The recent Indian Rural Colloquy brought together India's sharpest minds - from doyens of the development world to industry leaders, government secretaries and activists - all at the front of India's march to progress.
As India pondered its 75 years of hectic democracy and frenetic growth – those at the sharp end of its march towards the next 75 years bustled with ideas at the recent Indian Rural Colloquy (IRC).
“The world was last designed 75 years back in 1942. This design needs revamping as social, political and technological paradigms have changed radically since,” said Sam Pitroda, known as the father of India’s IT revolution.
Pitroda was speaking during the “Design for a Better World” session of the 2022 IRC. The second edition of the think-fest, organised by the Transforming Rural India Foundation, was a hybrid of 13 online and in-person sessions spread across the first week of August.
“The colloquy draws inspiration from and commemorates history’s largest mass movement – India’s ‘August Revolution’,” said TRIF’s co-leader Anish Kumar.
It brought together 56 thought leaders, innovators and decision-makers, including CEOS, ministry secretaries and leading activists “to be inspiring, nudging and initiating action to transform rural India,” Kumar added.
The colloquy highlighted the need for samaj-sarkar-bazaar (people, government, market) to come together in a better way to really make transformative action.
The last decade or two have been especially tumultuous for India’s civil society organisations (CSO). Some see them as solution creators, while others see CSOs as thwarting India’s growth. This has led to a loss in credibility, contribution and impact.
Though it was pointed out that 18 million women meet weekly through the National Rural Livelihood mission (NRLM) platform, bringing hope in community institutions at the rural level.
Rural India makes up 70% of the country.
Civil society should start thinking of climate impact rather than climate change
Santosh Kumar Singh, Managing Director of Intellecap
Recognising how vulnerable it is, given the changing climate trends, there was a sense of urgency to develop climate-adaptive livelihood solutions for rural communities.
“Civil society should start thinking of climate impact rather than climate change,” said Santosh Kumar Singh, Managing Director of Intellecap.
Singh used the colloquy to announce the launch of a national platform that will help one million smallholder farmers leverage carbon finance for sustainable agriculture and agroforestry. The unique project, which is a joint initiative with TRIF, will enable income generation and climate-resilient development by using carbon credits through high-quality carbon sequestration projects.
Data has been considered the “new oil” for well over a decade in many spheres of industry, government and the media. But the development world is also keen to harness this resource to apply hard facts to problems and solutions.
Deliberating the role of data sciences in improving public system delivery, several discussion panels emphasised the importance of data analytics.
The creation of the new Development Intelligence Unit (DIU), which is an arm of Village Square, was also announced at the colloquy. DIU is also creating a Data Fellowship to incentivise young researchers to solve complex problems through data.
The share of agriculture in sectors providing employment in rural areas is rising and that’s not a good thing – there should be more diversity
NN Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development
While several sessions echoed the need for reducing the economic dependency on agriculture, there was also a thought-provoking call for creating infrastructure and opportunities in rural India to inspire reverse migration.
“The share of agriculture in sectors providing employment in rural areas is rising and that’s not a good thing – there should be more diversity,” said NN Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development.
Many panellists highlighted the need for creating an enabling ecosystem for sustaining farmer producer organisations (FPO) like those for large enterprises, such as the Indian Tobacco Company and Hindustan Unilever Ltd.
While the 10,000 FPOs in India help promote farmers, there is still a need for active interventions from the market to help agriculture meet both livelihood and nutritional needs.
While the 10,000 FPOs in India help promote farmers, there is still a need for active interventions from the market to help agriculture meet both livelihood and nutritional needs.
“One of the primary things that agriculture must do for nutrition is enable people to live healthy lives. I look at agriculture to solve the problem of our diets,” said Purnima Menon, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute.
During the session on nutrition security, DIU presented findings from India’s first ever large-scale food-plate mapping survey across different zones in the country.
It found that dietary diversity was not merely related to income growth but a factor of behaviour and food availability. Diet diversity was among the lowest in the western states that are seemingly the economically well-placed geographies.
There was a clear emphasis on how entrepreneurship is one way forward in untapping the potential of India’s rural youth.
In the “Ignorance is No Bliss” session Karuna Bhatia, Head of Sustainability, Standard Chartered Bank, announced the bank’s plan to set up entrepreneurial training sessions to help harness the innovative energy and unique insights of India’s rural youth.
Our innovation efforts should not distract from the basics. There’s no substitute for strengthening the public health and education systems
Anurag Behar, the CEO of Azim Premji Foundation.
“Entrepreneurship isn’t difficult if you’re given the right skills. We want to pilot that and scale it up if it’s successful,” said Karuna Bhatia.
But the CEO of Azim Premji Foundation, Anurag Behar, warned that while innovation was great, programmes must never lose sight of fundamental needs.
“Our innovation efforts should not distract from the basics. There’s no substitute for strengthening the public health and education systems,” he said.
In an effort to help India not ignore 70% of its population, there was also a lot of discussion about the need for urban India to see rural India through a different lens.
“’Everyday India’ that is witnessed by NGOs is not documented. We would love to work together to go back to our basics,” said Neelesh Mishra, co-founder of the rural news outlet, Gaon Connection.
There was an overwhelming feeling that now was the time for defining the paradigms.
“There is a need to look at new designs focused on inclusion, basic human needs, a new economy, conservation and sustainability, and ultimately non-violence,” Pitrodra said.
The lead image at the top shows a woman farmer, farming being one of the points of discussion to take rural India forward in the next 75 years at the India Rural Colloquy (photo by Village Square)
