Live_For_The_Nation

One day when I was walking through a marginalized community in Pune, I saw one lady asking his son to wash his hands and mentioning as “kal wo bhaiya kya keh rahe the ki khana khane se pehle haath jaroor dhone hain”. She was referring to what I told during an awareness session to always wash hands before eating. I was not aware how many people will follow those instructions and neither I was worried about it. But glad that it created an impact and changed the perception of few people. In today’s world, numbers are very important. Everything is represented in numbers and data. With the advent of data analytics technique and tools, the love for numbers have increased exponentially. The success of any initiative, idea or thought is determined mainly by the tangible benefits. For e.g., scheme X of the government has directly impacted Y number of people or company’s profit has increased by 10% quarter to quarter. Tangible results are crucial for government agencies as they need to showc...

We all must have heard about government responsibilities of social welfare, policies for BPL communities, upliftment of marginalized communities etc. We also discuss about the responsibilities of bureaucrats, MLAs, MPs, local corporators, and other government units to ensure the wellbeing of people. All these units form the government system, and it is part of their job to plan, implement and maintain schemes of social welfare. In addition to this, in the last few decades, our country has witnessed the growth of non-government organizations and charitable trusts focussing on different social sectors and helping government to implement policies in remote areas. These NGOs also help in spreading awareness and reaching to right beneficiaries. Our country has seen some great success stories by NGOs, and they play a pivotal role in community development. In 2013, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) was introduced in companies act so that corporates can give back to society. This clause ha...

“The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.” ~ Earl Nightingale. During Corona crisis starting from Mar 20 till today, we are witnessing amazing acts of humanity, affection, love where people are helping others. There have been stories where a barber in Madurai used his saving of Rs.5 Lac to provide food to needy people, then there were stories of people using their saving to get buses arranged for migratory workers, celebrities like Sonu Sood showing the world what "hero" means. Stories of Gurudwaras distributing food to the migrant workers, individuals and NGOs distributing food packets, grocery items to the people on streets. There were instances where communities of one religion open their doors and hearts for people of other religion reinstating the fact of Vasudhaiva kutumbakam.  Our country witnessed a very painful situation where people migrated from their work locations to their native pl...

Sridhar while surveying the community for a hygiene program asks Ramesh, a local fruit seller, “kya bolte ho nayi Sarkar ke baare mein” (what is your view on the new government?) Ramesh laughs and answers “sir, hamari kise padi hain” (sir who bother about us). On another day, Iqbal, a daily wager is hardly bothered who is representing his constituency. The only thing that bothers him is to ensure two meals per day for his family.  Ramesh and Iqbal both represents the “ invisible ” section of the society. These people are rarely talked about, hardly discussed on media channels, does not play any role in designing government strategies and are mostly non-taxpayer. They are meant to provide support services to the visible section and ensure smooth running of the civilized society. Some of the people forming this invisible section are maids, sewage cleaner, fruit/vegetable sellers on street, daily wagers like masons, painters, rickshaw pullers, car cleaners, local plumber, co...

As our country fight the deadly Corona Virus, some information which can be helpful for citizens and also Indian nationals living abroad.  NCDC (National Center For Disease Control) Helpline  : 91-11-23978046 (24 x 7 Helpline) Tollfree number: 1075 WhatsApp number: 9013151515 NCDC Portal:  https://ncdc.gov.in/index4.php?lang=1&level=0&linkid=127&lid=432&fbclid=IwAR18AyuuuxPO75fMJgPBChVhdL7SZXAbURLQMAPPc1ZyUBvjKbvVZtye_s0 This helpline can be contacted for any updates related to corona virus even on rumours and myths being circulated on social media. Indian living abroad can also call to get required information. It has lot of links to spread awareness, documents and videos to understand the disease and regulate the spread. Helpline Number Statewise:  https://www.mohfw.gov.in/coronvavirushelplinenumber.pdf ICMR (Indian Council Of Medical Research) Portal:   https://www.icmr.nic.in/   For Covid-19 updates: https:...

Anita devi, a 60-year-old lady working as maid faced the worst situation when her only son died of tuberculosis. He did not receive the required treatment as they were not aware of government’s Ayushman scheme. We hear lot of government schemes but somehow implementation is not as accurate as it should be, and as a result these initiatives does not reach to wider and deserving people. A lot of times government declares a useful scheme but few months later the targeted beneficiaries are still waiting for someone to reach them with the process. How a scheme can be implemented in every home of the rural or urban slum? The government bodies should learn it from DTH (Direct to home) providers. The reason is that on visiting any rural or urban slum in our country, one similarity is the availability of Dish antennas on most of the slum houses. These DTH providers can “reach” every home with a purpose and their implementation is successful most of the times. In communities where there i...

This was a normal day till I met someone on my way back to home. At 7 PM evening, I packed my bag and left for home. It was a long day in office like most of the days in the life of software engineer, but something positive was waiting for me on that day. I ride back to home on my two-wheeler as my home is just 5 km from office. I saw one person asking for lift near the sector 22 market and most of the people were ignoring him. I stopped by and he asked me if I can drop him to Rezang La Square where he was supposed to meet his colleagues. I agreed and we started off the journey. He was a middle-aged policeman working with Gurgaon police since last 20 years. He asked me "why did you stop and give lift to me". At first instance, the question sound weird to me but then I remember number of instances where people take lift and then loot the rider. So, I told him that "you are in police uniform, so I trust you". These words shocked him as he told me that bec...