The Indian School of Development Management celebrated the third edition of Development Management Week between January 28 and February 1, 2021.

The annual flagship event, that begins after celebrations of ISDM’s birth on February 27 and culminates in Development Management Day on February 1 every year, was instituted by ISDM as part of its endeavour to create a vibrant ecosystem for Development Management. The event is meant to provide creative spaces for various stakeholders to come together to discuss, debate and ideate on this idea and develop a common vocabulary on development management and creating social impact at scale.

The theme for this year’s Development Management Week was Re-imagining the new normal with Development Management. There couldn’t have been a time better than this year to consolidate ISDM’s efforts to build the domain of Development Management to enable the development ecosystem to deal with and respond to the post-pandemic scenario.

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted life and various elements of the world we live in. The world, during and post-pandemic, will see and experience a plethora of things that will change and redefine ‘normal’ for almost all of us.

Re-imagining the new normal will require focussed attention on a multitude of issues. It requires thought towards understanding how the collective forces of Samaj, Sarkar and Bazaar (Market, Society and Governance) can create a new imagination and include the underlying principles of sustainable development goals. Social-economic-political structures that build on principles of equity rather than accumulation; co-creation rather than competition or at best partnerships; compassion rather than indifference. The clarion call from this present episteme is to shift the narrative of human centeredness to regenerative ecological integrity that allows for humans and the planet to thrive.

The Development Management week 2021 allowed us space to explore the contours of these shared visions and pathways as we embark on the journey to define how the practice of Development Management will unfold in the post-COVID world.

The week commenced with the virtual version of the flagship speakers’ event titled, Dialogues on Development Management, envisioned as a series of conversations with eminent practitioners, academicians, innovators, Corporate Social Responsibility executives, on topics relevant to Development Management.

This year, our galaxy of guest speakers included Ms Geeta Goel, Country Director, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, actor, filmmaker and social advocate Ms Nandita Das, Professor Pradeep Chintagunta, Academic, Faculty Member, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago and Mr Shridhar Venkat, CEO Akshaya Patra Foundation. The event culminated in celebrating Development Management Day on February 1, 2021.

On Development Management Day, the Keynote Address (Link) was delivered by Shri Amarjeet Sinha, (IAS retd) and Advisor to the Prime Minister’s Office. Shri Sinha emphasised on the need for developing social capital and highlighted the role played by women’s self-help groups in tackling the impact of COVID 19 in remote and rural pockets of the country. Watch the video here.

The institution also released a report Emerging Challenges in the post-COVID Contextin collaboration with IIMPACT that works for the education of girls in socially marginalised and disempowered communities.

by JahnviAndharia | Published: 10 March, 2021

The COVID 19 outbreak last year became a major disruption for colleges and universities across the country. From the sudden closure of classes during the early months of the year on account of the lockdown imposed by the central government in its initial response to the pandemic, to the gradual movement to Zoom and online classes, the past academic year has posed many challenges. These include overcoming hurdles of remote learning and pioneering pedagogic practices to ensure continued learning for its students as well as ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing[1] of its students, faculty and staff off-campus as well as on-campus.

ISDM’s former Programme Director, Post Graduate Programme-Development Management, JahnviAndharia’s blog recounts the institution’s journey in overcoming challenges of remote learning and pioneering pedagogic practices to ensure continued learning for its students.

In September 2020, nearly six months after the complete closure of schools and colleges in response to the COVID 19 outbreak, the central government relaxed several restrictions in the fourth phase of opening the economy and other services during the COVID 19 lockdown. Higher education institutions and office workspaces were expected to set up their own norms, in line with the central government’s guidelines if they wanted to restart their operations.

The present batch of the Post Graduate Programme (Development Management) at ISDM consists of an enthusiastic bunch of youngsters who chose to continue with the programme knowing that it would run online until the time government regulations allowed campuses to become operational for students. By the end of September, some of the students were keen to come to campus and attend classes while others wanted to have clarity on the risks involved before they travelled thousands of kilometres to the campus in NOIDA.

This came as good news for ISDM. It was an opportunity for some of us to have our first in-person interactions with students. However, for a curriculum that thrives on relationship-based education, ISDM educators needed to enable spaces that permitted students to engage with the rigour and commitment that the pedagogy demands.

Reimagining a pedagogic model for Hybrid classes

Hybrid classes are a combination of in-person as well as online classes. While the senior leadership and operations team at ISDM decided to have the campus “COVID- ready” by the end of October and began working towards establishing safety protocols in keeping with the rules and norms laid out by government authorities, the most critical area was to cater to the reality that some students would choose to come to campus while some would remain ‘online.’ This meant that we had to plan for a HYBRID teaching arrangement. For educators at ISDM, this not only meant a shift in the logistics of how teaching and learning processes will take place but also re-imagine pedagogical practices for learning through hybrid models.

• Creating a simulated-learning environment

The first step in this direction was to employ technological tools to enable group-related activities.

The PGP DM programme at ISDM is the only one that involves Bricoleurs who bring together the learning experience of students, ensuring a process that encourages synthesis and making meaning from all that is imparted and absorbed. ‘Bricoleur’ comes from the French word ‘Bricolage’ which means to create something from a diverse range of things and at ISDM, Bricoleurs help interpret, integrate and co-learn the intertextuality of the theories and their applications to development.

In addition, faculty members were encouraged to experiment with these new tools as well as methods of learning through technology. These included enabling discussions with faculty members and guest leacturers on-line as well as on-campus, carrying out group assignments using online discussion rooms and breakout sessions and the extensive use of case studies.

• Enabling a vibrant student community

Students were encouraged to develop peer groups and participate in extracurricular activities organised by the Students’ Affairs Community. These involved organising online creative forums known asBaithaksinvolving students, faculty and staff members to enable active engagement on current issues such as the ongoing farmer protests and linking them to the curriculum in Development Management.

• Conducting HOT (Honest Open Two-way) conversations

HOT conversation is a democratic forum at ISDM which has long set the culture of ISDM and the learning environment wherein the whole ISDM community comes together to discuss issues of governance, pedagogy, learning environment and culture. The HOT conversations were made online wherein the student body or any member of the ISDM team could call for an organisational meeting to discuss burning issues. Proactive involvement of ISDM leadership in discussing some of the core issues related to pandemic in these hot conversations like student engagement, campus affairs, learning experience, and overall format of the hybrid learning model.

• Enabling Feedback Loops

Anonymous feedback loops were established by ISDM to record feedback on the curriculum, pedagogy and learning methods for students, faculty as well as the staff to continue improving the new system.

The simulated learning environment through online platforms for theIntervention Designterm, a critical segment that serves as a unique and enriching opportunity to test and hone their knowledge and skills in a real context over a few weeks. Student groups are allotted a specific district in the country and the exercise involves them understanding the district, identifying a critical problem, and applying systems thinking to simulate intervention design. Interactions with organisational leaders and practitioners from the districts of study of the students were carried out through a combination of phone and online tools offered by Google and Zoom.

While the pedagogic shifts set the tone for the HYBRID model of education at ISDM, ISDM leadership actively engaged in enabling a smooth transition to a COVID safe campus for all students and ISDM team members who preferred being on campus during this time.

How to design a COVID-19 Free Campus

This began with putting a lot of thought into arranging the seating, managing common spaces and utilities to ensure the maintenance of adequate physical distancing. All necessary measures such as regular sanitisation of workspaces, placement of hand sanitizers at several points in the campus, and temperature checks at entry points and random checks during the day, were planned in keeping with the rules and norms laid out by the state government. In keeping with the norms, students were given the option to come to campus or continue the online classes. Those who came in signed a declaration in keeping with guidelines laid down by the state health authorities.

Majlis, the ISDM classroom on the 6th floor which held 78 students in the previous year, could easily hold benches and chairs for 37 students. The modular furniture was just perfect to ensure that each student's seating could be arranged at a safe distance. Two high- quality ceiling cameras helped to ensure that the entire classroom could be covered both from the front end as well as the rear end. The teams worked towards synchronising three critical elements - the sound system, the cameras, and the projector and went through two rounds of test runs to ensure that everything worked well.

While only eight out of the 37 students decided to come to campus at the beginning of term 3, the academic team set up a roster to come to campus on different days, while two of the Programme Associates came daily.

Notwithstanding the technical challenges that came up initially, the direct connection with students physically present in class was energising for both the academic team as well as for the students themselves. The chatter during breaks, small group conversations in the ‘physical classroom’ that continued after the zoom class ended were fun. A coffee tea vending machine was installed so that students wouldn't have to go out and expose themselves during break time and the library was set up with a special chamber to sanitise all the returned books or books used by students for reference reading.

The academic team also set up a COVID response committee with students as its members to work out what would be required to help all those who came on campus to practice all the regulations and protocols. Posters with the right messages for the lifts, common spaces were designed and put up.

ISDM also drafted a set ofguidelinesandprotocolsto be followed by staff, faculty and students present on campus.

This was followed by extensive engagement and development of standardised protocols on virtual learning and teaching, for students and faculty respectively.

Way forward:

We all know that we have to brace ourselves for a long haul as we navigate through the pandemic. The past year has laid the groundwork for what seems to be the norm for some part of 2021 and is likely to continue in some form in the post-COVID future. However, as an organisation ISDM seeks to build possibilities for a better world through development management and leadership. Reopening the campus is a step in that direction where students and staff together support one another to create a safe, health space that creates a supportive resilient community of practitioners.

[1]ISDM is a member of the Higher Education Initiative (HEI) of the 'The Wellbeing Project'and is involved in contributing towards building institutional and pedagogical prototypes of how higher education initiatives can cultivate a culture that is more human-centered and grounded in foundational values of equity and compassion. The learning pedagogy at ISDM seeks to unlock the extraordinary potential of collaborative learning and innovation to address the complex challenges that the Indian social sector is engaging with. Read more here:https://www.isdm.org.in/wellbeing-heis.

This piece talks about the need of the development sector institutions in today’s world and how my journey till now,as a student in this sector,has made me realise that there are many people like me but are unaware of such opportunities.

I am an engineer by accident who always used to observe the inequalities happening around, be it in college life or two years of corporate experience. There always used to be a sense of helplessness within me of not being able to work with the people for overall empowerment. The limited education options after HSC examinations and economic burden of education loan from the engineering led to a life which made no sense to me. My hands were in shackles owing to it. This was one of the reasons which made me complete my engineering and work for two years with hardly in purpose in life.

After two years of corporate life, it was a discerning moment for me where I wanted to live a life which aligns with my values and purpose. It was very clear for me, I have observed tonnes of problems happening around me. If I am able to gain educational expertise in the social sector and channelise my inner potential in addressing at least one of such challengesin a professional way then I’ll be taking one step towards my purpose.

And that’s when an institution like the Indian School of Development Management (ISDM) happened to me. That leap of faith of quitting the job and joining this one-year programme has transformed my life so far. I was fortunate enough tocome to know about such a course from one of my friends. ISDM made this decision simpler by enabling the scholarship and also the employment opportunities college provides after the programme. To be fair, I couldn’t have taken this step if there were no placement opportunities after the programme, as I have to be responsible for my family and self.

My family and friends back home are totally clueless aboutthe existence of such development institutions. I am assertive that there are so many active youth citizenswith concerns about various social issues that are happening in the country and wish to be a part of social change. But our traditional education system has never allowed them to come out of the monotonous purposeless monetary lifecycle. Provided a platform like ISDM where I am able to take a step towards my purpose with a sense of security of my future, our country would see many social change makers in the coming years.

Let me just highlight the safe-space created by the ISDM. The co-founders and the whole team of ISDM consider students as an integral part of the institute. ISDM has created a space where there is no fear of judgement, everyone respects the lived experiences from where the students have come from, and most importantly it constantly reminds me to what values I stand for, helping me to reflect it in daily life. ISDM follows the principle of zero-hierarchy. One example that I can give is of the staff spaces. There are no permanent rooms allocated for staff. If any student wishes to sit in any room and do her/ his own work, has the total liberty to do so and the faculty or the staff may have to sit in any other room. Most of the activities carried out are in groups comprising of diverse backgrounds with respect to age, work experience, gender, education. This has helped me to understand from the dissonance arising out of the multiple perspectives and act from the cognitive coherence by respecting and taking inputs from each perspective.

Adding on, addressing the current scenario, government - the largest social purpose organisation is doing its part to tackle the various challenges the country is facing but that’s not enough. Students graduating out of development institutions can become big change-maker and a catalyst in the development sector, working at a parallel level or with the government. Today, there is a dearth of such development leaders. CSR and social purpose organisations tend to hire people who do not have formal education from the development sector. These organisations need meta-skills which involves advocacy-enquiry, engaging with the community, reasoning and other characteristics along with the technical expertise. Development sector institutions help us in building the necessary meta-skills. Without the meta-skills, one can be a development manager but not the leader.

To conclude, becoming a civil servant is not the only criteria to serve the country. There are several social issues which need to be addressed and the government can’t alone solve these situations. Youth who cares and dream of a just and equitable society can be a part of this change. There are opportunities available and need to be brought in the mainstream at the earliest.

About the Author

Sujith Ail, currently pursuing PGP in Development Leadership at Indian School of Development Management

Sujith worked in a media publishing house for two years and joined ISDM to channelize his intention of working with the communities for overall inclusiveness and equal rights. He was involved in various social activities in school and college where he was an active member of NSS.

Apply for ISDM`s One Year PG Programme in development Leadership.

Understanding the most prevalent CSR models today

The rapid growth of the nonprofit sector that we’re seeing is a new phenomenon. In the 1980s, or even the early 1990s, if you wanted to work with disadvantaged communities, finding suitable grassroots-based nonprofit organisations was a challenge.

And so Indian companies that were so inclined had to set up their own implementing foundations or trusts. This was the route that the Tatas, Godrejs and many others took. Only in the past 25-30 years has this picture started changing.

I used to work with ActionAid, which was set up in the 1970s. It was only after a decade of operating as an implementing organisation that we could evolve into a grant-making institution. Before then, there just weren’t enough nonprofits to support.

For companies setting up CSR units today to comply with The Companies Act, 2013, giving grants is the preferred and often most feasible choice. Especially given their small team size, limited expertise in implementing their own programmes and the large number of potential nonprofit partners.

The CSR models we see today are, therefore, either wholly self-implementing (especially true for companies that have been doing this for decades) or focused entirely on giving grants (more true for companies new to CSR), and in some cases a mix of both.

What nonprofits need to know about the CSR approach of companies

Companies are trying to get it right

The Companies Act 2013 was a watershed moment in that it created urgency within companies to contribute to CSR. In the beginning, a few companies that hadn’t been giving but were mandated to do so under the Act sought creative ways to “game” the system. But that did not last.

Corporates have realised that since they must do this, it makes most sense to do it well. This thinking has been growing; it may still take some years for CSR to fully adapt, but companies are approaching it in the right spirit.

The question of geography

Different kinds of companies approach CSR differently.

Manufacturing companies want to serve the communities around their factories. They recognise that manufacturing is inherently disruptive and so they must limit its negative impact as much as possible while improving conditions in neighbouring villages. Hence, most seek nonprofit partners working with communities around their plants.

Service-oriented companies, by contrast, can be more geographically flexible. That said, they might prefer to support nonprofits running programmes near their offices so that their employees can get involved.

Manufacturing companies want to serve the communities around their factories; service-oriented companies can be more geographically flexible.

Nonprofits that understand this well can strategise how they develop partnerships with different kinds of companies for greater success.

Most companies are interested in specific and quantifiable outputs, because that is the world they understand

Corporates tend to bring their skills such as project management, technical or specialist skills, and output orientation to their CSR work.

They are most interested in tracking the measurable change that an intervention creates because that’s the world they occupy every day. They derive comfort from seeing thought-through business plans, budgets and audit trails.

At the Tata group, our companies are expectedly output-oriented and we are trying to get many to emphasise long-term outcomes. Some already do this; others are learning how to–it takes time.

The insight for nonprofits, therefore, is to develop proposals that are clear on outputs and processes, demonstrate a well thought-through strategy and are jargon-free.

How non-profits define core development issues can be very different from how companies do it

What nonprofits define as core development issues, such as social justice and rights-based approaches, will not be embraced easily by companies, not because they lack importance but because measuring outputs, efficiency and the metrics that companies understand is difficult.

Even as CSR evolves, this discomfort with topics that are nebulous, political, and perhaps even controversial, will persist.

Also worth noting is that companies increasingly view CSR as a strategic rather than purely philanthropic activity. This means that companies will want to align their CSR activities with their business because that brings in their expertise and also enables volunteering.

Nonprofits must not judge this as long as the benefits to communities are clear and unambiguous, which is the real purpose of CSR!

Companies’ CSR policies are now publicly available

One of the many positives of the CSR clause of the Companies Act is the requirement that companies post their CSR policies–defining, amongst other things, the sectors and geographies that they cover–in the public domain. This makes it easy for nonprofits to know what a company’s CSR priorities are and ensure that their proposals are suitably aligned.
How corporate giving will change over the next five years

Post-2013, India is already seeing a growing migration of professionals from traditional development to CSR. As this increases, companies will become more knowledgeable about social issues, what it takes to tackle them and the challenges that nonprofits face. Over time this changing profile of CSR professionals will facilitate greater congruence between the corporate and nonprofit worlds.

Decision-making around whom to fund will gradually improve. Because companies tend to be hierarchical, the people making decisions around whom and what to support under their CSR aren’t always the ones most knowledgeable on the subject.

Because the law demands a CSR Committee of the board, decision-making is now a board agenda, spread across a number of people. While this may slow decision-making, it is worthwhile because now the leadership is more closely involved and decisions tend to be more deliberate and thought-through.
Companies will move away from traditional hands-off cheque-writing.

As knowledge and decisions improve, so will the grant-making model. Companies will move away from traditional, hands-off cheque-writing. Instead they will work together with the nonprofit to identify the problem they want to solve.

While they will increasingly defer to the nonprofit’s expertise, they will bring to bear their own and will seek partnerships that create opportunities for their employees’ participation.

At the Tata group, we understood this a while back and put in place a volunteering programme called Tata Engage that enables employees, their families and even retired staff to volunteer their time and expertise.

The CSR checklist for companies

• Define your outcomes and stick with them over time. Change takes much longer than the 1-2 year timeline companies expect because, often, development interventions are about changing traditional practices and mindsets and making them future-proof. Determine these outcomes the same way as you approach business: Understand customer needs and find solutions that meet those needs.

• Be adaptable. Community interventions involve people and cannot be deterministic. There needs to be room for flexibility for the nonprofit too.

• Invest in the nonprofit-corporate partnership as it is inherently complementary. Nonprofits know what companies don’t and vice-versa because, at the end of the day, CSR is simply social and human development undertaken by companies!

As told to Rachita Vora and Devanshi Vaid of IDR.

Disclaimer: One of our co-founders is a consultant with the Tata group.

Shruthi Published: 16 November, 2023

Encountering Awe-Inspiring Women

Passing through the lush greenery, we have reached the skill training centre in Chittaura block in Bahraich district (U.P.). After attending the orientation program conducted by NRLM, my friend and I went to a nearby village for fieldwork. Tajkhudai village has a significant and equal population of both Hindus and Muslims living in their respective mohallas near to each other. As the road was blocked due to the Eid procession, we had to take a detour – which meant passing through the heart of the Muslim based community. The news flashed in my mind which I heard three days back: a communal riot had happened in another village, Khaira bazaar when Hindus had Chatt pooja ceremonies. Our driver was driving so carefully through the roads, being mindful of the domestic goats seated in the middle of the path. Even a slight disturbance and we could be in trouble. I could feel the communal tension as we were driving through the narrow lanes.

We reached the house where all the women were supposed to gather and have a meeting. The meeting went on for three hours and the work done by ICRP women was outstanding. The women who have risen from ashes were standing there and raising their voices against oppression and patriarchy, which was awe-inspiring. They were tremendously courageous in bringing women from the village together and empowering them. There were a couple of women who were pulled out of the meeting by their family members. All the while, the Eid procession with huge celebrations was going on intermittently.

The women who have risen from ashes were standing there and raising their voices against oppression and patriarchy.

After the skill training got completed, I was saying my goodbyes to all of them. A woman came out of the crowd. I said namaste, and as she was approaching me, she was trying to touch my hands but was reluctant. So, I slowly moved towards her. She softly said, "Aap madam bade sheher se ho. Mein gobar ka kaamkarti hu toh mein aapko choo nahi sakti… ( You madam have come from a big city. I work with cow-dung, so I cannot touch you…)."

And she backed away. I stood there frozen.

The people I was working with were calling out my name asking me to get into the jeep. I had to turn towards the vehicle, and when I looked back hoping to see her, she was not there.

"How am I any different from her?", My conscience said.

"Is it just sheer luck that I am born with all the prerogatives, and she is not. How can one's life get decided based on luck? How unfair is that? And I quibble sitting here in the mid of all my privilege that life is unfair." Tears rolled down my cheeks.

The helplessness I have seen in her eyes still haunts me. I wish I could hug her. I wish I could tell her that we both are no different.

Understanding The Real Joy Of Being Together

Exhausted by my travel, I entered a house where I was supposed to stay. It had two tiny dimly- lit rooms. There were 10 people living under one roof. I felt apprehensive. In the back of my mind, I decided that I am gonna book a hotel room and leave by the night.

Sunita Yadav, whom we were working with in Bahraich is a woman of zeal, dedicates herself entirely for her social work on various issues along with having her own NGO. She has an inspiring life story of courage and determination. She has adopted five kids and has two kids of her own.

The whole bunch of kids in the house ran to me as I entered the room, randomly wishing me for my birthday with super glee on their faces. I felt so happy. I thought I would stay for the night and would leave the next morning.

The youngest kid of the lot, Ruhi, 21 months old is showered with enormous love and pampered by everyone. Her mother Renu, 25, lives in the home as well. One of the children Munni, pursuing her graduation wants to become an IAS officer and another kid Mouni, studying in 6th class wants to become a doctor. Their dreams are as big as their hearts.

 

I felt content with a wide smile on my face I felt home.

It was lunchtime, and the movie 'Mohabbatein' was airing on TV. As Renu was feeding me morsels of food, we made every satirical joke possible whenever a romantic scene came up. Then, we all slept together in a line watching a horror show. Munni used to take care of my food timings and oil my hair saying, "You don't take care of yourself at all didi. Let me do it." The care and affection among these kids for each other is heartwarming.They as a family stand by each other, make sacrifices for each other despite all the adversities they have.

As I lean back on the wall and watch this family sharing pure laughter and happiness, it made me realise what Love is and how Inseparable it is. It took just a split second to capture the frame of this scene which has etched in my heart as a beautiful painting. I felt content with a wide smile on my face. It was a perfect ending for my birthday. I felt home.

Next three days were the most unforgettable days of my life. Every day we had meals together watching every possible saas-bahu serial and make fun of it. We watched a bunch of flop movies together; we played games together. Every night we slept together, and I hadn't had such peaceful sleep in a very long time. There was a small pooja room where we used to light a diya in the evening.

The other day after completion of my work, Renu and I went out. After a long walk, we got into an open rickshaw, and as we were passing by a stall, Renu blurted, "Wait up here, I would bring Makai ke lava for you to eat, you will like it." I did not know what it is so I said not to bring. The rickshaw driver voiced, "Madam, zindagi bas ek hi baar milti hain.. kha lijiye." (Madam, we live only once, have it.)

Though it was a pretty cheesy line, it brought a smile on my face, and I told her to bring it. And indeed, they were really delicious.

The happiness on the kids' faces when I got home bringing gifts for them was priceless; three days were over just like that. Living with these lovely people became a memorable experience of my lifetime. As I was leaving home thanking everyone, Munni hugged me and softly said, "Di, stop saying thank you so often. You are a part of our family now."

These kids taught me: Happiness is in unconditional love. Joy is in being together. I feel rich leaving their home with all their sheer unconditional love. I feel richer being a part of their family. It was an absolute joy watching them and most importantly, living with them.

 

Living with these lovely people became a memorable experience of my lifetime.

So here it is, I take pride in saying this is my clan, my beautiful clan!

About the Author:

Shruthi is a student of 2nd batch of PGP in Development Leadership at ISDM

Source: https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2019/01/bahraich-ke-kisse-my-stories/

Published: 24 January, 2024

I chose to drop science post 10th grade and study commerce.At 17, I went to Delhi University for graduation. I chose to finance my own education.  I chose to study literature. I chose to work in an NGO. After working for 6 years, I chose to quit my job and study a program that was absolutely new in the sector. At an age when most girls get married, I chose not to. What underlies all of this and much more is the power of choice. However, having the privilege of making choices and pursuing what one wants to do is the privilege of just 1% youth in our country. This reality has been enough for me to have a burning desire to impact a social change.

I spent 12 days in Jaunpur district in East Uttar Pradesh for a rural district immersion program called ‘Realising India’. No amount of words can do justice to all that I experienced during this journey.

As much as it was about inspiration- from people and places, it also brought out indifference, discrimination (caste, class, and gender),and lack of care for fellow humans. Children are deprived of their right to education. People are surviving through unbelievably difficult living conditions, uncertainty, powerstructures, lack of voice and expression, ignorance and so much more. In the same community, there are people working endlessly to make their ends meet just so that their children can go to school. At the same place there are people who don’t send their children to school just because they thinkit’s not important. The so called higher caste community does not talk to the so called lower caste community, forget supporting and empowering them.

Interactions with people from different age, caste, socio-economic backgrounds made me re-realize my privileges and how I just take things for granted. During a conversation with a primary school principal I asked how soonthe authorities would respond if there was a problem in school? What if there was a short circuit?(I took this example as I had experienced this in the school I taught). She said the school has existed for past 4 years but there is no electricity in the school. I had nothing more to say.

I didn’t have to go to a community school where I would be made to learn books about my religion and follow it without a choice, even being, at times, oblivious to what it meant.I wasn’t indoctrinated into a blind belief system (even though there were definitely some staunch beliefs that I grew up through)andtoday I have the courage, education and support to choose what I want to believe in. Vandana doesn’t have this. My parents did make a lot of sacrifices so that I could get the best of education, because they understood the importance of education. That was my privilege.Shashidoesn’t have this privilege. He dropped out of school towork in the fields. These are just few examples of many other stories that would go unheard, unnoticed forever.

Just by the virtue of birth I have a life which is unimaginably different from children who deserve as much as I do.

At the end of the day, all I think about is my privilege and power of choice that brought me where I am today.

Should I feel happy that I am here or feel sad that I belong to less than 1% of India’s population who have all the basics in place which others don’t have?

I shudder to even think that:

I could be that girl who couldn’t study as much as she wanted.

I could be that girl who didn’t have basic sanitation facilities.

I could be one of those children studying in the school with no electricity.

I could be the one dropping out of school to work in the fields.

Because I am not, I believe that I owe my service to the betterment of these lives.