Social Sec Needs to Find Common Ground with Govt: Rohini Nilekani

The/Nudge Foundation hosted '#charcha2020' - a platform to bring together thinkers, researchers, practitioners, enablers, policymakers, communicators, philanthropists and community leaders to address the toughest challenges of our post-COVID world.

From 14 to 16 May, 2020, '#charcha2020' organised a total of nine plenary sessions, along with 16 parallel events to cover a broad range of topics in the development sector.

Closing plenary on Saturday was a discussion on Beyond 'charcha 2020': India's priorities. The Quint's Editorial Director, Mr Sanjay Pugalia was in conversation with Rohini Nilekani, Founder and Chairperson of Arghyam and Ashish Dhawan, Founder and Chairman, Central Square Foundation to discuss next steps for a resurgence in the development sector.

This session is an insight into the minds of two stalwarts and their idea of rebuilding the nation.

Rohini says, "The social sector needs to find common grounds in uncommon grounds and work with the government."

"I see this as an opportunity for many young people to come in with the kind of volunteer energy, that Gandhiji inspired - which would be a much need boost for this sector", she adds.

Ashish says, "Social sector is going to have a very hard time to survive. But there is an opportunity to do things differently moving forward."

"Coming out of this, we need to reset the relationship between govt and civil society. The respect that government has towards civil society, the removal of the license raj & really make this a partnership", he adds.

"There is a very good opportunity to think about the return of the migrant workers and the situation they come back to. To create a welcoming situation for them, the civil society must help the government effectively reach out to the migrant workers. Gather more volunteers and empathetically work with the migrant workers."

Rohini Nilekani, Founder and Chairperson of Arghyam

Indian Economy: Recovery Through Inclusive Growth

Earlier, at 9 am on Saturday, the opening plenary of Day 3 was about ‘The Indian Economy’s Recovery Through Inclusive Growth’. The aptly-named ‘Chief Economists’ Panel consisted of Kaushik Basu, former Chief Economist of the World Bank, Krishnamurthy Subramaniam, India’s current Chief Economic Advisor, and Justin Yifu Lin, Former Chief Economist, World Bank.

While government bodies are trying to do their best to provide ‘sustenance support’, and many past schemes have indeed lifted people from poverty, the current COVID-19 crisis has exposed millions of people who have been living at the margins of society.

As most countries are deeply invested in controlling and finding a cure for the crisis, there is limited talk about the exit / reopening strategy to deal with the way it has exposed the precarious nature of so many persons’ existence.

The current crisis provides an opportunity to revisit our economic growth strategy so as to pave the way for a more inclusive society – learning from the other countries, providing safety nets for the most vulnerable, while also building capacity in the economy and incorporating reforms in industrial sectors, thus safeguarding citizens against similar shocks.

These three renowned economists came together to discuss how this can be achieved in India going forward.

In Discussion with Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and Binny Bansal

The second panel at 10 am covered a different side to how a crisis like this needs to be tackled: philanthropy. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon and Flipkart’s Binny Bansal were the speakers for this panel.

Jayesh Parekh, entrepreneur and author of the book "What shall we do with all this money?" has researched several ultra high net worth Indians and explained how they have used their wealth to make their lives fulfilling.

Through Kiran and Binny, the audience got a glimpse of how philanthropy in India is evolving, and the diverse motivations for giving at different stages in the journey of a philanthropist.