NRI love blooms into commitment

Action India, launched by three prominent US-based non-resident Indians, promises to blossom into the most ambitious non-governmental endeavour by overseas Indians to accelerate social and economic growth in the new millennium.

"They came across as Indians full of hope, confidence and commitment and their idea of global networking to benefit non-governmental organisations in this country," Hasmukh Patel, one of the backers of the initiative, said of the delegates who flocked to a two-day conference here on December 18 and 19 to mark the launch. Mr Patel runs a voluntary organisation helping the poor in farming and education in the arid Banaskantha district of Gujarat.

Sam Pitroda, telecom expert and chairman of WorldTel, agreed. "We are totally committed to pursuing the project. But, mind you, we do not have any tricks to bring about miracles overnight," he said at the end of the two-day meet that marked the initiative’s launch.

The idea behind Action India is to create a virtual community across the globe that could pool its intellectual, material and financial resources for meaningful development of India. Mr Pitroda said, "Many NRIs like me who are past 50 years of age and have done well in the West, especially in the US, are keen to devote time and energy. Action India provides a common platform for harnessing these and linking them up with voluntary efforts going on in India."

Many NGOs here saw the effort as a welcome idea that would bridge the information gap between the developed world and Indian voluntary agencies working among disadvantaged communities. NRIs such as Mr Pitroda, Mr Prakash Desai and Mr Shiban Ganju struck many a delegate at the conference as "deeply emotionally involved with India." They insisted on organising a gathering at the hallowed Sabarmati Harijan Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi. It was not just as a token gesture but an act that sprang from a deep-seated belief that the man whom Winston Churchill, former British Prime Minister, once called the "half-clad fakir" was as relevant to India of the next millennium as he was during the country’s freedom struggle.

Those behind Action India repeatedly emphasised that their basic values in undertaking the initiative were similar to those of Gandhi. "Without developing rural India, without solving its mammoth problems of illiteracy, water supply, health and human development, India would not grow into a giant power in the next millennium," they said. Mr Ganju said Gandhi would not have opposed technology per se. All that Gandhi was against was technology aimed at perpetrating exploitation of the masses, he added.

Mr Pitroda said new tools of technology, such as the Internet, could bring immense benefits to India in the field of human development. "It would be possible to link up remote communities and NGOs with the treasure-troves of data and information across the world in a jiffy through it," he said.

Many delegates, like A.K. Shivakumar and Sam Pitroda, stressed the importance of removing illiteracy.

Women delegates including Ela Bhatt of the Sewa and activist-actress Shabana Azmi, a member of the Rajya Sabha, emphasised the need to focus on solving development issues facing women so they could take their rightful place in society.

Prof. Y.K. Alagh, former minister and now a member of the Rajya Sabha, who is a development economist, said water would become a key issue in many parts of India in the coming years. He said a massive programme was needed to ward off conflicts over water. If this was not done, the country would face an acute crisis in the first decade of the 21st century itself, he warned.

The two-day meeting charted a broad 10-point agenda for Action India to hasten development in the next century. The NRIs will also raise money to upgrade Sabarmati Ashram.

Most delegates felt Gandhi’s relevance to the new millennium should be asserted boldly and imaginatively. The younger generation needed to be told about Gandhian values, they felt.

The initiative will bring in experts in areas like housing, water, health, employment and other sectors. Doctors visiting India will go to select primary health centres to help upgrade them. The initiative will also try to build a virtual bazaar for small-scale industries and artisans.

Republished from Asian Age