Lets pay tribute to Gandhiji by bringing in a constructive social change

I have been sharing stories of individuals who are making difference silently.  Recently when I shared a story of a shopkeeper, Rajesh Sharma running a school under a flyover for poor children for last 13 years without any external help, there was tremendous response among my followers on Facebook.  It appeared to me that no matter how crowded the life of people with trivia is,  there is still a space for empathetic silent change agents.  Can this space be widened and harnessed for much more vibrant, agile and empathetic support? 

It will have to be done by civil society through its own efforts.  Among the 500 people who shared this story, there must be at least 50 who might like to support teachers like him, materially or through open source content, or by  mentoring these children.  One of the pitfalls of social media is that it creates a new currency of likes and shares  in which without engaging with any cause,  we get a feeling that we have served it.  This is obviously not very helpful.  It reinforces inertia and dissipates agency. 

I propose that we create a new button of engagement where those willing to engage with that issue can separately communicate and send their contact information to the source of social change or to the one who is sharing it, if he is willing to mobilise support for the change  agents.  I should have the option of switching on or off my engage button on the  page on which I share a social change idea.  Eventually crowd funding can be integrated with such causes provided the person is willing to authenticate and share the entire accounts on the same page.  If he does not do that, that platform should have the authority to inform every contributor as to how much contribution was made through that post.

There may be many other ways in which this purpose can be served without burdening the social media platform.  It is important to balance accountability, responsibility and purposefulness.  In this case, the teacher said in his interview to the reporter of a newspaper that he didn’t regret that nobody came to support him because he could sustain what he was doing.  Two days ago, I came across a video of an innovator, Tukaram Varma from Bokarao scouted by Anupam Dey who has developed an adhesive which makes tyres puncture proof.  His claim would obviously need to be confirmed but at the face value, he will need support even to get it tested.  There are many teachers, shopkeepers, ordinary change agents, students who have practical ideas to make a small difference.  Some of them don’t need anything though the society will get benefitted if their ideas are replicated.

Learning from the mistakes that happened in the implementation of the District Innovation Fund sanctioned by the 13th Finance Commission to every district, we can redesign, decentralize and create transparent mechanism for sanction, release and tracking the progress for every investment. Any social change idea that has merit can be supported through change agent or if someone who wants to emulate it.  If a school teacher wants to visit, learn from an innovation from another district, and wants to implement in his school, he may be given an economical travel grant.  Following the subsidiarity principle, i.e, taking decisions as close to the point of action as possible, we should not require a District Innovation Committee or a Ward Innovation Committee in a municipal area to any higher authority for the purpose.  In a country of India’s size and resources, we can allocate rupees five  crores for every district / municipality to implement a system of this kind comprising established voluntary organisations, individuals, academics, entrepreneurs and chaired by the Collectors or the Municipal Commissioners.  No idea should remain pending for more than a month and every sanction will be uploaded on the DIF portal.  I appeal to the Chairman of 15th Finance Commission to consider this proposal with an open mind and allow a transformative effect in the 150th year of Gandhiji. Gandhiji believed in the constructive social change and can there be a better tribute to his legacy of Antyodaya.

The author is founder of Honey Bee Network & visiting faculty at IIM-A  
anilgb@gmail.com