time to really begin the processes of bottom-up planning, facilitating the people in their communities and neighborhoods to analyze their current reality/livelihoods situation, identify the gaps and opportunities and plan. These can be taken upwards for consolidation and developing district plans, state plans and national plan. To facilitate this and later extend support the communities, their organizations and the local governments to implement the plans, 100,000 development professionals, may be one for every 2,500 families (or about 1,000 poor families) can be identified with appropriate competencies that include strategic influencing, development orientation, results orientation, tenacity and self-control, and nurtured/mentored for this task. Further, 2.5 million development community leaders/animators can be nurtured and made available to the communities. Incidentally, all this may not cost as much as the whopping cost of the electioneering (Rs.500 Billion!). It is also the time to think about a National Poverty Eradication and Food Security Mission. It is eminently possible to think about the development cadre discussed can be part of this mission. Further, Employment Guarantee, Skill Development Mission, Poverty Mission, Risk Management Efforts and Planning have to work hand in hand. Cabinet formation is in progress and the key ministries that matter to the livelihoods of the poor are not the topic of discussion at all! However, the youth leaders are likely to enter the Cabinet in a big way. I tend to think that these leaders get the portfolios that matter to the poor rather than the flashy ones. Seeing elections with livelihoods lenses, elder care, entrepreneurship, collectives/cooperatives and our now regular engagement with young development/livelihoods professionals are the main foci of the month. In difficult times, exciting times, and challenging times, like the times NOW, one area of concern is sourcing human resources for the task. First people to be sourced are the most critical people, the dominant talent segment. For development/livelihoods portfolio, it is people with development orientation and strategic influencing competencies matter the most. Their induction has to be accordingly different. • They need to have the same vision as the leadership; • They need to remain the best friends of the communities and the leadership; • They need to believe in the capacity of the communities and their leaders; • They need to believe that the poverty and suffering are eradicable and need not continue;

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• They need to have some sense of urgency; • They need to have the grasp of the basic situation of the communities and they need to have tools to facilitate the communities understand their reality; • They need to have the ability to see, source and put together all the knowledge, skills and resources from within the people (PK), from within all of the people working with the communities (our - OK) and from anywhere else (outside - OK) • They need to have the ability to listen to the ‘silent’ • They need to stay with the communities, outside of their own/native areas another set of human resources is the entrepreneurs from within the community. Our new leaders should appreciate that the human beings are multi-dimensional and no one solution will suffice all. Our new leaders should remain committed to this plurality of solutions. They need to be in the business of changing the world, to make a difference for the good of communities who do not have loud ‘voice’. Now is a good time because the world is ready to change (the market exists!). No business can succeed without a good plan. No business can succeed without a fix on the structure, the structure of planning and delivery. High performers do have a fix on their values. The values help us to choose when in doubt. Then the next thing is to be fixed is the culture and life style that is simple but functional. The third thing is the team(s) that brings mutually exclusive but collectively exhaustive set of skills, expertise and experience (not clones of the leader!). Of course, some funds are required. Is that a problem? We always hear that the funds are not the problem and the problem is the ideas for the funds! It is important that people know what is happening. They should know various view points from a variety of lenses. They should participate in understanding their reality, the reasons for their reality and the ways to move forward. We need to remind ourselves it is their life and they need to take responsibility for it. The new leaders should facilitate and contribute to this significantly rather than shrunk in their traditional comfort zones of coteries and ‘experience’. Can we not invest in identifying and building this resource for the community? Should not we? Should not our new leaders think about this? Should not we induct our new leaders? Should not we and should not they reverse the processes of planning? Should not we start exploring to come out of our comfort zones, of ‘leading’ to becoming a ‘servant leader’ of the community, truly, for a giant-leap forward for the new leader, new generation and future India? Planning is the first step. Knowing the fundamentals is the zero step and these include food, water, climate, energy and self-reliant communities! Yes, if we love life, if we love India and if we love the world. Now is the TIME. Now is the TIME we see youth in the new leadership in political arena. We see new entrants, not just the children of the politicians. We see youth in new business leadership. We see youth in social leadership. We see youth in the community leadership. We see both young men and women in leadership positions. We see them have these thoughts, abilities and passion. Some lead from front and some lead by servicing the people and their collectives. Some are new entrepreneurs. Some are trained. Some have grown with earthy wisdom. Of course, we need to multiply this trickle into a stream, into a flood. This trickle of youth leadership has to take responsibility to lead, inspire and build new leaders, build relationships and leverage. For sure, we have reasons to believe that they live the change they are leading, bring the legacy of change and walk the talk.

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Can we work on/with these leaders? Can we exhaust ourselves in this, right away? It takes time, energy and persuasion. It can be tiring, frustrating, and at times brings brickbats and hardly any laurels. Yet, there is hope. That is all matters. I know we are incorrigible optimists! Let us get going.

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20. Be together! Collectivize! Perspectives June, 2009

Let us pray for reliable monsoon! In the scorching Sun and missing monsoon, we cannot fault anybody for ignoring international days – World Environment Day (5 June); World Day Against Child Labour (12 June); World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (17 June) etc., We may not even realize the day has passed - United Nations Public Service Day (23 June). UPA firmly in the saddle! Meira Kumar joined as the third in troika of women – President, Head of Governing Coalition, and Speaker! President unveiled 100-day plan of action of the Government. We are still awaiting them to announce their plan for the entire tenure of five years. They may not announce! Budget will give some hint of this. It may be reiterated that it is time to really begin the processes of bottom-up planning, facilitating the people in their communities and neighborhoods to analyze their current reality/livelihoods situation, identify the gaps and opportunities and plan. These can be taken upwards for consolidation and developing district plans, state plans and national plan. To facilitate this and later extend support the communities, their organizations and the local governments to implement the plans, 25,000 development workers/ professionals, may be one for every 10,500 families can be identified with appropriate competencies that include strategic influencing, development orientation, results orientation, tenacity and self-control, and nurtured/mentored for this task. Further, 2.5 million development community leaders/animators can be nurtured and made available to the communities. A National Poverty Reduction, Food Security Act (as promised in the 100-day plan) and Universal Education Mission have to come immediately and improved National Employment Guarantee Act, Skill Development Mission, etc., have to work hand in hand. Scaling-up the self- help movement in the entire country, collectivizing and facilitating the poor in realizing a better proportion of the consumer rupee and meta-skilling them for improving their livelihoods in the changing world on a national scale should be the key focus of the pro-poor agenda of the government(s). One needs to think how the food security will be delivered. If the method is to procure food and supply to the poor, it can have disastrous consequences. The better method can be transferring the cash difference between the current market prices and the prices promised as the food security prices in the account of the family. NREGA needs to expand the scope to increase 100+ days per person rather than the family and should bring in occupational groups into the fold. Again, let me say at the cost of repeating myself. In difficult times, exciting times, and challenging times, like the times now, one area of concern is sourcing and inducting the dominant talent - for development/livelihoods portfolio, it is people with development orientation and strategic influencing competencies. Second set of human resources that need to be identified and nurtured is the entrepreneurs from within the community. We should appreciate that the human beings are multidimensional and no one solution will suffice all.

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Environment/natural resource management, collectives/cooperatives, and marginalized communities have been the main foci of the month. Visiting cooperatives and knowing how they service the significant needs of their members sustainably has always inspired me. This time it is no different when we visited Mulkanoor and other CDF group of cooperatives, thrift and credit, dairy and other commodity cooperatives. Amidst the visits, we hear that the doyen of Indian Dairy Cooperatives, mentor par excellence, Dr Verghese Kurien was airlifted from Anand to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai. As of now, he is stable and progressing well, according to his daughter Nirmala. We are also hearing loud voices seeking Bharat Ratna for him. As his mentee, I think it does not really matter whether he gets this award or not for the transcended all this. The month has also taken us to the collectives of high risk groups with multiple discriminations – trans-genders, sex workers and men having sex with men. The projects for them are providing clinical services and other support in the domain of health. Collectives have emerged to meet their identity, solidarity, mutual support and advocacy needs, apart from ensuring involvement and participation in these projects. Some of them are able to transact and be part of mainstream collective efforts to meet their livelihoods needs like savings, credit, employment, skills, insurance etc. Yet, some others are not able to meet some of these needs and are able to articulate them. Some of them are also articulating that they want to life with dignity if there are realizable alternatives. Thinking about the fast-depleting natural resource rich tribal areas consisting of traditional local tribal communities (some of them being ‘primitive tribal groups’), migrant tribal communities, scheduled caste communities, migrants and other mainstream population, always throws up a big question – why these areas are poor? What can be done about them? Abundant land and good rainfall, self supporting minimal maintenance life styles, do not explain the situation fully. What is the way forward? Is the education, alternative education a way out? Is the micro and small enterprises a way out? Is collectivization a way out? Communities in the margins have to be in the centre stage. This will happen with decentralization. This will happen with smaller units of governance. For example, Adilabad district has to be split into at least three districts, if not more. AP should have at least 40 districts, if not 42. India can have at least 50 states, if not 100. Then, they may require development workers in large numbers that sit with the communities and help them to plan in their small groups, in their small habitations, in small Panchayats, in small clusters, may be around markets/ shandies, in mandals, in sub-districts and districts. One per 1000 families may be the need in tribal areas. Every 50-100 families may need an animator to work with them. Planning is the crux. Pedagogy to understand their reality and plan based on the reality within, gaps within and the opportunities outside is the crux. All of us need to appreciate the processes of marginalization and realize that marginalization, many a time, is based on artificial constructs. Further we need to recognize that collectivization is a necessary element, but not sufficient, in reducing the impact of marginalization and reducing poverty, apart from education, no/low-cost public services and infrastructure. We need to acknowledge that some are potential entrepreneurs, some are potential self-employed service providers (individually and/or in groups), and some are potential job holders in enterprises or with the service providers.

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They need to be supported differently. Further, the poor cope with their risks through diverse portfolios of multiple livelihoods. We need to think 100 times before tearing apart this basic diversity fabric of theirs. Yunus, the Nobel laureate, is convinced that social business, rather than charity, is the way to tackle social problems like reducing poverty and tackling marginalization. Should we take his opinion seriously or not? Interestingly, we cannot agree more with him when he says - social business, no matter what you say or do, is a matter of joy. This would mean all thinking and sensitive individuals, if intelligent, should migrate to social business. Can we go whole hog in persuading more and more talent into social business? Recession is a better time to step up this persuasion. Is not it? It is acknowledged that Recession and Slowdown appears to be an opportunity to develop low cost solutions, build internal capacities and multiple skilled human talent, explore new avenues/opportunities and of course, draw the workers/ professionals in mainstream organizations to look at alternative social businesses. In social business, irrespective of its complexity and size, I understand, there are seven different managerial time horizons (or less), from 3 months to 20 years and corresponding seven levels of hierarchy. The people with a shorter time horizon treat next higher time horizon people as their superiors, and so on up the scale. It means, someone, with less than 3 month horizon, treats some other with 3-12 month horizon as the boss. This theory is known as ‘requisite organization’. Typically, social businesses start small, may be on a pilot scale, and want to scale-up later. Being used to organic growth in development domain, scaling up a social business is different cup of tea but an exciting and challenging proposition. Getting social venture capital is critical but just one part of it. While by now, microfinance-based business could be simplified and standardized, robust business models evolved and large doses of private venture equity attracted, the other social business areas are in their formative stages because of their diversity and complexity. Other critical parts of scaling-up process include attracting right talent, deploying appropriate technology, developing marketing strategy and sales function, and having meaningful controls. More than anything, while the entrepreneurs and managements have a concept that is scalable, they need to be ambitious and capable. Can we identify and mentor them? A recent idea, of social entrepreneurs in and around Hyderabad, of getting and being together as a network to support each other and to identify and mentor more and more social entrepreneurs of potentially scalable social businesses, is a step in the right direction. Thus, the poor have to be organized and their collectives have to engage themselves in the businesses that matter to them. Their leaders have to have big picture and have the ability to manage the talent that works for them. The development workers and the development animators have to be built as a development cadre and be available to the communities to help them to plan up for collectivization and realization of better lives for them. The unemployed and under-employed within them have to be skilled and metaskilled for realizing better and decent wages than today on a long-term basis. The entrepreneurial amongst them have to be spotted, nurtured and supported for becoming entrepreneurs and build enterprises that provide jobs and/or manage the collective enterprises. The social entrepreneurs, through their social businesses, have to specially focus on the above and help communities to be together and collectivize in multiple ways on one hand and ensure

67 availability of products and services the community needs on the other hand at a scale that makes a significant difference. Can we not invest in identifying and building these for the community? Should not we? Now is the TIME. Of course, it is not new. There is already a trickle, may be in small streams. We need to scale them up into rivers. We, those of us within us who have realized this, need to take responsibility to lead, inspire and mentor individuals, ideas, initiatives, interventions and institutions to build pilots, leaders, relationships, levers and legacy - because we love life; because we love communities to have decent livelihoods that do not eat into the capital of next generations; because we want to learn and disseminate the learning; because we belong together. Of course, for sure, we have reasons to believe that we live the change we are articulating, and walk the talk. Can we exhaust ourselves in this? It takes time, energy and dogged persistence. It can be extremely tiring and frustrating. Yet let us get going, as we are optimists to the core!

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21. Entrepreneurs! Collectives! Perspectives July, 2009 India is praying for monsoon showers, with drought in the horizon! The temperatures have cooled down, with the flowing monsoon with occasional showers and some drizzles. Reservoirs are still almost empty. The power cuts and water supply cuts continue, all over. Arguably the greatest entertainer of the history, Michael Jackson, calls it a day on 25 June 2009. Amidst controversies around his life earlier and now around his death, MJ could ‘entertain’ more than a billion people all over the world, and inspire a good percent of them! His final message – spread love, and therefore, joy; heal the world. As we live the month, International Day of Cooperatives (4 July – first Saturday of July) and World Population Day (11July) pass by. Delhi High Court has set aside application of Section 377 of Indian Penal Code for Consensual Sex amongst adults irrespective of their sex and sexual orientation. Supreme Court and Government of India are mulling over it. Meanwhile, Cabinet has approved the Bills for Food Security Act and Right of Universal Education Act. We have to see the discussions that ensue and the final shape they take. Yashpal Committee (Committee to Advise on the Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education) Report has been submitted. The Committee recommends merger of UGC and AICTE and creation of National Commission for Higher Education and Research, with a Constitutional Status. They discuss - mushrooming engineering and management colleges, and Deemed Universities, with some notable exceptions, have largely become, mere business entities dispensing very poor quality education. It further highlights – Besides making people capable of creating wealth they have a deep role in the overall thinking of the society and the world as a whole. This job cannot be performed in secluded corners of information and knowledge. It would be silly to deny the practical role of experts in areas of science, technology, economics, finance and management. But narrow expertise alone does not make educated human beings for tomorrow. Indeed, speaking more seriously, one could almost say that most serious problems of the world today arise from the fact that we are dominated by striations of expertise with deep chasms in between. …. Hidden in small places, in obscure schools, colleges and universities, there are potential geniuses to be discovered. Many of them could be the great knowledge creators of tomorrow. We have to discover and implement ways that would not put useless hurdles in their path. …. Stand-alone single discipline institutions should try to broaden themselves to provide a more wholesome education to their students and thus qualify for the title of a degree giving university. …. in order to enrich our higher education we might invite from abroad a substantial number of potentially great academics and scientists to work with our students and teachers. A report that can make a huge difference! Government of India responded that it would implement the same in toto. We hear that Government is contemplating, rather seriously, a National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). It can take the responsibility for enhancing livelihoods of the poor, thereby reducing poverty, and improving National Rural Employment Guarantee Act provisions and implementation, and Skill Development Mission and creating jobs for the youth, and integrating them with the community institutions and collectives. It is expected that the mandate of organizing poor women (50% now, i.e. 40-50 million of them, as

69 indicated in the Budget) into SHGs, their higher order federations at village, block, district, state and national levels, will be with the NRLM. It is also time to hire 25,000 development workers/professionals, @1 per 10000 families, to really begin the processes of bottom-up planning, facilitating the people in their communities and neighborhoods to analyze their current reality/livelihoods situation, identify the gaps and opportunities, plan and consolidate them to develop district plans, state plans and national plan. Further, 2.5 million development community leaders/animators can be nurtured and be involved with the communities in the process now and later in facilitating community collectivization processes. 2009-10 Budget Papers submitted to Parliament quote Gandhi on the cover page – “Democracy is the art and science of mobilizing the entire physical, economic and spiritual resources of various sections of the people in the service of the common good of all”. Budget is one tool of this democracy in that pursuit. In difficult times, exciting times, and challenging times, like the times NOW, one area of concern is sourcing and inducting the dominant talent that can mobilize these physical, economic and spiritual resources and apply them for the common good. Second set of human resources that need to be identified and nurtured is the entrepreneurs from within the community. We should appreciate that the human beings are multi-dimensional and no one solution will suffice all. The Budget focuses on some goal posts, in the domain of inclusive development – • Slum free India in five years • Direct transfer of subsidy to farmers in due course • Improved NREGA for all with Rs.100 a day as a real wage for 100 days for each working adult • National Food Security Act -25 kgs of rice/wheat a month at Rs.3 a kg to poor • Pradhan Mantri Adrash Gram Yojana in 1000 villages with 50%+SC population • National Rural Livelihoods Mission, restructuring SGSY, focused on organizing 50% of all women into SHGs, bank linkages and interest subsidy • Rs.500 Crore to Rashtriya Mahila Kosh as corpus • National Mission on Female Literacy to reduce female illiteracy by half in three years • Universalization of the Integrated Child Development Services Scheme to every child under the age of six, in three years • Interest-free education loans to access higher education, reaching out to 5 lakh students • Implementation of Unorganized Workers Social Security Act. It may be noted that the unorganized or informal sector of our economy accounts for 92% of the employment in the country. • Mega handloom cluster each in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, one power loom mega cluster in Rajasthan and one mega cluster each for Carpets in Srinagar and Mirzapur. • Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) for all BPL families • Eight National Missions towards adapting to Climate Change and enhancing the ecological sustainability • Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for providing unique identity numbers to each and every Indian resident • Goods and Services Tax (GST) from 2010 • The Budget Estimates 2009-10 provide for a total expenditure of Rs.10,20,838 crore

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• The revenue deficit as a percentage of GDP is projected at 4.8%. The fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP is projected at 6.8%. Lots of encouraging intentions in Budget and we have to wait and watch how they unfold during the year. On the other hand, railway budget remained passenger friendly. Collectives, Employment, Education, Economy, Environment, Entrepreneurship, Human Resources and Marginalized Communities continued to hog the most of our time during the month. It has been re-confirmed - Entrepreneurship and Enterprises are not very different from leadership and organizations. The stages of the group/team/organization – form, storm, norm, perform, followed by deform or reform/transform are equally applicable to enterprises. The groups/teams/organizations require leaders/leadership to lead them and the enterprises require entrepreneurs/entrepreneurship to deliver. The threshold competencies, the entrepreneurs and their facilitators require, include – tenacity, self-control, strategic influencing, concern with impact, initiative, critical information seeking, and the ability to see big picture and at the same time dig deeper. Entrepreneurs may have to have results orientation and the facilitators – development orientation. Facilitators may also shift between being ‘karta’ and ‘akarta’. Both of them need to have People’s Skills and Team Management Skills. The processes for taking the bright (but poor) minds and helping them to be future leaders have also been very similar. The competencies they look for include – drive, conviction, resilience, emotional intelligence, integrity, optimism, openness. These are similar to those applicable to entrepreneurs, business leaders and social entrepreneurs. Social Entrepreneurs are slightly different from other entrepreneurs, in terms of their basic orientation of creating social value, not necessarily economic value. One broad definition I liked the best is – social entrepreneur is an innovative, social value creating change agent, in the constant pursuit of opportunities, not limited by her/his current resource endowment, with a sense of accountability. The successful social entrepreneurs - all successful development facilitators, public service providers and political leaders are social entrepreneurs in some degree – are dreamers, decisive, doers, determined, dedicated, devoted, detail-hungry, in- charges of destiny, concerned about sustained dollars (revenue), and distributors of ownership. They are focused, fast (in decisions, not hasty), flexible, forever innovating, flat (organization), frugal, friendly, fun (place), and founders (supportive co-founders). Not just the poor, the entrepreneurs need to be in collectives. The facilitators need to be in their networks. The leaders need other leaders to be in groups. The social entrepreneurs are social animals and they need to find other social entrepreneurs so that they grow, perform and transform. It comes back again - we need to acknowledge that some are potential entrepreneurs, some are potential self employed service providers (individually and/or in groups), and some are potential job holders in enterprises or with the service providers, promoted by entrepreneurs or community collectives. They need to be supported differently. The facilitators, therefore, have to first focus on understanding the current reality and appreciating the gaps and opportunities, together with the communities and the potential entrepreneurs, job-seekers, best practitioners and opinion makers. Then they need to build the vision for the community (in groups) and the entrepreneurs, and support them in realizing the vision(s). Social Business, no matter what you say or do, is a matter of joy. And we, the thinking and sensitive individuals, should pursue joy. Then, we need to pursue getting more and more

71 people into this. We need to pursue the existing social business leaders to scale-up. Here, we need to reconcile that some are good to initiate and deliver the prototypes, pilots, etc.; some are good in taking them to scale; some are good to manage and maintain them; some are good to implement ‘exit’/’wrapping-up’/’winding-up’. Some of them, rarely, can transform themselves to play these multiple roles. We need to figure these various people and pursue them differently. They also have to be nurtured to learn and acquire capabilities to deliver. They need to learn to pursue significance. They also need to be oriented to ecological, economic and social integrity that helps the poor, marginalized and disadvantaged. They need to become, and remain biased in favor of this. They need to be exposed to the functioning of the businesses. After all social business is a business too! We belong together, yet we are not identical. We need to be together so that we meet each other’s needs, yet we play our own roles within the team. We may be a facilitator, leader, entrepreneur and employee in an enterprise, manager of a collective or an active member. Whatever we are, we need to pursue meta-fishing, beyond fishing to survive. We need to become enterprising and entrepreneurial (within/without). We need to be in collectives, teams, groups. We need to learn and mentor learning. Tirelessly! Persistently! Repeatedly! Again and Again!

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22. Skilling Youth! Integrating Facilitators! Perspectives August, 2009

It is drought, floods in some pockets notwithstanding. As we live the month, International Day of the World’s Indigenous People (9 August) and International Youth Day (12 August) pass by. In a couple of days, World humanitarian Day (19 August) will also go by. You may note that International Literacy is round the corner (8 September). The Teachers’ Day is on 5 September – let us remember one teacher who has made a difference to our lives. Of course, on 15 August, we commemorate 62nd Anniversary of Indian Independence. Jaya Ho, Vande Maataram! On 14 August, it is Janmashtami, birthday of Krishna, the transporter of joy. During the month, we have discovered 5Es – Environment/ Economy, Employment, Entrepreneurship, Empowerment, and Education, in addition to existing 5Is – ideas, initiatives, interventions, individuals and institutions for 5Ls – Life, Livelihoods, Leadership, Learning and Love. Further, as in the last few months, Human Resources, Entrepreneurship, Collectives and Marginalized Communities continued to hog the most of the time of our time during the month. Skilling the youth for their livelihoods has been engaging us for a long time. Recent ‘Round Table’ on this topic has provoked us to dwell on the issues therein at length. When about 20 million children enter school (subsequently in workforce) every year, less than 20% pass the secondary education (Class X), not even 5% join the undergraduate/higher education, and a fraction (less than 2%) join the organized sector employment. Thus, about 80% have to join the agriculture and allied sectors as owners/labour, or become self-employed artisans or join the casual/semi-skilled/skilled workforce. Even half of them join the traditional sectors, the other half has to be ‘rehabilitated’ in alternative sectors. While the aspiration profiles of the youth, more or less, remain the same, the capability sets are very diverse. They are not a homogenous set. The differences exist in multiple axes – background (tribal, rural, urban), literacy (less, more), skills (less, more), security (security seeking, entrepreneurial – self-employed, running an enterprise, leading a team), sex, marriage, knowledge, skills and behavioral competencies etc. Many may lack the basic 3R (reading, writing and arithmetic) skills. Many paradoxes exist – skills needed vs. skills available, employers need skilled persons vs. skilled persons need jobs, skills without certificate vs. certificates without skills, skills in abundance vs. skills that support/enhance our competitive edge, placement vs. admissions etc. Industry’s ways of dealing with skilled workforce (blue collar) vis-à-vis other human resources (white collar) is under scrutiny and there is a consensual demand for treating everyone as human resource. With increased share of services in GDP, the concepts of service level agreements and full-time equivalents are heard more often and they find their way into industry too. This paves way for increased outsourcing, large units taking outsourcing from multiple units for increased scale and cost effectiveness, and need for multi-skilling. The issue is much larger outside the organized sector where 80-90% of the workforce of the year joins. It appears that all skills that can be thought of are in the schedule of wages for

73 minimum wages – if not in the list, it is treated as part of others. With NREGA working, for unskilled, market has to pay at least Rs.120 for any skill. Under the circumstances, how can we absorb with remunerative incomes guaranteed, some 10 million youth every year from now on, after accommodating the existing 200+ million youth on the ‘bench’? Tall order! It can be a long wait! Can we list the vocations and trades which are required for us and/or in which we have competitive edge in the world? While we do so, we need to leverage our diversity. We need to add more diverse vocations and trades. None of us know the future well. This would mean offering the youth multiple skills and meta skills so that cope with not-so-certain future and future projections/forecasts. This would also mean better foundation of 3R skills to all. This would mean encouraging and facilitating more youth to pass through the education funnel – say, we move towards at least 50 clearing Class X out of the 100 entering the funnel. And towards all the 50 demonstrating reasonable 3R skills! This would also mean we, as families and schools, teaching or children dignity of labour early on. This would also mean increasing skill-schools, occupational/vocational gurukulams. Many of them need initial funds to begin and for infrastructure and they can be encouraged to be self- reliant in due course. The trainers need to be trained in the new and expanded curriculums that include soft skills, life skills, etc. There should be space for continuing education and career paths should be visible. This would also mean they getting paid well, as well as or better than an unskilled/ less skilled educated assistants. Then, it is possible for the youth to take loans, call them professional education loans, and buy the skills education. Some of them need to become self-employed. They need to be prepared for this. Some of them can be entrepreneurial in the skills-domain – they can lead teams/groups, or they can start tiny enterprises that can take on outsourcing work, they can become service providers, they can be collectives of service providers with multiple but interlinked/integrated services. Some of them need to be dovetailed into viable business models. Financing these models needs to be facilitated. In addition, there is a need for place to stay, eat and socialize in the environment s/he is familiar with. This offers scope for ‘temping’ enterprises. I guess, New Livelihoods Mission that is in the offing and the Skill Development Mission take all this understanding of the current reality in their stride and respond. In all this, identifying the people based on their competency and interests, inducting them, and mentoring them become the key processes forward. Some BIG questions that come up – are we pushing ‘migration’ into cities? Where are the employers? Are we going to have skills that are required in rural areas? What about the unemployment in the ‘educated’ – for example, Andhra Pradesh alone has more than 400 Engineering Colleges, 800 MBA Colleges? Are they getting absorbed? It is confirmed beyond doubt that employability of the ‘educated’ youth is less than 20%, by any reckoning. Their skilling and training is beginning only after their ‘education’ – interesting, isn’t it? With $2 per capita expenditure a day as poverty line, two thirds of India is poor. These poor, their organizations and the organizations that work for them need skilled workforce, skilled in community mobilization, collectivization, servicing their collectives, analyzing and planning for households, groups and collectives, pooling resources, providing market intelligence, sourcing inputs, pooling the produce and adding value, marketing the pooled produce, extension in managing natural and physical resources, social resources and financial resources, so on and so

74 forth. They also need service providers. They need teachers. They need health workers. They need milk testers. They need book keepers. …… some 1 for 20/25 – i.e. 30- 40 million! Some 0.5 – 1 million integrators, working as chief executives (or their deputies) of community organizations, or the support organizations/units! Each organization may service 1000-10000 people. We are aware of many organizations of this service outreach have business turnovers in the range of Rs.100-1000 Million, comparable to medium size corporate! Livelihoods/Development Management Education is required for these integrators/integrating facilitators. We need more L-schools or D-schools or B-schools having L/D in their curriculum. This may not be enough. We may cover some ground in the distance mode. National Institute of Rural Development is launching shortly one-year PG Diploma in Sustainable Rural Development, in association with University of Hyderabad. Some 50-200 participants to come out every year! This diploma is expected to become self supporting in 2-3 years. We need more of them, programs and centres! If you allow me to dream, at least 100,000 participants need to be pursuing this every year! I understand, from association with the design that is in process, the 35-credit one-year diploma, in two semesters, will have seven 4-credit courses – i. Sustainable Rural Development: Themes and Perspectives ii. Development: Methods and Processes iii. Policies and Programs of Rural Development iv. Resources and Livelihoods v. Project Planning and Management vi. Stakeholders in Sustainable Rural Development Appropriate Technologies and Practices in Sustainable Rural Development and vii. credit Project Work in two parts: 3-credit part 1: understanding and analyzing the context of reality and 4-credit part 2: project/intervention. It will have audio video material, in addition to printed reading material and 4 sets of contact classes, twice in each semester, for 5-6 days each time. Graduates can seek admission and the participants get the diploma only on clearing the minimum grade. Skilling youth, making the service providers available to the poor and their organizations etc., and increasing the pool of integrating facilitators is the core of social development and/ or social business. Social Business, however tiring, trying and frustrating it may be, is a matter of joy. Then, joy needs to be pursued by all. We, who have become conscious, have to pursue others to pursue joy through this. We may be a facilitator, leader, mentor, entrepreneur, integrator, manager or a communicator in this pursuit. Whatever we are, we need to make it our business to pursue meta-fishing, beyond fishing in skilling, in development management education. We need to learn and mentor learning. Tirelessly! Persistently! Repeatedly! Again and Again! As I complete this, Government of India released a draft tax code to be passed in the Winter Session of Parliament. The code proposes far-reaching tax rationalization. Income tax rates, for individuals and unincorporated bodies, are proposed to be revised – 10% tax up to Rs.1 million, 20% up to Rs.2.5 million and 30% thereafter. Effective corporate (business) tax rate to be 25%! This may or may not help in voluntary compliance envisaged. I get a feeling that this facilitates more people entering the world of entrepreneurship and enterprises.

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The code proposes no income tax for thrift and credit cooperatives, agriculture and allied including dairy, poultry and fisheries cooperatives and other small cooperatives up to Rs.100,000/-. However, it proposes that non-profit organizations have to pay tax of 15% on its gross receipts less permitted outgoings. Further, the code proposes to replace the charitable purposes with ‘permitted welfare activities’ in the context of non-profit organizations. These include relief of poor, education, medical relief, environment, art and monuments and any other object of general public utility. Any other object of general public utility does not include trade, commerce, business and service provision for fee for the services to trade, commerce and business, irrespective of the use of such income later. Let us wait for the Winter Session!

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23. Campaigns, Cadres and Collectives! Perspectives September, 2009

It is a national drought, last lap rains notwithstanding. As we live the month, Teachers’ Day (5 September) and International Literacy Day (8 September) pass by. International Day for the Preservation of Ozone Layer (16 September) is round the corner. We need to remember International Peace Day (21 September), World Tourism Day (27 September), International Day of Older Persons (1 October), International Day of Non-violence (2 October), and World Habitat Day (5 October – first Monday). One more occasion to remember our teachers – World Teachers’ Day (5 October)! Dr YSR’s death has prompted to order 12000+ statues! 400+ deaths! So much for his popularity! Combining development/ growth with welfare has been his mantra to popularity, not withstanding a variety of allegations of build-up of assets, and corruption. During the month, we have discovered that we are frail and fall prey to our egos easily affecting the relationships, results and responsibilities. Further, as in the last few months, Marginalized Communities, Vulnerable Groups, their Collectives, the people who work with/for them – staff, volunteers, professionals, entrepreneurs, mentors and the civil society continued to hog the most of the time of our time during the month. Sustainable Development has been engaging us for a long time. Recent and continued engagement in developing the curriculum, course material etc., for the distance mode PG Diploma in Sustainable Rural Development has forced us to focus on it in depth. The course outline that emerged is a good beginning to scale-up the campaign to build cadres for Sustainable Development, particularly in rural areas. The outline of the course looks as follows: i. Sustainable Rural Development: Themes & Perspectives (4 Credits) • Understanding rural communities: structure, culture and polity • Rural social structure and social system; Social inequality and social exclusion; Social conflicts and social change • Approaches to the study of development • Development theories and rural polity; Economic growth; Growth with equity; Social development; Sustainable development • Rural development in India • Community mobilization and institution building; Cooperative Management; Corporate social responsibility; Development- induced displacement and rehabilitation; Democratic decentralization • Sustainable development: global and Indian context • Communities, state and civil society: ii. Development: Methods and Techniques (4 Credits) • Approach, theory and methods • Development processes • Social mobilization; Empowerment; Negotiations; Partnerships; Advocacy, accountability & transparency; Rights and entitlements

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• Formulation of development projects • Basic statistical Techniques • Qualitative methods • Report writing iii. Policies and Programmes for Rural Development (4 Credits) • Colonial rule and rural India • Vision for India’s rural development • Planned rural development in India • Policies and programmes • Consequences of policies and programmes iv. Resources and Livelihoods (4 Credits) • Mapping of resources: ownership and access • Agriculture and other livelihoods • Animal husbandry and fisheries • Marketing • Environment • Livelihoods v. Project Planning and Management (4 Credits) • Introduction to project planning • Project management systems • Implementation and monitoring vi. Stakeholders in Sustainable Rural Development (4 Credits) • Rural development and its stakeholders • Communities and their organizations • Cooperatives and other formal and informal organizations • Projects, stakeholders and power dynamics • Conflicts and conflict management • State, PRIs and civil society. vii. Appropriate Technologies and Practices for Sustainable Development (4 Credits) • Energy: Non renewable and renewable resources, water conservation and sustainable use, drinking water • Housing: low cost, eco-friendly • Rural infrastructure • Use of ICTs for rural development • Agriculture • Rural artisans and non-farm sector viii. Project: Guidelines for Formulation & Execution (7 Credits) • Formulation of sustainable development project • Project implementation • Project Evaluation • Project report evaluation The same thing is required for sustainable development in urban areas. It becomes critical when the urban population is moving towards crossing the half-way mark. One important question that has been troubling us has been the form of the collectives. Is it the cooperative?

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Or can it be Mutually-aided Cooperative? Multi-state cooperative? Can it be producers’ company? Trade Union? Association/Society? Trust? Company? Unregistered Group? When Pranab Mukherjee talks about new tax code that talks about no tax on cooperatives, what should we do? When the late Dr YSR proposed to take over any association/society or cooperative or MACS, what should we do? Under these circumstances, Producers’ Company under Indian Companies’ Act (Section 581) comes as a relief, if Pranab Mukherjee extends ‘no tax’ to the Producers’ Company also. When poor elders want to come together to meet their credit needs, can we think about this? The objects referred to in Sec 581 include: production/consumption and related, processing and related, education, training and technical services, power, NRM, insurance, mutual assistance, welfare, financing and credit. It allows for individuals and/or incorporated and unincorporated groups/ institutions. It functions like a cooperative on governance and values patronage. If this is not OK, NBFC can be a difficult option. Scale is an issue. Including welfare measures can be cumbersome. A 25,000 member community-based MFI, with an estimated credit turnover of Rs.1000 million! What is the way out? Amidst this, Kapil Sibal announces scrapping examinations for Class X in CBSE. The obvious step should be to make this applicable to all the state Boards. Let us hope he succeeds in convincing the states. Reservation for women in Local Bodies has been raised to 50% from the current 33%. While we still have the raj of Sarpanch Patis, in many a place, this paves way for more and more women occupying the seats of local governments. Mean while, can we expect the women reservation in Assemblies and Parliament comes about? Weavers’ issues remain unfathomable for many of us. At least Sainath is there to explore dry-land framing and farmers’ suicides. Who is there for ‘weavers’? When a textile (handloom) park comes near a weaving cluster, when it seeks weavers to work in the factory (park), when it seeks the weaver to specialize in a small part of the value-chain, will it benefit the weaver? Is it OK to make a self-employed weaver, although chained to master-weaver and/or the trader, into a wage worker and strip of his wholesome skills? Is it OK to move family-based occupation individuals out of the family for work? Is it going to benefit the traditional weaving families or the new entrants? Further, can we think of power loom park? Does it really help the wage weavers? Is it not displacing more handloom weavers out of work? Are there any ways by which we can ensure that the weaver moves up the value-chain? Are there any ways, we can help their spouses? When we need to increase the options before the people for them to make choices, is information, knowledge sharing through books, literature, magazines, websites etc., will suffice? Is ICT going to help? Do we need cadres of development workers? When we discuss the cadres for sustainable development for India, we are talking conservatively, 1 million professionals @ one per 100 families. If we talk districts, can we think about 100 professionals per district? This would mean 60,000 in total. Plain enough, we need to work with 10+ to ensure that 1 is available. This takes us to 600,000. Let us agree to take a decade to reach this. Then, we need to ‘produce’ 60,000 a year. If we assume batches of 30, we need 2000 batches a year. If we reckon at least 3 persons to mentor/facilitate a batch or two batches a year, we need a team of 3000 mentors/facilitators/teachers working every year. This would take us the mentors of the mentors or trainers of trainers. Let us take 3-4 years to have 3000 mentors. We need 100 TOTs/MOMs working every year for three years to ensure

79 availability of 3000 mentors. This is the task. We need to work towards. National Livelihoods Mission needs to commit to. Planning Commission needs to commit to. Youth leaders need to commit to. Hope they are listening! We may be a facilitator, leader, mentor, entrepreneur, integrator, manager or a communicator in this pursuit. Whatever we are, we need to make it our business to pursue building mentors of mentors, lead mentors, mentors, professionals, leaders and volunteers. We need to learn and mentor learning. Tirelessly! Persistently! Repeatedly! Again and Again!

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24. Workers, Professionals and Entrepreneurs! Perspectives October, 2009

Unprecedented Floods - it is a national disaster! As we live the month, we realize that October is a month of disasters and development! As usual many international days pass by - International Day of Older Persons (1 October), International Day of Nonviolence (2 October), World Habitat Day (5 October – first Monday), One more occasion to remember our teachers – World Teachers’ Day (5 October), 8 October (International Humanitarian Day), 10 October (World Mental Health Day), 14 October (International Day of Natural Disaster Reduction), 15 October (International Day of Rural Women), 16 October (World Food Day), 17 October (International Day for Eradication of Poverty) have passed by. During the month, we have discovered again that we are frailer than we realize and fall prey to a variety of physical, emotional, relational, behavioral and ego, stamina and stress-related injuries and afflictions that affecting the relationships, results and responsibilities. Further, as in the last few months, Marginalized and Vulnerable Communities/ Groups, their Collectives, their Sustainability and the people who work with/for them – development/livelihoods/social workers, professionals and entrepreneurs continued to hog the most of the time of our time during the month. We worked further on the course – Resources and Livelihoods as part of the distance mode one-year PG Diploma in Sustainable Rural Development (this is poised to reach out to more than 5000 persons a year). The unit/ chapter/lesson-wise outline of the course looks as follows: • Block 1 (Livelihoods): 1. Livelihoods – meaning and principles; 2. Livelihoods Framework; 3. Assessing Livelihoods Reality; 4. Analyzing Value chains; and 5. Livelihoods Interventions • Block 2 (Resources): 1. Resources – ownership, access, use; 2. Natural and Physical capitals; 3. Human and Spiritual capitals; 4. Social capital; and 5. Financial capital • Block 3 (Environment): 1. Environment and Climate Change; 2. Environment and livelihoods, incl. Legal aspects; and 3. Environment conservation and enhancement (EMF) • Block 4 (Farm-based livelihoods): 1. Farming System, Farmers and Labour; 2. Irrigated and Dry Land Agriculture; 3. Horticulture, Floriculture, Commercial Crops; 4. Forest- based Livelihoods, NTFP and Medicinal Plants; 5. Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, Meat, and Leather; and 6. Fisheries • Block 5 (Non-farm based livelihoods): 1. Artisans and other Rural Services; 2. Wage Employment and Job Employment; 3. Self-employment, Entrepreneurship and Enterprises; and 4. ICT and other New Livelihood Opportunities • Block 6 (Value-addition & Marketing): 1. Beyond Production – Storage, Transport and Disposal, market intelligence; 2. Local Value-addition - Off-farm and Nonfarm; 3. Processing and packaging; 4. Output market channels (Existing and Emerging, Export); 5. Marketing into rural areas; and 6. Collective marketing (both production and consumption, products and services)

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This effort is also continuing for other courses in the programme. A variety of programmes in the broader domain of rural livelihoods/development needs to emerge. Then, this needs to transcend rural – to urban, to global and so on. On similar lines, there is a need to attempt to design a complete campaign material to build development/ livelihoods/social workers, professionals and entrepreneurs, and disseminate the same in a variety of forms and media. The e-learning, distance learning and self-learning material should be available in plenty so that the cadres so build will not be ‘lost’ in due course of the pursuit of good to the poor. Sainath said – everybody loves a good drought. That should be – everybody loves a good disaster! The unprecedented level of floods in Krishna Basin is a case in point. The people affected, not affected, the volunteers, the corporates, the leaders, the civil society, the donors, the researchers, the government servants, the contractors, the helicopter providers, the transporters, so on and so forth get into action and derive benefit including addressing to their inner calling. Amidst all this, one can understand the floods in Karnataka are a result of fury of the nature, may be induced by climate change. The floods in Andhra Pradesh are beyond nature’s fury. Human faults have compounded the problem. We are lucky that the second low pressure zone has become weak without affecting us. Otherwise, the damage could have been of the order of unimaginable magnitude! Even now, the estimated loss is to the tune of Rs.250 Billion. The families and the communities, more than a half a million of them, will take more than a couple of years to recover with all help flowing in full measure! Kurnool City may have to plan for a fool-proof disaster coping plan including a wall around the city. Towns/Villages like Alampur, Rajoli may have to be built in separate locations. Most of the productive assets have been damaged seriously. Standing crops have been lost. Quite a number of them may not be able to get back to work within six months. This would mean supporting them to survive for six months in addition to providing new assets, providing working capital and rebuilding the shelter. Right now, after the end of immediate relief, affected people and the volunteers are engaged in cleaning up inside and outside their houses, their workplaces, localities, streets etc., the state is attempting to restore the roads. In a month or so, the task of restoring the livelihoods will begin. By that time, emotions may dry up and cold rational calculations come to the fore. This is here we need to come up with rationally sound solutions based on the current ground reality leveraging all the existing and committed support and the articulated programmes of the state, donors and civil society. This requires building up cadres working with the affected at that point of time to build their livelihoods and life restoration plans for consideration by post-disaster supporters. When Nobel Prize (Sveriggs Riksbank Prize in memory of Nobel) for Economics has been announced to Elinor Ostrom, it is a testimony and endorsement to many of us in the development/livelihoods domain advocating relentlessly for collectivization for survival, solidarity, managing commons, managing community systems, consumption, risk diversification, value-addition, purchases, sales, marketing and advocacy for rights, entitlements, and justice. We hope that the state will offer at least one form of organization for the people to come together with completely favorable ambience/environment. Pranab Mukeherjee needs to extend ‘no tax’ to collectives, whatever their form, engaged in a variety of activities, multiple activities. They need not be limited to agriculture and related activities. They need not be registered as cooperatives. Currently the best in the available forms, Producers’ Company needs to be in the list.

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Society, Association and Trade Union can also be in the list. When Dr Balagopal succumbs to heart attack on 8 October 2009, we have lost the only hope of ‘rights’ in the country. We need to rise up to the occasion and fill the huge void came about by his ‘departure’. His clear stand against ‘violence’, extra-ordinary simplicity and deep legal acumen, coupled with compassion for the common man, make him an inspiring role model for many of us! The debates about the climate change, global warming, increasing temperatures, changing seasons, decreasing periods of rain, changing time horizons of monsoons, regularly irregular droughts and floods with unprecedented intensities etc., make us look at alternative ways of living, producing and consuming. This includes agriculture. We know for sure these changes affect the poor the most. This coupled with globalization, liberalization and privatization calls for building food security, nutrition security and safety net mechanisms. Sustainable agriculture, by whatever the name, has reached some significant scale. Indicative conclusions are that there is no conflict between productivity needs and sustainable agriculture; local food is the best food; avoid food transport; disturb the soil to minimum; and agriculture community needs to keep this in all studies, research and comparisons now. Further, it reduces the cost of cultivation to small and marginal farmers. The only way forward, therefore, for sustainable agriculture, is to expand. From local food, we need to discuss local cadres. It is a quick guess that every six persons at least require 1 local youth servicing their needs. These needs span education, health, consumption, information and communication, inputs delivery, delivery of consumption items including food and water, marketing, services in the local people’s/community institutions, retail shops, etc. Some of these needs are in the domain of enhancing existing skills so that they remain useful. Some are jobs locally. Some others are self-employment opportunities. Some offer scope for entrepreneurship and starting enterprises. For this universal saturation, we need to think of providing knowledge and skills (hard and soft), building institutions of the people and employing youth, building institutions of youth to run the enterprises that service the people or supply products to handholding support. There are reasons to believe that some youth stay back to be useful locally. We need to explore matching and supporting locals with local needs. Is there any other alternative? When we discuss the cadres for development/livelihoods domain in India, we are talking conservatively, 600,000 professionals, and 600,000 social entrepreneurs @100 each per district, apart from 6 million community professionals/ leaders. If we take a decade to reach there, we need to ‘produce’ 2,60,000 a year. Meaning, we need a team of 23000 mentors/facilitators/teachers working every year. If we take 3-4 years to have these mentors, we need 200 long term inductions facilitated by lead mentors. This is the task. We must ensure this! Whatever we are, we need to make it our business to pursue building these lead mentors, mentors, entrepreneurs, professionals, leaders and volunteers. We need to learn and mentor learning. Tirelessly! Persistently! Repeatedly! Again and Again!

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25. Development needs everyone! Perspectives November, 2009

Recent Floods have been declared as National Calamity. Further, recent rains in Nilgiris have also been devastating! As we live the month, World Development Information Day and United Nations day (24 October), World Vegan Day (1 November), World Freedom Day (9 November), World Diabetes Day (14 November), and International Day for Tolerance (16 November) pass by. World Toilet Day (19 November) is round the corner. 14 November is also the Children’s Day in India and 20 November is treated as Universal Children’s Day. During the month, we have rediscovered that we are not having any control on the path we take. We remain ready to flow in the direction of our intent and the universe flows take us in their stride. Further, employment, entrepreneurship, enterprises, sustainable development/livelihoods/ agriculture, coastal communities, tribal communities, elders, marginalized communities, vulnerable groups, their collectives, the people who work with/for them – staff, volunteers, professionals, entrepreneurs, mentors and the civil society continued to hog the most of the time of our time during the month. The effort to write the material for Resources and Livelihoods Course of the distance mode PG Diploma in Sustainable Rural Development is in progress. Efforts to evolve Socially Responsible Micro-Finance Institution for the Elderly are also in progress. Beyond rescue, relief and rehabilitation, the project for restoring the livelihoods of the flood affected in rural and urban areas is being conceptualized. The discussions in one village in Medak point out that the youth, as we always thought are reluctant to pursue the occupations of the family. Both unemployment and underemployment are highly prevalent in rural areas. But a majority of them have to be absorbed in rural wage employment and traditional occupations. Employers still talk about not getting useful candidates for employment in the areas they look for. The trained youth display three kinds of propensities – job employment, self-employment and entrepreneurship/enterprise development. Some job seekers are looking for jobs in urban areas and some other can opt for jobs in the enterprises of the rural communities. Some of the self-employed can be rural service providers. The key is to go to an area to intervene in this total ‘employment’ domain rather than looking at this issue in a piece-meal manner. The poverty reduction efforts in the public domain across the country are taking four basic routes and their combinations. These include – targeting through the existing government machinery like subsidy programs, NREGA etc.; staff intensive projects like Indira Kranthi Patham, Vazhandu Kattuvom, Jeevika etc.; efforts out-sourced to NGOs as contractors; and National Rural Livelihoods Mission as an extensive mission approach across all the districts with universalization and saturation agenda. Recent brainstorming deliberations on sustainable livelihoods and agriculture have reminded us of the brainstorming workshop some eight years ago. Then we talked about transition from level 0 (social mobilization) to level 1 (universal and collective businesses at village level). Now the transition is to level 2 (beyond villages, sustainable livelihoods agenda at scale). One issue that came up is the network of structures that support livelihoods agenda. Similarly, there are

84 merits and demerits in both single commodity/function institutions and multi- commodity/function institutions. There is a need to see production interventions and marketing interventions separately when we think of scale. Quality appears to be the key concern. We continue to remain and stuck at cross roads on the institutional options for the collectives of the poor. Society? Cooperative? MACS? Producers’ Company? Company? We need to really dive deeper. If scale is of concern, less than Rs.50 Million private companies, less than five years ago, are now talking about Rs.50 Billion. We do not see growth at such scales in the community collectives. What should we do? May be it is better this way as the community retains control and local market sustains them, reasonably free from complex, less certain and unpredictable market patterns. One hopes, given that it is arguably the best institutional form for the community collective business enterprises, the Producer company, a cooperative in its spirit and functioning, will be treated as cooperative and ‘no tax’ will be extended to it also. While it is true that certain marginalized sections of the communities like elders, differently-abled, destitute and vulnerable are yet to become bankable on scale, for mainstreamed poor and not-so-poor, there is no dearth of the funds really for their activities. Banks lending up to Rs.0.5 – 1 million to a SHG and Rs.5-10 million to the SHG Federations is becoming the trend. The key question then remains is where and how to invest these funds? On the other hand, the poor and their collectives are beginning to think about tiny/micro- enterprises that require venture support, in terms of equity, grant, loan, leveraging and handholding support. Windows for this effort needs to be created and kept open at a variety of levels. Now is also the time for digging deep for the institutional structures that support these enterprises. Related corollary is the staff to work with the community – as service providers, as staff in the community organizations and the support organizations. The range of these individuals is varied from being a service provider like a book keeper of the SHG to being the specialists and chief executives of district/state/national organizations requiring abilities far superior to the abilities of mainstream business executives and managers. The leaders of the organizations have to learn to manage this kind of staff. All this would mean large scale and sustained capacity building and learning effort across the country as a momentum. This is where we see the role of National Rural Livelihoods Mission in rural areas and a similar set-up may have to evolve for urban areas. We need to build the orientation of livelihoods – feasibility, viability and sustainability in the communities and the people who work with them, A culture of making business plans, plans versus performance monitoring systems and learning has to nurtured. We need to cross-fertilize the development domain with the best practices from the corporate world. We need to enlist volunteers from variety of the worlds outside of development domain to give more and more quality time to the poor in a regular, frequent and sustained manner. When millions of women and men are being organized across the country into SHGs and their higher order federal structures and when we have history of performance considerable number of these institutions more than a decade, we need to attempt a current reality assessment on scale.

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We need to employ ICT to bridge knowledge gap/chasm that exists across. It will also enhance the choices before the people. It will also help them to make more informed decisions. We need to augment, rather multiply, information/knowledge sharing through books, literature, magazines, websites etc. In the near future, we are thinking to start a separate web blog where one can see the latest news in the livelihoods domain every day, in addition to the current e-monthly. Dedicated development/ livelihoods channels at state and/or national level are required. Let us gather ourselves to go ahead in this direction, apart from the community radios and audio-video CDs currently pursued. E-learning platforms are being built and they need to be encouraged, expanded and popularized. Of course, we need cadres of development workers across - we are talking 1 million+ professionals/community professionals @ one per 100 families. We need mentors and mentors of mentors to build them up. It is an easy task if we join hands and get going. We need to tap all sources and resources. We need to make our promising youth leaders to commit to this agenda. We may be a facilitator, leader, mentor, entrepreneur, integrator, manager or a communicator in this pursuit. Whatever we are, we need to make it our business to pursue building mentors of mentors, lead mentors, mentors, professionals, leaders and volunteers. We need to learn and mentor learning. Tirelessly! Persistently! Repeatedly! Again and Again!

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26. Right to be Independent and Developed! Perspectives December, 2009

World Leaders fail us at COP15! Some more time is lost in putting a framework for sustainable planet! Telangana spurs movements for small states and movements for keeping the large states intact! As we live the month, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November), World AIDS Day (1 December), International Day of Disabled (3 December), International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development (5 December), International Anti-Corruption Day (9 December), Human Rights Day (10 December), International Migrants Day (18 December), UN Day for South-South Cooperation (19 December), International Human Solidarity Day (20 December), and Winter Solstice (21 December) pass by, without much ado. During the month, our rediscovery that we are not having any control on the path we take, has been endorsed many times over. We remain ready to flow in the direction of our intent and the universe flows take us in their stride. Watersheds, employment, entrepreneurship, enterprises, sustainable development/livelihoods, coastal communities, tribal communities, elders, marginalized communities, vulnerable groups, their collectives, the people who work with/for them – staff, volunteers, professionals, entrepreneurs, mentors, mentees and the civil society continued to hog the most of the time of our time during the month. Efforts continued to appreciate applying livelihoods framework for coastal communities and outline processes for using venture capital and innovation funds. Material for Resources and Livelihoods Course of the distance mode PG Diploma in Sustainable Rural Development is getting ready. The program is expected to be launched in January 2010. Business Plan for the Socially Responsible Micro-Finance Institution for the Elderly, and Strategic Plan for scaling-up sustained community action to address health needs including HIV/AIDS are also taking our time. Scaling-up community-managed sustainable agriculture offers new options for the poor farmers. We are yet to transcend the draft conceptualization of the project for restoring the livelihoods of the flood affected. CNN IBN annual awards announced: AR Rahman voted Indian of the year; Rahul Gandhi - politician of the year; and Pratham –Indian of the year for Public Service. While 80%+ of Indians are poor if we go by USD 2 per capita line, 37% of Indians are poor, according to a report by the expert group headed by former chairman of Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Suresh Tendulkar. Bihar and Orissa are the poorest states. For the first time, poverty line, defined based on items - a wider access to commodities and services like health and education and not just calories, has been used – per capita/day of Rs. 19 in urban areas and Rs. 15 in rural areas. The report has also concluded the drop in poor in India is marginal over the decade. This would mean we need to raise allocations for the poor at least by 50%, even if we want to target the existing schemes to all the poor. Government of India has evolved common guidelines and is supporting the implementation of Integrated Watershed Management Program, with a view to cover the entire cultivable land in 10-12 years. Thus, the micro-watersheds gave way to larger integrated watersheds to be

87 implemented by the Mandal/Block Panchayats, instead of Gram Panchayats in Hariyali program. A way forward in decentralization!? This month also belongs to Telangana. Telangana, meaning ‘land of Telugus’, was a part of the erstwhile princely Nizam state of Hyderabad. After the accession of Hyderabad State with India in 1948, it remained a separate state till 1956 when it was merged with Andhra State, carved out of Madras province, to form Andhra Pradesh. It was India’s first state formed on linguistic lines. Currently, 10 districts – Adilabad, Hyderabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Mahabubnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Ranga Reddy and Warangal – form part of Telangana. It is situated at a high altitude in an upland Deccan plateau with two major rivers Godavari and Krishna flowing through the region. However, most of the land is arid. It shares borders with Andhra and Rayalaseema (parts of the existing Andhra Pradesh), Karnataka, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. Its area is 114,800 sq km and population - about 35 million. Major languages spoken include Telugu and Urdu. It sends 119 legislators to the 294-member Andhra Pradesh assembly and 17 MPs out of 42 Lok Sabha MPs from AP. As of now, Greater Hyderabad, the capital of AP, is located almost at the heart of Telangana. Telanagana was merged with Andhra in 1956 despite the recommendation of First State Reorganization Committee. The struggles for separate Telangana in 1969 and separate Andhra in 1972 have been successfully ignored. BJP wanted to give Telangana in 2000 but their alliance then with Telugu Desam could not afford it. Telangana became a part of the Common Minimum Program of UPA in 2004 but did not see the light. In 2009, Telugu Desam and new Prajarajyam expressed their solidarity with Telangana. Then, KCR of Telangana Rashtra Samiti went on to do indefinite fast on 29 November 2009. Students, Employees, Jouranlists, Advocates etc., joined the struggle. Suicides, Rallies, Bandhs etc., continued. Most parties across the spectrum have shown solidarity with Telangana. Finally, in response, Chidambaram announced on 9 December 2009 that the process for creating Telangana would be initiated. Telangana witnessed jubilant celebrations and the rest of Andhra Pradesh witnessed wide- spread protests. Calls for Jai Andhra, Greater Rayalaseema, Uttara Andhra, Kalinga Andhra, Greater Hyderabad as Union Territory, apart from United Andhra have been raised. Strangely, most parties have changed their mind in a day and said they cannot support Telangana. Assembly in AP and Parliament have been paralyzed for days. Demands for more small states outside Andhra Pradesh have regained currency. Demands for commissioning State Reorganization Committee have also sprung up. In AP, most MLAs and MLCs outside Telangana Region have submitted their resignations. Some Leaders have started indefinite fasts. Health of many of them is deteriorating. Protests, Rallies, Bandhs etc., are in full swing. Telangana is also persisting and pressing for separation in its own way. Meanwhile, Rajagopal et al started ending their indefinite fasts. Now, Chidamabaram on behalf of Core Committee has put Telangana on hold on 23 December – “… after the statement (on Telangana on 9 December), the situation in Andhra Pradesh has altered. A large number of political parties are divided on the issue There is a need to hold wide-ranging consultations with all political parties and groups in the State. Government of India will take steps to involve all concerned in the process…..” Telangana started the fight again. En masse resignations followed. Notwithstanding whether Telangana and other small states become a reality or not, there is a case for decentralization in federal polity. When USA with 400 million populations can have 50 states with less than average population less than 10 million, India can think about at least 60

88 states with an average state population of 20 million. There is nothing wrong in more than one state per language. Already Hindi’s states are multiple. Thus, we need more small states. Telangana will be one. Tomorrow, it can become two more states. In a family, if one of the members has opted to be on her/his own and have a separate family, it makes enormous sense that sentiment is respected when s/ he persists for a long time, say more than 60 years, and let her/him lead her/his life her/his way in her/his way. Period. In fact, others have to support her/him in establishing the family in a decent manner, rather than coming in the way. Decentralization does not end with empowered small states. We need empowered small districts. If I have to say a number, we need at least 1200 districts – one per 1 million population. AP could have 75 districts. We need empowered small blocks/mandals, one per 5000-10000 families. Further, we need empowered Gram Panchayats and Municipalities. It would mean implementing 73-74 amendments to constitution and building further on them. 25 years is a long time to announce the intention to decentralize and actually ensure that this happens and the local governments get empowered. Further, empowered units have to ensure increased greater local participation and greater accountability in the delivery of services, which has become possible with units of governance being optimally small. Building plurality of effective leaders, in a variety of fields and disciplines, for these units is also important. It has to be noted that new small unit does not mean losing out. The newly carved out unit and the remaining unit, both, may show performance superior to the performance when together/united. The issue is, when one of them is unhappy, whatever be their reasons, for a very long time, the way forward is to endorse separation. However, when separate, they need to work to a vision and robust strategic plan (s) including building clusters/engines propelling growth spread all across. Further, the separate units need to be weary of rapacious rent-seeking politicians. They need to pursue sound policies that work to support universal inclusion and strong people’s institutions, business and social entrepreneurs across sectors, and sound human development indicators including social security. They need to run schools to produce hundreds, if not thousands, of ethical business and social entrepreneurs and professionals who work in ethical business and social enterprises. At UN Climate Change Summit 2009 (7-19 December), COP15, at Copenhagen, world leaders have missed an opportunity for ensuring a better and safer planet for our children. They could not agree to reduce the dominance of fossil fuels and Carbon emissions in our biosphere at large and America and China in particular. So called deal at COP15 contains no legally binding targets and no indication of when or how they will come about. There is no declaration that the world will aim to keep global temperature rises below 2 degree C. Copenhagen has revealed that climate change crisis or carbon crisis is indeed a political crisis at its core. US, EU, and China have not responded well at all, given the scale of the crisis. In fact, there is nothing in this agreement that would persuade energy utilities to go out of business. Negotiations under the Bali Action Plan (BAP) and the Kyoto Protocol (the current treaty to fight climate change) remain inconclusive. However, something that can cause little cheer is the setting up of $100bn global climate fund. Most of us, who understand development cooperation and funding, can figure out this fund is largely made up of existing budgets. There is no indication of how the funds will be raised and distributed so that poorer countries can go green and adapt to climate change. Of course, BASIC has become stronger. At COP15, what we saw and heard articulated by the most powerful men

89 who ever lived was nothing less than the very worst instincts of our species. So much for prosperity, peace and sustainability of the planet for our children! What should we do? We know that dependency is not liked by anyone. We need to let people bridge knowledge gap/ chasm that exists across, enhance choices before people and help them make more informed decisions and seek accountability from these ‘powerful’ leaders. We need to build and make our promising youth leaders to commit to this agenda. We may be a facilitator, leader, mentor, entrepreneur, integrator, manager or a communicator in this pursuit. Whatever we are, we need to make it our business to pursue building mentors of mentors, lead mentors, mentors, professionals, leaders and volunteers. We need to learn and mentor learning. Tirelessly! Persistently! Repeatedly! Again and Again!

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27. Leading in Knowledge Domain! Perspectives January, 2010

Jyothi Basu expires! An era ends! State is a governance unit in a country. Why is it misunderstood as a country? How many lives need to be lost? How many person-days need to be lost? For a Telangana, a state to be de- merged? When are we making smaller districts? Why can’t we have perspective plans for these regions, in any case? As we live the month, as food prices go up, Christmas, English New Year, and Sankranti are celebrated on a low key. Kumbh Mela, the largest congregation of Hindus in the world, passed off without any serious incidents. Youth Day (12 January), World Religion Day (3rd Sunday in January - 17 January), and National Girl Child Day (24 January) have passed without much ado. We see no agenda as yet for commemorating 2010 as International Year of Biodiversity, International Year of Forests and International Year of Youth! While New Year began with lunar eclipse, solar eclipse on 15 January was one of the longest in this decade. By 26 January 2010, we are 60 years as Indian Republic! It is 60 years since we adopted Tagore’s Janaganamana as National Anthem (24 January 2010). During the month, we got repeated endorsement – pursue processes/plans; results are byproducts. When natural flows of universe become our processes, universe takes us in its stride. Food Prices and Food Security, watersheds, social entrepreneurship, social enterprises, sustainable development/livelihoods, elders, marginalized communities, collectives, the people who work with/for them, plans and creative tension continued to hog the most of the time of our time during the month. We are still working to make the material for Resources and Livelihoods Course of the distance mode PG Diploma in Sustainable Rural Development ready. About 600 participants are going through the program in the first year of the launch itself. Looking at the Business Plans of social enterprises, and working on strategic plan for scaling-up sustained community action to address health needs including HIV/AIDS are also taking our time. Visit to Institute of Rural Management has aided my reflecting on collective entrepreneurship and differentiating community entrepreneurship from collective entrepreneurship. The work on preparing detailed project reports for clusters of micro- watersheds is still to begin. Lent a hand in coconceptualizing Bharatiyam program with Vidya and Jeevika as two independent but inter-related program components. Elements in Vidya include – vidyarthi, vidyaalayam, gurukulam and/or nidhi; and elements in Jeevika include – kutumbam, jeevika, gramam and/or nidhi. More details can be seen at www.bharatiyam.org. Business plan for ‘L-channel’ has also been initiated. Another month has elapsed on Telanagana! All-party meeting at New Delhi on 5 January 2010 appealed for peace! However, Telangana suicides are continuing! BJP expressed unequivocal support. All are awaiting some declaration on or before 28 January 2010. While Glaciers may not melt by 2035, as projected earlier (recent faux pas admitted!), we need to remain concerned of climate change. Stopping use of plastic bags can be one small step as part of our remaining concerned – use biodegradable/fabric/paper/bamboo bags; carry folded cotton bags

91 when going for shopping; reuse nylon bags; if at all you have to use, thicker bags so that reuse is possible; etc. Start eating raw food – as they offer better nutrition, fibre, flavor, health etc.; as they reduce preparation time; as they consume less energy; and as they increase immunity. Since I have been teaching Post-graduates (in Development/Livelihoods Management!) for a while, I went over the recent book - What they teach you at HBS. HBS offers its curriculum in two parts – Required Curriculum (RC) in first year through 10 courses and Elective Curriculum (EC) in second year through 10 out of 96 electives. RC establishes a common foundation in the fundamental practices of business. The courses include: 1 & 2. Finance I and II, 3. Financial Reporting and Control, 4. Leadership and Organization Behaviour, 5. Marketing, 6. Technology and Operations Management, 7. Business, Government and International Economy, 8. Strategy, 9. Leadership and Corporate Accountability, and 10. Entrepreneurial Manager. EC offers an opportunity for depth, breadth or both. The critical advices from two years at HBS, brought out by Philip, include: • Resist the temptation to be a short-termist; • Be honest with yourself in choosing the right job; • Keep your moral compass; • Maintain the proper balance; • Make ‘change’ the friend; • Do not be a ‘career engineer’ but learn and grow at every opportunity; • Only thing you cannot afford not to do is to learn; • Professional happiness would come from being very good at something difficult; • Do right and be seen doing right; • It is important to learn why good people did bad things and to avoid that fate; and • Learn how to say no and how to juggle schedules. One question that is arising repeatedly is – all enterprises serve some purpose which is of use to some customers (people, therefore social). Then what is so different about social enterprise? What is that special social in social enterprise? The best meaning of helping others in development action has been provided by John Dewey and it reads – The best kind of help to others, whenever possible, is indirect, and consists in such modifications of the conditions o life, of the general level of subsistence, as enables them independently to help themselves. The five principles for “helpers” trying to provide help to “doers” are: • help must start from the present situation of the doers—not from a “blank slate”; • helpers must see the situation thro’ the eyes of the doers—not just through their own eyes; • help cannot be imposed upon the doers—as that directly violates their autonomy; • nor can doers receive help as a benevolent gift— as that creates dependency; and • doers must be “in the driver’s seat”—which is the basic idea of autonomous self- direction. The helper-doer relationships are captured at length by the following “gurus”: • Albert Hirschman - development advisor and a government, • E.F. Schumacher - development agency and a developing country, • Saul Alinsky – community organizer to the community,

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• Paulo Freire - educator and community, • Søren Kierkegaard – counselor and a student, • John Dewey – teacher and learner, • Carl Rogers - therapist and client, and • Douglas McGregor - manager and worker (Theory Y). With our work arena and abilities/skills mostly limited to sensing, analyzing/thinking, reading, writing and talking, we tend to believe that we are knowledge workers. Then we need to appreciate - Knowledge is the capacity for effective action. Knowledge sharing is a human behavior. Everyone is in the business of creating knowledge and sharing it. Knowledge is born in chaotic processes that take time. We should know to appreciate and tolerate chaos. Then, the organizations that work with knowledge workers need leadership different from charismatic decision making. Here leadership roles are designer, teacher, and steward, requiring skills of building creative tension, mental modeling and integrative systems thinking. In essence, it would mean developing an architecture that fosters continual expansion of the capabilities of the members and building leaders, learning and growing leaders. Building creative tension would mean building shared vision and appreciating current reality of where we are. Facilitating personal visioning and aspirations, communicating and asking for support, re-visioning on a dynamic and an on-going basis, etc., are part of this. Surfacing and testing mental models would require digging into generalizations and abstractions, balancing inquiry and advocacy, differentiating what is espoused and what is practiced, recognizing and working on defensive routines , etc. Systems thinking calls for seeing big picture, seeing interrelationships, seeing beyond blame, detail vs dynamics, focusing on high leverage, going beyond symptomatic solutions, translating the intuitive insights into logically argued conclusions etc. To acquire these skills, the leaders need to learn to use tools - systems structures/sub- structures in management/ leadership domain like limits, short-cuts, lowering goals, reactions, tragedy of commons, growth vs. investment, etc.; charting strategic dilemmas like listing, mapping, contextualizing, sequencing, cycles, synergy, integration, linkages etc. While we see networks of Corporate organizations, NGOs in districts, at state and national level, we do not notice networks/coalitions of support organizations, consulting groups and social enterprises in development sector. There is a need to build these networks and coalitions for solidarity, learning and collaborative bidding and work. Further, we need low-cost software for small CBOs and NGOs. We need to have knowledge and learning platforms in e-domain. We need wide-spread knowledge sharing/dialoguing through radio, websites, e-books, e-magazines, you-tubes, slots in existing channels, and dedicated channels. We are able to see beginnings of all these. They need to be done on scale. It would mean partnerships. Building models of participation in creation, organization and dissemination. Financing through grants, venture capital, loans etc. Seeking volunteers and running campaigns. So on and so forth. This may mean producing hundreds, if not thousands, of ethical business and social entrepreneurs and professionals who work in ethical business and social enterprises in knowledge management in livelihoods/ development domain. Who should do this? Who can do this? What should we do? How can we help them to do this? Yes, we need to build and make our promising youth leaders to commit to this agenda. We may

93 be a facilitator, leader, mentor, entrepreneur, integrator, manager or a communicator in this pursuit. Whatever we are, we need to make it our business to pursue building mentors of mentors, lead mentors, mentors, professionals, leaders and volunteers. We need to learn and mentor learning. Tirelessly! Persistently! Repeatedly! Again and Again!

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28. Learning to Learn, Practice and Lead! Perspectives February, 2010

Food Inflation is not budging. Food Security, a mirage! Srikrishna Committee comes to study ‘Telangana’. Resolution postponed by a year!? As we live the month, Sivaratri is celebrated. Valentine’s day remains a low key event. World Day of Social Justice (20 February) and International Mother Language Day (21 February) have passed without much ado. We could complete the material for Resources and Livelihoods Course of the distance mode PG Diploma in Sustainable Rural Development during the month. 500+ participants are going through the program in the first year of the launch itself. Bharatiyam Foundation has come into being on 15 February 2010 and it is going to manage/ implement Bharatiyam Programs – Bharatiyam Vidya and Bharatiyam Jeevika. The work on business plan for ‘L-channel’ is inching forward. Watersheds, social entrepreneurship, social enterprises, urban, rural, tribal and coastal livelihoods, elders, poorest of the poor, marginalized communities, collectives, innovations, the people who work with/for them, business/ strategic plans and creative tension continued to hog the most of the time of our time during the month. This is also the budget month. Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister has released its report. It picked up for comment - Prices, Agricultural Productivity and Power Infrastructure. Food inflation has crossed 20%, despite having enough food stocks. It points out two principal constraints to growth in India - low productivity in agriculture, and inadequate physical infrastructure particularly in power sector. Research, to increase productivity in pulses and oilseeds in rain-fed areas, and cereal productivity in water-excess areas, has to be stepped up. There is a need for mitigation strategies for the four risks of Indian farmer - credit and finance, price, acts of god and technology. Other highlights of the Economic Review 2009-10 include: • GDP growth rate projections: 7.2% in 2009-10; 8.2% in 2010-11; 9% in 2011-12 • Large fiscal deficit is unsustainable; it needs to come down by 1-1.5% in 2010-11 • Reduce expenditure-GDP ratio by 1 per cent • Expand service tax coverage; unify rate with Central Excise Duty/VAT • Scale up nuclear power generation Let us await Pranab’s response in his budget proposals at the end of the month. Most of us welcomed the decision to keep Bt brinjal on hold. Now that Shyam Saran, Special Envoy of Prime Minister on Climate Change, has put in his papers, we are not sure of the direction of Indian climate change policy. Seeing how a student chooses to a B-school to join – brand equity, average placement salary, profile of jobs, peer group, accreditation/recognition, first impressions, exposure, domain preference, faculty, campus, cost, loan, return on investment, location, facilities, etc., it is clear that we need to have comparable or better development management or social enterprise b- schools. Then only we will be able to get bright young minds into social development and livelihoods domain. We have 5000 B-schools in the country, producing 500,000 B-managers in

95 the country. Then, as we need 100,000 development managers/social enterprise managers every year, we need to have at least 1000 D-schools, at least one per district. Can the governments, corporate, civil society act on this? We are running out of time, please! In any case, we still have to figure out - What is that special social in social enterprise? We know all enterprises serve some purpose which is of use to some customers (people, therefore social). Then what is so different about social enterprise? While we take time to figure this out, we are absolutely clear that our managers and leaders in business, politics or development are knowledge workers. Knowledge is the capacity for effective action. Everyone is in the business of creating knowledge and sharing it. Managers and leaders facilitate this. Then they need to remain forever learners and they should not be falling into the trap of ‘getting in their way of going forward’ – • Need to win always and best others, add value, show the ‘smartness’ to the world; • Need to be ‘me’; • Need to pass judgment, as a matter of fact; need to comment even if it is not worth it; • Ifs, buts and howevers; • Not listening; anger, frustration and negativity; punishing the messenger; • Refusing to express regret; failing to express gratitude; • Holding information because ‘too busy’, or ‘forgot’; • Not giving credit/recognition and claiming undeserved credit; • Making excuses; passing the buck; • Clinging to the past when the focus is present and the future; • Losing track of purpose with focus on the mechanics • Playing favorites Let us try and learn to get out of the trap lest we will be less useful including to people around us. If we do not, the very reason we exist, will be lost! We seem to be progressing towards have Rural Self employment Training Institutes, one in each district, as part of National Skill Development Mission or is it National Rural Livelihoods Mission? Finally, National Rural Livelihoods Mission is on its way to start its work soon. Social Mobilization and Collectives of the poor as the key strategy is inescapable in poverty reduction or livelihoods improvement effort across, coupled with safety net, education, capacity building and skill development. Accordingly, NRLM is expected to pursue the same. The elements therein can be – • Three-tier sensitive support organizational architecture, at district (and sub-district), state and national levels • Universal social mobilization of all poor into self-help groups and their higher order federal structures at village, mandal/block, district, state and national levels • Building their institutional capacities in terms of knowledge, skills, infrastructure, human and other resources - using a variety of options including training of trainers and community resource persons/ paraprofessionals on scale • Pro-poor financial services including interest subsidy and leveraging revolving funds/ corpus grants to people’s institutions • Convergence with other programs, schemes, civil society etc. • Scaling Skill Development for jobs, employment and enterprises

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• Demand driven plans • Accountable and transparent systems including social audit, concurrent evaluation and ICT-based online MIS Rural includes plains, dry-land, tribal and coastal areas. However, the processes that have been working in rural areas are being taken to urban areas as well. For example, the Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA in Andhra Pradesh) is also adopting the similar strategies for its way forward. The additional pointers that have come up, in recent consultations for way forward, include: • We cannot stop at organizing women, it is time we take the next step of organizing men also; • Developing an strategy for youth of an area, rather than looking at urban and rural youth separately; We need to appreciate that both of them are competing for the same space in jobs and placements. We need to remember that these youth can also provide services to their local constituencies. We need service providers to and staff in the people’s institutions. Some of these youth can get into this. • Further, some of the services (like security, office support, etc.), that are being outsourced can be taken up by the youth as a group or a formal collective. • Collectivizing the youth who have been trained for jobs and placed; • Collectivizing self-employed, enterprising entrepreneurs including street vendors, food vendors, etc.; may be a tiered-structure of shgs federated into a producers’ company. It can take up collective purchases, marketing, branding etc., apart from offering solidarity. As we see the progress of social mobilization of the poor, we notice that a good quarter of them (let us call them poorest of the poor – POP) are not getting into the groups and accessing the benefits of mobilization. We need to focus on this with more effort and alternative strategies. A dedicated cadre exclusively working for them needs to be build. On the other hand, we are also seeing the plateauing of the existing groups/institutions, clicheing of the existing practices, sometimes ritualistic and sometimes lip sympathy. The time has come for efforts of rejuvenation, re -energizing and new vision building. The paradigm of economies of scale that needs to include non-poor in scaling so that the poor are in leadership and share the benefits of collectivization completely needs to be pursued. The challenge now is how we combine this prosperity paradigm and POP strategy and get going. The challenge is also to integrate poor and their institutions with the panchayat raj institutional processes and other programs in convergence without they getting overloaded, burdened etc., still retaining the control on the benefits that need to accrue to them. Yet, we know when democracy is not working well, the way forward is nothing but more democracy. Let us facilitate democracy. Let us facilitate governance with poor in command. Let us facilitate convergence and integration. Let us facilitate transparency. Let us facilitate accountability. This may mean more knowledge; more skills; more leaders; more human resources with capacity and knowledge; more platforms; more forums; more institutions and groups; so on so forth. Yes, we need to build and make our promising youth leaders to commit to this agenda.

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The leaders, the human resources available to people’s institutions and their support organizations, the community resource persons, paraprofessionals and service providers, and other facilitators/supporters need to learn to serve, support and lead. For this, they need to learn how to lead their personal lives first. They need to practice the art of leadership, management, professionalism and service. The practice includes: setting aside time for solitude and quiet reflection, physical care and fitness that may include walks, nutrition and live nourishment, reading, learning and knowledge building, chronicling actions, thoughts and feelings, saving some sleep time and using it, plan for the day and days ahead, listen and relish music, self-talk, recite and write pursuits, building character of principles that matter which includes courage and relentless pursuit, and simplification of life. Do not give up practice. Join the architects of the future. Know what you truly love to do (purpose) and then direct all of your energy towards doing it. That is it! Universe will take care of everything else. Who should do this? Who can do this? All of us! We may be a facilitator, leader, mentor, entrepreneur, integrator, manager or a communicator in this pursuit. Whatever we are, we need to make it our business to pursue – learn and mentor learning. Tirelessly! Persistently! Repeatedly! Again and Again!

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29. Investing in Social Leaders! Perspectives March, 2010

Food Inflation is not budging. Inflation is expanding to other sectors instead. While suicides continue, T- issue slides into background for the time being! Government of India has presented a middle-class friendly Budget! Reservation for women in Parliament and Legislatures has come centre-stage. Rajyasabha has voted. LokSabha may vote for it in May! When SCs/STs can have quota within quota, why can’t the OBCs? As we live the month, Holi is celebrated. 100 years of International Women’s Day (8 March) has made its presence felt. World Consumer Rights Day (15 March) may not show its presence. We are immersed in understanding institutions of the poor in AP where more than 10 million women have come together as Self-help Groups and their higher order federal institutions. The work on business plan(s) for ‘L-channel’ is inching forward. Watersheds, social entrepreneurship, social enterprises, urban, rural, tribal and coastal livelihoods, elders, poorest of the poor, marginalized communities, collectives, innovations, the people who work with/for them, business/ strategic plans and creative tension continued to hog the most of the time of our time during the month. In the midst of all this, we have noted that Government has proposed to introduce a bill on cooperatives to insert article 43B “The State shall endeavor to promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control and professional management of co-operative societies.” in the Constitution of India. This paves way for cooperatives free from state’s interference in a year’s time in all the states across the country. A watershed in cooperative movement! A better alternative to producers’ company! Pranab’s budget proposals towards meeting the key challenges - quickly reverting to 9 percent growth and then aiming for double digit growth; making growth more inclusive and strengthening food security; and overcoming weakness in government’s public delivery mechanisms – include: • The total expenditure proposed in the 2010-11 Budget Estimates is Rs. 11,08,749 crore (8.6% over last year); The Plan and Non Plan expenditures in e estimated at Rs. 3,73,092 crore and Rs. 7,35,657 crore respectively. Fiscal deficit is Rs.3,81,408 crore, i.e. 5.5% of GDP. • The spending on social sector has been gradually increased to Rs.1,37,674 crore in 2010-11, which is 37% of the total plan outlay in 2010-11. • Another 25 per cent of the plan allocations are devoted to the development of rural infrastructure. • Service tax to remain 10 per cent; 10 per cent central excise duty on all non- petroleum products; unified Goods and Services Tax from 2011; Implementation of direct tax code from April 2011. • Income Tax – 20% tax for income above Rs 5 lakh and up to Rs 8 lakh; 30% for income above Rs 8 lakh; 10% tax slab for income above Rs. 1.6 lakhs up to Rs. 5 lakhs; and No income Tax upto Rs. 1.6. lakhs. • Limits for turnover over which accounts need to be audited enhanced to Rs. 60 lakh for businesses and to Rs. 15 lakh for professions.

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• “The advancement of any other object of general public utility” to be considered as “charitable purpose” even if it involves carrying on of any activity in the nature of trade, commerce or business provided that the receipts from such activities do not exceed Rs.10 lakh in the year . • National Social Security Fund created for workers in unorganised sector with allocation of Rs.1,000 crore – Government to give Rs.1,000 for each National Pension Scheme account opened by workers in the unorganised sector • Rs.1,900 crore for Unique Identification Authority of India • Draft Food Security Bill prepared and will be put in the public domain • Banking facilities to be provided to all habitations with a population of 2,000 and more; RBI is considering giving some additional banking licenses to private sector players including Non Banking Financial Companies; RRBs are being infused more financial capital. • Banks have been consistently meeting the targets set for agriculture credit flow in the past few years. For the year 2010-11, the target has been set at Rs.3,75,000 crore. • Rs.66,100 crore allocated for rural development in 2010—11; Rs.40,100 crore for National Rural Employment Scheme; RS.48,000 crore for Bharat Nirman • Allocation to Backward Region Grant Fund enhanced by 26 per cent from Rs.5,800 crore in 2009-10 to Rs 7,300 crore in 2010-11. • Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) chaired by the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission to be set up to evaluate the impact of flagship programmes. • Rs.1,270 crore allocated for Rajiv Awas Yojna for slum dwellers, up from Rs.150 crore, an increase of 700 Perspectives percent with the aim of creating a slum free India. • 46% of plan allocations in 2010-11 is for infrastructure development • National Clean Energy Fund to be established • New fertilizer policy from April 2010 • Organizing 60,000 “pulses and oil seed villages” in rain-fed areas during 2010- 11 and provide an integrated intervention for water harvesting, watershed management and soil health, to enhance the productivity of the dry land farming areas. • An Annual Health Survey to prepare the District Health Profile of all Districts shall be conducted. • Insurance and other services to be provided using the Business Correspondent model. By this arrangement, it is proposed to cover 60,000 habitations. • Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana benefits extended to all such Mahatma Gandhi NREGA beneficiaries who have worked for more than 15 days during the preceding financial year. • National Skill Development Corporation has approved three projects worth about Rs 45 crore to create 10lakh skilled manpower at the rate of one lakh per annum. • Exclusive skill development programme for the textile sector to train 30 lakh persons over 5 years.

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• Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana to meet the specific needs of women farmers to be launched with a provision of Rs 100 crore as a sub-component of the National Rural Livelihood Mission. Latest Forbes’ list of the world’s rich has 2 Indians in the top 10 and Mukesh ambani is now fourth rich in the world with his wealth exceeding Rs.100,000 Crore. I hear that he wants to devote a fraction of his wealth for the social good in the country and outside. Three ideas merit his attention – investing in building the development/livelihoods workers in the country – one per 100 poor families (even if we assume half of India is poor by 2-dollar poverty line) – 1.2 million professionals needing at least Rs.100,000 – 200,000 per professional, 12 million community paraprofessionals/workers, dedicated development/ livelihoods channels, and augmenting environment for educating the poor children – some lace to sit and read, some tuition, some reading material etc. These three initiatives together may not cost Rs.25, 000 Crore over 10- 15 years. This is not a big amount by any token of imagination. I hope Mukesh picks this up, pushes this and gets going! This will ensure we will be able to get bright young minds into social development and livelihoods domain. We will have service providers in most of the services the poor need. The poor will have the knowledge-skills-resources ‘elephant’ known to the poor. This will mean we need 1000 D-schools, at least one per district. This can be initiated. Governments, corporate, civil society act on this, if someone like Mukesh leads from the front. The way Bill Gates is leading on the health front. We are running out of time, can we work on these leaders to become social leaders, social entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs supporting social entrepreneurs, please! Let us try and learn to get into this lest we will be less useful including to people around us. If we do not, the very reason we exist, will be lost! Yes, we need to build and make our promising business leaders, together with the political leaders to commit to this agenda. Do not give up practice. Join the architects of the future. Know what you truly love to do (purpose) and then direct all of your energy towards doing it. That is it!

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30. Transforming Leaders! Perspectives April, 2010

We got used to inflation now. Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education becomes an Act and is being implemented with effect from April 2010. However, it misses on child’s growth from the embryo to age 6, and age 14 to till s/he attains majority, the crucial transition period. As we live the month, World Water Day (22 March), World Health Day (7 April), and World Entrepreneurs Day (16 April) pass by, and World Creativity and Innovation Day (21 April), Earth Day (22 April), World Book and Copyright Day (23 April), World Intellectual Property Day (26 April) and World Day for Safety and Health at Work (28 April) may not show their passing by. Dr BR Ambedkar has been remembered widely (14 April). We are further deeply immersed in understanding institutions of the poor in AP where more than 10 million women have come together as Self-help Groups and their higher order federal institutions. Zero drafts of the business plan(s) for ‘L-channel’ and other L info units are ready and the work on the deeper details is inching forward. Collectives, watersheds, social entrepreneurship, social enterprises, urban, rural, tribal and coastal livelihoods, elders, poorest of the poor, marginalized communities, innovations, the people who work with/for them, financing the poor, their collectives, the institutions/enterprises that ‘work’ for them, business/ strategic plans and creative tension continued to hog the most of our time during the month. Appreciating Education value-chain from the stage of the embryo in the mother’s womb till adulthood and productive employment - job, self employment or enterprise and Land Value-chain applicable to poor – land access to land development to production to marketing produce has also consumed considerable effort. Of late, we see some progress in Islamic Banking – banking with no interest charge. In Murabaha system (like hire purchase or purchase and re-sale), the banker provides/sells the asset to the client and the profit from the asset provides reasonable return on investment to the banker and the client repays the amount in agreed number of installments. In Musharaka partnership system, like a venture capital, the banker provides a part of investment and agrees to a sharing of profits proportional to the investments, after deducting agreed level of management expenses. In the long term, the investment of the banker can be bought by the entrepreneur in a gradual manner or otherwise. Some bankers limit to charging some fixed administrative/service charges. In a variant, the money could be sourced without cost and lent on service charge basis. The successful entrepreneur then pays back a certain lump sum amount as a token of gratitude/ goodwill, or a certain percentage of the returns as an annual/ regular payback so that others can be ‘helped’. We also see the initial public offer from SKS Microfinance Limited. Md. Younus has found this not OK, saying that we cannot assure shareholders that they will make more returns on their investment and providing credit to the poor at reasonable rates, at the same time. Let us take a hypothetical and simplistic organization, which puts in Rs.100 as equity and borrows Rs.1000 from banks for lending to poor. Assuming that they lend at 20% per annum in a declining interest rate, they get an interest of Rs.220 from the lending operations. If they incur 5% towards management/operational costs, MFI will still have Rs.165 from which Rs.120 may have

102 to be paid out as interest on loan funds. The net surplus will be Rs.45 on equity investment of Rs.45. This is a clear 45% returns per annum. The market talks about equity returns beyond 100% also. Of course, most of this goes into business expansion. The issue becomes more interesting if we realize that some of the Rs.100 comes from philanthropic sources. In an extreme case, most of it is philanthropic and becomes private in due course! Top management receives share allotment in a significant manner, receive stock options and gains from allowing to sell the shares in the market early on. Further, the managerial remuneration to the top management is comparable to the mainstream business (sometimes better!). The remunerations received by the professional staff have also increased by more than 100% even in these times of recession. If we see the placement of most management professionals with some development orientation, they are all ending up in these organizations. Unfortunately many other organizations are not able to cope with competition for human ‘talent’. Interesting, isn’t it? However, the news is that 31 NBFC-MFIs have come together to set up MFIN, a self regulatory organization of NBFC-MFIs. Its articulated aim is to work with the regulators to promote MF to achieve larger Financial Inclusion, enhance responsible lending and institutionalize processes of credit information sharing. Further, MFIN members have invested in Alpha Micro Finance Consultants P Ltd (Alpha), which in turn has invested Rs. 2 Crore in setting up a credit bureau. The credit bureau will help improve credit risk management within the sector and ensure multiple borrowing and over indebtedness is checked. MFIN has also defined a Code of Conduct for member MFIs. This includes: fair practices with borrowers, transparency, overall lending limits at client level, data sharing, recruitment practices, whistle blowing and enforcement mechanisms. Members have also committed to communicate interest rates on reducing balance method and other charges clearly to members while following fair recovery mechanisms. 2010 is talking about profiling the citizens in a variety of ways (PAN cards; Election cards exist; National Population Register for all persons aged above 15 years, including biometric identification of all 10 fingers and photograph, as part of Census, under the Citizenship Act is coming; Unique Identification is on the anvil; DNA Bank is waiting to come on board; profiling of SHG member-households is being scaled up etc.). It is understood that National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) will access consolidated data from a number of databases that include: railway and air travel, income tax, phone calls, bank account details, credit card transactions, visa and immigration records, property records, and the driving licences of citizens. The issue of privacy and safety of data is emerging as a big issue forward. With this, the relationship between the state and the people is set to change dramatically, and irretrievably. This is happening without a discussion about what it means to all of us. We hear that MFIs are also going to supply their clients’ data to this UID and therefore to NATGRID! I have also come across the Declaration of Rights of Peasants Women and Men, a document adopted by the Via Campesina International Coordinating Committee in Seoul, March 2009 and thought worth sharing now. It defines peasants as: A peasant is a man or woman of the land, who has a direct and special relationship with the land and nature through the production of food and/or other agricultural products. Peasants work the land themselves, rely above all on family labour and other small scale forms of

103 organizing labour. Peasants are traditionally embedded in their local communities and they take care of local landscapes and of agro ecological systems. The term peasant can apply to any person engaged in agriculture, cattle raising, pastoralism, handicrafts related to agriculture or a related occupation in a rural area. This includes Indigenous people working on the land. The term peasant also applies to landless. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO 1984) definition[1], the following categories of people are considered to be landless and are likely to face difficulties in ensuring their livelihood: i. Agricultural labour households with little or no land; ii. Non agricultural households in rural areas, with little or no land, whose members are engaged in various activities such as fishing, making crafts for the local market, or providing services; iii. Other rural households of pastoralists, nomads, peasants practicing shifting cultivation, hunters and gatherers, and people with similar livelihoods. The declaration talks about women and men peasants have equal rights; peasants have the right to full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms; peasants are free and equal to all other people and individuals; and peasants have the right of active participation in policy, decision, project design/monitoring etc. The specific rights included in the declaration: • Right to life and to an adequate standard of living • Right to land and territory • Right to seeds and traditional agricultural knowledge and practice • Right to means of agricultural production • Right to information and agriculture technology • Freedom to determine price and market for agricultural production • Right to the protection of agriculture values • Right to biological diversity • Right to preserve the environment • Freedoms of association, opinion and expression • Right to have access to justice After the MG-NREGA, NRLM, the bill that is making rounds is food security. Food security is internationally understood as physical, economic and social access to a balanced diet, safe drinking water, environmental hygiene and primary health care. We hope that the food security in India at least will include: Universal Public Distribution System for all, low cost food/food grains to the needy, including food on credit, and nutrition delivery systems to the mothers, infants and children. How can we have food rotting in the godowns, instead of feeding the starved! We have now come to appreciate that poverty addressal would require, apart from policy support: institutional networks of the poor – catering to solidarity, savings, credit, insurance, consumption, local value-addition and social needs, internal animators – leaders, resource persons and staff from within the communities, and external facilitators – staff in support organizations, government departments/ projects etc. This basic architecture needs to be supplemented with plugging the gaps in education value chain beginning with embryonic stage till employment/ enterprise, having preventive, promotive and curative support systems in

104 health, livelihoods organizations that connect to/from the market across the tiers, and IT enabled services to bring in efficiency and cost-effectiveness. This wider architecture needs to be supported with social entrepreneurs and hybrid social enterprises that provide services as per their need for a fee. We need leaders who build or support this wider institutional architecture across. We are running out of time. Can we work on our political, business, academic and bureaucratic leaders to become social leaders and build more social leaders, social entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs supporting social entrepreneurs, quickly? Let us try and learn to get into this lest we will be less useful including to people around us. If we do not, the very reason we exist, will be lost! Yes, we need to make the Indian Leadership in every dimension to commit to this agenda. Do not give up practice! Join the architects of the future! Direct all your energy towards doing it!

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31. Leaders for Transforming Institutions! Perspectives May, 2010

Hot summer! Food inflation! After America, it is European economic crisis now! Intentions apart, Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education has hit Government Residential Schools – Gurukulams, Navodaya schools ….. Now, they cannot have entrance tests to admit students. What is the way for taking some 100,000 students? Lots? ‘Laila’ gave respite for many in South India from hot summer for a few days, but for 1000+ villages, it was tough times. A few lives, some crops lost. Tense 48-72 hours for thousands. As we live the month, World Press Freedom Day (3 May), International Nurses Day (12 May), International Day of Families (15 May), World Information Society Day (17 May) and International Day for Biological Diversity (22 May) pass by. Of course, people remembered May Day (1 May). Mothers’ Day (Second Sunday in May - 10 May) exchanges were there. Some celebrations too! Budha Purnima (27 May) is taking us to Sangham, Dharmam and Buddham. UPA-2 enters its second year! Rahul Gandhi is still buying time to join in Government. As the world democracies embrace youth leadership, we may have to wait a little longer. Incidentally, era of coalition has begun in UK recently. Isn’t that the future – coalitions managing multiple interests, apparently contradictory multiple interests, to evolve common minimum programs for the democracies to be truly effective; and transition of leadership to new generation? Operation Green Hunt and Maoists’ fight back in Chattisgarh are making headlines. IPL cricket has occupied the prime time on TV for many. In between, we had IPL controversies making news. Telecom controversy apart, 3G spectrum could get Rs.700 billion to Government of India in auction. It could also make us see while we tel-communicate, may be as cheap as the 2G itself. We are also likely to get faster internet (broadband++) connectivity. This can also help in increased transparency and accountability in community and public institutions and public service provision. It is likely that digital divide can come down! Most of us have come to realize that we have to live with migration – pull migration, opportunity migration and temporary migration. We need to ensure that such migration is smooth. Government of AP, Aide-at-Action with 250 NGOs have begun to map migration so that efforts for making migration smoother and less painful. These efforts need to be scaled up nationally.This is also a period of lots of debates – microfinance vs. Community finance, mission of reducing poverty vs. private equity, individual money lenders vs. institutional money lenders, credit/mf vs. credit+/credit++/mf+, poor as a source of income vs. poor as partners in business, socially responsible mFI - community-owned mFI vs. mFI of concerned individuals with n number of caveats for being socially responsible etc. Meanwhile, self-help groups, microloans, cell phones, now micro- businesses, mutuals (or insurance), grocery outlets, product renting, and similar other products and services aimed at bottom-of-the-pyramid are increasing. Sriram has summarized this beautifully – “.. micro-finance has moved from helping the poor to access finance to an interesting business at the bottom of the pyramid. …”. We started chasing the same customer, may be into a debt trap, with multiple loans without ‘purpose’, without the

106 adequate ability to absorb and repay. We stopped knowing the customer well enough as we have no time for processes and systems to know and appreciate them, their families and their livelihoods. Thinking that database of loan purposes articulated by customers while taking loans can help us to understand the customers and their businesses is not founded on appreciation of reality. Further, when Bandhan announced that they can reduce the interest rates, it became clear to us that we are charging a lot more than what we are incurring to deliver credit. Institutions that work with poor – can they charge more is the moot question by all around. This question is accentuated further with the picking up SHG movement across the country. In ten years from now, SHGs and their federations will become community financial institutions that meet their credit needs fully. A quick check on a Block SHG network in AP is adding more than Rs.20 million every year to its kitty of own funds. This is accelerating faster than what we could envisage. This calls for repositioning of MFIs as MF+ Institutions that deliver livelihoods and micro-businesses where the non-poor pay up the costs through the products and services from the poor and poor pay only modest interest rates. The time is up for the argument of meeting the costs of delivery of credit and is no longer tenable. We need to be more responsible and responsive. No other way. If the borrower is not tied to you in no way other than credit, the chances are that they will pull the rug under your feet because you have the rug (know that they do not have the rug under their feet), and you will collapse for sure (as Sriram concluded). However, improving livelihoods of the poor and reducing their poverty is rooted in mobilizing them into their institutions and using that architecture to address the issues of poverty and livelihoods is widely acknowledged as the way forward. This is irrespective whether they are rural, tribal, urban, coastal or livelihoods of other vulnerable. Most projects and programs now adopt this philosophy willy-nilly. In this context, National Rural Livelihoods Mission is taking this agenda forward in backward rural areas of India as a drive (mission!). While on it, we continued deep immersion in understanding institutional architecture of the poor in AP. While we were slightly slower, the work on deepening and expanding zero drafts of the business plan(s) for ‘L-channel’ and other L-info units is inching forward. Collectives, watersheds, social entrepreneurship, social enterprises, urban, rural, tribal and coastal livelihoods, elders, poorest of the poor, marginalized communities, innovations, the people who work with/for them, financing the poor, their collectives, the institutions/enterprises that ‘work’ for them, business/ strategic plans and creative tension continued to hog the most of our time during the month. If you have bright students who are willing to put in 16 hours a day, facilitated self-learning exercise(s) is a good way forward in learning livelihoods and rural development. Patna-based Super 30 (led by Anand Kumar) proved – most poor bright students can make it big if they are facilitated to put in guided 16 hours a day for a period of time. Prime Minister’s recent Press Conference, may be after four years, has indicated some way forward for his Government: • … I believe that the mandate of the 2009 elections was a vote for the inclusive agenda of the UPA government…. We need a rapidly growing economy to generate productive employment and also resources to finance our ambitious social and

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economic agenda. Our medium term target is to achieve a growth rate of 10 percent per annum. … • Our flagship programmes such as the Bharat Nirman, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the National Rural Health Mission and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission are … on a learning curve and we can and will do more to strengthen these programmes and improve delivery. … • We have decided to set up a National Social Security Fund for workers in the unorganized sector with an initial corpus of Rs. 1,000 crores. A draft National Food Security Bill is under preparation…. • The promise of more than a billion people, who are better educated, better fed and better equipped to be creative and enterprising members of the global community is our hope and our inspiration. … Reduced Poverty is the mantra now. This has to come on the foundation of the institutions of the poor. As we saturate mobilizing poor into their institutions in multiple tiers, the issues that remain to be addressed include: • Think-tank/strategy group that focuses on poverty and integrated development, rather than any particular thematic interventions • A coherent integrated strategy based on the local context and reality within the established broad contours • Self-managed and self-reliant institutions of the poor • Legally compliant (in toto); Integrated Accounts and Management Information; CEOs; Visioning; Progress against Vision; Rigorous induction to leaders and staff; Scaled-up use of information and communication technology to improve efficiency, transparency and accountability; • Second-generation self-managed and self-reliant institutions of the poor around their key livelihoods; • Jobs, Self-employment, Micro-enterprises and collectives of youth; • Focused special processes and initiatives to work with the poorest, disabled, elderly and other vulnerable and marginalized; and • Independent Resource agencies that support poor and their institutions We need leaders who build or support this wider and expanded institutional architecture across. We are running out of time. We need to work on our political, business, academic and bureaucratic leaders to become social leaders and build more social leaders, social entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs supporting social entrepreneurs, double quick. Let us remember that poverty is vicious – it cripples people from birth; it kills people early. Hunger is killing people. Shame on us! 20% of the world population is consuming 80% of its resources at the cost of lives of others and other life. This cannot go on. We need to make the Collective Indian Leadership in every dimension to commit to this agenda. Do not give up! Join the architects of the future! Direct all your energy towards doing it!

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32. Leaders are not enough! Perspectives June, 2010

Monsoon has arrived! ‘Phet’ tried to change its course a bit. Inflation is going high unabated! As we live the month, World No Tobacco Day (31 May), World Environment Day (5 June), Fathers’ Day (Third Sunday in June - 20 June), International Children’s Day (1 June), and World Day against Child Labor (12 June) passby. World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (17 June) and UN Public Service Day (23 June) are coming. World Music Day (21 June) is underscoring the music’s scores of inspiration, celebration, healing, solitude, and soul searching. Fathers’ Day (Third Sunday in June - 20 June) may have some exchanges and some celebrations! This month endorsed our understanding of differentiating work ethic and ethics of work. I came face-to-face with situations during the month on Employment. During the Abilities’ Mela at Sweekar-Upkaar organized by LSN Foundation, there was a discussion on self employment. In India of 120 Crore people, we add at least 2-3 Crore youth into potential productive group every year. We have 2-3% disabled in them i.e. 5-6 lakh disabled youth enter the potential productive force. All jobs pout together in the country may come to a mere one lakh for them. What is the way out for the remaining? Self employment is the answer! If we have to accommodate 5 lakh youth, we need Rs.5000 Crore even if we budget Rs.1.0 lakh per person. Do we know who are they? What are the skills they are endowed with? What are the skills that can be provided to them? What are the competencies one looks in a self-employed? Do they have the competencies to develop business/sell, to negotiate, to manage a team, to manage some money? Can we offer them? Importantly, do we have unique ideas that these youth can take up and build enterprises around them? We need to build a special component in National Rural Livelihoods Mission that specifically looks at self-employment and enterprise development with adequate budgets, pool of competent resource persons and protocols for converting potential productive force into a self-employed and entrepreneurial productive force. Second face-to-face is with the migrants in homeless shelters. What is the way we can address their employment issues? They offer no common background, common skill, common resource base, and no trust in each other. How do we work on this? Third face-to-face is with the Products and Services by the families of the members in SHGs. As we are aware, poor are in both farm and non-farm livelihoods viz., agriculture including horticulture, sericulture, floriculture, etc., dairy and livestock, Non-timber forest produce, inland and marine fisheries, wage labor, artisans including handlooms, handicrafts etc., trade and small local enterprises. We are also aware that they have multiple livelihoods. They need inputs and they also have consumption and they also have risks. There are gaps in these value- chains. They could benefit by collective purchases, collective sales and local value-addition collectively. Even then, we have no clue why these enterprises taking of whether individually or collectively? We need to dig deeper. We need to do a mapping – mapping of livelihoods, resources, skills, etc. We need to understand the markets and products and services in the local markets. We

109 need to see what people trade in and trade out. We need to analyze livelihoods in terms of productivity, employment, income and expenditure; we need to analyze resources in terms of use, no use and less use; we need to analyze skills in terms of various use categories and scope to enhance them; we need to match them with job needs, self-employment needs, enterprise worker needs; we need to see their workday and workdays in a year in a gender disaggregated and season disaggregated manner. We also need to appreciate the positive role being played by middlemen in terms of services and supports and how these can be continued in the new thinking. We also need to appreciate the roles, scope and limitations of existing institutions there. We are talking of the existing efforts, products and services from these groups. Can we build collectives of these groups? Can we give them a brand? Can we offer quality control? What are the other ideas around which groups can come and build enterprises? Can we build a set of protocols and routines for taking this entire effort forward? While face-to-face with employment, we continued our deep immersion in understanding institutional architecture of the poor across in AP and beyond. The work on deepening and expanding zero drafts of the business plan (s) for ‘L-channel’ and other L-info units are picking up momentum. Collectives, watersheds, social entrepreneurship, social enterprises, urban, rural, tribal and coastal livelihoods, elders, poorest of the poor, disabled, elderly and other marginalized communities, the people who work with/for them, financing them, business/strategic plans and creative tension continued to hog the most of our time during the month. Rana Kapoor of Axis Bank argues for innovations for financial inclusion in terms of customized and cost effective products and services for under-penetrated markets. His argument is for reducing transaction cost for micro-transactions using ICT – may be digital currency through mobiles (like the ‘change’ given as tokens in Chennai buses accepted in small hotels and shops earlier). Given our existing mobile density and its growth can offer an effective solution. Let us think more. We can have more such solutions that use the architecture of the wide-spread community-institutions. As the community institutions grow with time, their combined financial resources are increasing beyond our imagination. A federation of SHGs with about 10,000 members established about 10 years ago, can talk of adding savings in its network to the tune of Rs. 1.5 Crore savings and Rs.1.5 Crore in interest per year. Today, they talk of having own funds in the network exceeding Rs.10.0 Crore. If this trend continues, there is no reason to believe otherwise, the network will touch Rs.25.0 Crore in 5 years and may be Rs.50.0 Crore in 10 years. Then, they need no small loans from MFIs or banks. They need maha bulk loans. They need loans for small and medium enterprises. Of course, this needs to be facilitated with care and concern. They need to be statute compliant. They need to have professional CEOs. They need robust funds management and loan processing protocols. They need to have internal audit processes. They need to have autonomous businesses. Their governance systems need to be strengthened. Then, this will be reality. With this in the domain of possibility, mFI s may have to get into mF+ operations. That seems to be the future. Informal chits and other savings institutions can add mF into their portfolio. We are hearing about post-office making a huge difference.

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There are 1.5 lakh post-offices in the country more than any bank or MFI today. Number of savings accounts with post offices is near to 8.0 million poor. With the paradigm shift towards prosperity and financial access, rather than reducing poverty, post-office represents a robust and credible alternative mF provider. Leaders are not enough. We need workers, activists, professionals and paraprofessionals too. While we persist with building leaders who build or support this wider and expanded institutional architecture of the people and their support structures, we need to develop mechanisms, institutes, academies, centers, and units that build these workers, activists, generalist and specialist professionals and paraprofessionals. Some individuals can also anchor these efforts. We need to build leaders who build these mechanisms. We are running out of time. We need to work on our political, business, academic and bureaucratic leaders to become social leaders and build more social leaders, social entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs supporting social entrepreneurs, double quick for this wider endeavor. Let us remember we have come ahead. We no longer suffer because there are no resources. It is their distribution that is the problem. Access to financial resources is a small problem. Bigger problem is the human resources. Bigger problem is the ideas for investing resources; ideas for building enterprises; and lack of span of attention of the people who matter. Biggest problem is the best minds are not turning up for this task. This cannot go on. Let us change it. Let us begin to changing it. Let us increase access to human resources at every level. Let us attract the best brains into this agenda. Let us make Collective Indian Leadership in every dimension to commit to this agenda. Direct all your energy towards doing it!

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33. Giving Leaders and Leading Givers! Perspectives July, 2010

Vagaries of monsoon are around! National Advisory Council recommends Food Security Draft Bill! As we live the month, International Day of Cooperatives (First Saturday of July – 3 July), Writers’ Day (8 July), and World Population Day (11 July) pass by. World Population Day this year emphasized ‘everyone counts’ and ‘open data’ for development. Hope they become real soon in this our world. International Cooperative Day and Writers’ Day did go unnoticed! For us, cooperative or collective action is religion. Writing (documenting, analysing and articulating/ disseminating) is important for many a development worker. As I write this, Union Cabinet has approved the symbol for Indian Currency (Rupee), fifth currency in the world to have a symbol! What does it do for the poor, I do not know yet. This month explored the continuum of employment – wage à job à self à enterprise. Of course, as usual, the month continued to focus on understanding the architecture of the institutions of the poor and their dedicated support institutions. Building visioning and plans for founding the platforms for the poor to realize their potential through creating and nurturing this institutional architecture and network supplemented/complemented it. National Rural Livelihoods Mission has begun to get ready with a Foundation Workshop in June for the core teams for 14 states. The states are getting ready to roll out their state and district rural livelihoods missions. Meanwhile, Union Cabinet has approved the NRLM and expected to launch either on 15 August or 2 October. Some states have begun to launch their pilots coinciding with the national launch of NRLM. It appears that two ideas are here to stay – SHGs around thrift and credit and Micro-finance institutions providing credit to people. This is because the credit needs of the poor are huge and multiple and the needs vary from locale to locale, season to season, time to time and household to household. Each poor is articulating the need for 5-10 loans simultaneously. Even in mature regions, the people talk about unfulfilled credit need. These need to be tempered as savings and corpus increases with the institutions of the poor. The MFIs need to emphasize MF+. The institutions of the poor have to add collectivization around consumption, food, fodder, health, cattle, loan and life security, and economic activities. They need to promote second generation collectives around livelihoods. Importantly, there is a need to generate ideas that offer savings, increase employment, diversify risks and add incomes for investing the funds available on credit. This gap is emerging as the critical gap once they move on the hierarchy of the needs of credit from consumption/survival -> high cost debt swap -> meeting credit needs of existing activities -> credit needs for enhancing the scope and range of existing activities -> reducing expenditures without loss of quality of life -> risk reduction -> social development – health, education etc. -> new livelihoods activities. Someone else has put this, differently but aptly: Consumption -> Effectivization (existing livelihoods) -> Enhancement (deepening and increasing the chain of existing livelihoods) -> Diversification (more livelihoods, often unrelated).

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It is now established that the household and institutions need to have vision and plans to realise vision. The caveat is that this vision and these plans are revisable with additional insights that arrive in due course of time. The way forward in reducing poverty includes all three – Fish à Fishing à Meta-fishing. This is to say that the poor needs fish now to survive (short-term benefits), fishing skill, along with tools and instruments, so that they catch fish on their own (medium-term benefits) and meta-fishing so that they look beyond fish, identify opportunities and tap the opportunities on their own. While the institutional architecture emerges, the need to look at the unemployed youth surfaces. This cannot be ignored. Here, we realize that these people seek employment – wage employment, job employment, self-employment, and entrepreneurial employment. Can we recognize who fits into what? Do we know how many people are seeking employment? Who are they? What do they want exactly? We see the existence, amongst them, range of educational levels, 3R (reading, writing and arithmetic) abilities, skill and experience spectrum. We see them pursuing traditional/existing activities and seeking out new activities and we see them in rural areas wanting to urban areas. Further, their competencies are not the same. Of course, they would like to exercise choices. Aptitude and Ability matter in making choices. All skills do not lead to equal employability. Skill Development should not be limited to technical skill(s). More important than the technical skills are the soft skills. These are required for any work. Knowledge cannot be ignored. Wage employed may need transition from a casual wage earner to a skilled labour. Of some tools exist, the wage may increase further. The issue may be increasing the workdays. For the job-employed oriented person, the issue is placement link. Where is the placement? How much is the remuneration (pay)? Does it cover the costs of living and remittance to native place? What are the Post- placement stages – training again, apprentice ship, internship, probation? What is job security? What are the growth prospects? All these matter. What are the costs of skilling? Who puts the bill? What about the living costs? What about the stipend till the first pay cheque? What about the costs of relocation, if any? What are the terms of appointment? Bond? They need to be introduced the alumni/best practitioners. They can inspire them. How effective are the trainers? What is the reputation of the training institutes? We need to remember that the poor cannot be served poorly. They also may need to collectivise. Some people need to be service providers. Some may have to take up jobs in people’s collectives. Some may have to become self-employed. Do we facilitate all these? It may mean funds, time and loans. Handholding support, establishment costs, business development skills may all need to flow in. Can we think of labour, skill labour exchanges or skill exchanges? Can we build more responsive labour adda, skill adda or market place? We should remember that some are already in the business of offering labour, skills or services. How do we integrate them into all this? How do we categorise people and select them for employment continuum of wage, job and self-employment? If this is tough, identifying entrepreneurs who build microenterprises and employ some people can be further tough. Thus, selection and counseling becomes key first step. We know entrepreneur is an inherent behaviour. Entrepreneur pursues opportunities relentlessly, with extremely limited resources. Entrepreneurs typically display the competencies

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– Vision; Initiative, Results Orientation, Innovation; Critical Information Seeking, Inter-personal Awareness, Adaptability; Tenacity, Self-control, Strategic Influencing, Concern with Impact, Ability to Learn. Enterprises seek profit and growth. We need to handhold till they succeed, knowing fully well that one in three/four will only succeed. Some statistics on enterprises are revealing: • 55% (1 person); 32% (2 person) • 46% (carried out within a household; 20% (mobile) • 98% (have no accounts) • 90% (unregistered) • 44% (suffer from shortage of capital) • 67% (stagnant) This is not enough. We are also talking about collective enterprises – collective ownership, collective workmanship … They may need institutional forms. We are also able to think about the SHGs and their federations taking up collective activities. We are also visualizing hybrid – individual and collective activity-based enterprises. If we add push and pull migration in this, the problem gets compounded. Do we start in the source or in the destination? Of course, all employment is about enhancing knowledge, skills, tools and resources so that it results in money. Then you need to give – give knowledge, skills, tools, resources. If you give, you get more of them to give. Interesting law isn’t it? Give to give to give. Leaders are not enough. We need givers. We need knowledge workers to give knowledge. We need skilled practitioners to give skills. We need tool providers to give tools. We need resourceful to give resources – natural, physical, social, human, financial and spiritual. They need to give to give. We need context changers to give more conducive context for increased prosperity for the poor. We need service providers to offer services. We need happy people to give happiness. We need leaders who lead the givers in giving. We need givers leading the leaders. We need institutions that generate more leaders who give time, energy and ability. We need training institutes that build participants to give. We need dedicated facilitators who give support. We need internal animators who give their time, energy and ability. We need meta- leaders who build the givers – time, energy and ability so that the participants share knowledge, skills and resources and context changes. We need to give ourselves to build giving leaders and leading givers. Double quick. Let us give time, energy and resources for building more capable human resources that give to the potential of the poor; for building ideas for investing resources and building enterprises. Let us give. I am sure more and more best minds surely give more and more. Soon! They have no option. Let us build the giving collective leadership that gives all that is required. Let us give towards this.

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34. Caring Givers and Loving Givers! Perspectives August, 2010 Now, it is time of floods across the world! Nation celebrates 63 years of independence! As we live the month, International Day of the World’s Indigenous People (9 August), International Youth Day (12 August), and World Humanitarian Day (19 August) pass by. Festival season begins for the year with Varalakshmi Vratam, Rakhi Purnima, the month of Ramazan and Onam. 27 August– World ‘Self’’less’ness day? The month that went by continued to explore meeting the credit needs of the poor, the continuum of employment – wage à job à self à enterprise, the required architecture of the institutions of the poor, and the dedicated support structures/institutions for all these. The guidelines for rolling-out National Rural Livelihoods Mission in the states are in pipeline. The pilot proposals are in the making. The core teams are getting ready to anchor. The states are identifying and/or starting state level agencies for rolling-out. The resource persons/groups are getting pooled together. The collaborators are joining hands. The donors are getting together direct their flows together. Support agencies are thinking of joining hands to support this gigantic effort. States with advanced effort are extending their hand and support. Meanwhile, NRLM with some of its pilots is expected to launch on 2 October. NRLM, National Skills Development Mission, NREGA are expected to work hand-in-hand. Rural Self-employment training institutes (RSETIs) are expected to complement their work. We are talking 100 million households in 10 million self-help groups, half-a-million village organizations and may be some 100,000 higher order federations, collectives and producers’ companies. We are talking about poor having more than Rs.100,000 Crores of their own and similar amount in bank and other financial linkages annually. Incomes to cross Rs.50,000 per household! Investment per household is still a modest Rs.10,000. This would mean 100,000+ development professionals, 1.0 million+ community professionals/ resource persons! We need to gear up. A silent movement is in the making! After SKS IPO oversubscription, we are sure that other MFIs will follow suit. The news is Spandana is coming out with an IPO. Others will not be far behind! Thus, we have the two ideas - SHGs around thrift and credit and Micro-finance institutions providing credit to people – are going to co-exist. Now, can we think about – how can we reduce the interest rates of MFIs? How can we move the MFIs from pure MF to MF+ and MF++ to Livelihoods Financing? How can we think about MFIs making money in the value-chain that services the non-poor rather than the poor? How can we increase the own funds of the poor in the SHG institutional networks? How can we encourage the collectives of the poor around their livelihoods? How can we encourage the institutions of the poor to meet their various needs? How can we increase the proportion of consumer rupee to the poor producer? How can we source their needs/raw materials/services they need at lower prices? How can we encourage them to really own their demand and own their supplies? How can they access their rights and entitlements? How can we ask both people’s institutions and MFIs to include more services without adding margins? How can we see that the poor become employees in them in large numbers? How can enhance their social responsibility? How can we ensure that they serve interests of the poor but not the

115 private gains? In essence, can we have a way where micro-finance benefits the poor without hurting them, as Vikram Akula cautioned in his doctoral thesis, 6-7 years ago. Further, banks are now coming forward to have banking/business correspondents to reach out and SHGs and their federations can also think of taking up this agency. Meanwhile, we cannot ignore the unregistered chit funds, reckoned at an astonishing Rs 30 lakh crore, apart from the registered chit funds (only Rs.30,000 Crore). In fact, it may be difficult to draw the distinction between a registered chit fund and a MFI which lends to an individual. In fact, Banks, SHGs, MFIs and Chit Funds compete at one level and complement at another. Added to this, informal chits are part of a way of life in the communities. Two ideas have come to surface during the month. One is related to alumni of premier public institutions. There are more than 2000 state-run/supported residential schools in the country taking the students based on a rigorous talent test and each school sends out 60-120 alumni every year. 250-1000 students per year have received prestigious scholarships like national talent search, national merit etc. And about 100-150 premier institutes are publicly funded and produce high quality professionals. Even if we take only the last 25 years into account, the total number, deducting for duplications, may be in the order of 7-8 million, not a small number by any reckoning. Most of these have transcended poverty and are in the upper strata of the society, may be in the first 10% of the society. We need to bring them together for solidarity (a formidable force, by any standard), for payback (one for ten! Adopting students, schools, villages, families!), for retaining and improving the standards in their almamaters, and for building responsible civil society and citizenship. The second idea is to do with collectivizing trainees in the employment-skill training centers, collectivizing the community resource persons and community professionals, collectivizing the grassroots development workers, collectivizing the development professionals-at-large, collectivizing the development volunteers and collectivizing the civil society. Examples of all of these exist but none of them reached the kind of scale one is looking for. We see this kind of solidarity in teachers, journalists, government servants etc. Can we think of similar scale in development domain? Can we see collectives of 100,000+ for solidarity, learning and contributing? With e-advances, virtual networks, platforms, and forums, this is easy and cost- effective. This month reinforced the need for people with basic 3R (reading, writing and arithmetic) skills. It is not their education qualification but the 3R abilities that matter. Most of the students we have interacted, even after their graduation, seem to lack in 3R Skills - Language Skills and Analytical Skills. The other skills that are missing included self-awareness, inter-personal awareness and communication skills, learning skills and leadership skills. Major casualties are the common sense and uncommon sense. All these, typically classified as soft skills, are missing. When we have single digit proportion of students with employable skills, these become all the more important. As I write, law makers are trying to fix the remunerations for themselves. Hope we will have a situation where the lowest paid remuneration in our country and the highest paid will not be more than 1:10 or should this be 1:100? Currently, we have more than 1:10000. Can we correct this anomaly as soon as possible? There is a recent indicative study that tells us that teachers make the huge difference in how we end up doing in our lives. We may not know when the teacher was influencing you but it shows of after some time, after a decent time lapse, say after 5 years, a decade or more. If we

116 want to influence, if that is the business we are in, the place to intervene is in teaching in general, and teaching in schools and colleges and outside in particular, during that formative age (3-30 years)! Since there is an appeal for large-scale giving (philanthropy) by the haves, lots are obliging Warren Buffet and Bill Gates and committing to give. The solution is not in giving alone. It is in giving to change rules of the game and priorities for dispersed wealth creation and for crafting new rules for dispersed wealth creation. Poverty may end with economic freedom and ability to exercise that freedom. Giving we need is that giving that wields this power of influence for this end. Givers are not enough. We need caring givers. We need loving givers. We need knowledge workers who give the needed knowledge that is authentic and relevant with care and love. We need skilled practitioners to train us with care and love. We need resourceful to give resources with care and love. They need to teach us how to use the resources. They need to help us change our contexts and the rules that govern us our contexts. We need service providers to offer services with care and attention. We need happy people to share happiness joyously and willingly. We need teachers, mentors, leaders, guides and friends, who learn, earn and give with care and love, lead us in giving with care and love. We need loving givers leading the givers. We need institutions – family, school, village, society, and other institutions - that tend leaders who care to give time, energy and ability with care. We need caring meta-leaders who build caring givers. We need to love to give ourselves and live to love, to build caring givers and caring leaders of givers. NOW!. Let us love. Let us care. More and more best minds surely know how to love, care and give more and more. As President of India said – ‘every effort, big or small, does make a difference’. Let us build the loving caring giving collective leadership that gives all that is required with care and love. Let us live to love and care.

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35. People’s Professionals! Perspectives September, 2010

Now, it is time of festivals! Celebrations have been hit by increased prices! People remembered their great teachers on Teachers’ Day! As we live the month, International Literacy Day (8 September), International Democracy Day (15 September), International Engineers’ Day (15 September), International day of Preservation of Ozone Layer (16 September), and Peace Day (21 September) pass by. Krishnaasthami, Ramzan, Ganesh Navaratri and Immersion! The festival livelihoods have been hit. We were told only half of the Ganesh idols were sold this time around. The sizes were small. The crowds were less. The days before immersion were far less than nine for many. The month that went by continued to explore perspective plans. Employment continuum, Sustainable Agriculture, people’s institutional architecture and dedicated support structures/institutions, Rural Development Management – Theory and Practice, Drifting Missions, Identifying Poor, Poorest and Vulnerable, Seeing impacts on them, Planning for them, for their organizations and for their support organizations, were all there in the month. Being a teacher to young men and women helps to inspire and influence. Their achievements become the source of vicarious joy for the teacher. If some of them do not make it to the league first time, it could cause some initial pain. It is important that we remain available to get over the initial hurdles and ordeals. The framework for implementation of National Rural Livelihoods Mission for it to be rolled out in the states and union territories has reached last mile. NRLM itself is expected soon, may be before Gandhi Jayanthi and the launch of Commonwealth Games. This expectedly flexible framework is being frozen with wide-ranging consultations over three months now. National management team for NRLM is coming in. Pool of national resource persons and resource centres/organizations is growing. States have, more or less, fielded their core teams for NRLM processes in their states. They have begun their work on drawing perspective plans based on their current situation analysis. The donors have begun to chip into NRLM effort. Support agencies are joining hands towards this gigantic effort. Convergence and Partnerships are being discussed widely across the stakeholders. A vision of a billion poor families being out of poverty in a decade with not less than Rs. One million million (1000 US billion), NRLM has generated deep hope and promise across the country. Delivery may not belie this hope and promise! India needs to gear up. Between half-a-dozen of development programs/missions in the country, it needs a million+ development/livelihoods professionals over a decade and a lakh of them every year. After the health professionals, education professionals, the next tribe that has to grow is this. Governments, can you enable them to grow? Of course, these are required in support structures, these are required in the people’s organizations and these are required in social enterprises. Some of them need to become self-employed too. Not enough. India needs 10 million community professionals/resource persons! A million every year! Some to work with community organizations, some to lead and/or govern the community

118 organizations, some to be community paraprofessionals and some to be community resource persons, and at various levels. Some of them will be the future leaders of India. Millions of institutions of the poor are emerging. They are getting strengthened. They are meeting the needs of the poor. Universalization and saturation is the mantra. Do not leave anyone who needs should not be left out of mobilization. Participatory informal groups, direct democracy primary organizations and representative higher tiers, second generation collectives and collective enterprises … augment own collective funds through savings, increase access to credit at fair rates, increase incomes, reduce their expenditures, increase employment, increase proportion of consumer rupee for poor producers and risks diversified and managed with insurance coverage and mutuals. An organized new bottom of the pyramid, with bargaining power and solidarity! Owning their demand and owning most of the supply! A silent movement is in the making! Let us make it happen smoothly! Or get crushed and crumbled under it! India needs to gear up. It requires training infrastructure. It needs trainers, trainers of trainers. It needs mentors and inspirers. It needs curriculum, material, processes. It needs to use physical, distant, and virtual methods. The recruitment and selection processes need to be fine-tuned and large-scale processes need to unfold. Competency based selections have to become a necessary part of these. Immersions that call for staying with for long-periods of time, instituting de-selection methods, inductions that discusses theory and practice together, what, how and why with the inductees, exposure visits, audio-video-written documentation and dissemination of the best practices, handholding processes, piloting, review, learning and planning processes, leadership development and support processes etc., have to be done on scale and the resource persons for that need to be made available. Knowledge management and dissemination portal(s), books, magazines, radio and television channels that focus on development and livelihoods are also required. Remuneration to the professionals and community professionals has to align with the recent increases in remuneration to law makers and earlier to government servants. Only then, we can think of talented individuals coming into development sector and stay put. Amidst this buzz on mobilizing poor and supporting them, we cannot ignore simple life for all in general and non-poor in particular. Poor are requesting them, not to make the life complicated, boring, and sad and unhappy. Simple life includes: • Earn hunger and eat local; earn sleep and sleep in fresh air; take enough rest and find variety in works; get up early to reach work fresh and active; • Say no, if required; slow down and delegate/ outsource; have less; spread out big challenges; • Focus on the day; worry about things you can do something about it; forgive and be kind; throw away the ego; • Keep mouth shut and listen; find time to be alone; have friends; read books; smile, laugh and laugh more; be playful, at least a few minutes a day; listen to soft music; • Plan and work the plan; • Remember that you are not the general manager of the universe and be grateful to the universe for the life you have.

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Richard Moron has listed many rules for success of the career professionals. Many of them are relevant for development professionals too. These include: Celebrate small victories too, as often as possible; Keep track of what you do – someone is sure to ask; Write down ideas; Assume no one can keep a secret; Know when you do your best— morning, night, under pressure, relaxed - schedule and prioritize your work accordingly; choose pay cheque, rather than the size of the office; When stressed, take a deep breath and ask - in the course of human events, how important is this? Deliver your work only when it is finished; and Visit a first generation entrepreneur first, if the urge catches up with you. Recent NCAER study on earnings and spending reveals that high income households (47 million earning more than Rs.1.8 lakh per annum) outnumbering those in the low category (41 million earning less than Rs.40,000 per year) for the first time at the end of 2009-10. Interesting! As ever, the middle income class (140 million; 62%) continued to grow. That would mean we have people in income tax bracket exceed the poor. Over the past decade, high income group has more than tripled. The % of poor has decreased to 20% from the previous figure more than 30% +. Interestingly, middle class buys more than the upper class when it comes to household items. Further, poor are catching up faster with them. Juxtapose this with the Tendulkar’s Committee report. In 2005, India has 42% rural poverty. India is gearing up for doing a poverty counting from 2011/12. It is fine-tuning the methodology, may be a participatory methodology, for the same. Hope the process finalized catches the poverty of multi-dimensions with less scope for poor, poorest, marginalized and vulnerable being left out and non-poor paraded as poor. Basix and Vijay Mahajan have reflected on the work done by them over the past 15 days. In some sense, it brings about the growth of microfinance sector in the country. Their contributions in demonstration and policy formulation in rural finance, micro-finance including SHGs, MFIs, Bank Linkages, financial inclusion, insurance, livelihoods are significant. Vijay continues to be a leading civil society leader and BASIX and Vijay are established as microfinance leaders in the country. This reflection report can begin processes for honest and deep large scale reflection in the civil society on one hand and microfinance sector in India on the other. This is of big use in the light of discussions about convergence and partnerships for large scale mobilization of the poor in the country. Human resources being available with knowledge and skills are not enough. They need to lead and they need to give. They need to love. They need to work with the poor and become accountable to them. Of course, they are knowledge workers. They need to combine people’s knowledge, their own knowledge and the knowledge that is outside and offer it to the people to make choices. They need to listen and respond with needed knowledge that is authentic and relevant with care and love. We need mentors, teachers, guides and trainers with skill and competence to build these professionals with care and love. These professionals are always aware of their existing current task soon. They need to leave a legacy of the continuity of their effort behind. They need to lead them into visioning and planning. They need to be resourceful to give resources with care and love. They need to help us change our contexts and the rules that govern us our contexts. They need to offer services with care and attention.

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They have to be happy people. Of course, they need money. But, they would not compromise on learning and giving with care and love. They need to be learning professionals. They need to be loving professionals. They need to be leading professionals. They need to be professional professionals. They need to be effective and efficient managing professionals who care to give time, energy and ability with care. Some of them need to be building them as the principal agenda. Can we be them? We need to live to love. We need to love as long as we last. Till we live a legacy. Legacy of love! Let us inspire and persuade more and more best minds to be them. To love, care and give more and more. Let us together be the professionals of the people, and for the people. People deserve the best. Some of us can be the leading leaders and professional leaders to ensure that loving caring giving collective servant leadership with professionalism works in the country. Let us lead to serve, love and care.

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36. Pyramid > Diamond! Perspectives October, 2010

Month of festivals, Common Wealth Games, MFIs! It is not possible to escape Gandhi (2 October). As we live the month of World Days, we let them pass. These include - Teachers’ Day (5), Humanitarian Action Day (8), Food Day (16), Development Information Day (24). Right to Know Day (28 September), International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction (II Wednesday – 13 October), International Day of Rural Women (15 October), International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (17 October). We could also forget the UN Day (24 October)! Despite our articulation otherwise, poverty and development do not get our thought bytes that they deserve. 7 October made us miss the IAS rishi SR Sankaran. For many of us, he has been the Guru and the Chairperson! Common Wealth Games – good show, lots of money spent and lots of money made!!! From Ganesh Navaaratri, we moved to Devi Navaratri and Dusserah. Mysore Dusserah is now 400 years old. The month that went by continued to explore Missions, Programs, Projects, Plans, Businesses, Institutions and Human Resources. Notwithstanding recent declaration by US that India is the third largest economy and recent economic projections that India would outpace China in a year or so, the development figures are troublesome. Half of the hungry people of the world live in India. 46% of its children are malnourished. It may be difficult to achieve the first of the Millennium Development Goals. According to FAO, the fact that historically the number of undernourished people continued to increase even in periods of high growth and relatively low prices indicates that hunger is a structural problem. Therefore, economic growth is necessary but not sufficient to wipe out hunger in an acceptable time frame. Are MGNREGA, Food Security Act, Public Distribution System and now National Rural Livelihoods Mission sufficient for this huge task? NRLM will be launched formally any time now. States are getting ready to begin their NRLM activities. World Bank is coming forward to support NRLM with a National Rural Livelihoods Program. Other donors are also chipping in, in their own way. Support agencies are joining hands towards this gigantic effort. Convergence and Partnerships are being discussed widely across the stakeholders. Micro-finance Institutions are being discussed widely across the country as the death (of the borrowers) toll mounts, Government of AP responds with an ordinance to regulate them and RBI commissions a committee to look into the interest and other issues related to MFIs. High Court of AP refused to stay the ordinance. Is the cost of capital really so high? Then, how are the shareholders making so much money? Are we not seeing supernormal returns on equity here? What about multiple borrowings, use of the borrowed money and repayment patterns, rather than the fixed schedules, amounts and tenures? What about the ideas for use of the loan? Are we seeing poverty rhetoric and businessmen as development wallahs? Are we seeing the conflict between micro and macro? Know your customer, customer care, human touch.. are they not important? Making money from the poor – is it ok? Business with the poor is different from business by the poor. Should not we talk about building community financial institutions rather than the other way round? Should the MFIs enjoy

122 priority lending status? Is not it important that the poor get the surpluses of these operations rather than the rich? Poor, instead of losing money to unorganized local money lenders and traders, appear to be losing it to the organized smart investors and their professional staff. If their poverty comes down by any chance, it is incidental! As NRLM and other programs gear up, millions of institutions of the poor emerge. They meet their needs. They augment own collective funds through savings, revolving grants, loans at fair rates, savings in expenditures, safety nets and managed risks and increased incomes. Let us support this silent movement in the making! Let them tackle their problems! Surely, they will be better than us! These institutions need leaders. They need professional staff. They need community professionals working with them. They need investors. They need enablers. They need mentors. They need trainers. They need volunteers and they need supporters. In large numbers, millions and millions! And India needs to gear up. India needs to inspire its bright and talented youth to move in. India needs to build, manage and disseminate knowledge. India needs to accelerate creating an enabling environment for the poor to prosper. India needs to augment natural, physical, financial, social, human and spiritual knowledge, skills, tools, assets, resources and capitals in their hands. Pyramid needs to become a diamond soon. These internal human resources of the institutions and the external support facilitators need to love, give and lead. They need to remain accountable to these institutions with vision and plans. They need to be learning professionals. They need to be loving professionals. They need to be leading professionals. They need to be professional professionals. We need passion, skills and competence to inspire and build these human resources. This is the influence that lasts. This is the influence that is most significant. Nothing else matters. Let us together be the transformation professionals and servant leaders of the people, and for the people.

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37. 10,000 Hours! Perspectives November, 2010 Festivals of Lights, Deepavali and Deepam! Development brings Nitish back! Season of Crises and Scams! Raja bows out! Chavan gives way to Chavan! Kalmadi?! AP is getting ready for ‘Telangana’! Kiran takes charge! After Gandhi, we have Nehru (14 November). Many a day of importance and international observance went by - World Freedom Day (9 November), World Immunization Day (10 November), World Diabetes Day (14 November), International Day of Tolerance (16 November), World Toilet Day (19 November), Universal Children’s Day (20 November) and International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November)! The month that went by continued to explore finding ways to spend money for poor! Through Missions, Programs, Projects, Plans, Businesses, Institutions and Human Resources! My realization – it is not easy. Obama came to India and said India is a developed nation. He has won over India. Did we? Again, Gandhi is inescapable – Obama reminded us – “We will always remember the Great Soul who changed the world with his message of peace, tolerance and love. More than 60 years of his passing, his light continues to inspire the world.” Now it is official, despite all low indicators on human development and poverty, India is a developed country. Obama confirms. Taskforce on Credit Related Issues of Farmers asserts that the farmer is an entrepreneur. It calls for aggregation of their financial and other inputs and commodity processing and marketing. They need to be brought into institutional fold through SHGs of Farmers, their federations and collectives urgently. They need insurance against loss of revenue. They need to be provided incentives/subsidies directly to farmers or their organizations rather than through the service providers and input subsidies. It is seeking NRLM to work closely with women and men farmers, banks and NABRAD towards increasing acreage under sustainable agriculture. Further, the taskforce observes that the moneylender comes in many forms - as input supplier, commission agent, the buyer of produce, the NBFC and the traditional rural moneylender. Andhra Pradesh Government appears to have fashioned its MFI ordinance taking cue from here. On the MF, the solution is in having MF+ Institutions that realize surpluses form the economic services because of scale and run the credit operations on clear no profit basis. This would mean incomes from sourcing the material and services needed from the source and supplying the products and services at the destination. This would mean taking a small share in the increased proportion of consumer rupee realized by the poor. This may mean the MFIs become hybrid organizations that have MFI and Economic Business Organization working hand in hand. NRLM, pending its launch formally, is making the states to come forward with their initial action plan, poverty profiling and perspective plans. Action in the background is in progress! As NRLM and other programs gear up, millions of institutions of the poor emerge. They meet their needs. They augment own collective funds through savings, revolving grants, loans at fair rates, savings in expenditures, safety nets and managed risks and increased incomes. But, the legislations that provide framework for such institutions are under threat. Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies Act may get repealed. Producer Company format may not be available. So, what shall we do?

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We know that this silent movement in the making can tackle their problems, surely, better than us! Civil Society has to speak up and speak out. There are studies that say that there are 1-10 million civil society organizations in the country. It employs 20-30 million people, more than the private organized sector. Their annual funding is close to Rs. 1000 Billion (1 Billion = 1000 million - about 10% of our national annual budget). The government projects are increasingly becoming independent government organizations and business organizations are running their own large CSR foundations. The other larger sized organizations are religious or spiritual in nature. Most others who are effective are small organizations who build knowledge-skills-resources of the society at large and poor and marginal in particular directly or through their support organizations. If not anything, they keep our stark and shameful poverty and inequality in the public eye for public action. We need more of them. The community collectives and these civil society support institutions need leaders, professionals, community professionals, investors, enablers, mentors, trainers, volunteers and supporters. In large numbers! Bright and talented youth have to move in. Let us make these people invest their time, energy and effort in a focused manner with passion on being useful to the people at large. Let them spend 10,000 hours with such dedication, then, I was made to believe, they become permanent resource to the sector. Let us make them invest this little time, in any way they like! Then, they give. They love and lead. They vision and plan. They remain accountable to the community. They learn. They are professionals! They inspire. They build more of them. They build their competence on their own. We need to be this influence. Influence that lasts. Influence that matters. Let us be in the business of influence. Let us give. Let us give what we have abundantly. None of us can say we do not have.

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38. Another 10,000 Hours! Perspectives December, 2010

Two Days - Human Rights and Farmers. Dr Binayak Sen is sentenced for life-term. Farmers continue to die. We have some functions for World AIDS Day (1 December) and International Day of Persons with Disabilities (3 December). The month that went by continued to explore finding ways to improve livelihoods of the poor in various contexts across the length and breadth of the country including coasts, hills, deserts and dry hinterlands. Social Mobilization, access to credit, collectivization and intervention across the employment continuum are the main elements in any solution that emerges. In the context of access to credit, Sivakumar [Shiv’s Third Eye] listed various plausible factors for the likely ‘death’ of MFIs – not innovated enough to reduce the interest rate; losing sight of collective action of the poor; not building the political capital; absence of social capital that benefit from long-term engagement with MFIs; short on regulations; distorted MF market with Government as competitor and regulator; scaling models with requisite capabilities funds before the sector is ready; not enough manpower, manpower with quality; loaning by group leaders; and grants and soft loans for private gain. We still need robust pro-poor social MFIs. Hope some of them survive and new ones come in with more robust business processes and models! Surely, they need to be MF+ Institutions that realize surpluses form the economic services because of scale and run the credit operations on clear no profit basis. 12th Five Year Plan Approach is talking about 12 Key Challenges – • Enhancing the Capacity for Growth including Reform of the Subsidy Regime, Public Private Partnerships; • Enhancing Skills and Faster Generation of Employment including Expanding Education and Skills, Sustainable Livelihoods for Alleviation of Poverty; • Managing the Environment including Land, Mining and Forest Rights, Sustainable Management of Water Resources, Mitigation Strategies for Climate Change, Waste Management and Pollution Abatement, Forestry and Wildlife; • Markets for Efficiency and Inclusion including Making Markets Accessible; • Decentralization, Empowerment and Information including Capacity Building for Decentralized Planning, Using Media for Development, Social Justice for All; • Technology and Innovation; Securing the Energy Future for India including Increase the share of Renewable Energy; • Accelerated Development of Transport Infrastructure including Universal Connectivity through Greater Investment in Rural Roads Network; • Rural Transformation and Sustained Growth of Agriculture including Drinking Water, Food Security, Rural Poverty Alleviation; Managing Urbanization including Urban Poverty Alleviation; • Improved Access to Quality Education including Universal Primary Education with Better Quality, Expansion of Secondary Education with Vocational Alternatives; and Better Preventive and Curative Health Care.

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Let us contribute to the evolution of a more robust five year plan. NREGA, Food Security, Social Security and NRLM/ JNNURM would take the lion’s share of the Plan Funds. Already in NRLM agenda, States are working on developing their initial action plans, poverty profiling and perspective plans. The community collectives and the civil society support institutions need leaders, professionals, community professionals, investors, enablers, mentors, trainers, volunteers and supporters. In large numbers! Bright and talented youth have to move in. Let us build an orchestrated campaign to identify, build and support these people in large numbers. Double quick! Let us spend our 10,000 hours to begin with for Getting More (Performance) for Less (Cost) for More (People) [Mashelkar calls it ‘Gandhian Engineering’]. Let us work on the things we have control over - ourselves, our emotions, our thoughts, our actions and our 3Rs – Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Let us remember to write with hand as often as possible. It helps in enhancing our learning and therefore, usefulness. Let us spend our energy in the creation process, and on people deserve our attention and love. While doing so, let us not waste our time in the Don’ts - Trying to do everything; responding to all and sundry (calls/mails/letters etc.); Thinking we have to do everything immediately; Putting important tasks off; Trying to get things perfect the first time round; Being hung up over details; Not having clear goals; Not taking short breaks; and trying to please everyone. Let each one of us add second 10,000 hours to work on individuals to give 10,000 hours. Then we have a movement of 10,000 hours spreading all across.

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39. Learning to Share Learning! Perspectives January, 2011

KG Kannabiran – may his soul rest in peace! Of course, we remembered Swami Vivekananda (12 January) and we will remember Mahatma Gandhi (30 January). World Religion Day (Third Sunday of January – 15 January this year), and National Girl Child Day (24 January) went by. 2011 is also the year to celebrate life beyond human beings - the International Year of Forests and World Veterinary Year. Government has announced Padma awards for the year. There are Padma Vibhushans, Padma Bhushans and Padma Sris in the domain of public affairs, social work, education, and health too. Some of the prominent development workers in the list include – LC Jain, Vijay Kelkar, RM Pai, Sankhar Ghosh, Darshan Shankar, Nomita Chandy, Sheela Patel, Krishna Kumar, and Gulshan Nanda. A weaver, Gajam Goverdhana, is a surprising entry. The month that went by continued to explore rolling-out livelihoods agenda in various contexts across the length and breadth of the country. Continuums and Commons cannot be ignored. President, Pratibha Patil, in her Republic Day address, sought national consensus on critical goals - eradication of poverty, food security and dry-land agriculture-based second green revolution, collectives, empowerment of women, access to quality education and affordable health facilities, civic discipline, the readiness of people to work with dedication and integrity. Malegam Report on MFIs recommends regulation treating the MFIs as NBFC-MFIs with interest caps on lending (24% to individuals), multiple lending, no lending by more than two MFIs, no coercive recovery, transparent charges etc. Other recommendations include – lending be limited to families with incomes below Rs.50,000 per annum; Maximum loan amount to a member is Rs.25000; 75% loans for productive purposes; lending to MFIs should be treated as Priority Sector Lending; MFIs should be exempted from the provisions of the Money-lending Acts; smaller MFIs do not require to be registered with regulator; and MFIs cannot be doing thrift services. Ramanjaneyulu has been arguing for Pay Commission for Farmers a la for Staff in Governments. Organized sector aligns itself with the Pay Commissions in any case. That leaves farmers, traditional occupations and self-employed out of this. Yes, we need to do something about them. We are an enterprise country. Most of us are self-employed and/or entrepreneurs. We are not trained. We go by trial and error. I understand, it is not easy to teach entrepreneurship. However some tips can help. Alex Tausig has listed 15 mistakes we make – #15: Trapped in “college bubble” – grow out of micro-context #14: No prototype; or irrelevant users – test with real users #13: Didn’t research competition – it is all around #12: Haven’t talked to customers – listen to customers #11: Customer acquisition strategy is not repeatable – costs and feasibility can come in the way #10: Paying for things that could be free – know that free support is available #9: Didn’t practice the pitch – practice, practice and practice #8: No good story – a story to appreciate the issue matters #7: No idea about the investors across the table – research

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#6: Make stuff up instead of saying “I don’t know.” – be honest about what is known and not known #5: Don’t seek disconfirming evidence – it helps to improve #4: Pick easily accessible not particularly relevant advisors – look around to find ones who can make a difference #3: Hire for short-term needs, not long-term fit – double check suitability for long-term association #2: Treat fundraising like an end, not a means – idea/plan is the key, funds are required to support the plan #1: Do more than one business plan competition – once may be fine. Focus on getting to work the plan Learning has to come centre-stage. Learning should be a national agenda. However, it should not be limited to knowing or getting a certificate but it should include applying. Hard work, knowing inside-out and practice, practice and practice is the key in the learning. Being a learner matters more than anything else. Real world is much bigger and more diverse than the class room. Learn first, usefulness will come. We are in the business of learning and influencing, nothing else, if you really care to see deep. We learn to learn that teachers are learners and learners are teachers; learning need love and when in love it shows; ‘I understand’ makes the learner’s day; If we can’t help, we can at least pray; friends help in learning; support in crisis helps in learning; caring helps in learning; learning does not happen uniformly over time, across people, issues and skills; we learn by seeking learning, both what we seek and what we have not sought; learning is in the small things in daily life; everyone needs appreciation and love so that they are on the learning curve; facts do not change because we do not learn; learning is to get going without getting stuck with petty minds and quarrels; more than the time, learning to love heals all life; learning accelerates by living in an environment of learning; all life is great and needs to be warm with for learning to flow; nothing is right or simple, till you learn; learning is an opportunity we cannot miss; bitterness and frustration stunts learning; All joy and happiness is in learning; learning is faster when we have less time; smiling face looks better and learns faster; being grateful hastens learning; and remembering that we know very little is the foundation of our learning. Let each one of us be committed to sharing our learning as it challenges us to learn and share. Let us begin the movement of 10,000 hours of learning and sharing our learning.

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40. Let Us Argue and Learn! Perspectives February, 2011

Happy Budget! Corruption continues to surface! Egypt is showing the way to the world to fight tyrants, corruption etc. JPC on 2G Scam! Telangana stir go on - non-cooperation in action! World Day of Social Justice (20 February) and World Thinking Day (22 February) went by. International Women’s Day, World Consumer Rights Day, International day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and World Day for Water are awaiting us in March. Of course, we look forward to Holi too! Union Budget is just presented. Early reports indicate – • We are Senior Citizens at 60 and very Senior Citizens at 80. Pension to poor very senior citizens is Rs.500 per month from Government of India. • Kerosene, Fertilizers and LPG subsidies will flow to the households directly. • Plan is to set up ‘India Microfinance Equity Fund’ of Rs.100 Crore with SIDBI and ‘Women’s SHG’s Development Fund’ with a corpus of Rs.500 Crore. • The corpus of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) is to be raised to Rs. 18,000 Crore from Rs.16, 000 Crore for exclusive investments in warehousing. • Rs.5000 Crore are earmarked for incremental lending to Micro and Small enterprises. • Rs.3000 Crore are allocated for giving to Handloom Weavers’ Cooperatives. • RKVY allocation to increase marginally to Rs.7860 Crore. • Proposals to launch National Mission for Protein Supplements and National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture are on the anvil. • Agriculture Credit flow is expected to touch Rs.475000 Crore. • 17% increase in social sector allocation, amounting to Rs.Rs.160,000 Crore (36% of the plan budget) • National Food Security Bill is expected • MGNREGS would offer a real wage of Rs.100 • National Skill Development Council gets more allocation. • Education and Health get increased allocation. The month that went by continued to explore making human resources available at various levels for rolling-out livelihoods agenda in various contexts across the length and breadth of the country. Continuums, Commons, Farming, Weaving, Institutions, Innovations, Wage, Job and Self-employment, Enterprises and Sustainability take our thinking, time, energy and effort. What needs to be done for the original entrepreneurs of the land, farmers? Huge variety – landed, landless, leased-in, irrigated, dryland, fertile, not-so-fertile, 3-crops, 2-crops, one crop, big, medium, small, marginal, progressive, not-so progressive, variety of crops, long-duration and short duration, horticulture, fruits, vegetable, cereals, perishables, cold storage, storage, transport, local, export, fodder, local value-addition, small animals, large animals, milk, meat, leather, eggs, marine fisheries, inland fisheries, prawns, boat owners, catamaran owners, seed producers, fishing suppliers, so on and so forth. Minimum support price? direct market? Can we ask only budgetary support? Can we ask only plan allocation? Can we collectivize? Can we work on the value chain? Can we offer support to reduce risks? Can we go completely

130 organic? Can we achieve economies of scale? Can this be beginning with the existing universal institutions of poor women? Do we need special purpose vehicles? Can we relocate the reluctant farming entrepreneurs? Can they be employed? Can they be self-employed? How do we counsel them? How do we nurture them? Are the savings the way out for the poor? Is the education way out? Do the bank linkages help? Do the MFIs help? Do the skills help? Does the market be friendly to the poor? Do the social entrepreneurs really help the poor? If a Central Training Authority comes, will that help? Can NIRD rise to the challenge? Do we need more of them? Can we expect other institutes to pitch in? We know that asking questions is the first step in finding solutions. Let us argue. Spend some of our time in raising questions that matter. That is the way to build the movement of learning and sharing our learning.

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41. Let Us Argue, Teach and Learn! Perspectives March, 2011

Happy World Cup! World Cup fever has put aside action against ‘surfacing’ corruption! Elections in five states! Census says we are 1.21 billion now. Of course, Gadhafi is still fighting! Some stirrings for International Women’s Day (8 March), World Water Day (24 March), and Earth Hour (8.00-9.00 PM on 25 March)! We await World Health Day (7 April), World Entrepreneurship Day (16 April), and Earth Day (22 April). Apart from Agriculture Planning, Rural Employment Guarantee, Self-reliant Cooperatives and Indicting People for working with the Poor at various levels, six streams of thought dominated the month – employment, enterprises and livelihoods for the vulnerable, perspective plans for reducing poverty in the country, partnerships and collaborations for knowledge human resources at various levels, livelihoods continuums and knowledge commons, knowledge management and learning channels and platforms, and Tu zinda hai to …. Shankar Shailendra’s Tu zinda hai to zindagi ki jeet mein yaqeen kar, agar kahin hai swarg to utaar la zameen par, Tu zinda hai... roughly translates as If you are alive, believe in the victory of life; if there is heaven somewhere, bring it down to earth. Geoffrey James endorses five concepts in development management and social enterprise management that work – development business/enterprise is a series of relationships towards a common shared purpose; it is a community, a community of living beings with hopes and dreams, with mutual contributions for achieving these hopes and dreams while aligned to the common shared purpose; we service the needs and are moving in a direction rather than achieving some targets by hook or crook; each living being have the ability and are interested to take care of their destiny; technology is for offering choices and creating flexibility. Can we try and adopt? He wants to be extra careful in applying the concepts – ‘downsizing’, ‘leadership’ that does not make others productive, ‘human resources’ as expendable, technology as ‘empowerment’, and ‘business warfare’. IFAD Rural Poverty Report 2011 brings home some key ways forward towards reducing poverty – It is important to understand and appreciate that the livelihoods of poor households are diverse across and within; rural poverty results from lack of assets, limited economic opportunities and poor education and capabilities, as well as disadvantages rooted in social and political inequalities; yet large numbers of households move in and out of poverty repeatedly, sometimes within a matter of years. Mobility out of poverty is associated with personal initiative, enterprise, education and ownership of assets. The areas of focus, the issues to address and the roles of different actors will all vary in different contexts. Universally, the aim must be the development of smallholder farming systems that are productive, integrated into dynamic markets (for environmental services as well as food and agricultural products), and environmentally sustainable and resilient to risks and shocks. A vibrant agricultural sector as well as a variety of new factors can also drive the expansion of the nonfarm rural economy, in a wide range of circumstances. Greater investment and attention are needed in infrastructure, utilities, services and governance. Efforts are required in reducing the risks of the poor, improving the risk management capacities and providing adequate social protection. Knowledge management including making it available to the poor and building their knowledge, skills, resources and

132 institutions for plugging gaps and tapping opportunities on a continuous and dynamic basis should be the primary effort. Collectivizing and strengthening Collective capabilities should be the key route for all this. This agenda requires ‘joined-up’ efforts within the government(s), and a collective effort, may be with new ways of working together and accountabilities, of governments, the private sector, civil society and people’s organizations. Let us hope various flagship programs, plans and budgets in the country take note and work in line with this generic thought. Indian rural areas are having a good number of successful social mobilization efforts across the country. More than 30 million households have been mobilized while only 60-70% of them are in the fold of state poverty reduction programs. Remaining are in the fold of NGOs. A SKDRDP mobilized 1.0+ million poor households; a DHAN mobilized 300,000 of them; a PRADAN mobilized 100,000 of them; a MYRADA mobilized 200,000 of them; Ten million families by various district/state level NGOs. Also, there are working cooperatives with membership crossing 30 million. Of these mobilized, some are very poor, some poor, some not-so poor. Some of them are federated upwards. Some are independent only with facilitating support of NGOs and some are being controlled. The moot question is how do we avoid redundancy, duplication and confusion in the efforts on ground? These mobilized people also need knowledge, skills and resources. How can they be provided? Further, the NGOs can expand on this easily. Some can contribute to the pools of resource persons at community level and professional level; they can contribute to the models and modules; they can actually take up capacity building; they can also contribute in building the robust design of the program(s) and institutions; they can be learning and knowledge partners; and they need support to help and assurance that their resources, including human resources, are not undermined. Let us argue. Let us try teaching what we understood. Let us take up the challenge of teaching so that we learn together. May be, that is the way to build the silent learning movement in livelihoods and development.

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42. Movement of Giving! Perspectives April, 2011

Happy Earth Day! Happy Bhoodan Day! Happy May Day! The chairman of Rs.1000 billion Trust, Sri Sathya Sai Baba, leaves behind the Trust, the University, Super-specialty Hospitals, Water projects, the one-lakh+ volunteers in 1500+ Sathya Sai Centres in 114 countries and three-six crore devotees in 178 countries, the agenda and the ‘hope’, controversies apart. For starters, Sathya Sai Trust is one of the highest foreign contribution earners in the country. Jan Lokpal Drafting Committee came into being as ‘scamsters’ charge-sheeted and went behind the bars, albeit temporarily. Elections are still going on in 5 states with anti-incumbency sentiment all around. Commercial Cricket is going on. Vijay Mahajan ends his Shodh Yatra at Pochampally. Some stirrings for World Health Day (7 April) and Earth Day (22 April)! Many International Days just passed by – International Day for Street Children (12 April); World Entrepreneurship Day (16 April); and World Books Day (23 April). Let us await Mothers’ Day, Fair Trade Day, Family Day, Information Society Day, Diversity Days and of course, Buddha Purnima. The sixteen streams of thought and work dominated the month – institutions, employment, capitals, capacities, contexts, continuums, enterprises, livelihoods for the poor and vulnerable, the livelihoods movement, the livelihoods knowledge workers, the poverty reduction perspective plans, knowledge commons, channels, platforms and consortiums, and search. We know poor have no choice but self-driven. Steve Tobak lists 10 careers for self-driven people – chef, cook, bar tender (hospitality); sales/trade/vendor; executive; marketing; entrepreneur (start-up); investment (cards, funds); agent (trade, retail, telecom, ICT); blog/jockey; brewer; social media/networking. Spiritual shops need to be added to this list. We can add some more – MGNREGS job; dairy; organic farming; readymade; security; transport; eatables; tea; courier; repairs; so on. Penelope Trunk concludes - some gender differences are natural and we need to be respectful of this rather than worrying about them. “In general, men have approximately 6.5 times the amount of gray matter related to general intelligence than women, and women have nearly 10 times the amount of white matter related to intelligence than men. Gray matter represents information processing centers in the brain, and white matter represents the networking of— or connections between—these processing centers.” [Richard Haier]. Further, boys, rather than girls, populate the two extreme ends of the bell curve of intelligence. In the middle, that is people, who are decent at math, science and engineering are equally boys and girls. By the same token, may be some gender preferences are not social constructs, they are the result of evolution. Stephen Lloyd, co-creator and architect of the form - Community Interest Company [CIC] in UK, argues that markets need to be controlled in order to be effective. CICs have built into them strict controls on the financial rewards that financiers can take out either through share capital or performance related interest. Effectively CICs can only give their investors a bond type rate of return – that is, interest and no capital appreciation. In America, benefit corporations are now being established which are like CICs. Benefit corporations will have to prove through rigorous reporting, etc, that they are delivering their nonfinancial

134 returns and social impact. This could involve a beefed up role for the regulator. But there are no caps on financial returns. India can learn from these CICs and Benefit Corporations in regulating the profit-oriented so called social enter prises including MFIs/NBFCs that articulate social purpose and orientation. Producer Company or Community-owned Private Limited Company or Limited Liability Partnership can be alternatives to privately owned Social Enterprises! Recent media space occupied by Sri Sathya Sai Baba and his Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust due to his prolonged suffering and eventual mahasamdhi has highlighted their spiritual, philanthropic and education activities by the Trust. These include free schools including institutions of higher learning and deemed university, free hospitals including world class super-specialty hospitals, cultural centres across the world, and free water supply schemes to Chennai and drought-prone areas of Andhra Pradesh. Puttaparthi has grown into a centre with metro-facilities – railway station and airport. The Trust based at Puttaparthi is managing Rs.400-1500 billion properties and works across the globe. This is almost the same budget that is contemplated for the entire National Rural Livelihoods Mission over seven years. It is interesting to note that so much could be pooled, a miraculous achievement! Only a fraction (not even 10%) of the fund application could provide so much relief to the people and popularity to the Trust! While Warren Buffet and Bill Gates give away or pledged to give away more than 90% of their wealth, our rich are still lagging behind. Sathya Sai could show that charity and generosity in a small measure would take one to heights of popularity. All the rich who are accumulating wealth, we hope, would, learn from him. Surely, his blessings are guaranteed! Let us give. Let us learn and love to give. Let us earn, learn, love and give. Let us give because we carry nothing with us except the name. Let us leave behind the legacy of love and give. Let us build the movement of giving towards livelihoods and development.

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43. Be with Them! Perspectives May, 2011

The mini elections in the country brought Jayalaithaa and Mamata forward. IPL Cricket ended. Monsoon is on its way. T-sentiment back to the fore. Some stirrings for May Day, Mothers’ Day (8 May) and World No Tobacco Day (31 May)! Many International Days just passed by – for instance - Fair Trade Day (14 May – second Saturday in May), Family Day (15 May), Information Society Day (17 May), and Diversity Days (21 and 22 May). We await Children’s Day, Environment Day, Day Against Child Labour, Music Day, Public Service Day etc. Of course, I also look forward to Fathers’ Day. Gurudev Vishwakavi Rabindranath Tagore and his Gitanjali were remembered – “Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. …At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable … Life of my life, I shall ever try to keep my body pure, knowing that thy living touch is upon all my limbs …I ask for a moment’s indulgence to sit by thy side …Now it is time to sit quite, face to face with thee, and to sing dedication of live in this silent and overflowing leisure. I have spent my days in stringing and in unstringing my instrument …In the night of weariness let me give myself up to sleep without struggle, resting my trust upon thee …. He came and sat by my side but I woke not … why do I ever miss his sight whose breath touches my sleep? … Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; …Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. All that I am, that I have, that I hope and all my love have ever flowed towards thee in depth of secrecy ….let all my life take its voyage to its eternal home in one salutation to thee. The streams of thought and work that dominated the month include institutions, livelihoods, vulnerable, and workers. Montek Singh Ahluwalia writes on Twelfth Plan (in Economic and Political Weekly) – “… We have done well on the growth front, but not so well on inclusion ... Much of what needs to be done to accelerate GDP growth to 9% or so will be done by the private sector, but the central and state governments have a crucial role to play in providing a policy environment that is seen as investor friendly and is supportive of inclusive growth. … The government’s own resources have to be deployed with a clear sense of priority - health and education and critical infrastructure development, especially in water management and rural infrastructure, and infrastructure development in backward areas must have top priority. …. Four critical challenges facing the economy in the Twelfth Plan - (a) managing the energy situation, (b) managing the water economy, (c) addressing the problems posed by the urban transformation that is likely to occur, and (d) ensuring protection of the environment in a manner that can facilitate rapid growth. Finally, the efficiency in implementation of projects on the ground needs to be greatly improved. … Evidence- based evaluation is critical for redesign and prioritization…” It is in this context, we have to see the national launch of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission at Banswara, Rajasthan on 3 June 2011. The

136 constitution of the working group on NRLM by the planning commission has to be seen in this light. The framework of NRLM that is made available provides for grounds-up planning. Each state presents its own perspective plan for appraisal and implementation. It needs to take the role of converging all that happens to the poor or for the poor. These include Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in implementation for more than five years now and the National Food Security Act that is in the pipeline. Right to Education and National Rural Health Mission have to be built into the portfolio. While doing so, it is important to distinguish a neighbourhood school from a Gurukulam or a Navodaya school. Their admissions have to be strictly governed by the merit-based selection criteria. The poverty-based census has to be seen in this context which automatically excludes certain households, which automatically includes certain households and the last category based on some ranking. We still need to understand how this process is more fool-proof than the earlier 17 factor BPL enumeration. We still need to see the numbers how they compare with the Tendulkar’s estimates. Can we not think of universal inclusion in the remotest and/or the poorest locations for all these? Can we not think of universal inclusion of certain communities? Can we not bring in self selection that is a part and parcel of MGNREGA, into this? Can we not develop standard exclusion criteria like government job, four-wheeler, pucca house, irrigated land etc.? We know that disadvantaged benefit being in collectives. We need Acts that allow independent people’s institutions of the poor and disadvantaged flourish. Non-interfering Mutually Aided Cooperative Acts or Self-reliant cooperative Acts need to be pre-condition for NRLM roll-out in a state. Better still, Union Government itself may encourage formation of Producers’ (value-adders, service providers, users, consumers included) Companies under Companies’ Act or come up with an act for SHG Federations to accommodate all their special and peculiar needs. Let us love. Let us learn and love to work with the poor, their true institutions and the institutions that support them. Let us improve their capitals. Let us better their contexts. Let us earn, learn, love, give and be with them. Let us be with them through their thick and thin. Let us leave behind the legacy of being with them. Let us build the movement of being with them.

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44. Let Us Know and Be With Them! Perspectives June, 2011

Happy Fathers’ Day! Happy Rains! Monsoon is still finding its way. May Dr Raj Arole, extraordinary health worker of the world, rest in peace! Some stirrings for World Environment Day (5 June) and Fathers’ Day (19 June)! Many International Days just passed by – for instance -World Day against Child Labour (12 June), World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (17 June), and UN Public Service Day (23 June). We await Doctors’ Day, International Cooperative Day, Writers’ Day and World Population Day. Kristina’s ‘A Farewell Ode: Missing Kabul’ (an e-mail) has been an inspiration for me this month – “….. I remember depressing nights then I remember ladies we have interviewed from various districts who said that they loved to continue their studies but their fathers won’t let them ….There were stories of … hitting women who went out alone or without a burqa. ….I remember families sharing stories on how their brothers, fathers, sisters, or husbands, have been wounded or even killed … I remember sleepless nights thinking children being in such a hostile environment at such a young age. I stopped rewatching “the kite runner” for it literally tears my heart. How can I forget teenagers sharing with us cucumber yogurts by the river and all they wanted was to have a decent job to support their living. … I expected something worse in a war-torn place. But I was so wrong! The wonderful gardens still amaze me up to this day! The people are also exhausted from their suffering. … They found ways to survive and move on. … The adventure, the sadness behind the veils, the apples and the peaches, the landmines, the cassette tapes, the empty bullet shells, the ISAF tanks, the kebabs and yogurts, the bombings, the shepherd and the flock of sheep, lapis lazulis — they all made me think “be the change you wish to see in the world.” Thank you Gandhi for always reminding me this…. I know that I cannot fully understand the complexities of what the afghan people are going through but deep within me there lies the longing to be back. I believe one day, I will be back. … Allah Hafez. :-) The streams of thought and work that dominated the month include institutions, livelihoods, vulnerable, convergence and workers. Finally the poverty-based census has been launched in Tripura nationally. The approved methodology - The rural households would be classified in three steps – First, a set of Households are EXCLUDED (even if one of the automatic exclusion criteria satisfied. These criteria include Motorized Two/Three/Four Wheelers/Fishing boats; Mechanized Three/ Four wheeler agricultural equipment such as tractors, harvesters etc.; Kisan Credit Card with the credit limit of Rs.50,000 and above; Households with any member as Government Employee: Households with

138 nonagricultural enterprise registered with the Government; Any member in the family earning more than Rs. 10,000 per month; Paying income tax or professional tax; Owning three or more rooms with all rooms having pucca walls and pucca roof; Owning Refrigerator; Owning landline phones; owning 2.5 acres or more irrigated land with at least one irrigation equipment; 5 acres or more land irrigated for two or more crop seasons; Or owning 7.5 acres or more land with at least one irrigation equipment) Second, a set of households are compulsorily INCLUDED (Automatic Inclusion Criteria include Households without shelter; Destitutes/living on alms; Manual scavengers; Primitive Tribal Groups; Legally released bonded labourers. Are we missing out on the remotest/inhospitable locations in the automatic inclusion criteria?); and Third, remaining households are RANKED as per the number of deprivation indicators (these include - Households with only one room with kucha walls and kucha roof; Households with no adult member between age 16 to 59; Female headed households with no adult male member between age 16 to 59; Households with any disabled member and no able bodied adult member; SC/ST households; Households with no literate adult above 25 years; and Landless households deriving the major part of their income from manual casual labour). This data would be approved by Gram Sabha. One question arises if there is a conflict, in case of a conflict between exclusion criteria and inclusion criteria. Is the exclusion first? Or the inclusion first? Next question is related to State-wise Poverty Cap. How are the Caps calculated? In the process, are we not excluding or including the real poor or non-poor? To achieve the cut- off cap, the panchayats with lower SC/ST population (%) are excluded till we reach the cut-off. Finally, Government’s priority is first the automatically included, followed by the households with higher deprivation score (7 to 0, in that order). Final question – does this census bring all the poor into the fold? We still need to see how this process is more fool-proof than earlier exercises. Food Security Act is still in the offing. Apart from offering ration at low price, the need is to comprehensively transform the external input based green revolution agriculture into flexible sustainable regenerative agriculture system/mosaic with minimal external inputs including energy and water, for local consumption. Even now, when the poor spend 30-60% on having adequate food and nutrition, the strain is palpable with food price inflation. There is a case for treating food differently in the market place. Government regulation may have to continue. It needs to build up stocks. Storage needs to be better. Local value addition and catering to local markets has to be pursued. Collectivization of the small producers and consumers and linkages between them have to be pursued. Let us know who the poor are. Let us know that they spend half their money on food. Let us secure it. Let us love them. Let us learn and love to work with them, their true institutions and the institutions that support them. Let us be with them in their movement to be out of poverty for good.

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45. Hope Is in The Resilience of The Poor! Perspectives July, 2011

Happy Gurupurnima! Happy Rains! UPA reshuffles Cabinet. Let us welcome Jairam Ramesh to lead Rural Development in the country! He signs the National Rural Livelihoods Project loan from World Bank already. NRLM is going to pick up momentum! Some stirrings for World Population Day (11 July)! Let us await International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, International Youth Day and World Humanitarian Day. Gorkhaland gets Gorkhaland Territorial Authority, with more powers. Sudan becomes two nations. More than 100 members of Parliament, Assembly and Council submit resignations in AP. AP is back with T-agitation and Unitedagitation. There is silence (may be before storm) on Lokpal. 2G investigations are in progress. CBI starts investigations into Jagan’s wealth. We discover more money with temples. Anantha Padmanabha emerges as the richest deity in the world, surpassing Lord Balaji. Sathya Sai’s hidden wealth is still being uncovered. Interesting times! The streams of thought and work that dominated the month include institutions, livelihoods, vulnerable, convergence and workers. Community-managed microfinance – savings, credit, insurance, remittance, equity, pensions etc., and collectivization of the poor have also taken some significant time and energy. As NSS Survey confirms that 50% of Indian per capita expenditure is on food, and the top 10% spend 10 times the bottom 10%, our millennium development goal chase is admittedly slow – do we bring down our poverty level to less than 20% by 2015? Can we have all our children complete schooling? Can we have no gender disparity in all levels of education? Can we have our child mortality rate below 42 per 1000 live births? Can we have our maternal mortality rate below 107 per 100000 live births? Can we halt and reverse the incidence of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/IDS? Can we reduce biodiversity loss? Can we implement strategies for decent and productive work for all our young people? The picture is not painted well at all. Yet, we know that we need to invest long-term so that we achieve 2015 MDGs even in 2017 or 2018 or in the ultimate stretch scenario in 2020. The hope that we would succeed, may be slightly late, comes from looking at the poor, looking at the contours of the poor. No poor would like to live in poverty and they are always ready. If they appreciate opportunities, knowledge, resources and some push towards accessing these is available, they get going. Their needs change and therefore, they outgrow facilitation faster. Their resilience is enormous – they survive where others would have died! This resilience of the poor gives us the hope. But this needs two pronged approach - * An individual needs fish first to survive, fishing skill to live on fishing and meta-fishing (beyond fishing) skill to identify the gaps and opportunities, acquire the required skills, tools and resources and tap them for better living. Harnessing one’s innate potential along with life skills and vocational skills is way forward for children/youth. Education à Employment &Entrepreneurship à Decent Livelihoods.

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* At the same time, existing livelihoods need to be strengthened with plugging knowledge, skill, tool and resource gaps, and Collectivization. Expansion and diversification in livelihoods is on the foundation of improved existing livelihoods base. Job-employment, Wage-employment, Piece-rate based employment and Self-employment - to be carefully tailored on a case-by -case basis. Thus, reduced poverty is possible only with sustainable livelihoods and inclusive development. The Indian growth has to persist. The contexts of the poor have to become favorable by deliberate policy initiatives at national, state and local levels. The capitals of the poor need to be augmented – increased natural resources in their hands, infrastructure and physical assets that they can use, strong institutions of the poor at various levels of various hues with professional staff, and the information, knowledge and skills in the hands of the confident poor along with their own funds and access to leveraged funds. Then they act on their incomes, expenditures, employment and risks so that they are out of poverty by plugging the gaps and tapping the opportunities, in their own way. A little support but long-term, beyond loans, is the way. MF is necessary but not sufficient. Range and depth of fair MF services have to be comprehensive and on scale. Further, MF+ is required and can be loaded on the MF platforms. Multiple players need to coexist and service the community needs fairly, efficiently and effectively in the growing Indian economy. That is the only way forward. This inclusion is led by the SHG movement that is being unleashed in the country. Various State Agencies of Poverty Reduction, Civil Society Organizations, People’s Institutions and NRLM have to collectively make this a reality as soon as possible. I want to believe that this would happen. And soon enough! Let us know the poor from inside. Let us know their fish, fishing and meta-fishing. Let us know their resilience. Let us organize them and let us keep the services that they require I their hands. Let us serve them well with care directly, through their institutions and/or through the institutions that support them. Let us be with them in their movement of resilient fight to be out of poverty for good.

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46. Collectives Bring in Responsible Business Behavior! Perspectives August, 2011

Shashi, rest in peace! We will take some of your fights forward. Many International Days just passed by – for instance - International Day of the World’s Indigenous People (9 August), International Youth Day (12 August), and International Lefthanders Day (13 August). Let us await World Humanitarian Day (19 August), Teachers’ Day (5 September), International Literacy Day (8 September), International Day of Democracy (15 September) and International Day of Peace (21 September). President signs removal of 14F (clause), making Hyderabad part of the sixth zone for police recruitments. Anna Hazare gets 3-day permission to fast (on Lokpal placed in Parliament)! More investigations into Jagan’s wealth in the pipeline! EMAAR could sell plots/villas at less than 25% of the market rate to many an influential person. The streams of thought and work that dominated the month include livelihoods and collectives of the poorest, vulnerable and other poor. Tata unveils a plan to sell houses @ Rs.32,000 in rural areas in a year from now. It is a pre- fabricated house (with a life of 20 years) of 20 square metres that can be built in 7 days. An upgraded model of 30 square metres would cost Rs.45000. Will they succeed? How do we increase the products available to the poor – for savings, for credit, for equity and for insurance? Does Islamic microfinance model expand the portfolio of products before the poor? Will it pick up? How do we ensure that the producers, consumers and intermediaries get rewarded based on the effort/work they put in? How do we ensure that both the buyer and the seller share the equal benefit in a transaction? How do we ensure that the investor and entrepreneur/worker share the profit and loss? How do we ensure that the creditor and loanee share the profit and loss of the investment of the loan? How do we ensure that all the players know what is happening? How do you ensure that there is no violation of any business Acts? How do we ensure that spirit of service is brought into the entire gamut of activities? How do we help the vulnerable? Will this work without the flow of charity? Do we see the possibilities of models emerging that combine the spirit of community owned and managed collective financial institutions and Islamic micro-financing? We hear that 2% mandatory CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) is coming in as the voluntary CSR has not picked up. Companies (with net worth exceeding Rs.500 Crore or turnover exceeding Rs.1000 Crore or a net profit exceeding Rs.5 Crore) have to provide a 2% (of the profit) mandatory provision for CSR spending. The PSUs with net profit have to make a provision of 0.5-3% of the net profit. We know that India is a country of self-employed and entrepreneurs. Its majority of the households are self employed. However, they are not trained entrepreneurs. How do we offer this training? It appears there is some help coming for some of them through “Training Resources for Enabling Enterprises Society (TREES)”. TREES runs a Certificate Program in Rural Enterprise Administration and Management (CREAM) - 30 days of classes spread over six months to teach basic business skills

142 with appropriate local examples. Can we have more and more of them? Can we have more practitioners join in conducting such programs? Everyone agrees that the only way out for the poor is come together for their social, economic and solidarity needs. SHGs with participatory democratic processes and their federations with representative democratic processes cannot take up all the activities that meet the various needs of the poorest of the poor, vulnerable and the poor. There are issues of bandwidth - range of activities, expertise, economies of scale and space for professionals amongst other things, that make us look at multiple institutions. We have also seen ‘amul’ cooperatives that meet economic needs to a large extent around a livelihood/value chain. That is, obviously, not enough. A good way is to have SHGs institutional architecture and ‘amul’ cooperative architecture. And may be more types! Shashi comes in here. In her latest review (25 July 2011 in ET), she opens up a road map for us. Map all the collectives/cooperatives in the country. Assess them. Remember some may need to be folded up. However, presence of member-owned and member-controlled collectives in the marketplace brings in responsible behavior from the capital controlled business enterprises. This is required. We need collectives in every village and at various levels. They need to be federated with space for taking in investment if required from outside without losing the member-control. That should be our mission. The way forward, therefore, is in identifying and including all the poor beginning with the poorest and the most vulnerable in the basic solidarity, savings and credit groups and livelihoods-based collectives simultaneously. They need funds but they have to flow in as seed capital in the institutions. They need to be federated at higher and higher levels so that economies of scale will be there. They need professionals to work with them. They need community professionals to take responsibility in interacting with the members as directly as possible. The youth need to be given options to get some decent jobs or get self-employed with workable enterprise. The collective enterprises that add value locally and provide employment have to emerge. This is hard work over long periods of time. We need leaders from within and mentors from outside with sustained enthusiasm and inner resources. Let us be in the movement to build leaders and mentors to be with them in their fight to be out of poverty for good.

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47. Towards Inclusive Growth! Perspectives September, 2011

Towards Inclusive Growth! Happy Krishnaasthami! Happy Ramzan! Happy Ganesh! Happy Teachers’ Day! Many International Days just passed by – for instance - World Humanitarian Day (19 August), and International Literacy Day (8 September). September/October is a month of international days. We await International Day of Democracy (15 September), International Day of Peace (21 September), Right to Know Day (28 September), International Day of Older Persons (1 October), International Day of Non-Violence (2 October), World Humanitarian Action Day (8 October), International Day of Rural Women (15 October), World Food Day (16 October), and International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (17 October). Anna Hazare’s 13-day fast yielded a ‘Sense of the House’ resolution of Lok Sabha on Lok Pal! Investigations into Jagan’s wealth are in progress! Meanwhile, CBI arrests ‘mining’ Gali Janardhan Reddy. Telangana agitation takes up a decisive step forward: All People’s Strike since 13 September. The streams of thought and work that continued to dominate the month include livelihoods and collectives of the poorest, vulnerable and other poor. Planning Commission has released its approach paper for 12th Five Year Plan – towards Faster. Sustainable and More Inclusive Growth. It aims 9 percent growth for the Twelfth Plan. To achieve rapid growth, the economy will have to overcome constraints posed by limited energy supplies, increase in water scarcity, shortages in infrastructure, problems of land acquisition for industrial development and infrastructure, and the complex problem of managing the urban transition associated with rapid growth. Greater efforts also need to be made in agriculture, health and education to ensure inclusion of the most excluded and sometimes invisible parts of our population. All sections of society – government, farmers, businesses, labour and concerned citizens – have to adopt newer, more effective ways of pursuing their activities, so that we can collectively achieve our lofty goals. For growth to be more inclusive, Planning Commission argues for – Better performance in agriculture; Faster creation of jobs, especially in manufacturing; Stronger efforts at health, education and skill development; Improve effectiveness of programmes directly aimed at the poor; Special programmes for socially vulnerable groups; and Special plans for disadvantaged/backward regions Further Planning Commission articulates – Target at least 4% growth for agriculture, particularly non cereal foods, animal husbandry and fisheries; Technology must focus on land productivity and water use efficiency; Farmers need better functioning markets, infrastructure, storage and food processing; Expand RKVY; Redesign MGNREGS to increase contribution to land productivity and rain-fed agriculture, but with convergence with NRLM; Higher priority to watershed management; Universalization of secondary education by 2017 and Raising Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Higher Education to 20 percent by 2017; Expenditure on health by Centre and States to increase from 1.3% of GDP to at least 2.0%, and perhaps 2.5% of GDP by end of 12th Plan; Team Anna has lesson for us, livelihoods/development workers in the pursuit of poverty reduction. Big Picture, Visioning, Belief that resources flow in, Strategic Planning, being always

144 ready with a plan, willing to revise it as many times as required, plan broken into tiny pieces of microplans, diligent start-up/initial plan, a small team of committed and tireless workers with complementary skills (12 for Jesus, 12 for Vivekananda!), Teamwork yet clear individual accountability, faith in the leader, drawing in charismatic social, religious and public leaders into the fold, open to supporters without yielding the leadership, symbols (name, logo, brand building), ICT use, working with/on media, feed the media faster than media gets information on its own, access to quick logistics as and when required, etc., are the key elements in taking the effort forward. Hope we keep them in mind when we build ‘efforts’ towards reducing poverty. Of course, we need to learn to be at least as good as what we ask others to be. We need above board in legal/statutory compliance. We need to keep accounts of every pie that comes in and that goes out. We need to be reasonably careful in spending the money despite its abundance realizing that we are only trustees. Recently, when National Council of Rural Institutes wants to establish a national award to a rural institute with outstanding performance in working with the poor, we have asked them to look at and score on the following criteria. Poorest and Most Vulnerable Focus, Significance and Uniqueness of the contribution, Demonstrated loyalty to the work, community, theme in the long-run, Outreach, Impact of the contribution, Community’s stake, Scalability and Replicability, Self-reliance and Future Sustainability, Vision and Plan Forward, Leadership, Governance, Management and Systems Committee’s Overall Impression on Loyalty’s, Gandhian Thought, Hope we are not off-the- mark. Sustainable livelihoods and decent quality of life in the context of inclusive growth paradigm is in the organization of the poor, the poorest and the most vulnerable so that they realize the benefit of the growth and access their rights and entitlements and the right to live, decent livelihood portfolio, good education and good health. The architecture of the institutions of the poor owned by the poor with human resources from within them working for them is the way forward. This is hard work spanning over long periods of time. Let us be in the movement to build leaders and mentors to build and be with this architecture.

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48. Antyodaya? Sarvodaya? Perspectives October, 2011

Many International Days just passed by – for instance - International Day of Democracy (15 September), International Day of Peace (21 September), World Tourism Day (27 September), Right to Know Day (28 September), World Vegetarian Day (1 October), and World Habitat Day (3 October – First Monday of October). We await World Animal Day (4 October), World Teachers’ Day (5 October), World Smile Day (7 October), World Humanitarian Action Day (8 October), International Day of Rural Women (15 October), World Food Day (16 October), International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (17 October), United Nations Day (24 October), World Development Information Day (24 October), and World Freedom Day (9 November). This appears an endless list! As media discusses whether we should make Anna Hazare, Mahtama Anna Hazare, Anna Hazare has rejected the idea. All of us are waiting to see the progress on the Lok Pal. Telangana agitation’s All People’s Strike is on since 13 September. Responses are lukewarm at this point of time. The streams of thought and work that continued to dominate the month include relate to NRLM Working Group, Empowering the Women Leadership and Success Stories for replication. The debate on ‘poverty line’ is intensely active. Yet we listen to ‘universal’ food, health and social security talk in the country. While Tamilnadu gives free rice to poor, AP is launching Re.1 a kg rice to more than 2.25 Crore households – that is almost the entire state! Food Security Act is in the pipeline, It discusses the entire lifecycle needs to mean conception to cremation i.e. it has to begin with the pregnant woman (fetal nutrition) to infant nutrition to adolescent care to care of the elderly. It talks of support to ‘priority’ sections and ‘general’ sections of the population with differential priced food (rice, wheat and millets) supply. Then, the food production, storage, processing, transport etc., (food value-chain) interventions including reasonable minimum support prices are important to ensure food and nutrition security. Annam Parabrahmaswarupam and it should be present in every household. Let us hope this wish of Gandhi is truly realized soon! This is Sarvodaya in the ultimate analysis. Surely, some need complete care. That is Antyodaya. Let us get back to ‘poverty’ line debate. Suresh Tendulkar’s Committee has used NSS data on household consumption expenditure to arrive at its estimates. These estimates serve as poverty caps when BPL Survey (Socio Economic Caste Census) 2011 is taken up. This causes a situation where household with similar condition in a state may be BPL in one state and not a BPL in another state. So what is the remedy? Jairam Ramesh and Montek Ahluwalia say that they have agreed that the schemes will have their own target groups based on the deprivation that is being addressed rather than the BPL status. Will this be a reality? Will this be fool proof? Rs.32 a day (in urban areas) would mean expenditures of Rs.18 on food and Rs.14 on non-food item. This appears too low. May be this is a destitution line rather than a poverty line. Rs.33 per day, as against Rs.18, is required to get the required calorie intake. Thus, at today’s rates, the ‘poverty’ line cannot be less than Rs.60. Further, rise in the salary of a public servant, say

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Assistant Professor in a University has gone up 50 times over the last 40 years, whereas the poverty line figures have gone up by only 20 times. Why is this difference? If we look at the NSS data with Rs.60 a day expenditure in urban areas (and Rs.36 a day in Rural areas), the poverty estimates climb steeply to 75%. This would mean we need universal food and nutrition security, health security etc. This would mean a robust universal livelihoods mission in the country. Supreme Court has endorsed Cooperative Principles and said further that protection under Articles 14 and 19 is available to Cooperatives too. Particularly, the Court has upheld that voluntary membership in the cooperative. Accordingly, cooperative, labour unions, societies, associations and public trusts, registered or unregistered, are important for the poor, vulnerable, powerless and dispossessed to protect and promote their interests through collective action. Of course, we also have producers’ company format. Yet, we need a more appropriate legal framework for registering Self-help Groups and their Federations. Collective Action is the basis of reducing and eradicating poverty and deprivation of the poor and ushering in decent quality of life in their lives. Identifying the poor, the poorest and the vulnerable, mobilizing them to come together and organizing them into the self-help base institutional architecture, followed by augmenting various resources/ capitals, and offering an enabling environment that includes convergence, partnerships, rights and entitlements are the core processes in nurturing collective action. Collective Action is hard work over time and space, with costs and benefits. Let us work on and with the movements of collective action by building leaders and mentors to build leaders and mentors for the participants in the movement.

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49. Collectives of Self-help and Food Production! Perspectives November, 2011

Many International Days just passed by – for instance - World Humanitarian Action Day (8 October), International Day of Rural Women (15 October), World Food Day (16 October), International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (17 October), World Development Information Day (24 October), and World Freedom Day (9 November). We await World Immunization Day (November 10), World Toilet Day (November 19), Universal Children’s Day (November 20). 7 billionth baby in the world! Do we have enough to feed more and more people? Do the demographic dividends continue to accrue to us? The streams of thought and work that continued to dominate the month include Livelihoods, Livelihoods for the vulnerable, Leadership and Women Leadership, Value-chains and Supply Chains, ICT4D and Scaling-up. We are in the midst of explosive scaling-up of SHGs and their federations meeting the credit needs of the poor. Banks play an important support role. Rural banks, cooperatives, and now post offices offer choices to them. MFIs have to remain relevant and be pro-poor with reasonable interest rates and diverse products. Yet we see major MFIs are declaring losses. We are not sure whether some of the MFIs will withstand and be useful to the poor for some more time. Dr YV Reddy insists that it is important to recognize that money lenders constitute an important segment. There is a need for framework to bring them into somewhat formal sector and slowly into the formal banking sector. This would require strengthening of the moneylender legislation at the state level. For profit-MFIs undertaking financial activity can be divided into two categories, viz, financial intermediaries and money lenders. Each category has to be dealt with separately, one as any financial intermediary, and the other as any moneylender. With such clarity, we hope MFIs choose their activities accordingly with care. Recently High Court of Kerala has ordered that the State Government cannot interfere in fixing the procurement price and/or the sale price of the milk (and other products). It is a judgment with important ramifications in the cooperative sector. We hear that Seed Bill, Pesticide Bill, Bio-technology Regulation Bills etc., are in the pipeline. We hope they will not push the famers further deep into poverty. Land Acquisition has become an important threat livelihoods of the marginal farmers and landless depending on the commons. Farmers’ groups are arguing - It is important not to include lands/common lands and water bodies that support people’s livelihoods and food security under any circumstances for land acquisition. Land acquired under ‘public purpose’ should not be privatized. However, there is a need for a more rigorous definition of public purpose in favour of the community. Dependent landless have to be provided with alternative livelihoods opportunities including employment. Consent of Gramsabha should be a must. Access to food is a basic human right. The process of ending hunger should not lead to the erosion of human dignity. We are hoping that the food security bill would ensure this, when enacted, as its aim is – “to provide for food and nutritional security, in human life cycle approach, by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices, for people to live a life with dignity.”

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This would mean we must ensure that every child, woman and man has physical, economic and social access to a needed balanced diet, micronutrients, as well as clean drinking water, sanitation and primary health care. A life cycle approach to food security would imply attention to the nutritional needs of a human being from conception to cremation. It would also mean universal access to the poor at no/low cost and to others at reasonable cost. It would also mean food production, cost-plus minimum support prices for food grains. This may also mean we need to begin to look at our current food system, starting with basics – soil and water. We need to return at least as much as we take. All our pricing has to encourage this shift. We need to move from feeding to feeding well. Sustainable agriculture or the post- modern agriculture has to take over the food system through small and marginal farmers across the country. Emerging through the support of the self-help collectives, collectives of the food producers would pave the way for reduced poverty of the producers, and secure the food needs of the poor consumers. Building and nurturing food collectives is hard work but needs to be pursued with all the vigor that is required. Let us work on the movements of self-help, food systems and collective action by building leaders and mentors who in turn drive the movements.

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50. Mainstream from Vulnerable Streams! Perspectives December, 2011

Many International Days just passed by – for instance - World Immunization Day (November 10), World Kindness Day (November 13), World Toilet Day (November 19), Universal Children’s Day (November 20), World Hello and Television Day (November 21), World AIDS Day (December 1), International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3), International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development (December 5), International Day against Corruption (December 9) and Human Rights Day (December 10). We wait International Migrants Day (December 18), United Nationals Day for South-South Cooperation (December 19), International Human Solidarity Day (December 20), and Global Family Day and World Day of Peace (January 1). India records lowest child sex ratio of 914 in 2011 Census. Sad, ashamed! Will we succeed to stop female feticide? The cabinet decision on FDI in retail is on hold, for the time being! The streams of thought and work that continued to dominate the month include Livelihoods, Livelihoods for the vulnerable, Gender-responsiveness, Value-chains and Supply Chains, ICT4D and Scaling-up. India is a home to about one-third of the poor in the world. The world cannot afford to ignore such large scale poverty. We need the best brains of the world need to invest their time and energies to address this. Yonatan Glaser founded B’Tzedek of Isreal and Hyderabad is pursuing LIFE program (www.LIFEprogram.org) to bring in interns and volunteers to India to appreciate the situation and respond. Can we have more LIFE programs from more countries? Can we have more NRIs coming back to invest their time, energy and resources for this gigantic and complex task? Meanwhile, RBI announces a new category – NBFC-MFI. This may obviate the MF Bill waiting for introduction in the Parliament. Sa-dhan, a network of community-based microfinance institutions, released its Bharat Microfinance Report 2011 ‘Microfinance: Under Scrutiny But Resilient’. Apart from capturing slowing down of the microfinance as a result of the crisis in the sector, the report highlights - The clientele of MFIs included more than 95 percent women, disabled people, religious minorities, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Below Poverty Line households. MFIs offered products ranging from microcredit, micro insurance, savings, and remittance. MFIs collectively disbursed Rs. 33730 crore as loans to clients during 2010-11. Also, the average loan per client stood at Rs. 5706, which is less than that of Rs.9766 in the last year. The MFI sector has a work force of 105000 of whom 14000 are women and 63500 are field staff. The employee turnover is high (over 32 percent). In the MF Summit on 12-13 December 2011, a joint Sa-dhan-MFIN code of conduct for MFIs (http://www.microfinancefocus.com/sites/default/files/Industry%20Code%20of%20Conduct.p df) has been released. Hope it helps to build a more robust and community-oriented microfinance in the country.

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It is also time we engage in understanding and finding ways to support livelihoods of the vulnerable, beginning with tribal people. Most of them live life around a resource, like forest, sea, river etc. For example, forest is the life line for millions of tribal people. It is so intertwined in every aspect of their lives that tribal people and forest are inseparable. Whether as deities whom they revere and celebrate, their music and instruments, the way their houses are built or the way they go about with their livelihoods, all oozes with the spirit of life echoed in the forest. Most of them have some land. They pursue sustainable and subsistence farming. They protect forests and biodiversity. They access non-timber forest produce including medicinal herbs for their local use and sale in the local markets. There are efforts to ‘tap’ the bio-diversity for the mainstream. However, they are not able to realize not even 25% of the consumer rupee. Here and there, livestock dependent livelihoods are also pursued. There are a few who still persist with hunter-gatherer living. Thus, critically, resource-rich people are living a life of subsistence and hand-to-mouth existence. They are caught in the ‘trap’ of money-lender-trader. As they exist in the margins of the mainstream, with social and cultural diversity and geographic remoteness most mainstream resources elude them or come with extremely unfair terms. These include financial inclusion/formal credit, infrastructure, appropriate technology, information and knowledge, aggregated demand and supply, appropriate institutional architectures, local value-addition, access to consumer market and linkages. True, there are multiple small but diverse groups and all of them do not go about their lives and livelihoods identically. True, their lives and livelihoods have been impacted by the mainstream policies, processes and influences. Consumption habits and food habits are changing. Literacy is increasing and the new generation is seeking alternative livelihoods outside and locally. Unemployment is increasing with changing landscape and pressures on local resources. Also, a new self-employed class is emerging within their ranks. Under the circumstances, what can we do? There is a need for special efforts to evolve and support perspective plans to augment and enhance the livelihoods of various vulnerable people comprehensively and significantly. The first step is to list the vulnerable. A mainstream agenda and processes would not suffice. It is the other way - the sum of the agenda of the vulnerable should be the mainstream agenda. Let us work on the movements for the vulnerable for their self-help and collective action.

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51. Fellows with Poor and For Poor! Perspectives January, 2012

Many International Days passed by – Global Family Day and World Day of Peace (January 1). We await World Day of Social Justice (February 20), International Mother Language Day (February 21) and World Thinking Day (February 22). The streams of thought and work that continued to dominate the month include Livelihoods, Livelihoods for the vulnerable, Gender-responsiveness, Value-chains and Supply Chains, ICT4D and Scaling-up, as in the last month. Urban Livelihoods has come to the fore during the month. We hear that National Urban Livelihoods Mission is in the anvil and would be launched soon. With more than 40 million urban poor families, and growing, NULM may think of more than Rs. 100,000 Crore (thousand billion) over the coming 10-15 months, with some Rs.30,000 Crore coming from states and bank linkages may have to provide 7-8 times this combined outlay. We are also talking substantial interest subsidy in any case, additionally. As we know, the elephant with the blind, urban livelihoods and poverty needs wider consultations across a variety of stakeholder from various spectra and digging deeper. Let the states make their perspective plans rather than drawing an iron frame at Delhi. Livelihoods are complex and the solutions are not well-known. There is a need for high level of experimentation, trials, pilots, attempts to scaling-up etc., seeking high allocation for innovations, pilots for replication etc. We are now clear that we need to give fish, fishing skill and meta-fishing skills. We cannot do one but all three of them. We are also aware that they have multiple livelihoods and we need to help in them in their entire livelihoods portfolio. Let us hope that NULM would build on NRLM thinking further, as distilled to urban context. Let us hope that NRLM and NULM work in tandem at various layers/levels as the demand-supply of livelihoods are not having clear boundaries and often rural livelihoods meet urban needs and urban livelihoods meet rural needs. Migration is common. Urban products meet the rural needs. So on and so forth. In fact, we should think of a steering committee/group that provides direction for all the livelihoods missions. Convergence and partnerships are essential. Employers have to chip in providing the job details, participating in training and meeting part of the costs. We also know that there are continuums in the reality of the poor. No one solution meets the needs across the continuum. We need to clearly list and identify vulnerable groups, and develop strategies and plans specific to them. The sum of the agenda of the vulnerable should be the mainstream agenda. In this connection, it may be worthwhile to consider Tribal Livelihoods Mission, SC Livelihoods Mission, Coastal Livelihoods Mission, Differently-abled Livelihoods Mission, Elderly Livelihoods Mission, Self-employment Livelihoods Mission etc. Working with MGNREGA, Food Security, NRHM, RTE etc., is going to be important. Government of India is considering Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellows to be placed in ‘difficult’ district to work with the District Collectors. They need to be identified, inducted and mentored rightly. Hope they ‘deliver’. However, we also need fellows at sub-district levels. In fact, can’t we think of placing 1.2 or 1.8 million dedicated young (but inducted comprehensively

152 in poverty and livelihoods analysis and support) fellows in our 600,000 villages? Say for 3 years to begin with. We know planning requires prioritization. People’s planning requires choices and their analysis. It requires reflection and reflection takes time. It requires saying no to some and saying yes to some. A no has to be a convinced no and a yes has to be emphatic yes. It would mean living with the poor and knowing their deepest needs. These fellows have to be inducted into this. They need to – set aside to do all important things – sitting with the poor for long hours over a period of time, as regularly and as automatically as possible; being with the poor as often as possible, say 50% of the time; provide dedicated, concentrated and high energy time for them, not disturbed by mails/messages/phones, at the times that are most meaningful for people – nights, early mornings etc.; take breaks for renewal, refuel and mentoring inputs. Of course, these plans need to be consolidated upwards to feed our district, state and national planning and budgeting processes. Let us work on the movements for the poor, marginalized and vulnerable for their self-help and collective action. Let us have high-calibre people with faith in the capacity of the poor to be with them for reasonable periods. Let them have no agenda but stay with the poor.

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52. Staying With the Vulnerable With Love! Perspectives February, 2012

The streams of thought and work that continued to dominate the month include Information- Knowledge-Skills-Tools-Institutions-Professionals-Leaders-Resources for Livelihoods of the vulnerable and Scaling-up. Tribal Livelihoods has come to the fore during the month. India is home to the largest population of indigenous peoples. 100 million of them in 700 tribal communities are spread across the country living on 15% of Indian area spanning various geo- climatic terrains - forests, hills, coastal areas and plains. 187 districts in the country are considered as tribal districts. Tribal communities live in relative isolation of the mainstream. They live a simple life in harmony with their environment. They use low level technologies and sustain natural resources. They have evolved their own distinct myriad ways of living, cultures, languages and religions. Forest is the life line for millions of tribal people. It is so intertwined in every aspect of their lives that tribal people and forest are inseparable. Whether as deities whom they revere and celebrate, their music and instruments, the way their houses are built or the way they go about with their livelihoods, all oozes with the spirit of life echoed in the forest. Most of them have some land. Barring a small proportion who still persist with hunter-gatherer living, they pursue sustainable and subsistence farming – agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry etc. They protect forests and biodiversity. They access non-timber forest produce including medicinal herbs for their local use and sale in the local markets. There are efforts to ‘tap’ the bio-diversity for the mainstream. However, they are not able to realize not even 25% of the consumer rupee. True, there are multiple tribes and all of them do not go about their lives and livelihoods identically. True, their lives and livelihoods have been impacted by the mainstream policies, processes and influences. Consumption habits and food habits are changing. Trading-in and therefore, wage employment, commercial farming and seasonal migration is increasing. Literacy is increasing and the new generation is seeking alternative livelihoods outside and locally. Unemployment is increasing with changing landscape and pressures on land, water and forests. A new self-employed class is emerging within their ranks. Critically, resource-rich (natural resource, social resource and spiritual resource endowment) tribal people are living a life of subsistence and hand-to-mouth existence. They are caught in the ‘trap’ of money-lender-trader. As they exist in the margins of the mainstream, with social and cultural diversity and geographic remoteness most mainstream resources elude them or come with extremely unfair terms. These include financial inclusion/formal credit, infrastructure, appropriate technology, information and knowledge, aggregated demand and supply, appropriate institutional architectures, local value-addition, access to consumer market and linkages. Change in the traditional diet, through Public Distribution System which is not tailored to the local tribal needs and preferences, has brought about a slow deterioration of health and nutrition among tribal people. Tribal heath systems are ‘fading’ out. In the absence of access to quality healthcare, their health risks have multiplied. On the whole, they are subject to resource alienation (forests, commons and lands), financial exclusion and market exclusion. Their identity and cultural capitals are eroding and there is an increased disruption in

154 their social fabric. Thus, the tribals are losing what they have (resource endowment) and are not getting on par with what the mainstream could access in return or otherwise. That is the big irony. Along with existing special provisions/agencies/projects, Integrated Action Plans, PM’s Rural Development Fellows and Young Professionals in various livelihoods and poverty reduction projects, we hope the efforts of National Rural Livelihoods Mission in unveiling special but sensitive perspective plans at the state level to augment and enhance the livelihoods of the tribals comprehensively and significantly. When the crunch comes, we know that what matters the most in life – air, water, food, clothes, shelter and entertainment. Tribal living characterizes this. Therefore, we need to find ways to globalize and universalize time-tested tribal ways of living (with minor modifications, if warranted). Another large vulnerable group we need to work with is elders. They need special but sensitive perspective plans for implementation in all the states in tribal, rural and urban contexts. We can ignore elders only if we want to be ignored later when we become old. We are here because of them and we need to ensure that they live a life of dignity by staying young. As George Carlin, 102, puts – let them not bother about nonessential numbers like age, weight and height; let them be cheerful with cheerful friends; remember that they want to learn; let them enjoy the simple things; let them laugh often; let them be alive while they are alive; let them surround themselves with what they love; let them cherish their health; let them not take guilt trips; and let them know that we love them, at every opportunity. Let them live their lives to their fullest each day so that we live our lives to the fullest. Let us work for the poor, marginalized and vulnerable for their self-help and collective action. Let us mobilize and offer high-caliber young men and women with faith in the capacity of the poor and vulnerable to stay with them for reasonable periods and offer love.

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53. To Manoharan With Love! Perspectives March, 2012

The streams of thought and work that continued to dominate the month include Six Capitals of the Livelihoods of the poor and the vulnerable and Scaling-up. Personally, we are still on our way to come to terms with the reality of not having our dear friend, young but accomplished development saint and an inspiration to many, Manoharan, around. This is the budget time. Train tariffs increased barring sleeper and 3rd AC, thanks to Mamata Didi. Pranab Da’s budget confirms that our economy has slowed down a bit to 6.9%. We are a budget that is about Rs. 15,000 billion. It talks about National Urban Health Mission. Officially National Rural Livelihoods Mission gets budget allocation of about Rs.4300 Crore for the year. Interest subvention to SHGs at 7% (and 3% additionally on timely repayment) is proposed. A Bharat Livelihoods Foundation of India is also proposed to be established for supporting civil society initiatives in 170 tribal-dominant districts. Credit Guarantee Fund is proposed for institutional credit flow for skill development. Providing grants to new knowledge creators is proposed. IRMA would receive Rs.25 Crore as grant. Aadhar is being expanded and is becoming, as feared, as the single window platform for all payments from Government to the individual. The budget proposes taxing all services except those in the negative list. The negative list includes – services by governments and local governments; recognized education; house rent; entertainment and amusement services; public transportation including metered cabs; and services for agriculture and animal husbandry. Exemptions include – healthcare, services by charities, sportspersons, artists etc., advocates servicing non-business, independent journalists, animal care, car parking, services of business facilitators and correspondents to banks and insurance companies, construction services relating to specified infrastructure and recording films. The service tax is raised to 12.36%. Census 2011 data is flowing in. India is going through a complex transition. Millions have access to state-of-the-art technologies and consumer goods but a large number lacks access to the most rudimentary facilities. Despite loud noises on poverty line, Planning Commission states that daily consumption expenditure of Rs.28.35 (urban) and Rs.22.42 (rural) as poverty line. Accordingly, the poor in poverty has decreased by 7%, down to 30%, over the last five years. However, nearly half of the STs and SCs continue to be poor. While all this may have some basis to say, the numbers appear not real. In any case, socio-economic and caste census is in progress right now and let us see what estimates this survey will bring. Government also says that its programmes are delinked from the poverty line, except PDS. Is this so? We thought only the allocations to the states are linked to poverty figures. Government has agreed to set up a committee and look at the entire business once again. Hope the committee does a more comprehensive job on the crucial issues of who is poor, how many are poor so that targeting improves significantly. According to Government, the challenges before the country are –

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• Livelihood security for the vast majority of our population and removal of poverty, hunger and illiteracy from our land; • Economic security through rapid and broad-based development and creation of productive jobs for our people; • Energy security for our rapid growth; • Ecological and environmental security, yet realizing our developmental goals; • Internal and external security within the framework of a just, plural, secular and inclusive growth. We can’t agree more. We hope our governments and civil society rise to the challenges and work together with the community collectives in achieving these five ‘securities’. 1200 tribal delegates from across the country resolved recently - all adivasis except for regular Government employees should be recognized as being automatically included as poor; no forcible land acquisition and adivasis to be given full rights as stakeholders on minerals under the land in their occupation and area; the full amount of Tribal Sub-Plan of a minimum of 8.5 per cent of the Plan expenditure to cover all Ministries must be given; and fair minimum support price for all minor forest produce. We have also seen SCs and STs seeking implementation of Sub-plans in AP and Government has responded by sub-committee of Ministers to work on it. Thus, there is a need to enforce these sub-plans for the vulnerable. In fact, we need sub-plans for other vulnerable too – elders, differently-abled, minorities, occupational groups etc., so that they receive the intended allocation surely. Pranab Da proposed to raise pension to Rs.300/month i.e. Rs.10/day. It is unclear why it is not Rs.30 or so per day at least matching with the ‘poverty line’. In any case, TN thought it fit to raise it to Rs.1000/month and Kerala to Rs.900/month. The situation of a widow, disabled or a old person waiting for inclusion as a pensioner under a quota system and therefore they wait for the death of a pensioner to die, is not acceptable. We need to make it universal and we need to make it adequate. There is no other way. Manoharan spent his time working with the poor, marginalized and vulnerable, particularly adivasis, with faith in their capacity, organizing and nurturing their self-help and collective action. Let us mobilize and nurture Manoharans (high-calibre young men and women) to stay with them for reasonable periods and offer love. That will be the fittest tribute we can offer to him.

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54. Inclusion’s SHG Highway! Perspectives April, 2012

The theme of the World Health Day (7 April) this year is Ageing and Health. The streams of thought and work that continued to dominate the month include Six Capitals of the Livelihoods of the poor and the vulnerable and Scaling-up. Budget is yet to pass, theoretically. Cumulonimbus rains are all across. Meteorology Department confirms more or less normal monsoon this year too. Governors have been shuffled a bit and search for Presidential candidate(s) is on. Sachin Tendulkar, Rekha Ganesan and Anu Aga get nominated to Rajya Sabha. Bye-polls announced. We hear that Aadhar database and PAN Card database are going to feed each other. Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellows are undergoing a rather brief induction. Hope it meets their requirement! Quickly the first colloquium towards establishing Rs.1000 Crore Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation discussed modus operandi and way forward for supporting civil society initiatives in 900 blocks in 170 tribal-dominant districts across 9 states to begin with. The program funds would be leveraged from Government and other sources. It would be wise that this Foundation focuses on a single-point agenda of building and nurturing institutions of the poor and for the poor and the human resources for these institutions. We seem to be acknowledging finally that there is no rural livelihoods promotion model with wide applicability. We seem to be shooting in the dark. The gap between the educated employment and not-so-educated employment is widening. The dynamic nature of the markets has been hitting the producers and consumers very hard. The job growth projections by various government and other players is likely to boomerang as the match between the needs of the employers and aspirations of the employees is weak. The visible and invisible high rates of interest on loans make many activities less feasible. Livelihoods collectives are still not-at-large and ubiquitous as they should have been. While the absolute poor as a percentage of the population may have come down, the poor who remained poor have become poorer, particularly in the poorer areas. The vulnerable have become more vulnerable. The decentralization is not ensuring inclusion. SHGs are not up to the fight to assert their rights and entitlements. Digital divide is impacting the poor more. Inclusion of the homeless, extremely poor and other vulnerable people, the aged, physically challenged, in SHGs and supporting them is the new challenge, while we have discovered ‘SHG’ way for the poor women. Agencies that want to work for the livelihoods of the poor, and institutions of the poor are not able to find required competent human resources even now, when the scale is insignificantly small. Government programs suck the human resources that work with CSOs and CBOs in an unusually large scale. Surely, soon enough, the programs themselves will not be able to meet their HR need. They may end up with people without adequate technical, people and entrepreneurial skills. They need to be adequately inducted and trained in these aspects. Further with time, the emerging CBOs in large numbers need HR in huge numbers.

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CBOs – SHGs, SHG Federations, Producer companies etc., - need enabling environment for them to thrive and service their members. They need funds and skills for fund management. The government programs need to promote convergence, partnership and linkages on a large scale. The culture of working together has be promoted, without promoting multiple membership in different NGO programmes at various levels. Even the CSOs need to work together. If we support civil society action (core), can they mobilize the program from the government programmes? We hope BRLF becomes sensitive and conscious to all these trends and issues. Sriram was reflecting on Financial Inclusion: Once we put all our eggs in the cooperatives (local peoples’ institutions, responsive to the problems of their members) to reach out to the poor. The cooperatives needed the initial capital and the state was happy to give and cooperatives worked for some time as local independent enterprises (a la Mulukanoor), or as public sector undertakings. Slowly the state has overloaded with various tasks like distributing rations, providing fertilizers and be the last point of delivery for all state benefits. Agricultural debt waiver was announced twice. Finally, they lost and lost the share and stature in the rural credit market. It was the story of the last decades. Are we heading the same way in SHGs? After the cooperative movement was waning, it is the turn of SHG movement. SHGs are the new institutions of the poor women that could deliver. SHGs operate on market-based principles, asking for nothing but to be treated as any other clients with the privileges of a bank account, access to a loan and to transact with the banks. They are growing at break-neck speed. Most government ‘schemes’ are getting loaded on them. Their bank linkages are picking up. The growing savings would, if not taken back by the members, meet their credit needs in due course. Interest subvention on par with the priority farm credit is announced by the Finance Minister (effective rate is 4%). Many SHGs do not pay interest on savings. Then this should work! Let us hope inclusion lives long, defying Sriram’s prognosis, if we do not overload state’s various schemes and programs on them. That is not enough. We still have to mobilize and nurture high-calibre young men and women to stay and work with/for the poor for reasonable periods and offer love.

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55. Huge shortage of high-caliber men and women! Perspectives May 2012

Happy Mothers’ Day! Happy Budhdha Purnima! Let us Celebrate 100 years of Rabindra, his Gitanjali and his Sangeet! Steep increases in Petrol Prices! Bye-polls in AP on 12 June! Will Telangana come? Let us hope World Environment Day and World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought would guarantee pro-poor livelihoods and usher in pro-poor adjustments. The streams of thought and work that continued to dominate the month include Four Contexts of the Livelihoods of the poor and perspective plans for the vulnerable and marginalized. Viswanathan Anand is again the winner of the chess world championship. Inspiration to the nation! Constitution was amended (97th Amendment) to insert Article 43B “the state shall endeavour to promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control and professional management of cooperative societies” in January 2012. This should pave way for seeking more forceful autonomy for cooperatives and collectives in the country. Still the doubt persists about whether we would like to consider producers’ companies as cooperatives or not legally. This needs to be clarified at the earliest. Bhumi Team has developed ‘The Bhumi Entrepreneurship Manual’ as a draft to teach entrepreneurship through experiential learning exercises – being and doing types. Rightly, they have identified four stages of support/capacity building, after identifying the potential entrepreneur – training (both classroom and apprenticeship), incubation, mentoring and lifetime support as part of the network (hub) of enterprises. Good effort forward. Let us join hands to make it more robust and take it to more and more self-employed, entrepreneurs and trainers. We know that we have to pursue whatever we have passion for. Vinod Khosla says the same. The moot question is how do we counsel our youth to take up their passions and succeed? Do our skill and entrepreneurial missions geared up for this? How do we build them for taking risks and fail despite hard work before they succeed. Do we have ‘safety’ mechanisms for these? Entrepreneurs need IQ – yes but also EQ. Can we learn EQ? Can we teach our entrepreneurs EQ, please? Again, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook also says, apart from talent, skill, imagination and vision, we need the ability to communicate authentically, to inspire people around, to listen and learn each and every day. Learning is an important competency for being an entrepreneur, an intrapreneur, a manager or a leader. How do teach learning to entrepreneurs? How do we teach metafishing to them? World around us is changing very fast. Changing dramatically! How are we teaching them to cope with this change and the pace of change? Let us build our skills and not resume. Let us evaluate what we can do. Let us do real work. Let us speak truth in

160 simple and clear language. Let us seek out truth and honesty. Let us bring our whole to work. Let us keep in touch. MGNREGS has expanded its portfolio of works to include - water conservation and water, drought proofing; irrigation canals including micro and minor irrigation works renovation of traditional water bodies including desilting of tanks; provision of irrigation facility, dug out farm pond, horticulture, plantation, farm bunding and land development on land owned by specified households common land development; flood control and protection works; rural connectivity, drinking water and sanitation; agriculture, livestock, fisheries Now, the need is to include the works of the artisans, disabled, aged etc., so that all the poor who seek employment can be given work in the areas of their ability and skill. World Development Report, 2012 and World Health Report, 2012 are released during the month. As a part of our annual ritual of reminders, we still have to go a long way in the health indicators and gender indicators. Of course, there is significant development on one hand. On the gender front, we need to address the issues of excess deaths of girls and women, persisting low access to economic opportunities, not adequate voice within the household and society and gender inequality persisting across the generations. The hope is in the organization of women that is becoming a silent movement and revolution in the country. The recent NABARD circular on SHGs is expected to facilitate more bank linkages. It says about 8 million SHGs are in the country covering 100 million households. It seeks allowing voluntary savings, apart from the mandatory savings; providing cash credit/overdraft system to SHGs; joint liability groups within SHGs for economic activities; bank’s risk mitigation through self- rating of SHGs, SHG audit, SHG-level business facilitators; and building second-tier institutions for nurturing and supporting SHGs. We hope that SHGs get improved support from banks and the poor do not have to go to high-cost credit providers. Prime Minister presented a report on completing 3 years of UPA-II office recently. He states that poverty is declining. Agricultural wages are increasing. Foodgrain production is at record levels. MGNREGS has reached 50 million households. No polio case has been reported since January 2011. But we need to work on bridging the huge shortage of adequately skilled manpower in the country. That seems to be the key even for the poor, their organizations and the organizations that work for them. From this national scarcity, we need to identify young men and women interested. Surely, many of them will not have competencies required. The bright amongst them may not be interested nor committed. That is the challenge. We need to mobilize and nurture high- calibre young men and women to stay and work with/for the poor for reasonable periods and offer love.

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56. Rare Social Entrepreneurs with/for Poor! Perspectives June 2012

Happy Fathers’ Day! Happy Music! Happy Service! Let us celebrate Cooperation! The commons’ mother, Elinor Ostrom has succumbed to lever cancer. May her soul rest in peace! Life goes on, we got used to – steep increases in prices, lower growth rate, election results, huge corruption scams including investigations, arrests and bails, etc. It appears certain that Pranab Mukherjee will be our new President. The streams of thought and work that continued to dominate the month include planning, implementing and monitoring for livelihoods – processes, tools and support. It is not surprising to know that only 8-9% of the population get involved in high-end professional jobs/occupations. Most others get into low-end low-skilled jobs. When the state asks let us provide ‘millions of jobs’, they mean low-to-moderately skilled workers. This happens to be the priority of most governments. These jobs are mostly production services or in-person services. These jobs would involve routine activities done over and over again. While most of us aspire to be in analytical services, only a 10% of us could get there. Rest 90% has to be contented with other jobs or remain dependent/unemployed. Interesting, is not it? This would mean we need to target high-end education to may be for 20% (double the figure we need) and the remaining have to pushed into vocational education at the earliest, say after Class 10 or 12. With some 100-300 days of technical/vocational training coupled with life skills, this 80% may need to be absorbed straight away in these routine services/jobs. Does it sound all right? Higher Education bar has to be higher and stricter so that the dropouts thereafter will not be high. We may have to give some allowances for continuing or getting into traditional occupations. Or better still, we may offer vocational training in these myriad traditional occupations too. Some of them transform themselves to service in poverty reduction and related projects/organizations as service providers or resource persons. Thus, the need is to include the works of the artisans, disabled, aged etc., so that all the poor who seek employment can be given work in the areas of their ability and skill. All this calls for a relook at the entire education curriculum/system, skill development for jobs/self-employment/enterprises and collectivization. Sanjay Gupta has been discussing building a model for inclusive development in Bhutan. This talks about a workable marriage between top-down and bottom-up approaches such that the community is involved in planning, implementation and monitoring; blending business mind with social heart so that community is at the centre of the decision-making with ownership and understanding the market realities; demonstration first followed by up-scaling through exposure in their own/similar contexts; and strategic focus on high value sectors, combined with food security. This has to be leveraged with increased knowledge sharing within. This approach is generic and is useful to any geographic location (region/state/district) in India too. Can we have more ways to pool, manage, analyze, share and meet knowledge-skills-resource needs of the poor? Can we think of portals? Can we think of dedicated channels? 12th Plan allocations are in the range of Rs.800,000 million for IT and ITES. These include e- government, e-learning, e-security, e-industry, e-innovation, and e-inclusion. But this last item

162 has mere Rs.1600 million (negligible 0.2%). Is it sufficient to bring in inclusion and bridge the digital divide? We are aware now mobiles are soon to cross 1000 million mark. There is a need to convert this density into the base for a knowledge society. Our panchayats, our civil society organizations, our SHGs and their federations, our micro/nano-enterprises, our schools, our health centres and anganwadis, our citizens, our women, and our poor and their collectives need to be targeted with connectivity, content and services. Do we have an alternative? We can complement with internet, broadband connectivity soon after. Social entrepreneurs armed with business tools supported by philanthropy capital is considered as a way to scale social development. Prahlad’s Bottom of the Pyramid has shown that there is money to be made at the bottom. Together, they conclude that business can be at the bottom of the pyramid on scale. The danger is that the social entrepreneurs can be normal businessmen soon. Social would give way to the ways of the business. Is there any business that flourishes but does not serve the customers? The customers may be poor or may not be poor. On the other hand, if the customers are poor, and the owners of the business are poor, the guarantee that the poor would be served really would be established. This would mean social entrepreneur is a facilitator of a people’s business for people. Or the social entrepreneur is a trustee of a people’s business, rather than an owner. Better still, a social entrepreneur is a relentless pursuer to change the world even if s/he does not have the resources at hand now. This social entrepreneurship is the key for the poor, their organizations and the organizations that work for them. We need to identify and mobilize these rare young men and women social entrepreneurs. Many of them will not have competencies required. We need to nurture these rare high-calibre young men and women social entrepreneurs to work with/for the poor and offer love.

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57. Local Enterprises and Decent Jobs! Perspectives July, 2012

Happy Guru Poornima! Let us celebrate Friendship! Let us pray and pay back ‘indigenous’ for letting us co-exist! While monsoon is slow to pace up elsewhere, Assam has been hit with floods. About a third of India may have to be declared drought-hit. Country has been hit badly with power cuts. Life goes on. Pranab Mukherjee is certain to be our new President. Rahul makes the big announcement: he is ready for a bigger role. Poll on Greatest Indian after Mahatma is going on and Ambedkar and Sardar Patel are leading. Meanwhile, Government confirms that nothing is official about Mahatma’s Father of Nation title. The announcement of discovery of Higgs boson (God’s particle) confirms the last subatomic particle is real in the Standard Model describing the fundamental particles from which we, and every visible thing in the universe (i.e. about 4%), are made, and the forces acting between them. The streams of thought and work that continued to dominate the month include knowledge management and training, apart from visioning, planning, implementing, support and monitoring for livelihoods – processes and tools. Employment and enterprises drew special attention too. Handlooms, Crafts, Tourism and PRIs have also taken some time. I gather PMRDFs are settling down and hope the system lets them to be useful. Government of AP is re- elevating 3 Gurukulams - Residential Schools (Sarvail, Tadikonda and Kodigenahalli) that inspired Residential Schools and Navodaya Schools in the country – as Regional Institutions of Excellence. Hope they continue to take and nurture the brightest to be useful to this society and inspire more such models! People below ‘poverty line’ are suffering. Interestingly the people living above the ‘comfortable standard’ are not able enhance their happiness any significantly. It seems USD 25000-75000 per year is a comfortable standard in US. Additional income, if used for under indulgence (buying less), buying experiences, and buying for others, gives higher joy and happiness. Can we go and tell our ‘rich’ friends to do this more often? MPAT, recently developed multidimensional poverty assessment tool, can be used to assess and support rural poverty alleviation efforts at a macro level. Its focus is on fundamental and relatively universal dimensions of rural livelihoods and rural life, and thus of rural poverty. It looks at 10 dimensions central to rural livelihoods – food and nutrition security; domestic water supply; health and healthcare; sanitation and hygiene; housing, clothing and energy; education; farm assets; non-farm assets; exposure and resilience to shocks; and gender and social equity. The scores on each dimension and the overall composite indices could be compared across regions. But, the solutions being specific to local context, there is a need to dig deep and discover the gaps that need to be plugged and opportunities that could be tapped. Joseph Stiglitz was convinced – asymmetric information (when some individuals have access to privileged knowledge that others don’t), free markets yield bad outcomes for wider society through rent seeking [appropriating resources from someone else rather than creating new wealth] and taking advantage. The huge inequalities of income and wealth that have developed

164 are not only unjust in themselves but are retarding growth. Therefore, larger public good demands legislation against asymmetric information, redistribution through higher taxation and punishments for people responsible for asymmetry. We cannot agree more! Sagari has discovered that our breeds (like Ongole) have been stolen and new breeds (like Australian Brahman) have been developed that support global beef industry. May be it is time to breed and rear our indigenous breeds - the Ongole, the Hallikar, the Deoni, the Pandharpuri buffalo, the Asil poultry, the Deccani Sheep, the Kanchu Dwarf Goat etc. Are we sure we need exotic Jersey, Holstein Friesians, Boar Goats in our country? Sagari is not. I am not. In India, we need to create 100 million jobs over the next decade. Only the entrepreneurs can do this. Mostly the start-ups! Majority of them would be tiny/nano/micro/small/medium enterprises! But we know lot of them fail before, may be several times, they succeed. We need an environment that accepts effort. We need an ecosystem that supports failed entrepreneurs. We need to identify the willing potential entrepreneurs, mentor them and support them their visions, plans and sincere efforts, through ups and downs. Can we? We hear Government is investing Rs.200 Billion to set up National Optical Fibre Network, by laying about 5 lakh kilometers of optical fibre, to provide broadband connectivity to all 250,000 Gram Panchayats. Nationally, the effort is to roll-out e-Services and e-Applications – pan India and pan state G2C Services up to GP level; services of public sector undertakings. Hope this becomes a reality. India Development Gateway, you could play a significant role here! It appears that our growth would be useful, if it is able to absorb the labour from agriculture into non-agriculture – non-farm activities, manufacturing and services. Thankfully, many of the young men and women would like to get out of farming and other traditional occupations and their families too want them to get out. Unfortunately, we do not seem to have robust and well-crafted methods and mechanisms to absorb them elsewhere with decent wages, security and self-respect intact. We need to find new areas, other than construction and retail trade/sales, to absorb these in large numbers, say 20 million a year - some 2 million in the development sector and social enterprises, and another 6 million in local value-addition enterprises. The agenda is to counsel, skill and nurture young men and women for these jobs and to start individual and collective enterprises. Of course, we need to be cautious that old persons are not pushed out of their dignified existence. Now, the institutional architecture that supports local enterprises and decent jobs is to be built, nurture and mentored.

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58. Architecture to Reduce Asymmetry in Access Perspectives August, 2012

Let the humanitarianism triumph! Let the democracy flourish! Let there be no illiteracy of any kind amongst us! Let the innovation in everyone flourish! India is drought despite some floods here and there. Pranab is President and Ansari is Vice President. Chidambaram is back to Finance. Shinde takes charge of Home. Life goes on. Olympics 2012 ends. India could get 2 Silver and 4 Bronze. The poll declares Dr BR Ambedkar as the ‘Greatest Indian after Mahatma’. Kalam is a distant number 2 followed by Patel and Nehru. Team Anna would announce a political formation in October. Baba Ramdev just concluded his fast against Black Money, promising more fight soon. The streams of thought and work that continued to dominate the month include livelihoods in general and for the vulnerable and specific segments of the population in particular – women, youth, elders, disabled, tribals, urban poor etc., LEAPs, Value-chains, self-reliant livelihoods collectives and livelihoods learning. Painful learning of the month includes - without meta- learning focus, any livelihoods learning institute would not succeed. It should focus on getting the ‘talent’ in to learn and teach, on wholesome learning that generates interest and passion rather than attendance, examinations and rote learning, on latest knowledge updates, and on pro-active self-driven knowledge and skill acquisition ecosystem. I guess all the people who have to file Income Tax Returns without the need for audit have done so. If income exceeds Rs.10 lakh, one has to e-file them. If the income exceeds Rs.15 lakh (professionals) or Rs.60 lakh (business persons), accounts need to be audited and returns need to be filed by October. NSS 2011-12 round informs us that bottom 10% of the population spends Rs.17 a day per capita in rural areas and Rs.23 a day in urban areas. It appears a miracle that they are surviving. I guess somebody is feeding them. Other day, there was a round table discussion at Delhi on 31 July 2012 on mobilizing finances for livelihoods collectives. Some of the conclusions include – • There is no real dearth of funds for these collectives, provided they have workable business models; however, the funding should be priority lending funding; the investments need to phased – start small & slowly expand; • There is a need to build members’ equity more than anything else; bank on the shg movement to finance the members so that they in turn invest in the collective; • Understand the value-chain fully and interventions may have to be at individual level, shg or group level, village level and so on – therefore, the collective may have to invest only on that crucial value-addition activity; and • Livelihoods collective work is a long-term (5-10 years) work with risks requiring investments in member mobilization, capacity building, corpus, working capital, meeting initial recurring costs, bearing early risks and of course, some infrastructure. It is possible that infrastructure loans may be easy to get than others. Should not we appreciate that SHGs are also the livelihoods collectives?

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We are a country of self-employed and micro-enterprises, by and large. Doing small jobs is our way of life. Wage employment is part of this. However, our literate young men and women seek jobs. At the current rate, it is about 20 million a year. It may be difficult to get to this number even in 2 decades from now. The alternative for half of them is to seek self- employment, in the existing occupations, and in new emerging livelihoods. We have to help them. Mapping the people to help tap their full potential is the key to building meta-livelihoods for the people. Heredity, upbringing influences, likes/dislikes, interests, values and beliefs, strengths and weaknesses, attitudes and behavioral competencies etc., when reasonably understood, the awareness about true capability rises. This in turn can help in counseling and need-competency matching, coaching and performance management and learning. A recent nation-wide survey of MBAs from B-schools confirms low (21%) employability in them. While about 3.5 lakh MBAs come out every year, only 70,000 are employable. Sad! They are weak in verbal ability, quantitative ability and reasoning. Weak performance in reasoning is a critical concern. We know that the employability of other post graduates is worse. The moot question is how we should screen the employable individuals, induct and develop them to be more useful to the work. This issue becomes further accentuated with the development sector being not an attractive career option to many of them and therefore, they do not come forward to apply. Mostly the left outs or the potential left outs opt for the sector. We need to screen them and find the suitable (even if marginally). Then, they need to be rigorously inducted. There is no other way to be. It does not make sense to dilute or fast-pace the rigor and intensity of the induction for a reasonable period. Also, they need to go through apprenticeship thereafter before we entrust them with independent/strategic responsibilities. Tim Sebastian talks about the need to get back to quality news rather than quantity of news. The same goes with knowledge management – quality and not quantity. We need relevant evidence-based data; and well-documented best practices with the logic and rationale embedded. As precisely as possible! This calls for people’s channels. For people! Meeting people’s needs! They need not be always ‘live’; need not be ‘sensational’; need not be completely devoid of ‘entertainment’ value; need not be just coverages. They could partner with helplines; could support learning; could offer ‘intelligence’; could show ‘how to’; could have complementary support of portal(s), 3G/4G videos and online magazines; could have books and e-books of relevance; could conduct training and counseling; and they could in fact partner with various stakeholders and offer support services. All this guarantees quality, relevance, timeliness and usefulness. This is one important way to reduce the asymmetry in information/knowledge access. Now, we need to build, nurture and mentor institutional and infrastructural architecture that reduces the asymmetry in the access of information, knowledge, skills, market and other open/common resources to the poor, meets their needs and supports their pursuits towards their decent employment and collectivization.

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59. Dr Verghese Kurien: Rest in Peace; Poor are Coming Together! Perspectives September, 2012

Let us harvest and conserve water! Let us be free and let others be free! Let there be peace all around! Let us see the world and let us know the world! Let there be knowledge for free to all! Let our kind hearts rule us! Let us be useful and helpful! Let this world be a better place for everyone to live now and in future! Let us care our elders! Let us encourage vegetarianism! Let us know that non-violence is the weapon of the strong! Let us smile and make others smile! Let the humanitarian actions spread! Let us work for reducing and facing disasters! Getting up on a Sunday morning to the message of ‘you are orphaned’ has been tough. It was 09 September 2012 and Dr Kurien left us to merge in the flows of the Universe for good. Then a sudden reminder – let us get going. For a ‘non-believer’, Dr Kurien’s faith in the capacity of the people is total. His message is more ‘democracy’. His way is to build nested self-managed people’s institutions. Synergy of these institutions, with wisdom and leadership of internal animators, and professional skills of external facilitators, would sustain this movement and revolution. The ecosystem could be of great help. Over the last 6 decades, 15 million farmers have come together in Anand Pattern Cooperatives. But, the spirit and logic of collective action has spread in the country. We have millions joining collectives – we have fishermen cooperatives, livestock cooperatives, NTFP collectors’ associations, agricultural labour unions, horticulture cooperatives, water users associations, tree growers’ collectives, forest samitis, consumers’ cooperatives, mothers’ committees, education committees, thrift and credit cooperatives, seed collectives, self-help groups and their federal entities, elders groups, disabled groups, solidarity groups, domestic workers unions, so on. Decentralization of governance has been attempted through 73 and 74 amendments to Constitution. Self-reliant mutual help cooperative acts have come into being to support ‘free’ cooperation. Companies’ Act has provided for producer companies that operate with the spirit of cooperation. People’s institutions have got into providing microfinance services to their members – savings, credit, insurance, remittance, pension and livelihoods services. Recently, there is a constitutional amendment for ensuring ‘freedom’ for government control. Government has exempted cooperatives from income tax. Other forms of collectives may also get this benefit soon. However, mutual help is not considered ‘legal’ sometimes. Priority sector is not extended to all people’s institutions. Some acts and provisions (like producer company) are tenuous. This kind of anomalies needs to be corrected. Yet every one of us seem to agree that the collectivization is still at a nascent stage. This needs to be taken up. While NRLM and NULM are trying to saturate collectivization of the poor and vulnerable women in the entire country in the coming 10-15 years, MGNREGS is trying to collectivize wage workers. Organizing people around livelihoods activities is still a long way to go. We seem to have agreed that poor can be in multiple institutions, partly because of the multiple needs and multiple activities they pursue and partly because no institution can be a single window institution. To achieve the social and solidarity needs, we need participatory democracy institutions within the village/habitation; we need higher order federal institutions

168 to achieve value-chain and business needs; we need institutions for economies of scale with diversity of risks at district and higher levels; so on. While there are universal needs like water, food, nutrition, health, education etc., there also needs to specific to a community, section, vulnerability and livelihoods activities. The needs of the tribal communities, dalit communities, coastal communities, occupational groups, differently-abled, rain fed farmers, desert area farmers etc., are different. In fact, there is a continuum within them based on age, resource endowment, marginalization, intensity of vulnerability and so on. Thus, multiple institutions for families would be the way. However, it has to begin with one foundation/mother institution. A SHG, a cooperative, a union may serve this purpose. Thus, the streams of thought and work that continued to dominate the month include livelihoods in general and for the vulnerable and specific segments of the population in particular. When half of the population is considered to be smallholders (including leaseholders), the consultation (on 14 September) to enhance their incomes significantly rightly concluded that it is dependent on forming and nurturing their collectives. Other conclusions from the consultations include – • We need to understand farming to include agriculture, horticulture, forestry, fisheries, animal husbandry etc. These include lease farmers or share croppers too; • There is a need to understand that women are more important partners in farming; • Not having minimum support prices that meet the costs and risks adequately for most of the produce is a big gap; • Legal framework that is simple and facilitative but robust for these collectives and their federal entities is still wanting; • Smallholders have multiple products and multiple needs and how do we cope with this? There is a need to have increased transactions between the members and the collective. Therefore, we need to have a model slightly different from milk cooperatives, sugar cooperatives etc. We need to have a front-end that meets their multiple needs and takes multiple products in the village, consolidated single value- chain units, followed by multi-product retailing units; • The work is on both ends – backward linkages (seeds inputs and extension) and forward linkages (storage, transport, value-addition, marketing); • There are risks at various stages. These need to be addressed. Mutuals can play an important role; • Market information, market intelligence is a big need. Further, knowledge management and dissemination in the way the farmers appreciate is also critical. We need multi-media and channels; • There is a need to integrate a variety of producers across and consumers across. One producers’ collective may meet the needs of another collective; • All collectives need to have total tax exemption; • Individual producer’s default should not be taken to producers’ collective and vice- versa; • Still, there is space for individual entrepreneurs. This needs to be appreciated; • Role of appropriate technology cannot be ignored; laboratories, quality control, e- retailing etc.

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• It is a very long-term work, may be 5-10-15 years; • There are a huge number of existing collectives in the country; • The critical dimension is achieving the scale (it is not enough to have bouquets of work here and there); • We need staff to work in these collectives. They are not readily available. We need to build them; We need to look at the large-scale interventions in the country – say oilseeds and oil collectives by NDDB (Operation Goldenflow and Market Intervention Operation). It has invested Rs.1000+ Crore, organized 4-5 million farmers and did everything that is required to do on ‘scale’ over a long-period of time. The elements in the integrated model on scale included - Village collectives – seeds, inputs and extension Capital as Grant and Loan Working capital loans Minimum Support Price Operations Processing units (union of cooperatives) including procurement, storage, transport, refining, etc. Insurance for crops Insurance for processing/value-addition Principle of capture the market first Effort: capture at least 10% of the produce in the hands of the collectives Value-addition Research & Development (R&D) Market intelligence, information , price and arrival information Price Stabilization/Fluctuation Fund Tax exemption to collectives Partial waiver of other taxes Packing and packaging Branding (DHARA et al) Retail chains (using Amul and other milk brands) Line of credit from RBI (up to Rs.1000-2000 Crore, at any point of time) National MIS National Oil Grid Imports and their release into the market in the hands of the NDDB Hindustan Oilseeds Growers’ Association for solidarity and advocacy Established Linkage with Dairy/Animal Husbandry and Oilseeds Established Linkages between the producers and consumption, say PDS etc. Established Linkages between the producers of one area with the producer-consumers in the other area Exposing #2 market Working on futures and forward marketing

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Technology Mission for Productivity Enhancement Professionals for staff of the collectives Community paraprofessionals Produce of the non-members Business-linked price differential Then what went wrong with them? What needs to be done? We need to understand the entire experiment before we launch a new ‘effort’. The critical gap seems to be the ‘regular engagement’ of farmers, rather than 5-6 times in a year. We need to increase the transactions of the farmer with the collective. This is the major work ahead for all if us. Dr Kurien has laid a robust way of bringing people together given his context and situation. He has done with milk and tried with other commodities. We need to build on that. Social entrepreneur par excellence, practitioner for sixty years, Dr Kurien has laid some axioms for us to remember in building our pathways – Be relevant There are some values universal and permanent. Integrity is one of them. Time discipline is the other. Market First Existing First Knowledge and Skills First Nothing is perfect while conceptualizing. Keep perfecting. Think laterally but argue straight People’s skills are the key; learn the craft of spotting the talent/potential and harness it Persistence, Patient impatience and impatient patience Navigation through institutions forms, variations and structures Institutional net matters more than a single institution Have faith in the people and their capacities Be friendly and open to technology, numbers etc. Ready to respond to opportunities and state’s requests. Work on changing the context and eco-system. It is important to change the rules too.

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60. Let us Learn Livelihoods! Let us Join Hands! Perspectives October, 2012

Happy Elders! Happy Gandhi! Happy Ahimsa! Happy Biodiversity! Happy Smiles! Ganesh symbolizes biodiversity and reminds us to protect it. After 2 days of Ganesh Immersion on 29 September, Hyderabad is hosting United Nations’ COP 11, Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity through 1-19 October 2012. 193 countries are participating. We await the discussions and Hyderabad Declaration on 19 October 2012. As if Dr Kurien leaving us for good on 09 September 2012 was not enough, another nonagenarian Acharya Konda Lakshman Bapuji left us on 21 September 2012, just two days after Ganesh. Fondly known as Bapuji, he has been fighting for the freedom for more than 7 decades, beginning with ‘Quit India’ in 1942 and anti-Nizam. Local self-reliance and social justice for the marginalized have been his agenda. His ways included social solidarity and charity associations, economic livelihoods-based cooperatives and political struggles for decentralization and empowerment. He was the founder-chairman of HYCO (now APCO) since 1952 for a few decades. At the peak of his political career, he resigned from being Minister in 1969 and stayed away from political power from then on, for an independent Telangana with social justice. His philosophy – let us separate and be together as Telugus in separation. Marginalized in AP and Telangana and the weavers across India have lost their tallest leader. He has been one of those rare breed of honest leaders of the era. He has been instrumental in springing up of the large local leadership in general and amongst the marginalized in particular. Konda Lakshman Bapuji, 27 September 1915 – 21 September 2012, Rest in Peace! We continue to pursue the agenda you have pursued and laid for us. Looking at the charismatic leaders, Dr Kurien and Bapuji, a question that comes to us – what is the secret of their charisma? They have made charisma into their ‘habits’ – • They listen more than they talk; • They listen carefully irrespective of who is telling; • They are fully yours for that moment; they give; • For them, the issue matters more than anything; • They listen to the ones who they do not meet generally (i.e. Not the self, not the immediate colleagues….); • They highlight others’ achievement; • They are articulate and choosy with words; • They do not discuss the failures but lessons; and • They laugh at themselves and admit mistakes readily. I think we can easily practice many of these. Let us get going! The fight for separate Telangana has reached a decision junction. It cannot wait and bear the burden any longer. Decade long-fight is not short. 1000 suicides are not less. We understand some 5 million households have been affected negatively as far as their ‘livelihoods’ are concerned. The situation is like that of internally displaced people to an extent. Prof. Jayashankar earlier and now Bapuji made the locals to firm up their resolve. The sentiment has

172 been displayed at T-March, Saagarahaaram in Hyderabad with thousands in attendance braving the rain and preventive measures by police. Now, the silent satyagraha is on. ‘Pressures’ are building up. Other regions articulate resistance. Rayalaseema wants a state. A flux! Cannot be ignored any longer! Amidst all this, Government of India came up with Foreign Direct Investment (in Retail). Diesel Prices raised and LPG cylinders cap has come into force. More reforms are in the offing. There are rhetoric statements on two sides. There is no informed debate. Prime Minister comes on TV and says – trust me, it is useful. But, what we miss is the discourse on how these measures are useful or otherwise. Why can’t we have the brainstorming in the country with all pros and cons on the table? When 10-40 million ‘livelihoods’ are getting affected, can we just push? As it is we have the micro jobs and contract workers are on the rise leaving large numbers without any security. India is a home to 100 million elderly (both men and women). About two-thirds of them are poor, deprived and vulnerable. Even if we agree Planning Commission’s Rs.26/day as the need per adult, their need is about Rs.1000 per month. Why can’t the old get a pension of Rs.1000 per month per person? Only 10% of these are destitute. 90% are working and/or assisted elders. They require social, financial and ‘livelihoods’ security. They need dignity in living and livelihoods. They cannot be excluded when they have life expectancy of another 18 years at 60. They need to be included. Included proactively! By all programs, departments and institutions that deal with social, financial and ‘livelihoods’ security aspects! NRLM, MGNREGS included in this. When we need thousands of livelihoods/development professionals working for the poor in the country, the academic institutions cannot keep quiet. They need to figure out ways to attract, induct and place them in ‘livelihoods’ effort of the country. This is gigantic task. ‘livelihoods’ Manthan is trying to develop the learning material for the eventual ‘livelihoods’ curriculum in their courses and the management development programs for building the capacities of the professionals on ground already. As part of this, one quick way to generate material is ‘writeshop’ as explained by Tabrez from The ‘livelihoods’ School the other day at CESS, Hyderabad, as part of Livelihood Sharing Session Series, in partnership with XIMB. Writing the material in a workshop till it is finalized is the essence. Good idea. May be, many of us do it already. Nevertheless, an idea worth taking forward with appropriate modifications suited to the context. We need to innovate/discover a variety of ways to have ‘livelihoods’ professionals on board. We may need a national ‘livelihoods’ academy with franchisees. We may need consortiums of institutions that offer extra batches for livelihoods. We may have to take young men and women and induct them directly. We may have to offer distance and e-learning courses. We may have to institute apprenticeships. We may have to ask others to change course. So on, so forth. That is the agenda, let us join hands.

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61. Learn to Know, Do, Be, Co-exist and Beyond! Perspectives November, 2012

Happy Humanity! Happy Physical, Mental and Spiritual Health! Save the Girl Child! Plan for Disaster Preparedness! Food and Nutrition for All! Lasting Prosperity for All! Information and Knowledge access to everyone! COP11 to CBD with 184 countries and 14400 participants in attendance ended! Arvind Kejriwal goes political and Anna sticks to ‘movement’. Union Cabinet Reshuffled and some new faces inducted! 2014 election conch has been blown! Rahul appears to be in the driver seat! HP voted. Gujarat is getting ready. Padayatras have begun: Chandrababu is walking; Sharmila is walking. Indian East Coast is hit by ‘Neelam’. Telangana is still seeking endorsement of its free will. Uncertainty looms large. American Presidential Elections are on, amidst effects of Sandy Super Storm. Online world is growing and it is changing fast. 2 billion people access internet now, mostly through phones, tablets and laptops. 1 billion people are on facebook. About an hour/day is spent on internet/portal/social media. Print advertising has become small and online advertising and TV advertising are sharing equally about 80% of the advertising. Digital video is growing up. The future is towards customized online content viewership and downloading. Income Tax Payees may be the biggest beneficiaries of coming Direct Taxes Code, effective 1 April 2013. Likely revision is – tax exemption limit – Rs.300,000/year; 10% tax for Rs.300,000 to Rs.1,000,000; 20% for Rs.1.0 – 2.0 million; and 30% for above Rs.3.0 million. We hear that state is going to ask the family to pay honorarium for domestic work of its members. Is it a way? Is it implementable? The best would be to educate and skill women to have gainful employment outside so that she attains/retains independence/reduced dependence. The best would be to reduce the drudgery in household chores. As we ‘progressed’, our ways of sustainable living have given way to power consuming and environmentally unfriendly ways. Earlier, recycling, refilling, walking and using steps, not using throw-away goods, small multi-user radio/TV, manual work in kitchen and elsewhere, using old newspapers, labour-intensive activities, work itself as exercise, local foods and clothes, etc., used to be the ways. Can some of them become part of our ways of living now? Gandhi, we cannot escape when we think of ways of living. The lessons from Gandhi include – look beyond yourself; lead by example; learn to forgive; don’t lose faith and be patient; and be the change. We need education for these ways of living. For the whole person – mind, body and spirit! For the hierarchy of needs (autonomy, bonding and meaning), not just for the lowest needs! To be grounded in reality, no intellectualization and conceptualization for their own sake! For knowing deeply (towards knowledge, understanding and wisdom)! For the grasp of unity in diversity all around! And meditation/yoga is brahmavidya! In essence, it is nai taleem – learning to know, to do, to be, to co-exist and to go beyond all this. A growing India! Does it need foreign aid to its civil society organizations? About 40000 organizations are registered under FCRA and about Rs.10,000 Crore/year comes in as Foreign Contribution through these agencies. This is not even 1% of Government of India Budget. The

174 contributions come as small contributions. About 30% contributions (largest) from USA. Funds are mostly meant for education and health. Only 15% of these funds are for establishment/administration. Still, Delhi and South India receives majority of the funds. Apart from these, India also gets about Rs.25,000 Crore/year as multi-lateral aid/loans to Government(s) directly. While the amounts are arguably insignificant, they could be coming in for filling the relevant gaps. Thus, they may have catalytic effect on the civic efforts within the country and the state efforts through Union and State Budgets. It is established, more or less, that we need to invest in the health and nutrition of mother and the child, early childhood care and education, school education, knowledge and skills, collectivization and social security for a responsive responsible sensitive and prosperous next generation. The returns on investment are higher than any other investment. This investment impacts of life skills (cognitive, social, emotional, and societal) and concepts, lower dropouts from the education funnel, better employment prospects and reduced crime. This calls for right to education has to be extended to include the entire education chain starting from -0.8 to 18 years. This is a fundamental right of the child, indeed! While I have reconciled to 70% of India living on less than USD 2/day, some statistics startled me – one in three of the world’s malnourished children is in India; India is home to about 25 percent of the world’s hungry poor; India ranks 65th out of 79 countries on the Global Hunger Index. We need to accelerate our efforts to address this situation! Natural Resources are the key in livelihoods work. Supreme Court’s recent observations on auctioning natural resources include – auction cannot be the sole criterion for alienation of natural resources. However, one set of citizens cannot prosper at the cost of another set of citizens, for that would not be fair or reasonable. Economic logic and common/public good may not always be in sync. Potential for abuse cannot be the basis for striking down a method as ultra vires the Constitution for there is no method is completely abuse-proof. Land to the landless gives them dignity and credibility. Gwalior-Delhi Historic March of 50000+ landless led Government to concede this demand in a time-bound manner. The agreement includes formulation of National Land Reforms Policy, right to land and shelter to all, empowering Gram Sabha to implement PESA, FRA etc., effectively. Hope this becomes a reality soon. Super 30 fame Anand Kumar of Bihar has shown a good example of a hybrid self-sustaining social enterprise. A mathematics school (Ramanujam School of Mathematics) earns fee from the students and supports the Super 30 – poor bright merit students prepared for admissions into IITs without any cost to the students. 90% of Super 30 have found their way into IITs, over the last ten years. We should have more Anand Kumars to have more hybrid social enterprises. We also need fair, efficient and effective service providers to the poor. Of course, we also need collectives of the poor gearing up and providing some or all of these services to their members. It is time we become and nurture more hybrid social and ecological entrepreneurs!.

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62. Gear up, Lead and Mentor People Working with the Poor! Perspectives December 2012

Obama is back for a second term! Modi is back for a third term! Telangana still awaits central kindness. All Party meeting is now scheduled on 28 December. World Telugu Mahasabhalu are planned during 27-29 December at Tirupati. Human Rights, Women empowerment and Human Solidarity in India are under trial as Damini is still struggling for survival in New Delhi and India is shouting its lungs out for justice now and in future to all. Entrepreneurship involves team building, professional writing and presentation etc. • Building a team involves giving freedom to members but with agreed/shared vision and targets; a sense of mission and clear expectations; taking inputs and having a sense of connection; consistency; and some future. • Professional writing and presentations should not be too formal; precise; jargon free to the extent possible; attention to details like name, gender, title etc.; call for clear action; one or two options to choose; use a template where useful; and lean and attractive. Cash Transfer to Poor is on the anvil. But, this is linked to Aadhaar Card. Getting the Aadhaar Card is an ordeal. Why can’t the Government be committed to ensuring that it offers on its own all the registrations, citizen rights and cards as and when one becomes eligible? How do the government ensure that it identifies all the households for a scheme? While Cash Transfer reduces the leakages, it does not take away the omissions and commissions, the corruption in the process of identifying etc. Pre-payment of the ‘dues’ is another area of concern. Can we rope in the Self-help institutions of the poor in these processes? If yes, the situation may be better. Still a point remains about the market taking advantage of the cash in the hands of the poor and the prices going up. We are also hearing about mobile payments. Cash Transfer Payments including those for MGNREGS wages and their business transactions in the bank accounts, and withdrawals through debit cards/ATM cards and/or mobile phones are contingent upon the universal financial inclusion agenda. Can we say all the citizens who approach a bank should be given a bank account if s/he resides within x kilometers from the bank? Certification by a Government servant in the village and above or the Sarpanch could be good enough for verification of the identity and residence! It appears that social entrepreneurship has reached its saturation point. Eli Malinsky predicts about social entrepreneurship – social entrepreneurship would dissolve as a distinct discipline (it would get integrated into mainstream business – is not it every business a social enterprise?); the margins from social enterprises would be more realistic – neither very high nor very low – and inversely proportional to social impact; the greatest social change would come through incremental shifts in mainstream business behavior rather than nonprofits; social impact assessment would be an integrated and essential feature of business; and social

176 entrepreneurs would need to brace meta-fishing skills and reconfigure themselves for changes around. Social entrepreneurs – are you listening? A surprising study on Wealth Sentiments by Skandia International suggests that Rs.8 million/year would make people really happy. This is 15 times the global per capita income and some 800 times our planning commission’s poverty line. The maximum pension to the old paid by any government is about Rs.12000/year. Can we ever succeed in making poor happy by increasing their incomes to these levels? We seem to progressing further on interest subvention. The women SHGs, along with the farmers, may get credit at 7% per annum. In 150 integrated action plan districts, this may go down further to 4% per annum. State Governments like AP have announced that they would pick up the entire bill of this interest from SHGs. This would mean SHGs would pay just the principal to banks and the interest would be paid by the Governments. At a conservative estimate, 100 million women taking Rs.50,000 per annum, the interest subvention would amount to Rs.60,000 Crore/year to be shared by Central and State Governments. This is about 20% of the Cash Transfer amount Government of India is talking about. This is just the loans to women. If we add farm loans, enterprise loans etc., this amount can be 3-4 times this amount. Is it a temporary phenomenon or a lasting program? UNFPA survey says that 71% of the elderly in the age group of 60-80 years work. About 100 million elderly are there and thus, 70 million work. They need to be social, financially and economically included. We cannot ignore them and discriminate them. The pensions we give is not enough for a decent living. Therefore, they need to be supported like we support any other vulnerable group in terms of mobilization, inclusion, collectivization and policy environment. It is becoming clear that the poor mobilization for their better livelihoods and better living into self-help institutions, linked with the resources; access to their rights, entitlements and rightful share in the market place; and share in the governance space are critical for they coming out of poverty in the interim. Improved food, nutrition and health in the beginning and education later would ensure that they stay out of poverty in the long term. We need professionals (100,000s), community professionals, resource persons and leaders (1000,000s) in large numbers to achieve this over the coming 15-20 years. Let us gear up, lead and mentor this agenda!.

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63. Reaching Out! Perspectives January, 2013

Obama takes oath twice in 2 days for his second term in office. Congress says it is an Obama Moment when Rahul has been appointed its Vice President. It is more than a month since the All Party meeting held on Tealangana and the uncertainty still looms large. Government has announced Padma awards. Barring a few like Shivajira Patil, Reema Nanavati and radhika Herzberger, development world has lost out in this round! I have been talking to my student, a PMRDF in Bihar. She has offered to discuss her experience - I had been working as a development professional from last one year in one of the ‘red corridors’ of India. I had grown up in one of the metropolitan city of our country. There is a clear divide between the India that I grew up and Bharath where I am currently located. The divide is not only in terms of infrastructure, opportunities or developmental issues but also in culture, life styles and thought processes. There is a wide gap between the district administration and the citizens of the country. This gaps need to be reduced. Officers need to be more people friendly and spend more time with people in the field, rather than in the meetings. If we want to empower the society education is the strongest tool in our hands. We also need to look after not only the student’s education but also the teachers imparting education. No one wants to send their children to government schools, if they have resources. Even in the elite convent and public schools, the student teacher ratio is 30:1 and even more, as against the ratio of 6:1 in Nalanda, ancient University in India. We need more teachers. We need more teachers with quality. When are we going to have them? How are we going to have them? Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) has been going on across the country. This is different from the census every decade. It tries to capture the caste. The data is to be collected through tablets. I was assigned a task by my boss to go and actually find out how things are going in the field. I have discovered that the schemes by the Government of India are very beautifully designed but when the actual implementation at the grassroots starts taking place all things go haywire. For example, a data entry operator in SECC is receiving Rs.1.50 per record, as against the norm of Rs.2.60 and not daily and not on time. This seems to be because of multiple levels of sub-contracting. Life is tough in these ’red corridors. Basic amenities are missing. People are struggling to meet their daily needs. Their minimal and legitimate expectations are not being met. Aspirations of the youth here are modest. While it may be true globally that the youth aspirations are not being fulfilled. Therefore, the world is becoming ungovernable, says an Israeli leader. The Self Help Group (SHG) movement that started in the southern part of the country towards late eighties is now spreading in the rest of the country. The country is now ready for taking every poor household in the country into the fold of SHGs, with a fond hope that universal SHG movement brings changes in the lives of its poor and vulnerable. With an intense intent that it lets the poor realize the power inside them. What appear difficult individually, they could realize them collectively.

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Working and being with a poor is a blessing in disguise. It cleanses within us. It makes us a better human being and it takes us closer to ‘nirvana’. 208 individuals with public interest have called for no cash transfers for food under PDS; immediate enactment of national food security and universal PDS; no substitution of public services with cash transfers; no link with UID for cash transfer for pensions, scholarships, etc.; legal safeguards and framework for UID immediately; no condition of UID for accessing any rights, entitlements or public services; and no essential entitlements to be linked with UID alone. It is important to listen to them, consider a way forward that addresses the concerns raised comprehensively. It is important that Government should offer identity in terms of Aadhaar, Passport, Election Card, PAN Card, Ration Card etc., as a right to the citizens rather than a response against the request of the individual seeking it. It should be like a census drive or drive for enrolling voters periodically. Delivery of Rights, Entitlements and Public Services is an important and large part of the budgets and agenda of the Government at various levels. It can be easily about 30-40%, amounting to something like Rs.5 lakh Crore/Year or Rs.25000/family. Can this kind of outlay left to less sensitive less professional less resourceful individuals? We need to storm into this domain as soon as possible. This may mean lakhs of professionals, community professionals, resource persons and leaders. Let us work towards reaching out to this need!

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64. Livelihoods Management Universities! Perspectives February, 2013

Happy Maha Kumbh, the largest congregation of the world! Azim Premzi commits Rs.12,000 Crore irrevocably to his Foundation. North-east Election results are out: Tripura – CPI (M); Nagaland – NPF; and Meghalaya – INC. Annual letter of Bill Gates articulates that the lives of the poorest have improved rapidly in the last 15 years and hopes that the improvement would be better in the coming years. Setting clear goals, picking the right approach, implementing, measuring results and refine the approach continually is the way forward. His articulation is so right! National Income estimates suggest an increase 11.7% increase in the per capita annual income in Indian and is pegged at Rs.68,747 in 2012-13 at current prices. This is slightly higher than the inflation. Prices have been rising for essential items of the poor. Coupled with ‘increased gulf’ between the poor and non-poor, the situation of the poor does not seem to have improved! Bansal presents Railway Budget. Chidambaram presents Annual Budget of Rs.17 lakh Crore that aims at higher but inclusive growth rate, with sustainable development. PC promises – • Nirbhaya Fund • National Bank for Women by October • skills for 10 lakh youth • Concessional 6% interest loans to weavers • RSBY is extended to rickshaw pullers, and auto and taxi drivers • Direct Benefit Transfer roll-out in the country • Post Offices to be into core banking • 4.8% Fiscal Deficit • Increase allocation to Rural Development (46%) – Rs.80,194 Crore – MGNREGS gets Rs.33,000 Crore • Farm Credit Target – Rs.7 lakh Crore • National Food Security – Rs.10,000 Crore • Agriculture – Rs.27,000 Crore • Education – Rs.65,867 Crore • ICDS – Rs.17,700 Crore • Drinking Water and Sanitation – Rs.15,260 Crore • Health – Rs.37,330 • JNNURM – Rs.14,873 • Sub-plan Funds – SCs – Rs.41,561 Crore; STs – Rs. 24,598 Crore; Gender – Rs.97,134 Crore; Child – Rs.77,236 Crore • 10% Surcharge on taxable income above Rs.1 Crore Let us discuss more of the budget implications for the poor later, may be next month. However, it appears not so big and bold as media talked. Amidst economic slowdown over the last 2 years, we notice the growth of the middle class nevertheless. We also notice the empowered lower middle class with technology. Together

180 they constitute may be half of India. Does that offer hope? Yes, if we see One Billion Rising. Yes, if we see increased solidarity for rights and entitlements. Yes, if we see increased number of people making a choice to work with the poor. Looking at the professionals available in the development is troubling us. While the capacities are about average, the egos and expectations are huge. We need to increase the qualified competent passionate professionals in the sector. We need them in huge numbers. IIMs, IITs, IRMAs, TISSs, XIs, NIRDs need to work further to inculcate the spirit in the students to opt to work with the poor, increase more sections, increase more campuses, incubate more institutions and devise various franchisee, virtual and distance models. Then only we can meet the need. The courses need to be more in sync with the needs of the sector. They need to discuss more examples relevant from the sector. A new discipline needs to be nurtured – livelihoods management! WE may not be able to stop at this. We need similarly the professionals from within the communities to meet their local needs. We need trainers are in large numbers to work with them. They need to train the community leaders, community cadres, community service providers, community resource persons, community trainers, and community institutions. We need professionals to work in these institutions. To service 100 million families, we may need 10 million people. We need a million each year. This would mean we need Community Livelihoods University(ies). These have to be started, established and nurtured. Now. Hope someone there is taking note and is going to respond.

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65. National Centre for Livelihoods Learning! Perspectives March, 2013

One more bank for development – BRICS bank! Human Development Report 2013 highlights the rise of the Global South! Still, North-South gaps persist in Human Development Index. India is going backwards in the HDI front. The situation is no better in the Gender Inequality Index. India’s Poverty Head Count is 54%. Some 150 million Indians above the age of 55+ and some differently-abled require pensions. Even if we concede Rs.2000/month as pension, it may mean about 4% of the GDP, visi-a-vis 9% of GDP for pensions in Brazil. About two-thirds of India is in rural areas. And more than half of them are poor. Their major livelihoods include wage labour, farming (agriculture, livestock, dairying, NTFP and fisheries), traditional artisanal occupations led by weaving, off-farm and petty trade. While wage labour, some support is coming from MGNREGS, farming needs to be worked further on. Portfolio of livelihoods of the farming family includes multiple commodities/products, and therefore, we need to work on the entire farming system rather than a single commodity. This issue assumes significance as we go to farmers in the ‘margins’. Increasing productivity and production per unit, decreasing the cost of farming, cost of capital, and cost of living without foregoing the quality of living, and decreasing/diversifying the risks are important in the initial agenda. Drudgery needs to reduced. Water use needs to be optimized. Ultimately, what matters is whether the net income in the hands of the family is able to afford the family a decent living or not. This is importantly connected to the realization of increased % of the consumer rupee. At the same time, food and health security has to be achieved for them. This would require working with the commons. All this has to build on the organization of the farming families in the ‘margins’ but within the domain of agro-ecological underpinnings. This organization could be a SHG federation or a separate framing collective or both. We need to think of the landless whether they can take land on lease and/or at least go in for kitchen gardens. Further, realization of consumer rupee is also dependent on the ability to meet multiple needs of the consumers at a single consumer point. Value-addition and marketing do increase the share of the consumer rupee, sometimes very significantly. We could not escape designing for the market to realize higher share of the consumer rupee. This would require talking to the consumers and other players in the producer-consumer value chain; offering value for money to the consumers; developing a value-added prototype (real) and pre-test it; designing and testing branding, marketing and distribution strategies to reach the end-consumer; and scaling-up systematically At the cutting edge, we need multiple multi-purpose community professionals to cater to the multiple needs of the farming system(s). We need to have community resource persons for extension in the entire farming system. We can supplement it with ICT-based extension. Videos are good for effective extension. Thus, we need to build an extension architecture and backward/forward linkages. The range of services have to extend to ecological services, farming literacy, plant care and animal care apart from the organization and business literacy. We need

182 to appreciate and spread the fact that plants and animals as decision-makers and they decide on associations with other ‘life’. We need a learning centre/academy/university in the country that focuses on the poor and their livelihoods portfolio. A national livelihoods learning centre! Focused on the poor, nothing but poor! We need to encourage existing rural universities, institutes, management institutes, agricultural universities etc., to bring in poor focus in their curriculum. We need to introduce livelihoods thinking very early into all the courses including in the schools. We need to offer distance education and e-education in livelihoods. We need to develop the curriculums that offer class room or theoretical understanding and practical exposure, demonstration and practice. We need theory, tools, skills and practice with our livelihoods professionals within the communities, in their organizations and in their support organizations. We also may need entrepreneurs and service providers. This learning centre has to integrate all this. To service 100+ million families! To ensure availability of a million community professionals each year! To ensure the availability of 10,000 integrators every year! Hope someone or some national institute takes responsibility for this learning centre.

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66. Grounded Assumptions! Perspectives April, 2013

As workers, let us remain united! Supreme Court raps CBI for saying it is not ‘autonomous’. For ‘Coalgate’, CBI may come under the purview of Supreme Court. Rapes and rapes of children are still in the news and troubling aam aadmi. Governments seem unperturbed and get going. 97th Amendment to Constitution relating to Right to Form Cooperatives as a fundamental right is in news again. Gujarat High Court has held parts of the amendment unconstitutional. We should quickly appreciate the implications of these. Karnataka elections are on. It appears certain that we will have Lok Sabha elections sooner than what we thought four years ago. It is time to think of the manifestos of the people for the parties to take them on board in their manifestos and later some of them could find their place in the common minimum programme(s). I have stumbled upon a letter which explains why we need to explore space (read: universe). The letter says – …by retaining some of one’s spending money for research and discovery, contributed far more to the relief of human suffering than he could have contributed by giving all he could possibly spare to his ‘plague-ridden’ community. This underscores the need to invest on small but important explorations in every endeavour we have. Our Earth is a beautiful and most precious island in an unlimited void, and that there is no other place for us to live but the thin surface layer of our planet, bordered by the bleak nothingness of space. So true! If our Acts, Plans and Budgets are based on assumptions not really correlating with the ground reality and the processes at the cutting edge despite our ‘great’ design(s), we may not achieve what we set out to achieve. For example, high enrolment in schools does not mean high attendance in schools; all children do not go to school after they are six (many go earlier); all children have in a given class are homogenous in terms of age, ability etc.; classrooms are more diverse than what is generally assumed; a classroom accommodates students of more than one class, quite often; most children are at least 2 grades/classes behind (sad, but true!); design (curriculum, books) is appropriate to the learning level of the students is wrong in majority of the cases; and as children graduate, their learning levels have not shown corresponding improvement. This would mean we need to appreciate the reality more deeply than we currently do. This example is just an illustration. This could be similarly true of development and poverty reduction programs. We need to have a deeper and extensive ground reality check as often as possible so that we assume as nearly as possible to our reality and therefore we plan accordingly. This planning would not be based on ‘feeling’ and ‘fancy’; not based on the donor- driven assumptions; not based on wild imaginations based on quick surveys and feedback from ‘unreal’ primary stakeholders etc. Obviously it is not enough to have a perspective based on reality, a set of strategies that address the issues on ground very clearly with scope for local specificities, planning exercise

184 sheets and allocations. We need timelines, responsibilities fixed and tight follow-up. Of course, we need machinery that delivers these plans with dedication and commitment. This machinery would include amongst others, cutting edge multiple multi-purpose professionals and community professionals at the front-end and thematic professional support at the back-end to respond as quickly as possible. ICT-based support would enhance the efficiency and reach. Reading, person-based training, per-to-peer learning, immersion, exposure visits, pictures and videos in the local context - together they boost learning levels and possibilities of applying knowledge to use dramatically. Community social, human and spiritual capital would ensure the usefulness and relevance of the program and its design. This capital both at the community level and at the individual level needs to be nurtured. The processes that take us into better life include both collective efforts and individual efforts and this understanding has to be built into the program design and the machinery’s ways of work. We hope - our Learning Centres could ensure that we remain glued to realities on ground and real efficacy of the processes we design and set in motion. As a result, I guess, our assumptions would be more realistic. Our programs and plans would be more robust. And we would be more humble.

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67. HR For the Poor Perspectives May, 2013

Karnataka elects Congress. Darbha Ghati incident in South Chattisgarh shuts the doors for political negotiations in the area for some time. Union Cabinet approved key changes in National Rural Livelihoods Mission (Aajeevika) - its target is the poor identified through participatory identification of poor processes, vetted by Gram Sabha; interest subvention to women SHGs; Community Investment Funds to SHGs and their federations; it would be implemented in a phased manner; and a national society for supporting NRLM implementation. West Godavari District in AP is launching a pilot project ‘Stree Sakthi’. Members of women social action committees would station themselves in the police stations to make police stations more women friendly, gender sensitive and effective in implementing gender laws. The study by Public Affairs Committee, concludes per capita incomes in the south (Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala) have risen fast and poverty has declined in recent years and the reason is quality of governance, better leadership and political stability. The nation is getting ready for elections. UPA, NDA, Regional Parties etc., all are getting ready. The movements are getting tailored to pitch in the general elections. Padayatras are on. Chaitanya Yatras are being devised. New schemes are being unveiled. Existing schemes are being revamped at various levels. Bharat Nirman Ads are going on. Posters are coming up. Rallies are on. Meetings are on. Party structures are being revisited and shale-ups are going on. Reshuffles are going on. Manifesto time has come. Election livelihoods are coming. Human Resources that work in Organizations for/of the Poor are expected to show accountability, do sufficient homework in general and for all meetings in particular, be efficient, stay current (news, technology and skill sets), let the work speak, and conform to the workplace norms to a degree. On the other hand, there is a need for an organization to have a shared vision/purpose for its team that delivers collectively working together, an enabling learning environment, empowered individuals in the team, and they living beyond the identity of the organization. The benefits that the organization can provide include – tools and instruments of work including laptops/tablets, datacard, phone, cab service for to and fro from home to office, tea, snacks and lunch, books, working from home, flexi-work hours, virtual conferences etc. Work-life balance of its human resources has to be supported and encouraged by the organization. Rules are minimal and culture dominates in a good HR organization. The large organizations have multiple layers of the organizational units. The network of support structures at next levels, and partners for various thematic activities and tasks would closely work with the large organization. All of them have to be in the orchestra in synchronization for the symphony to click. Then, the organizations of the clients that are serviced by this orchestra, their staff/cadres and the end-clients have to be part of the effort. Poverty reduction in the country, including NRLM and NUML, is now predominantly a knowledge work. The effort is largely to build social, human, financial and spiritual capital. The outlays are largely for these purposes. The funds are to capitalize the institutions. The financial institutions are expected to meet their financial needs. Convergence is expected to ensure

186 access to their rights and entitlements. Universal wage guarantee/social security acts are expected to ensure minimal survival for all. Plugging the gaps and using the opportunities is largely a knowledge work. The knowledge, skills and tools for jobs, self-employment, and expanding existing livelihoods value-chain and livelihoods portfolio, along with increased access to financial resources and collectivization guarantees some increases in their well-being. Rest is essentially a function of how the family gets the education and moves on, how the family succeeds in building on this early impetus, and/or how the state reduces their health and credit expenditures and increases access to basic livelihoods infrastructure in their hands. This is the work. Of course, it is hard work. India needs to add half-a-lakh professionals and a million community professionals/cadres to service this effort every year. We need to get on with - identifying, training, nurturing and making them available to the ‘effort’ as soon as possible. We believe, we have to believe – a movement of HR that services the knowledge-centric poverty reduction effort is building up.

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68. HR for the Poor! Perspectives June, 2013

Happy Environment! Clouds burst and Ganga swells in Uttarakhand. Modi becomes BJP’s Central Election Campaign Chief. Nitish moves out of NDA. UPA effects probably the last Cabinet reshuffle before elections. There is some movement on Telangana. On the overall, the nation is getting ready for elections. When we reflect on what we have done and therefore, what more needs to be done, given the responsibility of national leadership in the domain, the organization ‘pegs’ a new Vision. The pathways to the vision may include – • Doing more that worked in large numbers (and suspending all that that did not work); • Experimenting and building new models for demonstration and dissemination; • Building knowledge and expertise in the domain and disseminating; • Raising funds for the partners who are willing to join hands in scaling-up; • Raising untied funds for exploring the new and filling the gaps; • Building a national movement of the people for people, redefining and facilitating community-based advocacy; • Raising human resources (paid and unpaid) for the cause; • Building partnerships/collaborations/networks of the individuals, institutions and governments for the cause, with capacities, knowledge and expertise in the cause; and • Working on becoming leaner, fitter, cost-effective and leveraging organization This is what HelpAge India concluded in their recent Manthan 2020 for reinforcement/fine- tuning of its shared vision/purpose as a ‘team’. It has realized that its multiple layers of the organizational units, support structures at various levels, and partners have to be in the orchestra in synchronization for the symphony. Goldenberg and Boyd in their “Inside the Box: A Proven System of Creativity for Breakthrough Results” looks at innovation being within. This innovation is possible with five techniques – subtraction; unification; multiplication; division; and attribute dependency. • Subtraction would remove seemingly essential element without losing the functionality. • Task Unification would bring together unrelated tasks/functions. • Multiplication would copy an item with modifications. • Division would separate the components and rearrange them. • Attribute dependency would make the attributes change in response to changes in another attribute(s) and/or in the environment. This piece nudges us to be innovative and creative within the box in our poverty reduction domain. This becomes all the more important and necessary as poverty reduction becomes

188 more people for people movement equipped with knowledge, insights, skills and internal resources and building on them. We gather entrepreneurs need not be young. This is important for us to appreciate as we find in various ages. We can make them self-employed despite their age. Further, with age, they know their strengths, weaknesses and limitations much better. As long as we work (that is into our seventies!), we can be entrepreneurs, we can be self-employed, we can start and run enterprises, we can help others to do the same. Let us also remember that India is a country of the self-employed. More than 80% are self- employed. Truth is staring at us. This is the work. Of course, it is hard work. India needs to add a half-a-lakh professionals and a million community professionals/cadres to service this effort every year. We need to get on with - identifying, training, nurturing and making them available to the ‘effort’ as soon as possible. We believe, we have to believe – a movement of HR that services the knowledge-centric poverty reduction effort is building up.

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69. Prosperous and Equitable Telangana and Seemaandhra! Perspectives July, 2013

Happy Small States! Telangana appears a formality now! India is gearing up for general elections! Planning Commission announces drop in poor in the country to 22% from 37% in about 9 years. World Bank still thinks one-third of poorest one billion of the world live in India. At the US$2 criterion, more than 60% of India is poor. But, all the statistics admit growing inequity in the country between the rich and the poor. There is near consensus on India’s new jobs are not in sync with its growth. The moot questions are – is poverty reducing? The less poor among the poor may be crossing the income poverty line sometimes, is it translating into they crossing the nutrition poverty, social poverty and deprivation? Will they really cope with shocks? Are the poorest still remain excluded with increased inequity and intense poverty? We don’t seem to know really or we are not ready to acknowledge. Resolution of Congress Working Committee on de-merger of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and Seemaandhra with Hyderabad as a common capital for 10 years has set the formal process in motion. It is expected that it will take some 100-300 days for formal notification, if everything goes right. Now is the time to begin the fresh visioning in both Telangana and Seemaandhra for growth, prosperity and freedom from multi-dimensional poverty. The leadership in both the states have to work in building this vision and realizing the same. The visioning would entail looking at – Size and number of districts for better governance and efficient administration, Natural Resources including forests, coast, mines, water and land, Rainfall patterns and conservation and harvesting of water in the catchment, Water-efficient and organic farming – agriculture, horticulture, sericulture, livestock etc., Traditional Occupational Groups Collectivization of the producers at various levels around their produce, Collectivization of the consumers, Special Attention to Tribal Areas and Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups and Nomadic Tribal Groups, SC, ST, BC, minority, disability and elders sub-plans, Saturated mobilization of the poorest and vulnerable into self-help movement, Planning for distributed growth, Decentralization and empowered local governments, Participatory Five-year Perspective and Annual Village and Town Plans, 100% 3R (reading, writing and arithmetic) literacy, No child (school going age) outside the school, Investment in Quality Education for All and Gurukulams for the meritorious, Investment in ensuring Quality Health Services to All, Better Nutrition to All and reduced IMR and MMR, Food Security, Health Security, Life Security and Livelihoods Security for All directly or through mutual support systems, Ration Cards to All without any benami cards, Universal and Decent Social Security for Elders, Persons with Disability etc., Attention on Migration and Migrant Workers, Spread-out Higher Education Institutions, 2 young professionals in each village or for every 1000 people in villages Paraprofessionals, Community Service Providers and Community Resource Persons in each cluster of villages, Transfer of all the 33 subjects to Panchayats, Functional Library in each village, Cottage and/or Local Value-addition Activity in each village, Functioning Youth Association in each village, Student Activity Centre in each school, All-weather Connectivity to each village, Electric Power to All, Affordable E-connectivity

190 to All, Knowledge kiosks and hubs in each cluster of villages, Affordable entertainment , Affordable information, business/market intelligence and development communication, Access to Community Radio, FM Radio and TV channels relevant to commoners, Extension Services in the hands of the community, Enabling mutually-aided cooperation, Functioning Tribes Advisory Council, Accessible and responsive Government and Governance Prosperous, equitable and knowledge-centric Telangana and Seemaandhra are possible. Let us build them. Let us support them. Let us be part of them. Let us begin our efforts. Let us co-exist together.

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70. Food, Nutrition, et al for All! Perspectives August, 2013

Large States resist emergence of Small States! Telangana formality is taking longer now! Food Security moves to Bill from Ordinance! But the Rupee is still falling to its lowest depths! India is gearing up for general elections! New Companies Act has been passed. Producers’ Companies clauses remain unaltered. Corporate Social Responsibility becomes mandatory. Scheme for Minimum Support Price on 12 Non-nationalized Minor Forest Produce [bamboo, tendu leaves, karanj, mahua seed, sal leaf, sal seed, lac, chironjee, wild honey, myrobalan, tamarind, and gums] announced, announced! It may not be applicable to Bamboo and Tendu as they are nationalized/monopoly produce in most states. Still the statistics say that the % of working women has been declining, more so in rural areas. NSSO 2011-12 survey confirms that about 5 million women getting out of ‘official’ workforce over 2 years. 25% women were ‘officially’ working in 2011-12 as against 34% in 1983 in rural areas; and 14.7% in 2011-12 as against 15.1% in 1983 in urban areas. If principal and subsidiary work is considered, the drop is smaller. The statistics confirm the shift of ‘principal’ workforce to ‘subsidiary’ workforce. Subsidiary work is short-term, marginal and low-paying. Probably most of it is considered as unskilled or casual work. This work is required for survival under economic stress – take whatever work is available for whatever time. The rise in jobs is mostly low-paying, insecure, extremely fluid jobs with tough working conditions. About 25 million women are working in care-giving services (read: maids, cooks, baby-sitters etc.). This sector is the largest employer of women in India! Also, the number of women doing domestic duties is more than 50%! The reason stated is that there is no other member to carry out these duties. Domestic duties include maintaining kitchen garden, poultry, collecting firewood, making cow-dung cake, fetching water, sewing and tailoring, tutoring children etc., apart from cooking food, washing clothes, caring the children, elderly and sick etc. Family, Society, Economy and the State has to make ways for women to enter the workforce in a big way. We cannot afford not to have them! In the Job Market! In the Wage Market! In the Self-employment! In the enterprises! Sivakumar cautions government(s) against social subsidies as they tend to distort markets forcing private sector to withdraw investments from agriculture and rural India. On the other hand, if they are used intelligently to build assets that raise productivity and make up the viability gap in goods and services provision, they could help in eradicating problems from the root. Act for Provision of Food Security to 75% of rural India and 50% of Urban India has been passed. The moot questions are why could not we think of universal food security? Anything non- universal has the potential to give space for discrimination. PDS, the way it is implemented in various states, indicates that errors of omission cause lot of hardship to the poor and we do not know whether this Act could make any difference on this front. The other issues of PDS remain still unresponded – benami cards, duplicate cards, under-weighing, excess charges, sales before

192 the cardholder turn up, stock outs, short supplies, diversion of trucks, storage losses, etc. We hope these would be plugged. Also, in many states, similar levels of food supplies at low costs are supplied. The present food security would then translate as meeting the costs of the states to a large extent. To that extent, it is not a game changer! What about Nutrition for All? We have Right to Information but it does not prevent the information packets disappearing into thin air. We have Right to Education but it does not guarantee quality education yet. It does not guarantee the meritorious amongst them receives the high quality education. We have Right to Employment but it does not meet the livelihoods aspirations of the poor. It does not ensure Growth with Equity. We need Quality Health for All, Education for All, Food and Nutrition for All, Shelter for All, Financial Services for All, Livelihoods for All, and Social Security for All. It is possible. Let us work for it. Let us step up our efforts.

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71. 10,000 is not a Difficult Number! Perspectives September, 2013

Telangana is inching forward, not-withstanding the resistance! Jagan is out on bail. 5 states are going for elections. General elections are not far away! Election winds are blowing all over! Cabinet withdraws the Ordinance on the convicted representatives! US shutdown! Congress did not approve the budget. The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2012 was passed in Lok Sabha. When this becomes an Act, this would provide relief to an extent from various others to 2% of the Population of India. The key concern in the development/livelihoods domain is the rule of the mediocrity with king size ego. How do we bring in more and more talented people with hard work ethic? How do we pay professionals based on the merit rather than qualification and years of experience? We know that we have to be flat. We know that we cannot raise our remuneration levels to match with the corporate sector. How are we sure that our pre-selection immersions rule out the uninterested and mediocre? How are we sure that our human resources are 3R skilled (read, write and arithmetic)? How are we sure that they possess the basic competencies that are required for development sector? How are we ensuring that they are getting their initial induction that included a quick orientation, village stay and exposure visits? How are we preparing them for the conceptual whole that includes what, how and why? How are we embedding self-management, team management, project management and gender in this? How are we giving them a comprehensive vision, a intermediate term strategic plan, and an immediate action plan? How are we deselecting them? Then, how are we adding more numbers unless we have mechanisms that quickly run programs to identify and train in the colleges and training centres? How are we developing curriculums for them? How are we going to absorb and place them, may be as a 2-3 year fellowships? How are we adding capacities to the inducted as they do and learn on the job? Do we see other alternatives in terms of community professionals taking major role? Do we live without hiring educated young men and women at all? What is the balance? Then, how can we identify these, induct them, and build their capacities in a variety of tasks? Should we go for specialist community professionals or generalist community professionals or both? How many variants? How do we use them? Why can’t they be part of the community institutions? How can they transform to be accountable to the institutions later? What about the capacities of the community institutions and the leaders, staff, volunteers and cadres that are servicing them? Can the management institutions take up the task? Can the training NGOs and training centres go beyond module development and training of trainers? Is the resource persons and their pools only way out? How will we get them? How will we induct them? How will we take their services? We need them at various levels and in various hues. Don’t we need to have more and more volunteers working for the poor, with the poor?

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For that matter, we need more and more professionals and community professionals being with the poor, staying with the poor and working with the poor. How do we get this passion? How do we have next layers serving as role models for the cutting-edge staff? Do we realize our job is to identify the internal animators who form and nurture the institutions of the poor, plan with them and support them? Do we have bandwidth to give meaningful time of the professionals for each family? It appears a bogey. This is where the internal animators come to our rescue. The story continues with the institutions too. The professionals’ main task is self-management, team management, project management, and planning and learning. Their next task is training and mentoring internal animators, including community leaders. Their third task is to manage the boundaries for the internal animators. We need dedicated passionate professionals being, staying and working with the poor in their context with robust management orientation and skills coupled with comprehensive appreciation of the vision of poverty reduction and livelihoods enhancement. We also need say 1.2-1.8 million well-trained and rounded professionals/community professionals staying in the villages with passion, dedication, skills and orientation. These are to be positioned over the coming 10 years. 100,000 – 200,000 professionals are needed to manage and mentor them, i.e. some 10,000 a year with this understanding and responsibility. 10,000 is not a difficult number! Per year! Each one taking responsibility for 10-20! A 1,000 member resource pools should suffice for this. A 50-100 member competent national resource pool is the magic bandwagon. Let us step up our efforts for this legacy.

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72. Double Dozen in 12 Years Perspectives October, 2013

Cyclone is followed by Floods! Telangana continues to inch forward! US shutdown is lifted! The key in the success of any effort in poverty reduction is the participation of the poor in their institutions with hope, internal animators from within the poor with accountability to the poor and the sensitive external facilitation support with faith in the capacity of the people. Of course, the context needs to be pro-poor to some extent. Specifically – * Participation as a value would require attitude and behavior that supports participation. Participation is a requirement because we would not know the elephant fully and the poor family would not know the elephant fully. Only by the participation and sharing, we and the poor understand the elephant to an extent and work on it. Ultimately, whose reality counts is the issue. * Hope would mean that poverty, at least the abject poverty, would go away if we work. Those who do not have this hope as a value, cannot be a development/livelihoods worker. * Those who do not have the faith in the capacity of the poor, cannot empower them. Realizing that everyone who lives has some knowledge, skills, tools and resources is critical for our work. We only need to build on this foundation. * Sensitivity would translate as knowing the needs and requirements of the people without they asking for them. This would mean we need to be with them, stay with them, see them, listen to them, and interact with them when they are willing to open up. Usually this happens when we have rapport. This happens when we live with them in the nights and early mornings. * Facilitation would mean supporting only to get the poor going rather than doing everything so that the poor remain forever dependent on us. Facilitation would also mean being there whenever the poor need for giving that gentle nudge. It would also mean transiting one activity to the next as the community takes over the first and so on. It would also mean clearly telling that our hands are tied and we can only do this much and not anything more. The poor need to get ‘fish’ immediately and as they eat fish, they need to be taught ‘fishing’ and as they learn fishing, they need to be introduced to issues beyond fishing, ‘meta-fishing’. Thus, fish, fishing and meta-fishing is the way and not one of them. Is there any sequencing in taking up activities when we work with the poor? We know that the poor need to be organized in their institutional network. We know that the institutions are the first thing. It is possible that entry point activities could help in mobilization. Once the institutions come up, they need to have transactions, activities and business and then only, the institutions get stronger, and sustainable. We need cutting-edge development workers and their seniors with these basic values. Can we have them to work with the poor? Can we not build some 2-3 million fully trained competent and talented development workers and place 3-4 of them in each village? 300-400 in a block? 3000-4000 in a district? These can come from within the poor. The basic competencies for a development worker include tenacity, self-control, strategic influencing and concern with

196 impact. Incidentally, these competencies are mostly present in the persons who come from poor families. Of course, these people should have 3R – read, write and arithmetic skills. This does not appear tough. This may not be costly either. Can we not invest in this then? Just about 25000-30000 mentors are required to identify, train and guide these development workers. These mentors could be initiated by some 250-300 senior mentors. 25-30 life workers could bring in these senior mentors. A double dozen is all that we need. With them, we could reach all states in 2 years; all districts in 3 years; all blocks in 4 years; and all villages in 5-6 years. Each village may be worked for 5 years. A double dozen in twelve years can make the wonders. Where are you, Vivekananda?

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73. Kurien is The Way! Perspectives November, 2013

Phailin, Lehar! Mangalyan successfully launched. Telangana, still a work in progress! Sachin retires and gets Bharat Ratna. Fake sting operation! Modi stalking? Ganguly assaulting? Tejpal arrested. Amidst all this, let us remember the social entrepreneur par excellence, Dr Verghese Kurien. Dr Kurien had gone to Anand in late 40s to work in a government creamery. Quickly, he had moved to work with the cooperative led by Tribhuvan Patel and Amul has become a success by late 50s. In 1964, Prime Minister Shastri wanted more Amuls and ‘manadated’ Kurien to go forward with his blessings and no money. National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) had come into being with Dr Kurien as the Chairman with its headquarters at Anand away from the corridors of power and babudom. NDDB was a technical support agency. Indian Dairy Corporation, with headquarters at Vadodara was a financial arm. The support came from sale of milk powder under World Food Programme. Operation Flood went on to replicate Amuls all over the country. NDDB added oil, fruits and vegetables, salt etc., to milk as it progressed. India became largest milk producer in the world and self-sufficient in milk, with per capita milk availability of 290 grams/day. About 15 million milk producers are collectivized nationally through village dairy cooperatives, unions, federations and national federation. Gradually, a cooperative movement has been ushered in. Fight for self-reliant cooperative act continues even now. Dr Kurien established IRMA to service the dairy cooperatives. Gradually, IRMA is servicing the development and/or rural management, with its 2000 professionals. Rural Management discipline has emerged. Cooperative Management discipline has emerged. Still, Bharat Ratna has eluded him. A parallel for this effort has not been seen in the country till recently. National Rural Livelihoods Mission may be that effort in future! Incidentally its focus, philosophy, processes, and institutions are strikingly similar. Therefore, it makes sense to review and reflect on the ways of Amul, NDDB and IRMA and develop ways forward for NRLM. With National Urban Livelihoods Mission also announced, this reflection, visioning and strategizing is important and needs to be taken immediately. Critical questions that need to be explored and answered include – • Amul and NDDB took 50+ years to achieve. Should we not budget similar time frame? • Amul is the model that has been replicated. What is the model that is being replicated here? Can we describe it clearly and unambiguously? • How do we marry the people’s institutions and professionals? • How do we produce and nurture professionals with conviction and understanding of the model? • How do we go about building the self-help management discipline?

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• How do we build a self-help movement? • How do we have an act that supports self-help institutions? • How do we build on the cooperative movement’s processes and adopt for the self- help movement? • How do we initiate and build ‘IRMA’s for servicing NRLM and NULM? • How do we build body of literature and research on this model? • How do we build channels of knowledge dissemination including stories, songs, books, videos, films, radios, television channels, portals etc.? • How do we use the new technology? • How do we expand the comprehensive value-chain works of dairy into various value- chain works of the poor? • How do we build political buy in but not interference? • How do we build professionalism away from the corridors of power? Is Anand away from Delhi useful? • How do ensure focus on the model, without diffused efforts in various directions? • How do we hasten up scaling-up? Spearhead teams? Resource Pools? Resource Agencies? Community Resource Persons? Grassroots Professionals? It appears seeding a pool of 10-50 passionate dedicated resource persons in each state would be the key. Each pool needs to be serviced by a mentor or two at the national level. These senior mentors should be identified and should be involved in this reflection and visioning and inspired for dedication to this task of building this movement.

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74. Manoharan Shows a Way! Perspectives December, 2013

Cold intensifies. Telangana Bill files to AP Assembly for its opinion; still a work in progress! Arvind Kejriwal, despite no majority for Aam Admi Party, becomes CM of Delhi. A new paradigm in the evolution! Lakhs of Volunteers are joining AAP and donations are flowing in. General Elections are likely to be more interesting and traditional parties are not going to have it easy. Lokpal Bill becomes an Act. Amidst all this, let us not forget to remember SS Manoharan, my dear friend, classmate, associate and co-development worker. Manoharan (b. 1 December 1966) came to Anand in 1987 to study PG Diploma in Rural Management at IRMA, after his Engineering in Coimbatore. On completion of the course, we joined National Dairy Development Board as part of the core team on Market Intervention Operation on edible oilseeds/oils led by Dr Kurien and Dr Aneja. The task was to maintain the prices of edible oils/oilseeds within a price band nationally so that producers would get fair prices for their produce and consumers would get oil at reasonable rates. Mano and our associate TS Rajan met with a fatal accident involving their two-wheeler and a bus resulting in both of them slipping into coma. Mano could recover from coma in a couple of days while Rajan succumbed. Mano took much longer to recover from the shock and grief and the incident had a metamorphic effect on him. Slowly, because of the above and also increased inner need to be with the grassroots, we have decided to move to work with Girijan Cooperative Corporation, Visakhapatnam. NDDB agreed to relieve Mano first. He started to work at Boithili, Gangaraju Madugula mandal, Paderu division in Visakhapatnam district. Subsequently I joined GCC to work in Adilabad initially and later at Visakhapatnam. Mano continued for three years, as originally agreed, leaving an indelible mark in the lives of the tribals and associates. He nurtured/mentored 25 community coordinators recruited from premier institutes of the country to work in tribal pockets. He moved on to join his father’s business in organic fertilizers and pesticides but could not persist with it. He quickly moved out to join ACCORD and work with tribals in Gudalur, Nilgiris in 1995. He was with ACCORD for more than 16 years till his death in February 2012 due to liver cancer. He was leading ACCORD as its Director along with founders Stan and Marie Thackakere. ACCORD works in Health, Education and Livelihoods areas. Their Advisai Hospital, Adivasi Munnetra Sangham (Tribal Marketing Society) and Vidyodaya School have the stamp of Mano. Mano was silently setting up self-sustaining systems and mechanisms. His last drawn remuneration was Rs.8000 per month, a mere living stipend. He lived a simple life but touching lives of various people in different ways very intensely. He married his colleague Durga and is survived by an adopted daughter Vennela. Known as Development Saint, the Monk Mano personified simplicity in all his walks of life. He enjoyed his focus limited to Gudalur. When he was suffering with cancer, thousands in Gudalur and thousands outside Gudalur across the world prayed for him. While it was a mystery that he could get liver cancer

200 although he was teetotaler living in the lap of the nature, he braved cancer with smile and cheer with unusual display of courage and boldness. When I asked him in December 2011, any task left unfinished, his response was everything that he wanted was completed and he had no task unfinished. He breathed his last on the lap of Durga with Vennela watching. For me, he is an unsung hero, lived his life. He remains an inspiration to development workers whom he has touched in several ways. He remains Anna to his tribals. He remains an example of the rural management life worker that Dr Kurien talked about - 2-3 out of a batch in IRMA. Can we produce 6000 Manoharans, one for block or 600, one for district or just 100, 2-3 for state? We need to identify them, train them, mentor them and place them. We need to pay them well, of course. Can our PMRDFs, YPs, be them? Can our CEOs of Development Organizations and People’s Collectives, be them? WHY NOT? Let us invest in an institution or two dedicated to Manoharans. They will take care of the rest.

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75. Livelihoods Channel and Double Dozen Mentors! Perspectives January, 2014

Cold continues. Doyen of Telugu Cinema, my trustee in Naandi, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, rest in peace! AP Assembly rejects Telangana Bill; still a work in progress, a test of stamina! Nation is getting ready for General Elections. Aam Admi Party is the new player on the national scene. Modi surges ahead. Congress anoints Rahul as its campaign chief. Several leaders express their Prime Ministerial aspirations. Coalitions are breaking and re-aligning. January makes us to remember Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi. It is the time we enter Uttarayana. India celebrates its republic day. A statistic: World’s 85 richest people own as much as the 3.5 billion poorest. So much for the equality in this world! This inequity undercuts democracy and exacerbates corruption. This calls for investments in public institutions for education, healthcare etc., progress taxes, crackdown on international tax dodging and transparent political structures that discourage corruption. President Pranab Mukherjee, in his Republic Day address, points out – “2014 is a precipice moment in our history. … Give them (young) a chance and you will marvel at the India they can create. …We must be open to all knowledge. …. We possess a dynamic civil society with an innovative mindset. Our people, whether in villages or cities, share a vibrant, unique consciousness and culture. Our finest assets are human. …. Education is no longer just the privilege of the elite, but a universal right. It is the seed of a nation’s destiny. .. the human mind flourishes best when it is, as the great sage Rabindranath Tagore said, free from fear; when it has the liberty to roam into spheres unknown; in search of wisdom; and when the people have the fundamental right to propose as well as oppose….” Hope our youth get a chance! Hope our civil society is heard! Hope our people take things into their hands! Hope our education reaches all! Hope we have the right to propose and oppose! Rahul Gandhi (in his first TV interview) stresses the need for system change, transparency and accountability, empowerment of women, youth, and villages. Narendra Modi talks about Bharat Maata, Governance, Results, 5Ts – Talent, Trade, Tradition, Tourism and Technology; IITs, IIMs, AIIMSs in all states, 100 smart cities, River Linking etc. Other aspirants have not said anything at all, as of now. How do we choose? Performance Track Record? Promise? Team? We sincerely hope poverty reduction remains an agenda for all of them. Livelihoods of the poor remains a critical agenda for all of them. The budgets for poverty reduction, employment, education, healthcare etc., would be enhanced substantially. They support National Rural Livelihoods Mission and the National Urban Livelihoods Mission joining hands and mobilizing the poor into their institutions and enhancing livelihoods in their various dimensions individually and collectively. The poverty reduction and social justice rights and entitlements in the country converge in the institutions of the poor. The rural skills and urban skills get integrated. The jobs get created before the skills for placements are pursued. Indian self- employment character is appreciated and supported with increased emphasis. The starvation, nakedness, shelterlessness etc., become history. Inclusion of all and Reduced inequity are visible. No one looks forward to Subsidies. Every village will have print, video and electronic

202 knowledge centre that meets the needs of the village. Millennium Development Goals are achieved. 1.25 billion need dedicated development and livelihoods television channels to meet their development and livelihoods needs. They need 1.25 million integrators, leaders, social entrepreneurs, social change agents and service providers servicing people for 10 years. This is 2 persons per village. Can we make these 1.25 million available over the coming 10 years, serving 10 years? 1.25 lakh/year? If we have a unit that identifies, trains and mentors 250 persons, we need 500 units. This is about 1 unit per district. If we take 3 years to set up these units across the country, we need 200 units/year. If we have 5-6 mentoring units, they will take care of this agenda. The mentors in these units, may be a double dozen, is the immediate need. Let us identify them now and mandate them with this task.

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76. Integrators for Transformation! Perspective February, 2014

Cold is giving way. Telangana finds its way as 29th State of India. Three months of General Elections are on. February makes us to remember Valentine’s Day. February also brings Mahasivaraathri. Vote on Account Interim Budget 2014-15 passed. Highlights of the same include – • 140 million people out of poverty in the last decade; • The level of plan expenditure is maintained at 2013-14 levels for most ministries; Rural Development maintains Rs.82,000 crore; • However, the non-plan expenditure is twice the plan expenditure; • Skill Development must rank alongside secondary education, university education, total sanitation and universal healthcare as priorities; • No changes in income tax rates; and • Transfer of control on substantial central funds (more than Rs.3.0 lakh crore) to states • P Chidambaram says India could be the third largest economy in the world in three decades from now if we achieve – • Fiscal Consolidation with fiscal deficit at 3% of GDP; • Foreign Investment to meet the Current Account Deficit; • Balance between Price Stability and Growth; • Implementation of Financial Sector Reforms, as recommended by the Legislative Reforms Commission; • Building Infrastructure, using PPP model as widely as possible; • Focus on Manufacturing; • Limited absolutely necessary subsidies; • Urbanization with Good Governance; • Skill Development Focus • Joint fiscal responsibility of states and centre Hope this economy would be humane and inclusive; Poverty reduction remains an agenda; Livelihoods of the poor remains a critical agenda; and Budgets for poverty reduction, employment, education, healthcare etc., would be enhanced substantially. The Livelihoods Missions working in tandem with adequate financial resources, competent and empowered human resources, autonomous governance mechanisms at various levels and charged community institutions and community professionals would have to play central role. - We need Acts that allow self-managing institutions of the people to function. - We need to practice social, financial and economic inclusion at various levels. - We need to ensure that rights and entitlements reach the people with ease, certainty and transparency. - We need to ensure that convergence of various missions, programs, schemes and projects is almost automatic. - We need bottom-up plans. We need capacity building for planning, and realizing the plans.

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- In fact, we need to build vision of development at various levels and the plans have to flow from this. 600,000 villages need 1.2 million visionary community leaders and professionals @2 per village. Can we build them? 1.25 billion strong India has two-thirds of its population considered as poor – 800 million people or 180 million households, mostly working in the unorganized sectors. They need to be organized into their institutions and collectives. Their governance mechanisms have to be transparent and accountable to their members. Their leaders and staff to be nurtured and their capacities need to be built. They need to be provided services. Their rights and entitlements have to be made accessible with ease and certainty. This vision in its various hues has to be visualized and realized. This requires dedicated development and livelihoods channels, development and livelihoods management institutes, pools of resource persons and resource agencies, development and livelihoods literature, curriculum and learning architecture etc. 100 integrators of transformation for these, with assumed mandate for this task is the way.

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77. Academy for People! Channel for People! Perspectives March, 2014

Telangana’s Appointed Day is 2 June. Nine-phase General Elections are on. They appear critical in the polity of India. Parties are releasing their manifestos and announcing their candidates. Hope electorate votes for values and vision and practice of values. Our vision includes India with humane, equitable and inclusive governance that ensures universal food, nutrition, health and social security, universal access to rights and entitlements, and education to all to realize their full potential. The governance would remain transparent and accountable to us at all levels. We would remain committed to the well-being of all human beings, livening beings and natural resources. We need 1-2 million visionary community leaders and professionals. Poverty Reduction Agents with vision and capacity at all levels need long tenures. Hope these elections are a step towards this vision. Should we target numbers? Families? Natural Resources? Family plans? Group Plans? Village Plans? Comprehensive Plans? Sectoral and piece-meal plans? Integration? Seasonal Plans? Food Banks? Seed Banks? Grain banks? Apart from the two Poverty Reduction Missions in the country, Poverty Reduction and Livelihoods of the Poor agenda needs to be supplemented with two small interventions with a national mandate – one a national academy; second a national channel. National Academy to build/coordinate the task of creating human resources for the task. It would build the discipline of livelihoods management. Distinguished team leadership would guide the academy. Literature on livelihoods would be encouraged. The curriculum of livelihoods management would be taken to management institutes. Management and Technical Education Curriculum would be inclusive to include Livelihoods Management. The faculty would be nurtured and mentored. Fellowships and internships on scale would be supported. Livelihoods management institutes would be built across the country. Community colleges for community professionals, cadres, leaders and members would be supported. Capacity building architecture and pools of resource persons would be developed and supported. Distance education and e-education modules would be working. Text, Audio, Video and interactive material would be available. It would emerge as think tank and policy advocate for the livelihoods at the bottom of the pyramid in the country. This should not wait any longer. Isn’t it? Livelihoods/People’s Channel(s) reaches out to the people at large to meet their information, knowledge, education and entertainment needs. It is a platform for people and people working for the people. It keeps people informed. It targets sections of people with bytes for them. It communicates basics of livelihoods and poverty reduction in a variety of ways and in a variety of contexts. It showcases the case studies who have come out of poverty. It discusses the issues fundamental to the poor. It offers tuitions. It offers extension services. It offers food, nutrition and health education. It discusses livelihoods analysis and planning. It shows value-chains and subsectors for the poor to tap opportunities. It presents the changing contexts, trends, opportunities and trends. Emerging livelihoods and declining livelihoods would be discussed. It offers counselling. It offers wage, job and self-employment opportunities. It offers information

206 and helpdesks for accessing their rights and entitlements. It introduces schemes and programmes. It introduces the community leaders, cadres, resource persons, volunteers and professionals working for community. It offers capacity building to them. It introduces internships and fellowships to work with the poor. It introduces the books, videos and literature. It introduces professionals and organizations working for the poor in a variety of ways at various levels. It introduces the agents of change and social entrepreneurs and their collectives. It also introduces community collectives and community enterprises. It continues development dialogues. It shows the interventions on ground that are working and that are not working. It brings the people from within the poor working for the poor and the people from outside working for the poor face-to-face. It pools up and disseminates emerging learning. It can then make the content available on the portal, in the youtube, social media etc. It can also mentor the mentors to the professionals and organizations in the sector! The time has come for them.

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78. Next 5 Years! Perspectives April, 2014

Ambedkar comes central stage. Bifurcation (Telangana and AP) is picking up pace. Long drawn nine-phase General Elections go on. Nation is waiting for the next government. Bureaucracy is preparing for the next Government. It appears that we have three possible options before Indian electorate – BJP-led National Democratic Alliance; Congress-led United Progressive Alliance; and Third Front Coalition. Opinion polls are predicting option 1. The new Government would take charge when the mid-term review of 12th Plan is due. The Government would have some play/leeway in revising the plan. It would also present the budget in 45-60 days on taking oath, to pave way for setting its agenda. Prior to that we hope that it will announces its Common Minimum Programme. Irrespective the coalition, it appears clear that they would talk of an India with humane, equitable and inclusive governance that ensures universal food, nutrition, health and social security, universal access to rights and entitlements, and education to all to realize their full potential. The governance would remain transparent and accountable to us at all levels. We would remain committed to the well-being of all human beings, livening beings and natural resources. The way they articulate may vary, the intensity and extent of engagement may vary but the content seems to be the same. Some quick thoughts on way forward for Indian poor include: • Smaller states - no state bigger than 3-4 Crore population • No district more than 2 million population • More blocks, Gram Panchayats • Decentralization – Funds to States and Villages as Consolidated Funds • People’s Planning and Village Plans • Poverty Reduction Agents in each village • Integration of NRLM and NULM • Convergence between Employment Guarantee and Livelihoods Mission • Self-help Act • Natural Resource Management, Conservation and Augmentation • Organic Farming in all villages • Minimum Support Prices for all natural produce and traditional/artisanal produce/services • Individual and Collective Enterprises • National Skills Mission under Ministry of Skills • Special Packages for North East (NE) and Hill States • Special Packages for Targeted Extremely Vulnerable Communities and Remote Areas • 3% of GDP on Human Development • People’s Channel(s) • People’s Academy(ies) • Good Governance at the Citizen level

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• National Proactive Disclosure Protocols for all public agencies and services • Vision 2024 for India, States, Districts, Blocks and Villages • Ashram Residential Schools in each Block for Boys and Girls for merit students • No Child labour • Primary Health Centre per 3000 families • Local Justice System • Universal Social Security – Rs.2000 pension to all elders, disabled and widows • Universal Health and Accident Insurance/Mutuals • Vocational Education in all Schools • Road and e-connectivity and Broadband in all villages • Solar Power across • Indian Development Services Cadre • Corporate Social Responsibility based on turnover and 50% for Human Resources and Human Development • IIT, IIM, IRMA, AIIMS etc., in each state • Scholarships/Fellowships for Students in Development Careers • Income Tax Reform - No income tax up to Rs.1 Million or Expenditure Tax • Proactive Issue of Identity Cards to Citizens including PAN, EPIC, Passport, Ration card etc. • Annual/Half-yearly Progress Reports to Public at various levels Hope this list gets the attention of the new Government and at least half of them see the light in the coming five years!

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79. 100-days of Hope! Perspectives May, 2014

Bifurcation (Telangana and AP) is almost there. Appointed Day – 2 June 2014 – is approaching fast. The CMs in waiting (KCR and Chandrababu) are getting ready to get sworn in. Nine-phase General Elections end. BJP-led National Democratic Alliance gets absolute majority and more partners to follow suit to work with them. Narendra Modi and his cabinet takes charge, with a tag line ‘minimum government and maximum governance’ with articulated commitment to the poor, youth and women. 10 priority areas have been set. We have to wait for their budget in July to understand their stance in actuality. Meanwhile, 100-day action plans are emerging. From the Poor and Livelihoods lens, the elements in this 100-day action plans should include: • Commission mid-term review of 12th Plan and planning the 13th Plan • Re-organize the Ministries for higher organic integration, particularly in development, poverty reduction, employment and enterprise areas • Commission State Reorganization for more smaller states, districts, blocks, panchayats • Present Pro-poor Budget • Confirm Decentralization – Funds to States and Villages as Consolidated Funds • Seek Village, Block and District Plans for financial assistance • Position Poverty Reduction Agents/Fellows in each village, block, district and state • Set up Mechanisms to build and announce Vision 2024 for India, States, Districts, Blocks and Villages in a year • Establish Ministry for Integrated Skills for Jobs and Enterprises and National Skills Mission • Establish Coordination Mechanism for Tribal-Rural-Urban Development Continuum • Establish Joint Management of NRLM and NULM • Establish a Mechanism for Convergence between Employment Guarantee and Livelihoods Mission at various levels • Bring Self-help Act • Announce Special Packages for NE and Hill States, Targeted Extremely Vulnerable Communities and Remote Areas • Start People’s Channel(s) • Create an integrated Ministry for Natural Resource Management, Conservation and Augmentation • Announce Minimum Support Prices for all natural produce and traditional/artisanal produce/services • Commit 3% of GDP on Human Development • Announce National Proactive Disclosure Protocols for all public agencies and services • Announce Ashram Residential Schools in each Block for Boys and Girls for merit students • Announce Universal Social Security – Rs.2000 pension to all elders, disabled and widows

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• Announce Vocational Education in all Schools • Announce e-connectivity and Broadband in all villages • Announce Indian Development Services Cadre • Announce IIT, NIT, IIM, IRMA, AIIMS etc., in each state • Announce Income Tax Reform - No income tax up to Rs.1 Million or Expenditure Tax • Announce Proactive Issue of Identity Cards to Citizens including PAN, EPIC, Passport, Ration card etc. • Commit Annual/Half-yearly Progress Reports to Public at various levels The states from the bifurcated Andhra Pradesh need leadership, vision, strategic planning and dedicated high end teams at various levels. The governments would articulate the vision and five year plan shortly and they may also announce their 100-day action plans. These would include recognizing and helping martyrs of struggles. Hope 100-days of hope lays the foundation for Prosperous Inclusive India, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh!.

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80. New Golden States! Perspectives June, 2014

Happy Environment! Narendra Modi is in charge of India. He is getting act together. Budget is on its way. Honeymoon period is getting over. Still some key Ministries are to be filled. Grouping of Ministries is incomplete. Planning Commission may get wound-up. Bureaucracy is still to be shuffled around fully. 100-day results are yet to materialize. New States (Telangana and Andhra Pradesh) have come. Post-bifurcation processes are going on. Staff are being positioned. Departments are being split. New agencies are being created. Ministries are being merged. But, for the common man in the street, it is business as usual to a large extent. Governments need to go beyond the immediate, beyond placing ministers and bureaucrats and beyond day-to-day government issues. Apart from no cost/low-cost regular/decent 24-hour electricity, drinking water, food security and shelter for all, some elements of this agenda include: • Commission Vision for Golden State (say in 10 years), to be evolved and developed in 3-4 months, on a priority basis and develop a road map to realize the same. • Commission mechanisms for evolving similar ‘vision’ at village, mandal and district level as soon as possible. • Commission mechanisms for emergence of Village, Mandal and District Plans and supporting them • Position Poverty Reduction Agents/Fellows in each village, panchayat, mandal and district. • Position Young, Professional, Change Agents/Fellows at the state level in key areas to service the government and governance at state level • Develop a Special Cadre of Development Services and make them take charge of poverty reduction, social development and livelihoods functions at sub-district, district and state levels. • Reorganize the state with more smaller districts immediately and commission reorganizing mandals, panchayats and ‘villages’ for effective decentralization and offer consolidated funds in the hands of the local government(s) • Restructure the Ministries organically so that integration and convergence is near automatic. This should include Ministry for Integrated Skills for Jobs and Enterprises. This should also include an integrated Ministry for Natural Resource Management, Conservation and Augmentation that include agriculture, horticulture, livestock, fisheries, forestry etc. • Establish Coordination Mechanism for Tribal-Rural-Urban Development Continuum, rather than looking at them as separate • Establish Unitary Management of missions/organizations for tribal, rural and urban poverty reduction and livelihoods of the poor. This should include unitary management for SERP and MEPMA. This should also include a clear Mechanism for Convergence between Employment Guarantee and Poverty Reduction/Livelihoods Mission at various levels.

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• Bring Self-help Act for Self-help Groups and their federations at various levels. Also, Mutually-aided cooperative society act needs to support autonomous collectives of the poor. • Design, announce and implement Special Packages for Tribal Areas, Remote Areas, Nomadic Tribes, Traditional Artisans and Other Extremely Vulnerable Communities • Present Pro-poor Budget(s) with adequate funding for social sectors including Poverty Reduction, Livelihoods of the Poor, Education, Health and Social Security. This should include Universal Social Security – Rs.2000 pension to all elders, disabled and widows • Encourage/support starting high-end People’s Channel(s), solely dedicated to the information-knowledge-skill needs of the poor without reducing the quality. It should compete with the best news and entertainment channels. • Work with Civil Society on various issues and tap CSR Funding. If required a mechanism/Foundation for coordinating the same may need to be in place. • Make the State 3G/4G high bandwidth wi-fi enabled for all everywhere with no or insignificant cost. All habitations should have decent road connectivity and e- connectivity. • Announce and ensure Minimum Support Prices for all natural produce and traditional/artisanal produce/services • Announce and ensure Ashram/Gurukulam Residential Schools in each Mandal for Boys and Girls for merit students. This should include institutes of excellence at district and state level with extraordinary merit. • Announce and ensure post-school hour study centres and libraries in all villages for students to sit, study, do homework and seek tuition at no/nominal cost. This should include special classes in Mathematics, English etc., and weekly tests for mental ability. • Review the performance of the schools, school-teacher status and take up teacher recruitment and training so that the students are more self-learning and employable. It should include ensuring Vocational Education in all Schools. • Support/strengthen community managed health systems universally, while restructuring the entire medicare system • Build at least one premier institute of various categories viz., IIT, NIT, IIM, IRMA, AIIMS etc. • Issue all citizen cards proactively, without citizens asking for them – ration cards, election identity cards, driving licenses, vehicle registrations, date of birth certificates, arogya shree cards etc. On similar lines, there should be early morning/late evening mobile collection teams with card readers to collect various amounts from citizens, in addition to mee-seva centres. • Announce and ensure implementation of State Proactive Disclosure Protocols for all public agencies and services • Commit and submit Annual/Half-yearly Progress Reports to Public at various levels Let the foundation be laid for Prosperous Inclusive Golden Telangana and Andhra Pradesh!

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81. 0.1% Budget for Planning up! Perspectives July, 2014 Arun Jaitley presents his maiden budget. Economic Survey suggests – • GDP growth of 5.4-5.9% during 2014-15, as against 4.7% in 2013-14; • Poor Monson would come in the way of the growth; • Taxes need to be raised; • Inflation at 8-9% starts showing signs of moderation • Movement towards simple tax regime, with fewer exceptions • Goods and Service Tax (GST) soon • Industrial growth expected to revive gradually • Banking sector impacted by global slow down • APMC laws come in the way of modernization of economy • Food grains production touches 265 MT • There is a need to review nutrient-based fertilizer subsidy • Plan to add 90,000 MW Power capacity in next 5 years • Private companies to be allowed to mine coal • Drop in Gold and Silver Imports by 40% • Increase in India’s share in world services exports (3.3%) • Services growth is at 6.8% vis-à-vis GPD overall growth rate of 4.7% • Poverty ratio declined from 37.2 pc in 2004/05 to 21.9 pc in 2011/12. Is it TRUE? Railway Budget presented by Sadananda Gowda indicates that Indian Railways run 12617 trains to carry 23 million passengers/day and it is on the verge of becoming the largest freight carrier in the world. Its track length is 1.16 lakh km. Its employee strength is 13.1 lakh. Increase in train fares has been proposed with increased facilities for passengers like Wi-fi. Main Union Budget proposed – • Size of the Budget – Rs.18 lakh Crore • Increase in income tax exemption limit to Rs.2.5 lakh, along with increases in exemption limit to Rs.1.5 lakh; • Minimum pension at Rs.1,000 per month; • Opening 5 IIMs, 5 IITs, 4 AIIMSs • ‘Digital India’ for broadband connectivity everywhere • Kisan TV and Arun Prabha TV (NE) • National Internet and IT Mission • Jal Marg Vikas on Ganga • Neeranchal watershed development programme • Free Drug and Diagnosis Services towards Health for All • 2 National Institutes for Ageing • 600 community radio stations • Swachh Bharat Abhiyan – sanitation facility to all by 2019 • Namami Gange (Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission) • 100 Smart Cities

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• Capitalization of Banks • Rehabilitation of displaced Kashmiri migrants • Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana • SC Plan and TSP • Credit for affordable housing • MGNREGA linked with agriculture and allied activities • Fiscal Deficit to be reduced to 4.1% of GDP • Expenditure Management Commission • E-Visa on arrival for tourists • Kisan Vikas Patras • Skill India, a national multi-skill programme • Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission, through PPP • Direct Interest subvention to women SHGs through banks in 250 districts • Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme for rural youth • Producers’ Development and Upliftment Corpus • However, allocations to handlooms/handicrafts sector have remained small People’s Budget and Bottom-up Budget is still a long way away? Transfer of Consolidated Funds to States – is it going to increase? How are the states going to receive technical assistance for improved planning and implementation? Is a similar consolidated funds transfer not required for the local bodies? Don’t we need to work with the villages/cities to assess their situation in a participatory manner and evolve their plans? For this, do not we need to identify, induct, place and nurture competent committed young men and women in these villages/cities? May be twenty five thousand individuals in the entire country? An annual participatory exercise, that lasts 5-10 days in a village? May mean Rs.2000 Crore a year? Mere 0.1% of the budget of the Government of India? Can’t we commit this much?

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82. Visions for India Perspectives August, 2014

President Pranab Mukherjee has shown the Vision for India in his Independence Day address: Freedom is a celebration; independence is a challenge, we continue to address. Governance is the challenge we continue to address by reforming the policies, practices and systems of governance. India demands creative thinking in governance that enables fast-track development and ensures social harmony. The people come first. Good governance is exercise of power for efficient and effective management of our economic and social resources for the well-being of the people. Good governance is critically dependent on rule of law, participatory decision-making, transparency, responsiveness, accountability, equity and inclusiveness. A country of our size, heterogeneity and complexity calls for culture-specific governance models. It calls for taking a responsive administration to the door step of every hut and habitation in the land. The decisive challenge of our times is to end the curse of poverty. The focus of our policies now has to move from alleviation of poverty to elimination of poverty. The poor cannot, and will not, wait for yet another generation to see the very essentials of life - food, shelter, education and employment - being denied to them. The benefits from economic development must percolate down to the poorest of the poor. The stage is now set for our economy to move on a high growth trajectory of 7 to 8 per cent, which is essential to ensure the availability of adequate resources for equitable development. Economy is the material part of development. Education is the essential part of it. A sound education system is the bedrock of an enlightened society. It is the bounden duty of our educational institutions to provide quality education and inculcate the core civilizational values. Every road, every path, every office, every home, every hut, every river, every stream, every particle in the air around us can be kept clean, if we but cared just a little. We must nurture nature, so that nature continues to nurture us. At 68. India has the will, energy, intellect, values and unity to claim the 21st century. The vision to win the battle of freedom from poverty is set; the journey will seem formidable only to those without conviction. “Sidhir Bhavati Karmaja”. Now is the time for action! We hope the vision laid by President is acted upon. ?!? At the same time, Prime Minister and ‘Pradhan Sevak’ Narendra Modi has laid his vision for India with Modi’s lens. The elements of this Vision include: • It is the farmers, scientists and common people who have built this nation. • Let us abhor violence and walk the path of peace. Peace and brotherhood will give strength to take the country forwards. • Let us female feticide and infanticide. • PM Jan Dhan Yojana for connecting the poor with bank accounts, debit card and Rs. 1 lakh insurance. • Our youth needs to imparted with skills that earn them fame around the world. We want to develop job creators.

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• Come, Make in India. India has to be global manufacturing hub, manufacturing automobile to plastic. Zero defect and zero effect (on environment) • Digital India. • Good governance via e-governance. • Clean India • Model Villages by MPs • Come, let a billion countrymen promise to eradicate poverty. Quite a lot is common between the President’s and PM’s. But, when are we going to take this vision to every adult? Better still, can we build the vision for each individual and consolidate them upwards? Doesn’t it require that the villages/cities need to identify, induct, skill, place and nurture competent committed young men and women with them, for this purpose? How do we place them in the hands of the community?

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83. Invest in Community for Community! Perspectives September, 2014

Congrats to India, ISRO and Indian Scientists for successful Mars Mission in the first attempt itself with Rs.7 a kilometer. It appears, even of for a short while, conviction of Corrupt at high places [read like Jayalalita] is possible. The bifurcated states, AP and Telangana, have started to live independent of each other. Post- bifurcation processes are acquiring momentum. Modi completes 100 days in ‘minimum government’ and ‘maximum governance’. By-elections have mixed results without any real dent in the pattern of general elections. The real test would be in the upcoming State Elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand. • Achche Din are still to come. But no one was expecting them so quickly. Prices are still high • Modi proved himself a great orator. He is proving himself a strong, decisive and proactive • Planning Commission has been ‘closed’ and a think tank and/or a Development Commission is likely to replace this with revised structure • A panel for locating Black Money has been set up • Groups of Ministers and Empowered Groups of Ministers have been reduced and PMO has emerged as the numero uno decision making centre • Judicial Commission with PM and Chief Justice of India has replaced the Collegium for making appointments to higher judiciary • Universal Financial Inclusion Scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, has been launched and 4.5 Crore accounts opened • Decided – to create a National Food Grid • Consolidated Fund transfers to states would be the key way to fund states • Proactive on Foreign Policy for India to emerge as a significant player at regional level and global level • A portal for citizens to directly interact with government has been set up • A new ministry of entrepreneurship has been established • Ministers have been asked to adopt austerity measures • Code of Conduct has been issued to Ministers and Officers • However, the Government is yet to appoint full-time Ministers for some key Ministries • Bureaucratic reshuffle has not been taken up • Governors of some states have been eased out • Swachch Bharat Abhiyan has been launched to make India clean by 2019 • Make in India campaign has been launched. FDI is being actively invited • Public-Private Partnerships is the key mantra in the government • Efforts on Curriculum Revision are ‘on’ • Efforts on revisiting MGNREGS are ‘on’ 100 days is too early to make up our minds on the new government. Plus it has the advantage of having a decisive mandate in the Lok Sabha. The leadership is also now consolidated.

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Yet, this Government needs to articulate how it wants to work for the reduction poverty and well-being of the marginalized. It needs to establish that it pursues the betterment of lives and livelihoods of the poor, about 50-80% by various reckonings. It needs to establish quickly a long-term planning mechanism in the country in general and for the poor in particular. The Government needs to initiate People’s Budget and Bottom-up Budget Processes. The Federal Philosophy that is articulated should not be limited to states but it has to go to districts, blocks, and panchayats at the earliest. It is important that we have governable small states, districts, blocks and panchayats. Carving out administrative units at various levels should be initiated. It is required to have the authentic citizen/household database with initial data and that would be the basis for all calculations. All excess and duplicate cards should be weeded out by a special drive. Government should invest in building human capital of all the families starting with 3-5 responsive leaders and cadres in each village/ward or unit of 100 families with a strong accountability to community as a PRIORITY.

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84. Invest in Right Talent Rightly! Perspectives October, 2014

Jayalalita could get the bail from Supreme Court. Indian Black Money in Swiss Banks is being pursued by a Special Investigation Team. AP decides to have its capital on the banks of river Krishna, over 30000 acres, and Capital Territory would encompass Guntur, Vijayawada, Tenali, Amaravati and Mangalagiri. Kerala High Court makes the state dry. BJP comes to power in Haryana and Maharashtra. The scene shifts to Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmir witnessed unusual floods causing unprecedented loss. Modi went to Srinagar on Diwali day to show solidarity. Visakhapatnam has incurred a cyclonic loss of more than Rs.50,000 crore. Naidu has led the relief and damage control being in the front. Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan goes on. Bureaucratic reshuffle has begun at Delhi, while it is yet to place a dedicated development minister. New Plan Panel is yet to be constituted. The discovery of the month has been that Capacity Building (CB), Training and Learning are not the same. CB is encompassing the getting talent, nurturing the talent, organizing and leveraging resources etc. Training is a part of it. The second discovery has been that the people from within the community are the best animators of community mobilization and support. The third discovery is that generic development/livelihoods worker as the team member is the emerging global trend. A survey has concluded that India has the most enslaved people in the world. As per this report, slavery (modern slavery) is that it involves one person depriving another people of their freedom; their freedom to leave one job for another, their freedom to leave one workplace for another, their freedom to control their own body. Are we slaved if we are forced to stay in a job? According to a Harris Poll, it is stated that 67% of working adults are dissatisfied with their work but continue with it. Top issue is information. The flow of information and how people access and use that information will make all the difference. Transforming business processes help employees how they approach their work problems and implement solutions. They could also free employees to choose when and where they work. These processes help in providing the right information at the right time to the staff so that their efficiency and effectiveness. They could be in a position to offer more options to the community with which they work. As a result, the staff would require more autonomy and ownership and would be able to handle able to this delegated situation with ease. When such autonomy and ownership is available, the staff’s ability to access right information in the right format, analyze such information and plan and manage the appropriate business processes would improve. If we do not offer high autonomy and ownership, if we do not empower our best talent, then they remain dissatisfied and frustrated and we will not be retaining them.

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If this is the way, this must be applicable to development sector too. Why do we not investing in right talent? Why do we not giving them autonomy and freedom? Why are we not empowering them? Why are we not willing to transform our business processes for increased efficiency, and effectiveness? Why are we hesitant to allow them to operate from wherever?

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85. Leaders of Choice! Perspectives November, 2014 Let us remember Dr Verghese Kurien! Let us celebrate National Milk Day! Elections in Jharkhand and J&K are in progress. Modi expands his cabinet. Minimum Governance is giving way. Rural Development gets a full-time Minister finally! Kabir Panthi, Rampal gets arrested against treason. Rs.1000 Crore empire collapses. Obama will be the Chief Guest at the 2015 Republic Day Parade. What we expect from our colleagues (courtesy, Virender Kapoor) include: • Integrity and Loyalty • Being Responsive and therefore, being responsible • Initiative • Going the extra mile • No argument in public • Competence • Being reasonable • Sharing the load • Maturity • Enthusiasm • Helping during emotional distress Are we good colleagues? We are leaders and leaders by choice. Now that we have taken up this, we have to consciously choose to influence those around us by managing ourselves and leading others in – communication, team leadership, productivity and personal development. Leadership is not by title or position but a choice on how we lead. This would mean – We need to listen with liking, with eyes and empathy, in the moment, giving time and taking notes, with head and heart How. We need to listen in such a way that the other person should come back again. Are we listening? Are we asking questions well? We need to connect, we need to offer hope and we need to inform if we are speaking with influence. Are we? Relive a story. Prepare. Visualize the speech. Follow an outline. Pause sufficiently. Read audience. Make eye contact. Have a sense of humour. Don’t take too long to deliver the point. Review. Are we speaking with influence? Honesty (and trustworthiness), Forward-looking, inspiring and competence are the key leadership qualities. Do we have them? Good leaders care (and CARE). They create a Climate of trust, they are Accountable and take full responsibility for failure and share successes. They

222 respect and provide Recognition to colleagues. They delegate and Empower. They receive respected influence. They remember names. They keep their word. They are demanded but not demeaning. Are we building teams? Productivity is a function of time, plan, focus and delegation. Increase in Productivity requires purging often. It requires being organized, slowing down and relaxing, using calendars, using daily list of 3-4 items, asking for help, outsourcing and having productive mindset. Are we productive? Personal Development requires a vision, well-being in fourth quarter of life and learning from our mistakes. Focus matters. Are we learning? Are we growing? Are we focused? Are we building enduring relationships? Enjoying silence, having an attitude of gratitude, taking a 10-20 minute nap when tired, allowing for mistakes, helping someone, and enjoying life are important for life with less stress. Detachment, fulfillment by what we become, finding joy and beauty in simple things etc., bring inner peace. This makes for great leaders. Do we have inner peace? We must accustom ourselves to stillness of the soul, of the eyes and of the tongue. Self-discipline is critical for a successful leader. Are we self-disciplined? We need to truly become leaders of choice and build leaders of choice, in our states, districts, blocks, clusters, and villages. Let us begin now.

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86. Professionals with Communitization Focus! Perspectives December, 2014

BJP takes charge in Jharkhand. J&K is still finding its government. Delhi is getting ready for elections. The skirmishes in Indo-Pak borders! Hope they do not escalate! Government of AP goes forward on its Capital Development. Land pooling is initiated. Government of India brings in Ordinance to reform land acquisition norms. This takes away the farmer’s acceptance requirement! NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog becomes ON on 1 January 2015. Hope this will truly contribute to transforming India and Cooperative Federalism in India. Hope this brings in investments in to social development, poverty reduction and livelihoods at least on par with the global standards. Hope this truly brings in evolution of national agenda with bottom-up planning from the village level onwards. Hope this truly establishes the Vision for National Agenda and a framework to realize the same. Does the Ministry of Skills would remain a coordinating Ministry or does it take over all the skills and placement programs from various Ministries? Budget 2015 may provide some clue to this. Is it not important to integrate Tribal, Rural and Urban Ministries and integrate all social development Ministries at state level and national level? Is the National Livelihoods Mission a rumour? However, NLM offers huge benefits in terms of integration and lower management costs. While most of us agreed that about 60-70% of Indian households could be considered poor, the SECCs, BPL lists, ‘pink’ ration cards, MGNREGS cards, RSBY cards, Antyodaya cards are mere technicalities. Targeting with limited number households with these artificial criteria could not take us on the pathway out of poverty for the poor. We cannot be satisfied with mere growth to trickle down to the poor. We need to achieve the global standard levels of investments for Education, Health and other Social Development purposes. We need to achieve universal access to various rights and entitlements. The decision-making should be at the lowest level where direct democracy is feasible i.e. habitation, village, ward, a first federation of a small number of self-help groups. SHG movement should be self-selecting its members who are willing to go through the minimum norms for a good group. An observation of 50 weekly meetings would suffice whether the member is a long-term member or a member is looking for some temporary short-term benefit. All long-term members need to be supported and they would constitute the target group. Is not it? This takes us away from identifying the target group. But, the members’ understanding of the poverty, vulnerability and livelihoods with all its nuances is still important. This understanding would help them to vision a way out of their situation, make a plan to realize the vision, to prioritize within, to access rights and entitlements, to tap the opportunities and overcome the

224 constraints etc. The support structures’ job would be to facilitate their journey. To facilitate this, the human resources in the support structures need to be mandatorily with the community most of the time. Slowly, the community (institutions and cadres) and the staff within the community institutions take over all that the support structures, with true accountability to the community. That is a clear way out of poverty. Right now, we need generalist integrating professionals with communitization central focus in our support structures at state, district, and block levels. Let us have a drive to find and nurture them.

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87. Support to ‘livelihoods’ and ‘communitization’ ! Perspectives January, 2015

Delhi is voting for its new Government! KCR of Telangana talks about KG to PG residential system. It is important that the child is with the parents for 8 -10 years. After that the child can move into a Gurukulam. Hope he is really serious and he has the budget. Tried to calculate the costs of a good residential school, with 1:10 teacher student ratio. Class 4 to Class 10, with 30 -40 students in each class would require not less than Rs.50 lakh/year for running the school and Rs.25 lakh/year for the stay and food of the students. This translates to Rs.30,000 per student minimum. For Telangana, we have some one million students would be in a class, translating into an annual budget of Rs.25,000+ Crore. For the country, this would be Rs.600,000+ Crore. It is half of Indian National Budget. This appears an impossible rhetoric. The possible would be to offer this Gurukulams to 10-20% poor and meritorious, and some 20-30% should be privately run against fee payment by the students. The remaining should be good quality day schools. The rumours that Skills Ministry would take over all the skills and placement programs from various Ministries and the National Rural Livelihoods Mission and National Urban Livelihoods Mission would be merged into National Livelihoods Mission. Budget 2015 would throw some clarity on this soon. From the sheer efficiency and effectiveness point of view, it makes sense to have an NLM and have a single Ministry of Livelihoods and Skills in the country. The costs of the establishment at block, district, state and national level would be limited to 60%, against the 100% in the status quo. The synergies that arise would be very useful to both rural and urban areas. We need generalist integrating professionals with communitization central focus in our support structures at state, district, and block levels. They need to be provided minimum induction of 90-150 days before they take charge. The induction would include village stay, attachment with the teams of community, attachment with the front-line staff, attachment with peers, immersions and exposures. It would also include classroom training on bookkeeping, micro planning, results framework, participation tools, methods and skills, direct training skills, poverty vulnerability-livelihoods understanding, appreciation and tools, gender sensitization, costing, long-time (10-years) detailed scheduling for household, group, village and block, management of self, team, project and institution, leadership etc. They need to be inspired and motivated to spend majority of their time in the field and considerable part of this time with the community, particularly through the night stays. They need to practice and become generalist integrators, mentors, trainers, demonstrators and role models, with clear area responsibility accounting for 80% of their work. This work includes building and nurturing large number of community cadres (about 10% of the poor households) and nurturing the third tier institutions of the poor – cluster level federations and above, and their staff. This work also includes augmenting and deploying resource persons (20-30 competent professionals at state level/state, 20-30 community professionals at block level/ block) and resource agencies in a dedicated manner, at least 50-100 days/year/person or 500-1000 person-days/year/agency.

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This would be supported with customized development programs by resource/management institutes; dedicated team/agency for each state; regular independent feedback from field; livelihoods specialization in management institutes; 30-60 session courses for interested students; and faculty in livelihoods cells working in the field with ‘livelihoods’ missions.

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88. Co-existence Workers and Partners! Perspectives February, 2015

Delhi gets an AAP Government. Arvind Kejriwal, a CM without portfolio, promises to be there for five years. NITI Aayog is in business. A committee is looking at reducing the number of central schemes from an optimal number so that energies could be tapped and integration is efficient and effective. The costs of establishment at centre and states could come down dramatically if done judiciously. Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley is getting ready to present his second Budget. Many aspirations. States to get more funds, implying less money through central schemes, merger for many schemes, programs, missions, divisions/departments and ministries, and social development continues to be significant. Let us wait and watch till the budget gets presented, discussed and passed. Let us know Thomas Berry’s conclusions: The universe is the only self-referential reality in the phenomenal world. It is the only text without context. Everything else has to be seen in the context of the universe...The universe story is the quintessence of reality. We perceive the story. We put it in our language, the birds put it in theirs, and the trees put it in theirs. We can read the story of the universe in the trees. Everything tells the story of the universe. The winds tell the story, literally, not just imaginatively. The story has its imprint everywhere, and that is why it is so important to know the story. If you do not know the story, in a sense you do not know yourself; you do not know anything. We are presently in the terminal phase of the Cenozoic and the emerging phase of the Ecozoic era - the period when humans will be present upon the Earth in a mutually enhancing manner. The key principles of this era include: • Recognizing that the Universe is primarily a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects; • Listening to what the earth, its landscape, its atmospheric phenomena and all its living forms, its mountains and valleys, the rain, the wind, and all the flora and fauna of the planet are telling us; • Appreciating the Earth and the Universe and achieving intimacy with it; • Life and Life Support Systems belong to the Universe and they cannot be damaged or destroyed – no suicide, homicide, genocide, biocide and geocide; • Universe is primary, Earth is primary, therefore, we look for Integrity of the Earth/Universe is primary; • We withdraw our terrifying presence and grant to the other members of the Earth Community their rights to habitat and their share of the Earth's benefits;

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• We facilitate progress of the entire life community, not progress of the human at the expense of the nonhuman members of the community; • Let us celebrate life in all its varied forms and nuances and the joy of existence. Thomas Berry is seeking transformation. He is seeking educational, cultural, religious and spiritual movements. He is telling us the life is in the nature. It is in the trees. It is in the birds. It is in the animals. It is in the diversity and in the co-existence. It is in the coming together of individuals into families, into communities, into mutual help collaborations, in letting others live. We need to be generalists. We need to be integrators. We need to be communitizers. We need to be living simple lives. We need to transcend all known loyalties. We need to erase all artificial boundaries and differences. We need to celebrate natural differences and appreciate limits. For a Development Worker, for a Livelihoods Life Worker, this should be the agenda. Let us change the Curriculum in the schools, let us change the livelihoods curriculum in the management and development institutes, let us institute programs on life skills to co-exist, let us have various media to talk about this, and let us have at least 2 persons in each micro- ecosystem who subscribes this way of co-existence! 20 million co-existence workers; 50 thousand initial existence practitioners; 500 co-existence practicing mentors; and a 25 collaborators/partners in co-existence! Not a tall order at all!

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89. Mentoring Mentors! Perspectives March, 2015

National Alternative Politics, is it a mirage? Union Budget is presented in Parliament. Many States have their budgets tabled in the Assemblies. Budget suggests reduced social spending by the Union Government. The Central Schemes – pattern of funding to states may change and reduce the Central Share, while the 14th Finance Commission increases the share of the states to 42% from 32%. It appears that the ‘integration’ of the departments, programmes, missions and ministries is still under progress. We need Mentors and Mentors need to mentor more Mentors. According to WB Johnson and CR Ridley, this mentoring involves: • Select the protégés carefully (take time and after due diligence); • Be there (when protégé needs); • Know the protégés; • Expect Excellence (and nothing less); • Affirm, affirm, affirm and affirm some more; • Sponsor (where required, to an opportunity); • Be a Teacher and Coach; • Encourage and Support; • Shape Behaviour (using reinforcement); • Offer Counsel in difficult times; • Protect when necessary; • Offer challenging assignments; • Give exposure and promote visibility; • Nurture creativity; • Provide correction (even when painful); • Offer ‘wisdom’; • Narrate the progress of the protégé; • Self-disclose (when appropriate); • Accept mutuality and friendship; • Teach life, living, leading, learning, integration and beyond specialization;

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• Be an intentional model; and • Display Dependability Mentor should exude warmth; listen actively; show unconditional regard; respect privacy and protect confidentiality; tolerate idealization; embrace humour; not expect perfection; attend to interpersonal cues; be trustworthy; respect values; and not stoop to jealousy. First we need to know ourselves as mentors. Mentoring begins with arranging the mentor- protégé relationship. It proceeds as the relationship develops. Being a mentor is a way of life. We need to build generalists, integrators, communitizers and professionals. We need poverty reduction life workers. We need development life workers. We need livelihoods life workers. We need team leaders. We need project managers. We need institution builders. We need trainers. We need teachers. We need Mentors for all of them. We need to mentor these Mentors. We need to be practitioner-mentors. We need to be demonstrators. At the same time! 200 million households; 20 million workers of various kinds over 10-15 years; 200,000 trainers and teachers, co-mentors; 2,000 mentors; 20 mentoring mentors! Can we have them soon?

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90. Communitization and Integration Mentors! Perspectives April, 2015

Amaravathi is the coming new capital of Andhra Pradesh. Telangana plans to shift its Secretariat. Budgets are still in Parliament and Assemblies for their approval. Chief Ministers’ Council of NITI Aayog is still revising the pattern of funding to states for Central Schemes and Centrally sponsored schemes. Integration of the departments, programmes, missions and ministries is still incomplete. New Government(s) are still getting hold on the ‘machinery’. Shuffling is still underway. ‘Cooperative Federalism’ is evolving. Great Himalayan Earthquake affects 4 million and kills 10000+. When are we going to predict with more precision so that the casualties are minimal and suffering is minimal? How do we work to reduce poverty in urban areas, rural areas and tribal areas? Are the methods, processes and tools different? Are the differences not limited to minor context- specific rather than the dependent on urban, rural and tribal differences, if any? Is there not a broad poverty reduction value chain on which we can work? Is not ‘inclusion’ the main backbone of this value chain? This includes: Social Inclusion (Participatory Identification, Universal Mobilization, Appropriate Processes and Norms for difficult to mobilize, Care of the non-mobilizable, Collectives and Federal Collectives, Capacity Building and Capitalization) à Financial Inclusion (Access to Capital and Financial Services – savings, credit, equity, remittance, insurance and pension) à Universal Layers of Convergence for Rights and Entitlements, Local Governance, and Social Development à Collectivization for Scale (purchase, local value-addition, sales etc.) à Economic Inclusion (Livelihoods – farm – agriculture, dairy, livestock, non-timber forest produce, fisheries…; artisan and micro- enterprises; self employment; wage employment; and job employment) à Collective Enterprises. The support structure for the above ‘inclusion’ – is it not almost the same for TRU (tribal rural urban) livelihoods improvement and therefore, poverty reduction and well-being? If they are same, can’t they be merged to achieve HR rationalization and increased efficiency for person in the support structure? Can’t the Communitization of the ‘support’ achieve increased community control and accountability and long-term sustainability? Can’t the Communitization increase the pace of the movement, although it appears slow in the beginning? Can’t the Communitization mean ‘support’ transfers what it does to the community (members, leaders, institutions and cadres) tomorrow and takes up something new? Dynamically? Can’t the Communitization be accelerated with investment in increasing the numbers and building the capacities of these community social capital - members, leaders, institutions and cadres? Can’t the Communitization be unhindered with rationalized support HR with area responsibility (primarily)?

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We need Life Worker Mentors who are wedded to Communitization and integration in the poverty reduction domain as the core philosophy. Can we have a 1,000 of them? Soon?

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91. Janaandolan needs Campaigners! Perspectives May, 2015

Union Government is on the verge of completing 365 days in office. Narendra Modi’s honeymoon period has ended. Many improvements may be possible. One we expect is the reversal of cuts in social sector budgets – in health; in mid-day meals; in education; in women and child welfare etc. We expect the reversal in their performance. We expect child to learn rather than work. We expect more actions visibly pro-poor. We expect the rights for labourers and workers strengthened. In the coming four years! Telangana and Andhra Pradesh almost complete one year of division. Division of staff except for IAS, IPS and IFS is still going on. Departments and Government Organizations are still being divided. Telangana is still banking on Hyderabad as its central development plank. Other regions are yet to get in there. Employment to the unemployed is still awaited. It is not clear whether T is a surplus state. AP is busy working to build its new capital, Amaravathi. It is still struggling to get its promised special status. Some institutions like IIT, IIM have come up. In both the states, the casualty appears to be the focus on poverty reduction. Under the emerging circumstances, what is the way forward for reducing poverty? It is tough to appreciate that about 200 million are nutritionally hungry in India. This is one out of every four in the world. What is the way to fight out hunger? Poverty Reduction is in the list of subjects that fall in the domain of Panchayats. Do they have the wherewithal to address this issue. Token Rs.488 per capita/year – can it do any thing tangible in reducing poverty? Will the GP use this money for the poor? Will the Government actually allocate this kind of budget year after year? Even if GP wants to invest in the poor, does it know how to go about this? Who will do the village poverty analysis? Who will do the Livelihoods Analysis? Who will facilitate the household plans? Who will facilitate group plans? Who will consolidate plans at the GP level? How will the prioritization happen? How are the other rights, entitlements and schemes converge into this? How are the expenditures reduce? How are the risks reduce? Will the insurance policies be taken? Will the claims be settled without any hassles? Will the banks respond and loan the individuals and groups? How the poorest, ultra poor and extremely poor and vulnerable are included in this juggernaut roll-out? Is the job employment – one job per family – realistic? Does the self-employment click? Does the wage employment guarantee minimum wage days? Can we skill them? Can we collectivize them? Importantly, will the SHGs and their federations play an important proactive role in convergence with Panchayats? Will the PRIs proactively work with the SHG Federations? Can we vision SHG Movement as Janaandolan as we go along? Can we vision SHG movement ushering GP-SHG Federation Convergence Janaandolan?

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Where are the inspirers? Motivators? Drivers? Guarantors? We need 1,000s of them, soon, with the people, for this Janaandolan.

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92. Truly TRU! Perspectives June, 2015

Happy Monsoon! Happy Yoga! Let us remember Budhdha! Let us reflect on Aborigines! NITI Aayog is inching forward. Centrally Sponsored Schemes to come down to 30! Of these, some will be core and some will be optional. Funding pattern is going to be 60:40 (Centre: State)? Except for Special States like Hill States. MGNREGA talks about providing skills to the families that have used 100 days of MGNREGS so that they get jobs, they become self-employed and/or they improve their existing livelihoods under its Project LIFE initiative. PM talks about Poverty-free Panchayats. Convergence for Poverty Reduction for the families listed in SECC database is the thinking. Under 14th Finance Commission, GP gets Rs.488 per capita per year as untied funds. Hope at least 50% would be available to the needs of the poor. Skills could provide jobs for the willing. RSETIs could take some of them on the self-employment route. Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme may initiate some micro-enterprises. NRLM could shoulder the role of organizing the poor into SHGs and their federations and developing the bottom-up Poverty Reduction Plan (household upwards up to GP level) and Panchayats leading the delivery of convergence along with other players including line departments, banks, CSR etc. In this scenario, I was trying to understand changing Rural Management and its Context. • The ‘R’ seems to have blurred and we have truly TRU (tribal, rural, urban) life and livelihoods. Also we see merger of R&U in several aspects, schemes etc. • The ‘M’ seems to have blurred and we have the scope expanded to include Administration, Management and Leadership. It includes managing institutions, programs and Government departments. It encompasses Social Work, Development, Advocacy, Activism, Movements, Professional Services etc. • There is also a blurring of whom does it serve and what does it serve. There are also changes in the context widely.  Poor and not-so-poor  Private, Public, Common  Agriculture and allied, Non-farm, products and Services – buyers and sellers  Individual/family enterprises, collectives, hybrid collectives  Knowledge, Tools, Skills, Processes  Poverty Reduction, Prosperity

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 Unemployment, underemployment, job, wage, and self-employment, family  Non-profit, fair, profit  Community, volunteers, community professionals, professionals  Better life, well-being for people at large; targeted people  Poverty Reduction à Prosperity: prosperity of poor, prosperity for all  Basic Services à Life Style  Literacy, 3R Skills, Education, Skilling  RMP/Health Worker, Hospital, Mobile Services, Referral  Full Life Cycle Approach  Remote, Traditional; Suburban, Urban in Rural Areas  Village Associations, Individuals, Men, Charity à Women, Groups- Institutional Architecture, Collectives, Loans, Sustainability, CSR, Rights & Entitlements  For Poor, Of Poor, By Poor; animation, facilitation  Krishi (agriculture) à Krishi (self-employed and enterprises)  Stable livelihoods à unsecure, fast-paced life and livelihoods  Increased awareness, technology reached, equity gap widened, ‘  Gender’ in the focus  Focus expanded: Identity, Solidarity, Capacity, Convergence for Rights and Entitlements, Choices  From some kind of a self-reliance in Basics – Air, Water, Food, Clothes, Shelter, etc. to mutual dependency  Low proportion of consumer rupee in Basics to niche  Migration – push and pull  Risks - life, health, accident, cattle, etc., covered  Climate Changes  Large employment sectors overpopulated  Greying Population; Youth reluctant  New opportunities – urban, ICT, skill-based, soft skills  New divides; Increasing gap between poor and rich • Sector demands bright minds • Huge Human Resource Gap in servicing poor

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• Social Enterprises? What is social about them? TRU is true. TRU management is emerging. Can we build TRU livelihoods learning life workers and leaders? Can we build TRU livelihoods and development management programs? Can we have dedicated TRU channels to service the needs of the poor, vulnerable and marginalized? Can we have TRU Missions in sensitively supporting them in their various needs? Can the Local Governments listen to them and learn to customize at the local level?

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93. L-campaign for Poverty Reduction! Perspectives July, 2015

Happy Conservation! Equity! Social Justice! Happy Cooperation! Happy Collectivization! Let us remember we are growing in numbers! Do we have enough to take care of us? Who do we collectivize? Producers, Service Producers, Consumers or small traders? What do we collectivize? Aggregated buying/selling, Value-addition, or advocacy? Which is the Act? Cooperatives, Associations/Societies, Producer Companies, Companies, Trusts or Informal bodies? What are the tiers? Primary, Secondary, Tertiary or more? Single activity, single commodity collectives, collectives with limited but related set of activities, or omnibus collectives? Can the women organizations of the poor be mother organizations of special purpose collectives? Are member-controlled, member-managed, self-reliant self-sustaining collectives possible on scale? Do the collectives really hire, manage and seek accountability from Cadres and professionals? Not withstanding these areas of concern, there appear to be six ways forward: • Universal institutions of the Poor (read SHGs and Federations) pool, aggregate and sell and buy; • Universal institutions of the Poor take up value-addition and/or enterprises and hire some members to work in this; • Producers or Service providers come together as a collective, to sell, buy and/or add value; • Producers’ Groups come together as a Producers’ Organization at a cluster level; • Producers’ Organizations in turn come together as a company for marketing, branding etc.; • Individual or corporate entrepreneurs partner with these collectives This would require support to take root, and reach the critical mass. Capturing the market initially and getting rid of the existing debts and tie-ups with various strappings requires support. While initial investment is a must but it is small. The bigger investment is the working capital requirements. BIGGER requirement is the suitable HR with stamina and caliber to stay on. Right Acts, Right Policy Environment and Support, Long and Deliberate Campaign and Persistence would help. Can we see social justice in “A mother of two children decides to give all that she has to the child who is not doing well (materially) vis-à-vis the other child rather than sharing equally between the two children”? In my recent interactions with community, community has been saying for mother two children are like two eyes and therefore she should not differentiate. Our young professionals have endorsed. All this says social justice and equity are not easy concepts and require persistent campaigns.

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Let us build a national/global campaign for poverty reduction and livelihoods of/for the poor. Let us build an L-campaign. L for life; L for living; L for livelihoods; L for leveraging; L for leading; L for learning and L for love. Let us build an L-campaign for Poverty Reduction and Livelihoods. This campaign should include/involve ideas, insights, instruments, initiatives, interventions, institutions and individuals (‘I’s). Let us trigger with a L-campaign network. Let us seek volunteers. Let us seek associates. Let us seek leaders. Let us seek professionals. Let us seek practitioners. Let us seek life workers. Let us seek partners. Let us seek friends. Let us go and spend time with the community and the ‘I’s. Let us work on ‘I’s and spread the effort of ‘I’s. Let us take it into our day discourses, our working and our existence. Into our literature. Our stories. Our books. Our songs. Our press. Our channels. Our culture. Our schools. Our ways of life. Let us work to bring margins into mainstream. Let us begin this L-campaign. Let us begin with us. Let us get going. Let us invest a billion hours, to begin with.

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94. Poverty Reduction Janaandolan! Perspectives August, 2015

Happy Independence! Happy Freedom! Happy Choices! Happy Capacity! Solidarity! Identity! Happy Learning! Happy Knowledge! Happy Applied Knowledge! Happy Use of Applied Knowledge for Universe! Happy Gurupurnima! Let us remember the Gurus who made a difference to our lives. Mother, Father, Siblings, Teachers, Friends, Classmates, Managers, Colleagues, Children, Community members, leaders, cadres ….. Poor are fighting Poverty day in and day out. Being together is one sure way of fighting it better. This is possible with collectivization. With Self-help groups and their federations at higher levels. With livelihoods collectives. With social collectives. With nested institutions. With interlocking institutional architecture. This needs to be done on a universal scale. On a saturation basis. Inclusion needs to be mainstreamed. Deepening has to be intensified. Equity and social justice needs to be. It needs to be communitized. It would require community taking responsibility for building and sustaining the collectives of the poor. It would require community taking responsibility for building members, leaders, animators, cadres, service providers, volunteers, professionals etc. It should be self-replicating movement. It should become a fast spreading movement. Self-help movement. Janaandolan. Bhaarat Janaandolan. In tribal areas. In rural areas. In urban areas. In TRU areas. It would be TRU Bharat Janaandolan for Poverty Reduction. It requires stories. It requires songs. It requires books. It requires films and videos. It requires to get into Lok Geet and Sangeeth. It has to be a persistent campaign. For this, we need leaders and leaders of leaders. Mentors of leaders. Leaders of Mentors. We need them in large numbers. They need to have stamina and caliber to stay on. They need to have ideas, insights, and instruments. They need to go and spend time with the community. They need to invest in knowing the poor and their poverty, vulnerability, livelihoods and life. They need to have processes, tools and skills to facilitate participatory analysis. Then, they can help the mobilized poor to map and analyze their reality and the pathways out of the poverty, from their current reality. The steps to go towards the poverty free well-being quickly. The ladders that can help to go faster. The snakes that stop, that come in the way, that slow the progress out of poverty. Once the poor appreciate the participatory analysis of poverty situation, the poor would reflect, think and make plans to get out of the poverty. They make poverty reduction plans. They work to realize these plans, with increased capacities and capabilities, with own resources, with support of collectives, with access to their rights, entitlements, programs and schemes, with improved lives and livelihoods etc. As a result, they

241 have increased freedom and choices and decreased vulnerabilities and deprivations. They would have an identity, they would not feel lonely and they would be empowered. Let us play our bit in catalyzing the spread of this Janaandolan.

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95. Aadivaasi Girijana Gareebi Janaandolan! Perspectives September, 2015

It is sad that the original inhabitants remain marginalized. The roads came and the loot came. The tribal habitants moved deep in, and moved up. The leadership is not able to measure up to the national needs. Resource alienation and liquor consumption are critical in making the otherwise self-sufficient communities poor. They need to retain their wealth within. In this context, what is the way forward to work with tribal communities? The community institutions, Self-help groups and their federations are a definite step forward. They need to be in sync with traditional institutions at the same time. Animators need to be part of these community institutions from the beginning and in good numbers – 1:10 to 1:20. Communitization has to be upfront and intense. These institutions need to be multi-purpose in nature and need to be formed very quickly, say in a year. Not more. These institutions would serve as platforms for accessing rights, entitlements, schemes, programs and opportunities. Entry points would be useful for mobilization. Starting with vulnerabilities, risks and expenditures would be better than starting with incomes. Food Security, Nutrition Security, Health Security etc., should be early targets. Let the tribal communities be in their organizations. Tribe-specific organizations additionally would help. A quick block organization may also be useful. Activity-based organizations specific to them would also help. The Team has to be intensely sensitized. It should be sensitive, responsive, caring and loving with ability. The clusters may have to be higher. Capacity Building and Communication has to be customized locally. Pictures, Stories, Songs, Videos, Plays etc., should form part of this. Campaign mode of Capacity Building is useful. Various issues of poverty would be there with different nuances. Community Radios and Television channels would help. An adivasi or girijana channel is a must soon. The norms need to be customized to their needs locally. Funds could be higher. Particularly vulnerable tribal groups may get further higher amounts. Communities with areas with low bank density may need higher Community Investment Fund too. The processes need to be tailored. However, the scope for direct democracy should not be undermined. Early village participatory poverty-resource-situation analysis and its continuation thereafter should lead to evolving people’s priorities building on their existing ways. Traditional knowledge and practices need to be appreciated and built on. It is important to appreciate their multiple marginalization situation and act simultaneously with suitable interventions. Convergence Planning and action is a need but this would require great effort on both at demand and supply sides. The pace needs to vary from time-to-time and space-to-space. Discussion should be based on Data. Monitoring should be based on evidence and Data. Importantly, the entire effort should be within their cultural mileu. Incoming Sustainable Development Goals would be the bench mark.

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When tribal communities constitute 20-25% of the poor in the country, special attention to their poverty reduction cannot be denied. It becomes more important when they happen to be in the sensitive areas. Gareebi Janaandolan has to begin with Adivasis and Girijans.

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96. Communitized Convergence Perspectives October, 2015

Elders’ Day! Non-violence Day! Happy Navaraatri, Durgaasthami, Dussehra! Happy Gandhi! Let us remember Shastri, Kurien, Konda Lakshman Bapuji! Isn’t Convergence automatic if there are no schemes, programmes? Can we give untied funds to the individuals, families, communities, villages, Panchayats, Local Governments? Can we increase untied funds to states? Can the direct cash transfer the easiest way out? Like Rs.498/person/year to GP by 14th Finance Commission? Can’t we reduce the number of schemes/programs to a bare minimum? Can we reduce the redundancy within the schemes? Isn’t the household the best convergence unit? If the household knows what its rights and entitlements, and the processes to access them, can it not access them? Can’t the bottom-up planning in a group, in a village or in a Panchayat take care of the convergence? If this bottom-up plan makes demand on the local government, block/district administration etc., can’t it be delivered? Is the people’s plan and budget of Kerala with dedicated proportion of the state budget available with the local government a solution for replication in the country? Will the elite keep quiet and let the poor benefit? Can we build institutions of the poor, build their capacities, build the capacities of the members, leaders, cadres so that they remain together solidly and fight elite capture of bottom-up plans? Can they use the funds effectively? Efficiently? On right items? Can we offer them tools of analysis and planning? Can we offer them the facilitators? Can we build planning facilitators in each village, cluster or block? Can we showcase some models? Can they have cases, stories, songs, videos, live examples for them to see, listen, learn from and feel confident? Can the support stakeholders become slightly more sensitive and caring? Can we list what is possible and put before the community? First they can come together as self-help groups. These groups can be federated. They can also form other collectives like producer groups, social groups etc. They can save and use the money to interlend. They can tap bank loans. They can get funds from the schemes. They can get insurance for life, accident, health, crops, enterprises etc. They can get information, knowledge, tools etc. They can get skill training. They can get infrastructure. They can analyze their lives, their income and expenditure patterns, their purchases and sales, trading-in and out in the village, etc. They can map their resources, vulnerabilities, livelihoods, credit, seasonality, diseases, etc. They can appreciate the value chains of their key livelihoods. They can see their constraints, issues and opportunities and possibilities. They can make their individual and family/household development/investment plans periodically, iteratively and consolidate at the group/village level for working on it. Credit could

245 be accessed. Training could be received. Infrastructure may come. Watersheds may come. Labour budgets could come. Pension could come. Employment days and labour wages could be improved. Collectivization could be facilitated. Service providers could be developed and made available against payment for services. Even Corporate Social Responsibility could be tapped. PDS, ICDS, PHC/sub-centre, Schools etc., could be improved and monitored. Accountability to the demanding community could be improved. Social Audit could improve future planning and implementation. Educated could get skills and jobs. Some could go for self-employment. Some could do better in their existing livelihoods. They could add supplementary activities. Education itself could be improved. Extension on their livelihoods areas could be communitized and contextualized locally. Institutional Platforms and Communitized Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Monitoring form critical base in Convergence for Progressing out of Poverty.

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97. Poverty Reduction Campaign, Cadre, and Connect! Perspectives November, 2015

India has about 130 Crore Indians or about 30 Crore families. Varyingly about 20-30% are considered being out of poverty. The remaining need to be supported to with support of varying intensities to come and stay out of poverty. They needed literacy. They needed committed quality schooling support to their children. They needed public health support. These are in the pipeline. They need organization. A Self-help movement is offering this. They need to be invested to augment their capacity in terms of knowledge-skills-resources. This will make demands on the state, market and civil society to deliver their rights, entitlements etc. This will allow them to access their share. This will ensure fairness, equity and justice. This will improve their livelihoods, lives and wellbeing. This will guarantee improved freedom and choices. Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan, Right to Information, Right to Education, National Health Mission, Right to Employment, National Livelihoods Missions, Poverty Free Panchayats etc., are ushering this agenda. Civil Society is playing its part. Communities have begun to play their part. Participation and Communitization are the key drivers in this. Convergence is the new talking point. All this would mean meticulous planning and rigorous roll-out of the plans. This requires some new drive. This should include Communication Campaign, with high intensity. This may include Cultural Communication Teams, Portals, Radio and Television slots, Videos, Channels, Training of Trainers, Capacity Building Offensive etc. This should include Planning and Support Poverty Reduction Corps (cadre) all across, 2 million of them at the grassroots in the villages, wards etc., trained intensively and exhaustively, supported by 50,000 PR Corps (professionals) and 1000 mentors. This should include an architecture that connects, reviews and monitors, may be in each district and/or 100 locations in the country. This should include some token funds, may be Rs.100-200 per family/year and some convening power. This should pave way for moving towards reducing the number of redundant and artificially split schemes to a bare minimum. The support can flow to the individual family more and directly as untied support; then to the village; to the block etc. The sub-missions can be unified and integrated to single missions. The departments can be reduced and made more holistic. Generalistic integrators could be placed and trained intensively for extending comprehensive support. Technical Support may be taken as per the need rather than maintaining silos of technical verticals. Community members, leaders, cadres, paraprofessionals, service providers, volunteers etc., could play significant roles. The budgets could be more dovetailed to PRIs and Community Institutions rather than direct spends by the departments, organizations and missions. Where possible/required, the support could be untied against plans rather than strait- jacketed schemes and costs. Transparency, Accountability, Audit mechanisms could be strengthened. Community planning, appraisal, implementation, monitoring and audit could be the norm for most instances. Business planning could be the basis where investments are sought.

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Communication Campaign, Corps/Cadre, Connect Mechanisms, Convening Power and Funds, Communitization, Integration and Convergence appear to be the key instruments in the movement for self-help, poverty reduction, livelihoods and life. The approach appears to be institutional platforms and demand ownership.

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98. Poverty Reduction Mission and Corps! Perspectives December, 2015

Modi achieves – breakfast in Kabul, lunch in Lahore and dinner in Delhi – dream. A diplomacy of different order! But can we become a South Asia Economic, Financial and/or Cultural Union? We help Afghanistan to have a new Parliament Building. We plan to have a new building for our Parliament. Can we have a single dedicated empowered statutory Poverty Reduction Mission? Pan India! Tribal, Rural and Urban! TRU Poverty Reduction! Starting with the Poorest! Real TRU Antyodaya! TRU Development! TRU Livelihoods! If yes, it means National Livelihoods Mission. It means National Skills Mission. It means National Self-employment Mission. It means dedicated funds from GPs for Poverty Reduction. At least Rs.100 per capita per year, out of Rs.488 per capita per year that comes to GP, at least 20%! It means MGNREGS and NLM work hand in hand. It means ICDS and PDS working hand in hand with NLM. It means Social Justice, NSAP and NLM working together. It means Life Cycle support in NLM. It means inclusion of the tribals, persons with disabilities and elderly. It means SMART Cities and SMART Villages, Swachch Bharat Mission and NLM working together. It means dedicating some Rs. 25000 per HH for some 150 million households in the country, may be over 10-15 years. Rs.20000-30000 Crore a year! Or Rs.15000-20000 Crore from Government of India! A mere 1.5% of Indian Budget! TRU Poverty Reduction Mission (PRM) or Livelihoods Mission (LM) means single structures at national level, state level, and district level reducing the administrative costs substantially. It means more coherent integrated and comprehensive approach, with unified command. At sub- district level, the mission structure is at block and urban body levels. This means placing an integrator-facilitator for every 1500-3000 families, an animator for every 100-200 families, a trainer/planner for 100-200 families, a paraprofessional for 50-100 families and so on. We need dedicated community universities for supporting this level of community HR with ability, skills and tools. We need dedicated channels that beam their issues, aspirations and experiences. We need an intensive capacity building architecture – training centres, resource persons/pools, plans, calendars, modules, material, case studies, charts, pictures, videos, stories, songs, and integrators/coordinators. This means self-replicating communitized potentially self-reliant Self-help movement – groups, federations at village, cluster, block, urban body level, district level, state level etc. A quick saturated mobilization with universal elements. Institutions to come quickly and mature as the transactions, businesses and issues get loaded! Inclusion, Gender, Food, Nutrition, Health, Water and Sanitation, Drudgery Reduction, Funds to Community, Microplans, Vulnerability Reduction Plans, Bank Linkages, Insurance, existing livelihoods (agriculture, horticulture, livestock, dairy, forestry/NTFP, fisheries, micro-enterprises, service providers, traditional occupations etc.), collectivization, local value-addition, sensitization and convergence for rights, entitlements and schemes, working with PRIs etc., included.

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This means Planning and Support Poverty Reduction Corps (cadre) all across. This means Community planning, appraisal, implementation, monitoring and audit across. This means strengthening Transparency, Accountability, Audit mechanisms etc. This requires mentoring support, may be through a national poverty reduction corps, organized upto block or better still up to village. 10-15 persons in a village; 20-30 persons in a block; 30-40 persons in a district; 50-100 persons in a state; and 100-200 persons at the national level – distributed across nuanced themes within larger poverty reduction domain.

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99. Employment Continuum! Perspectives January, 2016

PV Narasimha Rao was the reform architect – conforms Pranab Mukherjee, in his latest book. In his speech on the eve of Republic Day, President Pranab Mukherjee highlighted – • Digital India, Make in India, and Start-up India are up. • National Skill Development Mission envisages reaching 30 Crore Youth by 2022. • We are positioning ourselves well for achieving a higher growth rate (7.3%+) which will in the next ten to fifteen years help us eliminate poverty. • A spirit of accommodation, cooperation and consensus-building should be the preferred mode of decision making. • Each of us has the right to lead a healthy, happy and productive life. • End product of education should be a free creative man who can battle against historical circumstances and adversities of nature. • Move ahead. We see an Employment Continuum – Casual wage employment, self-employed (individuals, families, small teams), micro-enterprises, collective enterprises, job employment, and entrepreneurial. This employment could be in farm (agriculture, horticulture, dairy, livestock, fisheries, forestry), off-farm, non-farm production and services. Some of these have gathered the knowledge and skills in the family, as part of growing up; some have picked up on the job; some have gone as apprentices on their own and graduated out; some joined the team and remained as a team member; some have deliberately invested to be self -employed/job- employed etc. The state guarantees casual wage employment of 100-150 days/family/year to any job seeker in rural areas (MGNREGS); state invests in skilling the youth (some 90-120 days) and place them in some job in a big way; and the large majority of the self-employed now and the future self employed are only supported to a very limited extent. This has to be taken up urgently. India is an enterprise country. Most of its work force is self employed and/or employed in unorganized sector in small teams. The variety is huge, may be 1000s. The nuances are place specific and time-specific. Most self-employed (individually or in the family, or in a small team) have a portfolio of activities, including changing with season and time. Every year at least 10 million are joining this self employed work force. The existing and new require more knowledge, more skills, more tools, or improvement in them, more credit, more resources and require services for planning, inputs, sourcing raw material, value-chain gaps, marketing etc., more collectivization, instruments for reducing expenditure, risks etc.

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Can NRLM and NULM take up this massive agenda? Currently RSETIs are not up to this massive need. Will they grow to meet this need? Can we ask partners to choose/adopt clusters and work on this? Can we ask NDDBs to intensify their efforts? Can we solicit corporates to pitch in? Can we have dedicated community employment universities? Can we have dedicated channels? Can we build intensive capacity building and nurturing architecture? Can we place an integrator-facilitator for every 1500-3000 families, an animator for every 100- 200 families, a trainer/ planner for 100-200 families, a paraprofessional for 50-100 families and so on, dedicated to self-employment and employment continuum agenda? Can we evolve a self-help self-employment movement? Can we seed a small team of self-employment leadership at the national level – distributed across nuanced themes?

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100. Skilling Value-chain? Perspectives February, 2016

Rurban Mission has been launched. We are committed to Sustainable Development Goals. We are committed to Global Human Development Goals. We are committed to empowering poor and vulnerable. We are committed to empowering women. We think their institutions are platforms for delivering this commitment. We are committed to gradually peaking up scaling-up. When the crunch comes, are we there? Will we be there? Amidst articulated arguments defining nationalism versus freedom of expression, Indian Parliament moved in to consider the Union Budget(s), beginning with the Economic Survey 2015-16. Its highlights include - • GDP growth rate is expected to be in the range of 7.00 to 7.75%. Inflation is about 4.5-5% • Stable India (Economy) amidst gloomy global situation • Crude Oil prices to go down further • Reduced Subsidy Bill (less than 2% of GDP) • 7th Pay Commission Recommendations and One Rank One Pension Scheme are the challenges for achieving fiscal deficit target • Delay in GST Bill is a big concern; it is an important reform measure • Expected revival of domestic demand with foreign capital outflows • Expects more investment in health, education, agriculture etc. • Higher revenues than budgeted • Widening tax net from 5.5% to 20% • Service sector is growing at 9.2%. Its share in the economy is 53%. • Climate Change initiatives have been taken up • India ranks first in milk production, accounting 18.5% of milk production in the world We have to look at how budget reflects this survey. Skilling – how can we make it useful to Indian Rural Youth, to Rural India. How do we ensure that there is some understanding between the urban and rural players so that an integrated effort without unnecessary competition in the job market? Should we merge the rural and urban Skills Missions into one? Can we tailor the Skilling to provide for Jobs and Self-employment? Can we offer entrepreneurial support, mentoring etc.? How do we bring in the existing self-employed? Family-employed? How do we bring in the value-chain analysis? How do we act on the gaps in

253 the value chain? Can we support value-addition? Can we collectivize the self-employed for achieving backward and forward linkages and value-addition? How do we be sure that all LIFE MGNREGA workers want to be self-employed, for REAL? How do we map the demand for Jobs? How do we map the demand for products and services? Do we have the counseling for the Youth for their current skill-set and aspirations? How do we ensure quality for them? market for them? How do we involve and build ownership for the community institutions in identifying the needy youth, matching skill needs with market skills, skilling, and placement? Can’t the corporates pay through their Corporate Social Responsibility for Social Inclusion, Social Development and Livelihoods Collectives? Can’t the Gram Panchayats pay from the GP Development Pan and Fund? Can we give vouchers to individual youth to choose her/his skill need and get skilled? Can we ask the Community Institutions to take charge of skilling? Or can we build a partnership between the skilling agency and community institution? Can we achieve reaching out to 1-2% of Indian Population (youth joining workforce every year) seamlessly? Can we achieve the quality standards? Can we deliver the aspirations ?.

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101. Budget for Institutions Platforms of Poor? Perspectives March, 2016

Our commitment to India with no poverty or at least insignificant levels of poverty is unquestionable. We recognize multiple dimensions of poverty. We identify households critically deprived. This is not a small number, some 50%. We ask the poor who the poor are. We organize them, the women amongst them. We work with the poor to explore and understand their poverty, vulnerability, livelihoods and wellbeing (ill-being). We let them explore what possibilities exist. We let them concretely feel that they can access their rights, entitlements and schemes. The poor start to realize that right to life, right to employment, right to education, right to associate (and therefore livelihood, collectivization, health) etc., are not rhetoric but real and can be truly accessible to them. We facilitate them and their institutions to vision and plan. We build capacities to realize their vision(s) and plans. We have cadres from within supporting this. We have trainers/facilitators/professionals that build cadres, leaders and institutions. All this is possible only when the government invests adequately matching with scale and pace. Else, their hopes, dreams and visions may go unfulfilled. Some of them may not vision. Instead, they curse us. And the curse of a suffering poor woman sticks. If so many curse us at the same time, what will happen to us? It is the curse of Daridranaarayan! In this context, we need to see the highlights of Union Budget(s) presented on 29 February 2016– • Crop insurance and heath insurance for all • LPG to (all) poor on subsidy • Aadhar is required for benefit transfers • Dedicated irrigation fund, and Program for sustainable management of ground water • Organic Farming, Value-chain development and Pashudhan Programs • 0.5% cess on services for agriculture and farmers’ welfare • Grant-in-Aid to GPs and ULBs and increased MGNREGS • Focused intense integrated effort in drought and rural distress areas • Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan; 100% village electrification in 1000 days • Digital Literacy Missions/Abhiyaan; Stand Up India for promoting 2.5 lakh entrepreneurs • Saturated coverage of Navodaya schools; Higher Education Financing Agency • PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana for 1 Crore job seekers in 3 years; Online Entrepreneurship and Training; Subsidy to meet Employers’ Contribution to EPF • Model Shops and Establishments Bill for keeping shops open for 7 days a week • Rs. 1.0 Lakh Crore Roads including Bigger Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana

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• Target for PM Mudra Yojana is Rs.1.8 Lakh Cr • Total expenditure proposed in the budget is Rs.19.78 Lakh Cr. About 50% Households are considered deprived/poor as per SECC data. This is about 10 Crore households in Rural India. About 30% of them are already mobilized into their institutional architecture. Can we not budget Rs.10,000 Crore/year (just 0.5% of the budget) for 7-8 years, to achieve this single point of agenda of inclusive mobilization, financing and capacity building of the poor households? Can we not seek GPs to give 20% of its Grant-in-Aid for meeting the articulated needs of the poor? Can we not sub-allocate 10% of MGNREGS for mobilizing, financing and building capacities of the poor households seeking work? Together it comes to Rs.12,000 Crore and appears possible.

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102. Budget for Institutions of Poor? Perspectives April, 2016

National Panchayat Day! We had Gram Uday se Bharat Uday Abhiyaan during 14-24 April 2016 – to remember Ambedkar; to reach out to farmers and other members; and to demonstrate accountability to Gram Sabha. Dr BR Ambedkar is remembered. PM visited Mhow, Baba Saheb’s hometown. We celebrated National Panchayat Day. While we have no doubt in our minds that poverty reduction is a reality (hope), soon enough and people can do this (faith), if only the poor are organized fully and quickly. Can we lend our hands to this? Adequately? People’s Organizations across the country have to join Janaandoolan. SHG Movement has to become a national movement quickly. It has to get the imagination of the country double quick. In essence this means poor help themselves, by organizing themselves, by having cadres that service them, by having their capacities built, by taking other stakeholders on board through a sensitization, by working closely with PRIs and other stakeholders to access their rights, entitlements and schemes, by collectivizing, by improving the livelihoods and lives, by increasing options and choices towards freedom, and by visioning, planning and progressing forward on them. This means institutions with animators and facilitators pushing forward. This requires Swayam Sahaayata Janaandolan becoming Kshamata Janaandolan. Apart from SHG Bookkeepers, we need to have one animator from within becoming part of this Aandolan as Active Women, Village level and Cluster level Activists, Community Trainers, Community Paraprofessionals, Community Service Providers, Community Resource Persons, Community Process Facilitators etc. They in turn need Trainers/Learning Facilitators at Cluster/Block level. These learning facilitators may facilitate learning to members, leaders, committee members, office-bearers, PRI leaders, village level government servants/workers, bankers and other stakeholders. These learning facilitators, we may need one per village on an average but work for the block/cluster. They need to be in various areas of learning – • social mobilization, inclusion, institutions (SHGs) and organization at village level; • funds, books, financial inclusion and financial management; • cluster federations and their visioning, planning and management; • gender, FNHW (food, nutrition, health, water, sanitation and hygiene), other social development, plans for vulnerable and vulnerabilities, sensitization, action and leveraging; • farm (agriculture, horticulture, dairy, livestock, fisheries, non-timber forest produce), non-farm livelihoods - individual and collective planning and action; • participation and planning – poverty assessment and tracking, micro planning, participatory assessment of entitlements, vulnerability reduction planning,

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convergence planning and dovetailing with GP Development Plans, MGNREGS works and other schemes; • cadre and training/learning management, identifying, training, nurturing and deploying cadres and trainers; • poverty-vulnerability-gender-livelihoods analysis, visioning, management and leadership These learning facilitators need learning support from district/state resource persons/trainers, who in turn require learning support from national resource group. To fast track the janaandolan, we need them available in advance. For 34 states/union territories, 640 districts, 6600 blocks, 2.5 lakh GPs, 6.5 lakh villages, and 10 Crore rural households, we are talking about 2.5 lakh Block learning facilitators, 15000 District learning facilitators, 1000 state learning facilitators/ resource persons and a pool of 100+ national resource persons. They need to identified, trained and nurtured as soon as possible. Can we do it in a year? They in turn may catalyze the swayam sahaayata kshamata janaandolan by rolling-out training/learning in the block.

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103. Facilitating Hands! Perspectives May, 2016

The elections in five States/UTs pushed Congress to their lowest ebb. They must restructure, reform and transform and they will, I guess. BJP is gaining slowly. Regional Parties are still a force or two reckon with. Multiple contests have to give way to duels. Amidst all this, Jayaprakash Narayan’s Lok Satta opted out of election politics. Is it the way out for the concerned citizens? Lok Satta, the advocacy organization with volunteers continues. NDA celebrates its two year tenure. Modi’s NDA completes two years in office. KCR’s TRS in Telangana and NCB’s TDP in AP are also completing their two years in office. Welfare and cash transfers are doing fine. Organizing, building capacity and giving the power and choices to the poor to fight their poverty on their own and improve meta-fishing livelihoods are a long way to go, notwithstanding our commitment to Sustainable Development Goals to reduce poverty to insignificant levels by 2030. The focus on these efforts is the immediate need. It is time we had a dedicated empowered Cabinet Minister on Poverty Reduction – Institutions, Livelihoods and Employment of the Poor. It is time we had a tenured Secretary. It is time we had a dedicated empowered autonomous technical support organization, a la National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) of 70s and 80s. It is time we had civil society pitches in a big way. It is time we had the national collectives of the poor taking some of this responsibility. It is time the poverty reduction, livelihoods and development workers collectivize and support the institutions and states. It is time we have learning institutes that generate/build professionals of high order in good numbers for this end. It is time we have mechanisms to run learning programs and nurture community resource persons/resource persons/mentors, a million or two in a decade or so, two lakh/year, to work with community leaders, cadres, resource persons and professionals, across the country. Our hope and faith are not placed wrongly. Swayam Sahaayata and Kshamata Janaandolan Janaandolan is on its way. Facilitating hands and support make it quicker and faster. Let us give this support unhesitatingly. Let us guarantee it. Let us budget for it. Let us coopt all the stakeholders to join hands. Let us build the facilitating hands at various levels. 100+ at the national level! 1000+ at the state level! 100000+ at the Block level! 1.0 million+ at the Village level! Can we do this, in these three years? Without compromising on quality? Hope and faith in reduced poverty, improved livelihoods and lives guarantee ‘power’ to the deliverer. People offer ‘brahmaratham’. Let the ruling coalitions vie for this. Let the national, state, district, block and GP leaders take this cue and do their bit quickly. Let us go towards knowledge and wisdom. Let us go towards equity, humanity and justice. Let us go to the people, be with the people and work with the people.

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104. Coalitions for Janaandolan! Perspectives June, 2016

World Environment Day! World Music Day! International Yoga Day! Summer Solstice, Longest Day of the Year! Brexit – People voted for Britain’s Exit from EU. Raghuram Rajan has opted not to seek renewal. India’s bid for membership in Nuclear Supply Group is thwarted. We are waiting for Cabinet Reshuffle at the Centre. We hope this happens quickly, without any further delay. Reorganizing Departments and Ministries is still a work in process. Many Secretary positions are still to be filled. Telangana is getting ready to have 24-26 districts, from the present 10. AP is expected to follow suit. Hyderabad is bidding farewell many a staff of AP. Country is gearing up for Assembly Elections in several states [Punjab, UP], at least 6-12 months in advance. Janaandolan for self-help, livelihoods improvement, poverty reduction and development, requires servant leaders, facilitating hands. It also requires literature and material, text, charts, audio, video, modules etc. It also requires financial resources to meet the actual costs of campaign, mobilization, capacitation, experiential sharing/learning and demonstration. Can we pool up all these? Can we pool of volunteer doers? Volunteer planners? Volunteer resource persons? Volunteer donors? And how do we do it fast? Janaandolan is not limited to rural areas. It is in tribal areas. It is in urban areas. It is emerging livelihoods. This is a TRUE livelihoods Janaandolan. May be some 150-200 million households to become part of this. Some 15 million SHGs, 1 million primary SHG Federations, 30-40 thousand secondary Federations, 10000 tertiary Federations, 1000 district Federations, 50-60 Regional/State Federations, 5-10 Regional/National Federations as the foundation institutions, and people’s banks, social collectives and livelihoods collectives at cluster/block/district/state levels, supported by 10000+ Community-managed Learning Centres, 1000+ national resource persons, 10000+ state resource persons, 500,000+ block resource persons, 10 million animators/cadres, 10+ million bookkeepers are part of this huge Janaandolan in the making. Janaandoaln is backed by the unfailing promise of the facilitating hands, hearts and minds. Our hope and faith are not misplaced. Let us have the best practitioners talking. Let us have the best practices shared. Let us have the case studies. Let us have the literature support. Let us have the songs. Let us have the videos. Let us have kalajathas. Let us have the web portals. Let us have the newsletters. Let us have the magazines. Let us have the voices. Let us have the channels. Let us have the charts. Let us have the wall writings. Let us have the newspapers. Let us be there wherever we can and in whatever we can. As quickly as possible! As many of us as

260 possible! Let us keep co-opting as many as possible from as many corners and domains as possible. These Coalitions are part of the Janaandolan.

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105. Portfolio 25 ! Perspectives July, 2016

International Day of Cooperatives! World Population Day! Mandela Day! Malala Day! Guru Purnima! Theresa May becomes PM in UK. Trump and Clinton are the official nominees for US President from their parties. Judith is back home from kidnapping in Afghan. Cabinet Reshuffle at the Centre is over. Reorganizing Departments and Ministries is still a work in process. Still many Secretary positions are to be filled. Terror is in news more than anything else. ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, Sustainable Development Goals, or Global Goals have been adopted on 25 September 2015. The 17 Goals include - i. No Poverty ii. Zero Hunger iii. Health and Well-being for all at all ages iv. Inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all v. Gender Equality vi. Clean Water and Sanitation for all vii. Access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and clean energy for all viii. Full and productive employment and decent work for all ix. Resilient infrastructure, inclusive and sustainable industrialization and innovation x. Reduced Inequalities within and among countries xi. Sustainable Cities and Communities xii. Responsible Consumption and Production patterns xiii. Climate Action xiv. Life Below Water xv. Life on Land xvi. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions xvii. Partnerships for the Goals These Goals require all of us working hand-in-hand. We need several janaandolans. Towards contributing these goals in a small way, Akshara is making plans to work on a portfolio 2025 - • ‘livelihoods’ (e-monthly, journal, info-portal/web-channel, tv channel) including –  online/distance learning;  L-talks/conversations;  databases of LSIs, LSOs, LSEs, GPs, CBOs and Small CSOs • Livelihoods Resources including –

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 Books/e-books;  Collection of Livelihoods Literature – Books, Articles, Stories, Case Studies, Songs, Videos;  Livelihoods Resources Shop  Livelihoods Support –  Visioning, Strategic Planning/Management, Institution Design/Building • Livelihoods Learning –  Learning Programs, VLM Learning Programs, Immersions, Orientation;  Long-term programs in Partnerships with institutions;  Livelihoods Curriculum, Influencing students and teachers;  Graduated Fellowships: Young Interns to Distinguished Fellows;  Mentoring • Implementation Support [Visioning, Planning, Leadership, Management, Implementation, Monitoring, and Learning] –  Adoption (including training and handholding) of villages, CBOs, GPs, small CSOs, Schools, Anganwadis/PHCs, public services etc.;  Field Stations and Field Practice in LF;  Field Partnerships including Partnerships with Organizations working in remote, and neglected areas;  Long-term Support Partnerships;  Support to LSIs, LSEs and LSOs;  Awards to Grassroots workers and Organizations; Legends;  Congress(es)  Talent Support [Counseling, coaching e-classes and material, tests, Placement, Selection, Induction]  Skilling Value-chain, Development Sector Skill Council(s)  National Network/Consortium of L-PR-D professionals for Support to Development Projects/Programs  Campaign on and Support to New Thinking and Practice in Livelihoods Domain – Integrated TRUE Livelihoods Framework, LEAP Processes, Value-chains etc.  Association/Forum of L-PR-D Professionals  Union of L-PR-D Community Professionals  Mission 10 Million [Leaders/Animators/Facilitators for Collectivization]

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106. Towards Rural Transformation! Perspectives August, 2016

GST Bill passed in Rajyasabha and Loksabha, and going through the motions in State Assemblies. Rio Olympics 2016 are in progress. Dipa Karmakar makes us proud. Curfew in Kashmir continues. President Pranab Mukherjee spoke on the eve of Independence Day – “…As we build an India of hundreds of smart cities, towns and villages, we must ensure that …compassionate society. …” PM spoke from ramparts of Red Fort – about skilling youth; about health/treatment scheme; about ODF; about enterprises, shops; about bank accounts to all; about Transformation etc. He should have talked about Poverty Free India by 2025/26. He should have talked about 150 million poor women in SHG network. He should have talked about merging NRLM and NULM into NLM. He should have talked about a single Livelihoods and Employment sub-mission, coupled with Core NLM sub-mission. What is required for rural poverty reduction, livelihoods improvement and transformation? • Let us recognize this as a long-term agenda and our role is catalytic in nature. • Let us form a group of mentors at the national and state levels, now. • Let us place a fully inducted Rural Transformation Leader in each district/sub- district, with all the support that is required for her/him to function. Let him/her have access to some catalytic but flexible funds. S/he can also access other funds. • Let us place 5-6 member spearhead teams (Team) in each sub-district/block with the task of being with people, understanding their situation and identifying local people with leadership and facilitation abilities, including 3R skills, from different hues with passion and drive, may be about 100. Majority of them will be women. [referred as Local Team of Mentors/Resource Persons] • Let us induct and equip them. May be they would need some 5-6 months of inputs, immersion, exposure, apprenticeship and mentoring with task-based individual and team fieldwork. As part of this period, we get an in-depth understanding of select villages (10-15%) in the sub-district/block, support in inclusive saturated mobilization into generic IOPs, and identification of potential leaders, may be 5-6 per village (after screening several more). [referred as In-situ Animators-Leaders] • Let these leaders be provided Comprehensive Integrated Vision-Planning- Leadership-Management Module. They can help us to add more villages into our realm. • Gradually, over a year or so, we will be in all the villages in the sub-district/block.

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• By the beginning of the year 2, we will be seeing inclusive saturated mobilization of women initially, and all others subsequently (adolescent girls, youth, farmers, artisans, other stakeholders) and their capacity building on a full throttle. • Let the sensitization of PRI leadership and grassroots public service providers and government functionaries, civil society players begin soon after. • Let the people analyze their situation (in their personal life, family, group, village etc.). LEAPs and value-chain analysis may be initiated. Planning for the household, group, village begin. Vulnerability planning, Convergence planning etc., can also be taken up. • Let the institutions go through visioning and plan forward. Let them take responsibility for planning at household level, group micro plans, village vulnerability plans, plans for vulnerable people, plans for convergence including MGNREGS, GPDP, Watersheds, NRLM, Skills, sustainable livelihoods (agriculture, dairy, livestock, fisheries, forestry and NTFP, artisanal livelihoods, micro- enterprises etc.), Banks, ST/SC/BC sub plans etc. • Let the demand for livelihoods collective (s) and social collective (s) emerge and their business plans be developed. Can the % of consumer rupee realized by the producer go up significantly? • Let the collectivization – purchases, sales and value-addition, services etc., start. • Let them be supported through convergence and partnerships. • Let the villages make plans for Prosperity and realize them. • Let the youth be counseled for skills for jobs and/or enterprises. • Let there be authentic info-portal/web-channel and channel that disseminates authentic information/knowledge and analysis to various client groups within the community and making the videos, audios, pictures, charts, text etc., available in the village resource centres. • The villages/clusters (at least 50%) emerge as model poverty-free villages of rural transformation.

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107. Impacting Enterprising but Less Organized Perspectives September 2016

GST gets going. GST Council comes into being. Vasan Healthcare demonstrates why inorganic expansion is not the way. Should we go the Community Organizing way rather than the Community Development way? Or do we need to go hybrid ways? Community organizing is in the local settings. It empowers individuals, builds relationships, and creates action for change. It builds constituency towards building a movement. It is more than mobilization but may be slightly less than a political process. We need to develop self-sufficient communities to resist encroachment; control their own education, health care, and other institutions; and avoid selling their principles, land, and culture to others. Community organizing is necessary to get the power. Community development is necessary to keep it. Self- help movement in the country is doing them together in some sense. This is not to say the tension between the two does not exist. The structured learning of the members, leaders, cadres/animators and staff/facilitators simultaneously is very important. The elements have to include why we are poor, vulnerable etc., how our institutions help, how institutions can be open-ended platforms, and how community’s early take over of the entire effort is useful in going forward. The learning should take the participants from the beginning to end of all the known/likely processes. Campaigns are necessary part of the effort. Community Organizing has at least four elements – Base; Leadership (Leaders, Cadres/Animators, Facilitators); Agenda/Mission and Structure; and Campaigns. Therefore, it involves building the base (relationships, individual follow-up, meeting people and letting people practice the skills), building the leadership (putting faith and stretching, developing leaders and collective leadership system, preparing for the future), developing the organization(s) to cater to the long-term agenda/scope with values, tasks/processes, outreach/communication channels etc., and developing campaign(s) and learning programs for augmenting membership and continued benefit(s) to members. Can we offer support and services to enterprises? There are individual enterprises, family enterprises, group enterprises, collective enterprises and enterprises of the community institutions. These enterprises could be non-farm, services, off-farm, farm-based, livestock-based, fisheries-based, forest-based, craft-based, traditional artisans etc.; these could be actually farmers, weavers, shepherds etc. These could be enterprises in education, health, social areas etc. These could be civil society organizations. These could be GPs. These could be enterprises that service the enterprises. Both existing and new enterprises need support/services. The support/services they need may include training, visioning, planning, HR, skilling, raw materials, maintenance, trouble shooting, storage, transport, accounting, audit, MIS, market intelligence, branding, purchases, sales, custom-processing, rating, credit, equity, insurance etc. They may also include support in starting itself. These services/support may be delivered by linking with service providers, developing pool of service providers, community professionals and/or inter-enterprise linkages.

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Even the linkages with large service providers may be possible. The solution may be an OLA type, a flipkart type, an OLX type, or a combination of these and other similar aggregator and integrator variants in the digital space and Super/hyper Market, Mall, local market, haat, chit fund, bank, investor etc., in the physical and financial space. The integrator may deliver all these directly, through appropriate existing service providers, and/or facilitated service providing/support enterprises and entrepreneurs. Can we do this? My friends and associates are saying YES. If yes, it reduces the expenditures and increases the incomes of the less organized enterprises significantly.

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108. Smaller is the way Perspectives October, 2016

Floods in Hyderabad and parts of Telugu states! Yet, rainfall during the entire monsoon in the country is just 97% of the normal. Many areas have deficit rainfalls. TN and Karnataka are fighting for Cauvery waters. AP is getting a ‘package’ in lieu of special ‘status’. Kashmir is living in curfew; it is already 90 days now. Indian western border remains tense. Armies on both sides are getting ready. Amidst all this, two of our leaders of development in the country based in Hyderabad are retiring – Vijay Mahajan, 62 and Vijay Kumar, 60. We are sure, they remain in the thick of action, guide and mentor the sector, for a long period to come. Telangana is going for smaller administrative units in a big and wholesale way. More districts, divisions, mandals (blocks)! India needs to go ‘small’ across. We may need smaller states (50), districts (1000), blocks (15000), and GPs (500000). We need more and more homogenous units of administration. A tribal/hilly district may have a population not more than 1 million; a rural district, not more than 1.5 million; and a city district, not more than 2 million. A block may have population less than 50,000. Any habitation with more than 100 households could be a GP. In tribal habitations this could be down to 50-60. Where the villages are big, ward sabha should have more decentralization. This is the only way to decentralize, for increased people’s participation, effective governance and efficient administration. This also paves way for generalist integrator manager/administrator to meet the variety of needs of the people in the small unit. Single window support becomes possible. Size of the administration could become small but tight. Similar agenda departments could be merged. The work of the officers could be more whole-sum. Chances of community taking charge of responsibilities where possible increase significantly. Bottom-up planning could be really effective and participatory. These smaller units need livelihoods-poverty reduction-development facilitators/professionals. At the state level, a multi-thematic team may provide technical support and integration support. At the district level, it has to be a compact small team, not bigger than 10 members. At the block level, it could be as small as 5-6 members. At each GP level, 2-5 professionals from community may be required. These 1-2 million grassroots integrating professionals could be trained under skill development and absorbed in GPs and/or Community Institutions at sub- block/block level. These are apart from 10+ million community cadres/resource persons/volunteers/para-professionals/leaders fully trained and available to service the community and community institutions as per the need. Thus decentralization of administration through smaller units, coupled with communitization and rationalization of staffing with integration abilities is the way forward. They need to be sensitive. They need to be wedded to the values of Hope, Faith and Promise. They need to be participatory. They need to spend significant time with and in the community with clear accountability to community leadership. Capacity building of the communities, their leaders, their cadres and the staff working for them needs to be taken up on campaign mode in an

268 express way. Poverty, Vulnerability, Gender, Livelihoods, Rights, Entitlements, Schemes, Institutions, Funds and resources have to be discussed as part of these campaigns. They need leadership learning. Increased transparency and readily available up-to-date Management Information is a must. Digitization has to be on the front foot. Decentralization is necessary. Concomitant action along with decentralization ensures that the fruits reach the people and India moves nearer to realizing SDGs faster.

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109. Way Forward for Poverty Reduction Perspectives November 2016

We know the way forward for poverty reduction is to seek out communities for developing their participatory plans, building on their resources and other realities and collective action and enterprises. We need communities to see what is there, what is possible and how is it possible. Spatial maps of birds’ views and worms’ views and simulations do the trick. We need data, analysed data and data analytics. We need to customize and take local data on board. We need to show practices. We need to let practitioners talk. We need to show process videos. There is need to balance individual aspiration and collective wisdom. We need to integrate technology for this. We need to align ourselves with the known ways of the nature. We need individuals who facilitate this. We need leaders from within and outside. They need to listen and sensitive the vulnerable. They need to provide space for all to share their views/inputs. They need to let silent sharing of perspectives. They need to let dissent in by working in multiple small groups in multiple ways/formats/foci. They need to let experts/positional leaders speak towards the end. They need to seek alternative views and critical thinking and appoint devil’s advocates. They need to let sessions have breaks and a night pass before the perspective decisions are concluded. These leaders need to be developed quickly in large numbers, 2-3 million at the grassroots in 5- 10 years; 20000-30000 at the sub-district/district level in 3-5 years; 2000-3000 at the state/national level in 2-3 years; 200-300 as mentors and 40-50 as lead mentors in a year or two. Can we do this?

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110. Demonetization Perspectives December, 2016 PM Narendra Modi has scrapped Rs.500 and Rs.1000 currency notes in the country at 8 PM on 8 November 2016, with effect from the mid-night. This has withdrawn 86% (about Rs.15 lakh crore) from the circulating money in the country. Of this, we were told some 60% has been deposited in the banks towards the end of November and some Rs.3 lakh crore new currency has come in. People have window till 30 December to deposit their cash into their accounts. Some could exchange the old with the new. Hope the counterfeited notes have gone away and new counterfeiting is difficult. Varying estimates of Black Money – about Rs. 50-150 lakh crore and about 6% of it is in currency form – Rs.3-9 lakh crore. Hope at least the black money in currency form is completely wiped out by this ‘demonetization’. The government will pursue, PM emphasizes repeatedly, black money to its logical conclusion. We believe him. If he could go to Parliament and talk in the Parliament, it would have been nicer. We hope he will also bring in black money outside India soon. There are some difficulties in implementation. New notes were Rs.2000 notes initially. Exchange queues and deposit queues were long. Allowed withdrawals were limited and in small quantities. ATMs were dispensing smaller amounts. ATMs needed to be recalibrated for the new notes. Many were not having accounts. Many do not have the bandwidth for electronic payments and receipts. Mobile payments are increasing. We are inching towards less cash society. Will it last after 30 December? Now the new Rs.500 notes are also coming. The news says we will have Rs.1000 notes too. We may have Rs.200 notes too. We hear that ‘black’ is coming into Jan Dhan accounts; we have benami exchanges; we have cash coolies; we have low income people losing time and energy in getting their cash; we have ATMs with no cash; we have bank branches with low cash; we have many deposits up to Rs.2.5 lakh per account without being penalized; we have advances; we have advance loans with no interest or reverse commission; we have new ‘agents’ for making black from black; so on. We have daily wage earners suffering a bit; we have farmers being troubled for seeds and inputs for Rabi; some farmers have to struggle and go for loans although they have their own money; small and petty traders – struggled a bit on account of lack of small money in the sytem; there is reduced expenditure in the middle class and lower middle class segments – some savings for them; and some reduced GDP; slump in the market and recovery could take a longer time. But the losers of black money could become smarter and come back with vengeance as the days progressed. Most of us slowly get used to e-receipts and payments; and m-receipts and payments. Government may start own mobile ‘banks’ soon. We still may have black money and new ways of black economy, but on a small scale. We still may not see big fish not penalized/punished enough. Let us see more of this, appreciate and explore this in the coming months.

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111. Holistic Living Perspectives January 2017 As sustainable development goals, Global Goals 2030 sink, it is becoming clear to us that we as a world should be moving towards holistic living. Living simple. Equitable surpluses. State has to guarantee and ensure minimal but decent living for all its citizens. We need healthy lives – healthy food, water, air, clothes and shelter. All without chemicals and pollution. The fresh water in the world has to be healthy. The soils have to be healthy. The production has to match the demand. The farming has to be natural. Forests, Trees, Plants, Fishes, Crops, Livestock … have to be natural. Intensity may have to go up. We have to live without stress. Animals have to be stress free. Plants have to be stress free. Then only, we will get toxin fee healthy food. The farming needs to be climate change resilient. Thus, we have to move into an evergreen revolution. Ever white. Ever yellow. Ever blue. Ever brown. We need to take ICT, biotechnology etc., for this. The percentage of consumer rupee that reaches the producer has to be higher, significantly higher than the current 20-25%. The ratio between the minimum wage and the highest professional/service fee may have to be limited, may be to some 100-1000. The return on investment has to be close to fair rate of interest rate – may be twice. In any case, not more than ten times. Most of us are self-employed already. They need to be in decent and remunerative self-employment. The work hours have to be less. No child till 18/21 years should be working for a living. The children need to exercise informed choice regarding their future. State needs to invest in its people – for health and education, apart from guaranteed minimal standard of decent living for all. Ecologically fragile and marginalized zones and communities have to cared for with special focus. Curriculums need to have ‘natural’ from the stage of play, song and word. Literature needs to be more ‘natural’. Facilitating ‘natural’ should be the preferred engagement. Payback should be ‘natural’. Let us be 'natural’. Let us facilitate ‘natural’.

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112. Self Learning Perspectives February 2017 We need more and more professionals in Development Management domain. We can take people with good 3R (read, write, arithmetic) skills. May be graduates with 1-2 years experience or post-graduates. They need to go through a guided self-learning programme before they get absorbed in the domain work. The programme may be spread over two years – • Three months of Orientation-Basics-Basic Skills-Research and Participation Skills-Field Stay and Field Work; • 2.5 months of Context courses building on the Field Stay – Development Theories and Practices; Livelihoods and Collective Action; Poverty-Vulnerability-Marginalization and Vulnerable Groups and Communities; Ecology, Environment and Production Systems; Organizations and Governance; Accounting; MIS/GIS Skills • Followed by, 2.5 months of Conceptual and Functional Courses – Managerial Economics; Markets and Marketing; Costing and Finance; Financial Services; Organization Behaviour and Human Resources; Employment and Enterprises; Development Planning and Project Management • Followed by Internship (Project work in an organization) of 1.5 months • Followed by, 2.5 months of Integrative and Advanced Courses – Sectoral Dimensions, Policies, Programs and Issues; Social Responsibility; Individual Theme Paper(s) and Individual Project Work • 1-year online learning and integrated action based fellowship, with option for 1-year extended fellowship or support for incubation of social enterprise Similarly, appropriately designed community professional programme may be useful. We can also think of long-duration initial orientation and immersion programmes for new professionals.

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113. Leadership, Entrepreneurship Perspectives March, 2017 We need more and more social entrepreneurs and self-employed with a purpose beyond living. India is home (about half of them) to entrepreneurs and self-employed. We need to get a fraction of these converted into social-oriented entrepreneurs and self-employed. It appears not at all tough. We need to identify enterprise-spirited persons with 3R (read, write, arithmetic) skills. Better if they have already begun to be on their own. They could be offered a 1.5-3 year social entrepreneurship, self-employment and enterprise management leadership programme. The programme may be spread out as – • 3.0 months of Orientation-Basics-Basic Skills-Research and Participation Skills-Field Stay and Field Work; • 2.0 months of Context courses building on the Field Stay • 2.0 months of Courses around entrepreneurship and enterprises management and leadership • 5.0 months of Apprenticeship (Project work in an organization) • 2.0 months of Integration Courses and Individual Project Work (Business Plan; start-up or support to enterprise) • 1-2 year online learning and integrated action based fellowship in own enterprise A programme should be launched with these broad contours. Similar programmes for addressing the vulnerable communities and vulnerabilities have to be designed. For dalits, coastal people, women, disabled, migrants etc. If any group is interested and focusing on in this effort, it needs all our help. Smaller programs for offering specific capsules of 4-12 weeks could be useful in enhancing the capabilities of existing professionals on ground. It is also important to collectivize these community professionals as associations at various levels, professionals as associations, and viable scaled-up cost-effective networks of professionals. These have to be done on scale. More numbers, more areas, more skills and more quickly.

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114. Digital Life Perspectives April, 2017 India’s 1.3 billion population needs to be empowered with knowledge. Digital revolution is picking up momentum - digital devices are accessible to more or less to all; digital bandwidth is available at no cost/reasonable cost everywhere; digital money is real; e-governance is now a reality albeit basic; self-help movement is including all women; government is committed to provide its services as digitally as possible; universal basic income to all is the thinking in the horizon; aadhaar is expected for almost all services; etc. In this roll of digital juggernaut, it is possible that the poor, poorest of the poor, vulnerable, digital illiterate/less digital literate may have difficult to cope with. Digital life would become a necessary life element for survival. Their little income may not be separable for this. Even if separable, it may not be adequate. Even if adequate, they may not time to use data and services. They may not have the knowledge, tools and skills to benefit from them fully. As a result, it is possible that it results in a wide digital divide of digital haves and have-nots. Consequently, they may lose real opportunities in employment, enterprise and living. In this context, it becomes absolutely necessary for state and governments to guarantee universal basic digital access and services at no cost to the poor. Digital literacy has to be pushed the way we pushed sarva siksha abhiyan with godspeed. Digital education has to be part of education very early in the school. We need to tailor our knowledge and capacity building services and budgets have to be increased. For our 1.3 billion population, or 300 million families, we may need 30 million facilitators of digital knowledge and services from within the community. These could be in our SHGs as SHG leaders, SHG Bookkeepers, community activists, volunteers, resource persons and/or paraprofessionals. We may need 3 million (2 million in rural areas; and a million in urban areas) master facilitators who work with the facilitators, develop learning modules, materials and offer knowledge services as entrepreneurs. These master facilitators need to be developed and nurtured. NRLM and NULM can take the lead in this effort. 2017 and 2018 can herald this agenda. We can do our bit towards this agenda. We need to seek more and more hands to join in, in this effort, quickly.

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115. Integration…Uberization Perspectives May, 2017 Uberization is progressing. Ola may be losing money as of now. This concept can be taken in School sector. There are many services that can be aggregated and taken to schools. Schools have teachers and they need training and regular updates text, books, pictures, charts, videos etc. They need help in recruitment too. Aggregated recruitment is possible. Admissions under right to education need lot of help. Attendance and Fee payment require support. Academic videos, e-books, v-books, stories, audio books, stories, sums and problems, sourcing you tube materials etc., need help. Co-curricular activities, and extra-curricular activities need organizing help. Books and stationery purchases require help. Identity cards, progress reports, competitions, certificates, picnics, excursions – all of them are done better with professional help. Counselling, vocational training, school projects, annual days, annual reports, open houses, volunteers, village adoptions, may require help. Some are digital integration-related items. Some require aggregation support. Some require access to service providers. It is important that state and governments guarantee universal basic digital access and services at no cost to the poor. Digital literacy has to be pushed the way we pushed sarva siksha abhiyan. Digital education has to be part of education very early in the school. There are already Khan Academies and Unacademies. More education videos have come up. Bus trackers have come up. Event Managers have sprung up. You tube has lot of material already. Education infrastructure credit is available. Digital enterprise/business facilitators and complete solution providers are emerging and have to emerge. Angel investors and venture capitalists have to chip in. For the government schools and poor students, grants are needed. Government may also have to allocate funds. We can do our bit towards this agenda. We can work with more integrator/aggregator/facilitator service providers, digital or otherwise.

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116. Mentoring Collectives Perspectives June, 2017 Ad hoc, short-term skilling agenda we may not know. But education and forever learning, self- employment and entrepreneurship, and collectivization is the way forward for us, for our poor and for our society and economy. Change agents and Change Managers are the new professionals who are in vogue. Welfare State is fine. We need to remember we are, and we have to be an Entrepreneurial Society. We need to have an Entrepreneurial Society co-existing with Welfare State. We need to have high proportions of our national public expenditures have to be on Quality Education For All, Health for All, Food and Nutrition for All, Pensions and Universal Basic Income for All, Basic Infrastructure for All, and Digital Literacy and Access to Opportunities for All. We need to have the orientation to access and exercise choices and opportunities available. We need to introduce caring oneself, co-life and ecosystem very early in the learning/education curriculum and needs to be reinforced and expanded as the child grows. We need to introduce Entrepreneurial Management and Leadership very early and encourage the children and youth to innovate for changes in behaviour and processes. We need to have a variety of high quality livelihoods-centric and social-development-centric enterprises and entrepreneurial videos, case studies, songs, stories, literature, role models etc. They need to be introduced to our next generation. We need to have recognitions and awards for entrepreneurship. We need to develop entrepreneurial managers and leaders. We need to develop enterprises to develop these managers and leaders. We need to offer fellowships and internships with such aptitude. We need to create develop mentors for these entrepreneurial leaders and managers, entrepreneurs and enterprises. We need special professionals who work with/in collective enterprises, social enterprises, public-service-institutions and government. We need to have a complete ecosystem built including angel investors, venture capitalists and banks chipping in. Governments may have to create special funds to support and manage risks. Hope the start-up and hub initiatives end up as our ‘culture’. We can do our bit towards this agenda. We can work with more entrepreneurial mentors/leader-managers/integrators/ solution providers.

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117. How do we address poor, poverty..? Perspectives July,2017

How many of us are poor? How poor are they? Who will say who are poor? Is 2.25 USD is a good enough poverty line? How do we reckon with 60-70% Indians are poor? What can be done? Is the self-help movement enough? NRLM? Does the Aadhaar enrolment suffice? PDS? Pensions? MGNREGS? Does PAN Card guarantee no poverty? Is the skilling a way? Is the Cooperative Movement useful? FPOs? Cooperatives? MACS? Are the Trade Unions, Labour Unions… a way? Clusters? Exports? Natural Farming? Integrated Farming? Value-addition? Marketing? Financial Services? Credit? Debt Waiver? Insurance? Mutuals? Digitization? Universal Basic Income? Sustainable Development Goals? Education? Gurukulums? Residential Schools? Tuitions? Teachers? Food-Nutrition-Health Security? Social Enterprises? Micro-enterprises? Hybrid? Start-ups? Hubs? Public Service Institutions? Government Institutions? Development Workers? Livelihoods Workers? Networks? Learning Nation? Learning Culture? Or Just Growth? Trickle Down? What else? We need to reflect. We need to brainstorm. We need to do our bit towards this agenda. We have to work with more thought leaders, practitioners on scale, entrepreneurial mentors/leader-managers/integrators/ solution providers.

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118. Transcending from self to All Perspectives August, 2017 Can we shift our focus from self to others? Focusing benevolent thoughts on the well-being of others is a true cause of happiness, says Davidson’s study on a Buddhist mon’s brain activity. Can we focus on others? On all? Whatever suffering there is in this world, all comes from desiring myself to be happy. Can we resist this? Do we know really and consistently happy people? They seem to love, the wish to give happiness to others. They seem to have compassion., the wish to free them from dissatisfaction. Are they not the true causes of happiness? There is something about worrying about ourselves too much, which tends to magnify our suffering. Can we worry a bit less about ourselves? Why do we forget, even the smallest of acts can spark the most unexpected changes in the people around us? Therefore, can we try exchanging self for others? And keep performing small acts for others? We need to meditate. We need to meditate and reflect. We have to work with more people towards doing their small bits for others as a habit for the happiness of others in this Universe.

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119. Turning Inwards Perspectives September, 2017 Can we turn inwards? Can we live simple? Can we eat what suits our bodies? Can we fast a day in a week/fortnight? Can we rest fully whenever we sleep? Can we skip sleep once a month/45 days? Can we try power nap of 10 minutes a day during the day? Can we practice Can we remain on the earth? Can we be in sync with sun? Can we spend 15 minutes a day alone, without any disturbance? Can we be without getting anger for a week? Can we soak our intellect in the chitta rather than in the manas, the memory or in the ahamkara? Can we try tight rope walk, five minutes a day? Can we live with effortless ease one hour a day? Can we keep smile all day? Can we get up from bed at an appointed time without alarm? Can we gulp a spoon of ghee just before eating? Can we close dinner just around the sunset? Can we hold hands together as long as possible? Can we travel in the nature as often? Can we be with hills? Forests? Seas? Rivers? Lakes? Green Landscapes? Can we watch life? Ant? Worm? Butterfly? Bird? Plant? Can we listen? Can we be just quiet? Can we just remain positive? Can we suspend our judgment for an hour a day? Or a day a week? Can we be deep and intense thoughts 30 minutes a week? Can we show devotion to the universe? Or the innermost? or to the usefulness? Can we love? Completely? Can we dissolve? Can we just do things for others, at least half the time? We need to work with more and more people towards the above and doing small acts for others voluntarily and involuntarily.

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