Action India starts from Gandhi Ashram

There is an urgent need to take up developmental issues through strong voluntary action and enable India to integrate with the global society. This was the focus of a panel discussion on the first day of the two-day conference The Next Millennium organised by Action India at Sabarmati Ashram and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Action India, formed by a group of non-resident Indians, to discuss means to hasten development by eliminating bottlenecks and creating a climate for new order and innovation.

Chief minister Keshubhai Patel, who was the guest of honour on the occasion, expressed his pleasure that the state was selected for launching the Action India Movement. He said the link was ripe to give the nation a new slogan of "cooperation" to speed up development just as Mahatma Gandhi gave "non-cooperation" slogan secure freedom for the country.

The panel discussion stressed on bringing champions from different areas to the fore, making information people’s right, changing mindset of children, privatisation of primary health and education, improving the legal system, revamping the faulty education system and bringing women into the panchayati raj system.

Lack of transparency, lack of political will, uncontrolled government expenditure, faulty education system, inadequate provision of basic amenities like water, sanitation, electricity and telecommunication, inequalities and lack of positive attitude among the people in general were the bottlenecks restraining India’s growth, the panel concluded.

Mr Rajat Gupta of Mckinsey International said the country should develop a strategy for developing information technology as it will play a critical role as the world makes a transition from manufacturing to service sector. He said the service sector is on the threshold of generating more employment opportunities than manufacturing industry. Ms Ela Bhatt of Sewa stressed on the need for a larger role for women in voluntary sector and local self-governments. Economists A.K. Shivakumar and Prof. Yogendra Alagh, Poonam Mutreja of Mcarthur Foundation, psychologist Ashis Nandy, Mr Shiban Ganju and Mr Sam Pitroda participated in the discussion.

Republished from Asian Age