All India Conference, 2002, Inaugural session address

Honorable Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission Shri K. C. Pant, Member, Planning Commission, Dr. D.N. Tiwari, Mrs. Sumitra Mahajan, Shri Boparai, all political leaders, Shri, Rajeshbhai Tandon, Dignitaries….., Murabbies and friends from National – International communities of the voluntary sector

I would like to thank the Planning Commission for this opportunity, which I have accepted with some difficulty. With so many dreams shattered in my beloved Gujarat, I was not sure if I could put together the pieces and be able to make a practical contribution to this conference. However, hope is all we have, and in that spirit I will share what I have learnt about voluntary effort in the development process.

22 years back, out from college some of us went to one of the most resource poor areas of Gujarat, called Bhal. There we worked to realize a dream not just a project. Ours was a vision and a commitment to initiating processes that could lead to a just society with – gender equity, equal opportunities and a better quality of life for all. We founded an organizational called Utthan – meaning ‘rising’. Many others must have also lived with similar dreams.

Inspired by the late Prof. Ravi Mathai’s experiment in Jawaja on self-reliance through self-education, we worked to build local leadership through a process of partnerships. Such partnerships meant that we had first to understand the issues of women, of poor people, of different communities and castes from their minds. We learnt the scale and the diversity of survival issues under conditions of such enormous deprivation. water scarcity, ill health, lack of opportunity, discrimination and oppression, corruption: in the face of all these and much more: the challenge was to develop workable, sustainable solutions. We learnt the need to start where people are from the bottom and not to hand down solutions form the top. Obviously this meant a paradigm shift – changing existing power relationships, influencing institutional reforms and sharing values of human rights, equity and justice.

Utthan’s role in this partnership was to help bringing people and partners together, form both within and outside the community and to build their capacities, for self-reliance, joint action and good governance.

A key question, which we have asked, ourselves all those 22 years is: Who are ‘we’? vis a vis Government. Then and now Government exists as the largest development agency. We are often wrongly perceived as ‘extension wing of Government or as an implementing agency for achieving the targets set by others, or as contractors, or merely as non-government. The term non-government organization is a negative one, and does not reflect the true nature of volunteerism. Civil society has a positive role in processes of genuine empowerment and change. Out volunteerism, commitment and professional resources must influence the larger society of which we are a part. Our challenge is to demonstrate development as sustainable processes of empowerment and not merely physical targets. Prof. Ravi Mathai described this as the ability of the disadvantaged to take decisions, and to realize their decisions through capacities they did not have yesterday.

The major learning over the last 50 years is that only genuinely people – centered approaches can succeed on any appreciable and sustainable scale. This is the lesson that is coming through form experience in every sector of development in our own country and across the global. The lesson is that people, and particularly the most oppressed and marginalized, must own and manage programs meant for their benefit. Women have therefore to play a key role in changing and altering existing power structure as equal partners and managers. Enlarging this space on behalf of the poor is a key responsibility for Government and civil society working together as equals.

Now let me illustrate what all I have said in terms of organizing the oppressed and process of empowerment (a film shot with 6 slides on the water issue and solution). These are the most marginalized and oppressed communities when they are organized and empowered – the solution is different violent struggle to a peaceful solution.

Like many other organizations, Utthan’s efforts have grown from one area and its issue to many more through helps initiating supporting movements for empowerment. Thousands of rainwater harvesting structures is testimony to local leaderships and a large membership of women and men. Self-reliance village institutions including panchayats now plan, implement and access financial resources. Advocacy and networking has given us linkages at local, national and international level… I could go on.

Yet, Honorable Prime Minister, to me all this is yesterday.

Witnessing what has just happened in Gujarat – I am at a loss about the future. The mahatma’s vision that was our inspiration is challenged. Today, forces are working to defeat the understanding of development and empowerment; we have carried through all these years. Our right as Indians to life, dignity and joint action is threatened, as are those who work for harmony and future. What then is the way we must play our role tomorrow?

I know the community wants to move ahead. In which direction can they go? Like them, I too am at a crossroad. I do not have an answer today. What all I have is hope and I hope today’s deliberation will try to address this issue.