India is world’s largest democracy, and has come a long way since the time of attaining

independence in terms of social, economic and technological advancements. Today, India’s

achievements are multifarious -

- Nation’s GDP, growing at 8% plus is ranked 5 th highest economies in the world. A stunning
industrial production growth rate in excess of 9%.
- Literacy rates have grown 5 times since independence with 80% of urban and over 65% of
total population being literate, as per 2001 census.
- Technologically, one of the very few nations to have a space launch programme. We are
second largest country in the world in respect to mobile phone usage. Services such as
internet, direct-to-home, etc reaching remote villages, enabling people connect with the rest
of the world seamlessly.
- Across the globe, think tanks often comprise intellectuals of Indian origin, from Nobel
laureates to nuclear scientists.

In light of such stunning accomplishments, it is not an exaggeration to say that India today has all the
potential to become the World Leader.

Yet the state of affairs within the country today is far from that of an advancing, literate, mature
society capable of taking rational decisions. In our day-to-day life, we find ourselves in myriad of
inconveniences which more often arise out of our own inability to react sensibly to situations and in
finding logical solutions to problems.

In a democratic country like ours, protests are a way of exercising our basic right of freedom of
expression, but they should not form a hindrance in our daily routine. On a regular basis we
experience agitations of various forms – Bandh, Strike, Pen-down, etc - halting our routine and
ending on a destructive note causing damage to public property and infrastructure, and resulting in
loss of business worth crores of rupees. Such senseless destruction completely defies common sense
and practical thinking. For example, by setting fire to buses which are meant to transport us, we fall
short of a few buses the next day to ply us on time, while the money needed to buy new buses also
goes from our own pockets over a period of time, in the form of increased fares, taxes, etc.

We possess a rich heritage of religious, ethnic, and regional tolerance, and a history of achieving a
cause as noble as attaining independence from foreign rule and slavery, by embracing the path of
non-violence. How noble is a concern, whether initiated by a few politicians or the general public, in
today’s contrast, if the people involved have to resort to violence and vandalism to make their voice
heard and create a ruckus to get their wish fulfilled? A movement loses its credibility when in the
process of fighting for the upliftment of the deprived, it deprives them of what they already have.
High literacy rates do not seem to have made us any more sensitive to the hardships faced by the
society on a day-to-day basis and react to them in a timely and sensible manner. We often fail to
seek the motive behind a concern, be it for a state reorganization/split or any other demand, or
question its relevance to the progress of self and society.

The journey towards development and growth begins by taking a step forward from where we
stand. Instead of indulging in the vested whims and fancies of a few leaders, if we focus our
attention on the real issues regarding our basic amenities, it is not hard to accomplish a positive
change in the standard of our daily lives. There are a whole lot of concerns that need our immediate
attention, such as:

 Traffic Jams - An average urban dweller spends about two to four hours on the road every
day, commuting to and from work or other destinations.
- How much time and fuel can we save if the roads are properly laid and repaired on
time?
- Traffic congestion can be significantly eased if flyovers are built at various cross
roads. While such infrastructure projects take several years to take real shape, what
can be done in the meantime to overcome the hours of traffic jams we find
ourselves in during the rush hours?
 Corruption – In our bid to save time and the inconvenience of having to wait to get a job
done, we resort to taking shortcuts around the system wide bribing.
- Instead of abetting wide-spread corruption at every stage of public administration,
why cannot we make the system work the way it is supposed to work?
- If each one of us thinks responsibly and abides by the law, is it not possible to
eradicate this social evil?
 Accountability of Media – In today’s world, electronic media plays a pivotal role in shaping
the mindset of the general public.
- Is such powerful medium being sensible to the needs of the common man or just
pampering the other side of the society? Are we promoting politics?
- How can the electronic media be exploited to promote the real issues nagging the
ordinary citizen?
 Socio-economic awareness – How aware are we of various political/governance issues
happening in the society, and their direct impact on our lives?
- Plausibility of various schemes – Where does the money come from for various
schemes such as Rs 1/- Kilo rice, free power, free TVs/laptops?
- Legislative members of different political parties resort to verbal and physical abuse
during the cabinet/assembly sessions, being fully aware that they are watched on
live TV. By doing so they are not just degrading themselves, but also the millions of
citizens whom they represent. What is being done to curb such irresponsible
behaviour?

A multitude of problems like these and others plague our society today, putting breaks on our
progress at every step of the way. Dealing with these problems at their grass roots goes a long way
in achieving a better standard of life for ourselves and the generations to come. This is only possible
when each citizen not only becomes aware of his basic rights but also awakens to the responsibilities
that go hand in hand in when exercising those rights.

These are the concerns that many of us have given a thought about at some point or the other, only
to dismiss it saying ‘Nothing can be done to change the system’. When a handful of politicians
equipped with nothing more than self-interest can instigate the general public down the path of self-
destruction, is it impossible or even difficult for a group of well-read, elite, compassionate
individuals/ corporates to influence the same common man to think about what is good for
him/her?
Born out of such commitment and a humble sense of giving back to the society, this
initiative aims to provide a platform for bringing together like minded corporate
citizens, with an objective to create socio-economic awareness among the citizens
and enlighten them with thoughts to enable build a better society for themselves, and
for the generations to come.

We invite corporates/individuals to join hands with us and extend help in leading this
drive as part of their CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities, with a vision to
awaken the citizens in various forms across the country. Let us initiate this step
towards transforming the way we live, and building a nation our future generations
would be proud of.

Game plan:

Activities:

Focus Areas:

Charter: