Grama Swaraj alone can bring Real Swaraj to India

Confluence, the NSEF Annual convention 2010 with the theme, "Social Entreprenuership and Youth" has truly been a great congruence as its literal meaning suggests. The MLR Convention Hall was fully packed with more than 300 audience passionate about social entreprenuership listening to some of the great and inspiring talks and discussions by social entreprenuers and leaders. Kudos to the whole organising team -Yashveer, Nitesh, Nishanth, Gaurav, Sujoy, Srikumar, Anil, Devendar etc for succesfully organising such a wonderful conference.

I was fortunate enough to be called by the organising team to present the inaugural address for such a great conference. Following is the text of the inaugural address.

On this great occasion, in the presence of such an august audience, let me begin my speech by sharing a few words about the greatest social entrepreneur of this country and probably the greatest of the whole world, Mahatma Gandhi.

Gandhi was not an emperor, not a military general, not a president, not a prime minister. He was neither a rich business man like a Tata or a Birla or a Ambani. He is neither a Harward MBA nor a Stanford MBA nor a religious leader. Yet he has touched lives of almost every Indian through his innovative approach and inspiring leadership. Being an adamant idealist, courageous fighter, a deep thinker, and a great leader of men and ideas, he could challenge the complex socio political problem of independence and fight for it. He identified himself with struggles and pains of the common Indians and became the champion of the downtrodden and the exploited. With a strong determination and commitment for common people, for their rights and dignity and with a powerful and innovative approach, he has not only championed the cause of millions of Indians but he has also stood as an example and as an inspiration for every Indian. His nature of thinking big, his dedication to cause and his deep rooted ethics have made him rise from a common man to a Mahatma.

His life and his work are great sources of inspiration for everyone right from the older generations to the generations to come, especially for people aspiring to become social entrepreneurs. Without Gandhiji’s inspiration, we would have never witnessed Martin Luther King Junior's "I have a dream" speech, or Nelson Mandela's struggle against antiapartheid in South Africa. Gandhiji has also been an inspiration to many other great social leaders and entrepreneurs like Vinobha Bhave who fought for land reforms, Jai Prakash Narayan who brought back the country from the darkness of emergency. I have no doubt in saying that Gandhiji is a perfect role model for each one of us who wants to challenge social problems for the welfare of the people. Even if his methods and principles cannot be practiced by each and every one, at least if one can understand the spirit of his thoughts, that can help us in bringing a great change. His deep rooted ethics, commitment to common man’s cause and courage are the qualities that are needed to be imbibed by every social entrepreneur to achieve high in his entrepreneurial deeds.

India after having achieved independence under the leadership of such a great leader and social entrepreneur is today facing a very peculiar situation. India is growing rapidly at a growth rate of 7%/8%. Stock exchanges are hitting 20,000 mark, India is competing with world leaders in science, atomic power and India is organizing prestigious common wealth games, India is witnessing huge infrastructural development in cities like Mumbai, Calcutta, Bangalore. But friends India is not just the metros. India is just not the booming stock markets. As Gandhiji said, India lives in village. Villages are the heart of our country. It is the culture, tradition, the customs and the life style that exists in villages which defines India.

Villages used to be self reliant. Village used to produce all the products and services by its people. Village used to have farms which produce the agri products, they used to have small flour machines and mills which process agri products, villages used to have carpenters, potters, excellent craftsmen, artists, land surveyors, architects, peasants, priests, teaches etc. Villages by producing the required products and services on their own in their villages in turn used to provide livelihood for its people. Village by itself used to be a separate world with its own resources and the system. But, today such villages are in a big chaos. With the of effects globalization slowly entering into villages and with the political leaders lacking a long term vision and strategy, with the Government adopting unthoughtful and illogical policies, our villages are put to chaos. Traditional occupations are slowly getting extinct. Traditional cottage industries are facing lot of pressures. Our craftsmen who once earned name and fame across the world for their expertise are today losing their livelihoods in villages and moving to Dubai and other Arab countries for third grade jobs. Due to climatic changes and due to illegal human intervention, lakes are disappearing; cultivable lands are becoming arid lands. Due to modern methods of farming and due to high cost fertilizers and seeds, farming is becoming expensive and becoming an ineffective value proposition for farmer. Costs of farming have gone up. Farmers are leaving farming. And as a result, Farmer who is the provider of food for the country, who once used to live with a great pride and dignity, is today working as labor in those SEZs, in small companies in urban areas.

Such is the condition of our villages, the real India. It is in this context, Social entrepreneurship assumes a far greater relevance than ever. It is in this context, social entrepreneurship assumes a greater significance than ever. It is in these pressing times, social entrepreneurship becomes a greater necessity than ever. And friends, it needs young and dynamic minds with full of energy and enthusiasm, with a complete understanding of the core of our country and with a commitment for the cause. It needs such youth who can pursue social entrepreneurship and challenge the socio economic problems of this country who can change the fate of this country. It needs such dynamic leaders who can put Gandhiji thoughts of Grama Swaraj into implementation who can bring the real Swaraj to the nation. And it’s in this context, NSEF has chosen “Social Entrepreneurship and Youth” as the theme for this confluence, The NSEF’s annual convention 2010.

I have started Nirmaan four years back when I was studying in BITS Pilani. It’s a non-profit organization which provides education and employment opportunities to unprivileged people. A good number of my batch mates and juniors joined the efforts and spent more hours with Nirmaan than they did attending classes. The result is that we were able to provide help to a considerable number of people. But the model was not sustainable. Four years of grass roots experience in Nirmaan has taught me that charity has its limitations and that it’s not a practical approach to lead sustainable solutions for addressing social problems even though charity has a continued place in society for its welfare. That’s when I realized that we need to help people build organizations that can apply innovation along with powerful tools and techniques to develop sustainable solutions.

In Mar 2009, I shared my thoughts of need for promotion of social entrepreneurship with a few of my colleagues, Sri Kumar and Yashveer at Nirmaan. And the result is what we are seeing today. NSEF with the sole aim of promoting social entrepreneurship among youth, with efforts and dedication by NSEF members, NSEF has grown from one member to three members and from one chapter at BITS Pilani to 6 chapters at Goa, IIM Lucknow, IT Kharagpur, Mount Carmel Bangalore, IIT Kanpur, BITS Hyderabad etc. conducting various events like NSEF Idea conferences, Start up exhibitions, business competitions, internships etc. Through its chapters, NSEF has been putting efforts to empower the students by exposing them to the field of social entrepreneurship. As a part of its activities, NSEF conducts an annual convention every year. In this year’s one day annual convention, we would have a series of talks by experts, panel discussions on various upcoming trends in the field by renowned social entrepreneurs and social leaders, interactive sessions among the audience etc. Convention would act as a learning platform for the audience where we discuss various topics related to social entrepreneurship and how youth can pursue it to challenge complex socio economic problems.

Friends, Swami Vivekananda, the greatest patriot of this country who has let the whole world know about greatness of our country and the culture and the traditions over here through his speeches has once said “Give me hundred pure and selfless men and women, I will shake the world”. I pray to God to let this conference inspiration to atleast ten of us whom Swami Vivekananda wanted. With this, I wish you all the best for the next 8 hours of inspiring and learning sessions.

param vaibhavamne tume tat swaraashtram
samrthaa bhavatwaashishaa tebhrusham

May our victorious organized power of action and social entrepreneurial deeds, with God’s Grace, be wholly capable of protecting our supremacy and leading this nation of ours to the highest pinnacle of glory.

Is This Gandhi Real or Duplicate?

The Indian media specially the Indian English media often refers Rahul Gandhi as the youth leader of the country. Each time I hear such statements, it wonders me. How can someone at the age of 39 be called as a youth leader! Isn’t it funny? Under what definition someone at the age of 39 be called as youth? Had he got married at the age of 20, he would have probably had a son or a daughter of age 18 or 19. What would have this media called them? Kids? Ok fine. For the moment, Let’s agree to media’s argument that Rahul at the age of 39 is a youth leader. Then, what happened to Agatha K Sangma, Jyotiraditya Scindia who, Sachin Pilot, Dushyant Singh who are younger to Rahul and who are doing very well in political field? Are they not Indians or are they not youth? Why don’t the media call them as youth? Can’t the media calculate their ages using simple calculations? Are they so poor in simple arithmetic? Probably their arithmetic logic is different. It’s because Rahul is from Gandhi family and he is from the congress party, they call him youth at the age of 39. I think that’s the only logic that they can apply to call him so. Else, no other logic in the world can help them say so. And the funniest part is that Rahul Gandhi himself calls as a Youth leader. I am not sure how he says so? I think he should keep meeting his classmates and batch mates every now and then to help him realize that he is no more a youth.

Here are some of the statements he has made which I would like to analyze to understand how matured Mr.Gandhi is.

During the Uttar Pradesh election campaign in 2007, Rahul Gandhi said that "if anyone from the Gandhi-Nehru family had been active in politics then, the Babri Masjid would not have fallen". What an arrogant statement? Isn’t it a statement that underestimates and insult the socio-political talent in this country? Does that mean that only Gandhi family has the capability and the eligibility to rule this country? Has Indian constitution laid down any special provision that Gandhis alone can capture Gaddi in this country? I am not sure if Mr.Gandhi is unaware of the Sikh Riots that his own party has initiated during his grandmother’s reign? Or is he conveniently and wantedly forgetting this fact? One must understand the fact that none of the non Gandhi family congress leaders, be it Patel or Lal Bahadur Shastri or P V Narsimha rao, neither of them are recognized and remembered by congress party for their contributions to their party and to this nation.

In another instance, Mr Gandhi says its congress party alone which can protect and preserve democracy in India and that he would continue the tradition. Isn’t it a big joke? Isn’t it congress which has misused article 356 more than 100 times to dismiss the democratically elected state governments formed by non congress parties? Isn’t it congress party which distributed cash in the house of Parliament to protect their Government? Isn't it his Grand mother who has thrown this country into a complete darkness by illegally imposing emergency? Should we assume that he is unaware of such kind of worst history of congress and making such kind of statements? Probably for him, preserving and protecting democracy in India means preserving and protecting congress party and their Governments in India either by hook or crook.

In his recent congress youth meetings, he said there are equal opportunities for youth in congress party. Isn’t a hypocritical statement? Can ever in congress party, a term called equal opportunity exist? Can a party that’s known for its hereditary politics talk about equal opportunity. Let’s assume for the moment what he said is true, then how the hell Rahul has become the head of Youth Congress as soon he entered politics? When there were so many youth leaders working for the party for years? Can someone ever in congress’s history other than Gandhis occupy the Presidnet position? In my view, Gandhis have no moral right to talk about equal opportunity in politics.

Recently when Kashmir started burning and when everyone is so worried about the tensions prevailing there and when almost all the leaders in the power and in opposition including the PM and the opposition leader are worried about the way state Government handled the situation and taken the decisions, Mr. Gandhi showered Omar with appreciation saying Omar is handling the situation very well. Isn’t it a testimony for Mr.Gandhi’s judgment skills? Isn’t it an indication of what will happen to this Nation if Mr Gandhi is made the PM?

In a meeting yesterday at Bhopal, Rahul Gandhi equated RSS and SIMI and also added that the only difference is that SIMI is a banned organization while RSS is not. Both question and answer lies in his statement. He himself says SIMI is banned and RSS is not. Then how the hell this Gandhi scion says RSS and SIMI are same? If RSS is a terrorist group, then doesn’t his Government ban RSS? Had he even attended RSS shaka to comment on RSS? Had he at least tried to know what happens in an RSS shaka to comment on RSS?

The swayamsevaks in their daily shakas sing the following verses in their daily prayer:

mahaa mangale punya bhoome twadarthe
patatwesha kaayo namaste namaste

which means that let our bodies be perished in the service of the motherland

param vaibhavamne tume tat swaraashtram
samrthaa bhavatwaashishaa tebhrusham

Which means “May our victorious organised power of action, by Thy Grace, be wholly capable of protecting our dharma and leading this nation of ours to the highest pinnacle of glory.”

Can such patriots be compared with terrorists? Can a Vajpayee and a SIMI terrorist be compared? Is Kalam and Kasab equal? By making such statements, Rahul only proves his immaturity and poor judgment skills. Now, it’s up to the nation to think if they want such a person to lead this great nation. They need to realize if they want a Real Gandhi and Gandhian principles or the duplicate Gandhis and their appeasement policies and their power politics.

Ram lalla wins the title of the disputed land in Ayodhya

It may sound very unusual. But it's true that Ram lalla in Ayodhya wins the title of the disputed land. Ram lalla was included as the petitioner in the petition filed by Hindus claiming for the title of the land. Indian law in its unique way considers and recognizes even idols as the petitioners. And in its verdict, Allahabad High court yesterday has awarded the title of the main disputed land to Bhagwan Shri Ram Chandra Murthy filling happiness in millions and millions of Hindus who believe that Ram is born at the disputed site.

Finally the path is cleared for building a Ram temple at Ayodhya. Ram is a symbol of unity, integrity, good governance, victory of truth over evils and protector of the common man. Ram is a national hero for Indians. Bhagwan Ram is the epitome of eternal, inclusive and tolerant culture of India. Courts recognizing and respecting the faith of Indians in such a hero and what he stands for will remain in the history forever. This verdict can be treated as a historic verdict respecting the sentiments of all communities and a verdict that protects the unity of this country and a verdict that believs in Indian culture. The final judgement given by Allahabad High court that the land should be split for all the three parties including Hinuds, Muslims and Akharas should be hailed and welcomed by all Indians belonging to all communities. One shouldn’t expect a better judgment than this.

I think the court's verdict is a befitting reply to all the pseudo secularists who branded all those who believed in Bhagwan Ram and who believed the existence of Temple at Ram Janma Bhoomi as communal. It’s a slap on the face of those pseudo secularists who questioned the belief of Hindus in Holiness and sacredness of ram Janma sthan. It's time to understand what kind of secularism Burka Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai talk every minute and every day misleading this nation. Now, it’s time for everyone to realize who is communal and who is secular. It’s time for people to understand who fought for truth and who fought for vote bank.

It’s time for Muslims also to realize that they are being used as vote bank by pseudo secular parties and that they are misled by certain political parties for their electoral benefits. It's time for them to extend their cooperation for building a magnificent temple for Devine Bhagwan Ram and to invite Hindus cooperation for building a mosque. That will stand as a great example for our secularism and unity. That will strengthen the Indian secularism that we believe in and practice from time immemorial.

Pandit Deenadyal, The BJP founder is a Gold medalist of BITS Pilani

It's surprising to hear. But it's true. We haven’t yet heard about it but am sure we all would feel proud to take a note of this. We have one more proud to be a BITSian. Infact, I would say that he is the greatest BITSian BITS has ever produced. Shri Pandit Deendayal Upadyay, the founder of BJP and one of the greatest and a rare ideal politician in Indian politics has not only studied at the then Birla college at Pilani which is later got converted to BITS Pilani, but he has also received a Gold Medal from the college. None other than the founder of BITS, Padma Vibhushan Late Shri G D Birla has awarded him a gold medal and Rs 250 cash prize along with Rs 10 per month as scholarship.

I heard from many politicians from BJP and from renowned personalities that Pandit Deendayal Upadyay is a great politician, a true nationalist, an ideal politician and a role model for those who want to practice good politics. I also heard a lot about his concept "integral humanism" which has brought him a great recognition all over the country. Being an active follower of Politics, from then onwards, I have been reading about him and have been researching about him and his principles. Recently, I found these interesting facts from his life history.

Panditji was born in a small village called Dhankia in Rajasthan in 1916. Since his school days, he was a bright student. He did his schooling in Kalyan High School in Sikar near Pilani. He has created a record in Ajmer Board Metriculation exams by passing the examination in distinction. It was the first time in Ajmer Board for someone to establish such record. In appreciation to that, King of sikar has awarded him a gold medal and a cash prize of Rs 250 along with a certain amount of scholarship every year till he completes his studies. After metriculation, Panditji wanted to join Birla college at Pilani to complete his inermediate education and his uncle who was his caretaker joined him at Birla College, Pilani. He has passed his first year examination in first class. Panditji's batchmates used to like him a lot for his friendly nature and for his nationalist thinking. His batchmates used to come to him to discuss various subject related topics and national topics. The number has increased day by day. Looking at the number of people interested in discussions, Panditji has initiated a group "Zero Association" in the campus. Members of this association used to regularly meet and discuss topics of national importance. Probably, the whole culture of clubs and departments at BITS has taken its birth from this initiative! Who knows? In 1937, Panditji has completed his education with a distinction from Birla College and that too with highest ever total in College's history. In recognition to his academic brilliance, G D Birla has felicitated Panditji with a Gold Medal who later went on to found Bharatiya janata Party, the second biggest national party today and a principal opposition party in Indian politics which is today ruling eight major states of India.

Panditji later got qualified for Civil Service Exams but he didn't join civil services as he was fascinated by the idea of making for and working with the common people. Probably that one decision has changed the fate of Indian politics! His brain child BJP today has thrown a challenge to congress's monopoly in Indian politics. It is his BJP and the other Janata Parties which fought emergency and brought back this country from darkness. It is his party which later took part in agitations on several national issues and won the confidence of people which ultimately helped them to form the Government at the center. If there is one politician who has never criticized his opponent in elections, it is deendayal Upadhyay. If there is any politician who has advised his partymen not to use any money in elections, It’s Pandit Deendayal Upadyay. Many of Panditji's party men won elections but in his whole political career, Panditji has never won an election due to his idealistic thinking. But he is remembered and greatly respected by both his party colleagues and the opposition parties for his principles, honesty, integrity and his statesmanship.

Many in BJP say that it is Panditji's principles and his concept “integral humanism” which is responsible for the earning a brand "A Party with a difference" for their party. Official website of BJP on its home page mentions about Panditji and his contribution to BJP and Indian politics. More details about Panditji can be found at http://deendayalupadhyaya.org/

As a BITSian, I take a great pride in telling the whole world that Pandit deendayal Upadyay, an all time role model in politics is a BITSian. I am sure the entire BITSian community will take a note of it and take pride of this and take inspiration from this towering personality.

Sep 17, the day that represents common man's aspiration for democratic values

The day that reminds us the sacrifise of thousands of our heros and martyrs who fought against nizam to liberate Telangana from cruel nawabs rule, The day that has been forced to be forgotten in the history for selfish reasons by our rulers and the day that represents common man's aspiration for democratic society..the day that stands for the fighting spirit of people against injustice..Sep 17, It's Telangana Liberation day. Happy Telangana Liberation day.

Sep 17 fills the spirit in each and every Telanganite for our fight for saperate Telangana, for our fight for our livelihhods, for our fight for justified share of natural resources, for our fight for our self respect, for our fight for self rule. Souls of our martyrs will rest in peace only when common man is provided the justified share of the resources that nature has provided to its mankind. Their sacrifises would become meaningful only when none in Telangana suffer for basic amenities. On this occassion, let each one of us take an oath that we put our best possible effort for the fulfillment of the aspirations of our freedom fighters. Let each one of us take an oath that we will celebrate Telangana saperation by next Telangana Liberation day.

Its the day to remember and express our gratitude to lakhs of freedom fighters and submit our sincere tributes to the forgotten heros, the Telangana freedom fighters: Komuram Bheem, Chakali Ilemma, bandagi, kaloji, bhairanpalli martyrs, nandanam freedom fighters, parakala fighters, nalgonda communists, lebarthi heros and all the 4000 martyrs.

Jai Telangana
Jai Hind

Vruksho Rakshathi Rakshithaha

It was a great privilege conducting community day for Citi GDM AAS with a theme "Go Green" and helping everyone involved in Green work. Following is the text of the speech delivered as a CSR lead of Citi at Community day function organised at Eco-Watch's site near All India Radio station at Haskote around 25 kms away from Bangalore.

Dear Rajiv Bhapna, MD, Citi GDM AAS, Manoj Piplani, Site Leader, Bangalore, Suresh Heblikar, Chairman of Eco-Watch and my dear colleagues-Welcome you all to our AAS Annual community Day 2010. The day is all set to provide you an opportunity to contribute to the community and celebrate together. The day in turn will also provide you a sense of fulfillment, inspiration, enthusiasm and new energy for good initiatives.

Friends, Indian civilization is one of the most ancient civilizations in the world. Indian civilization has a unique cultural and spiritual fragrance which has been gifted to us over generations by great seers, saints, kings, acharayas and visionaries who with their exemplary life styles, actions and literary genius became universal phenomenon and their timeless advices and findings are enshrined in the Ancient Indian Scriptures.

In such ancient scriptures, it’s mentioned “Darmo Rakshathi Rakshithaha” which means that Dharma, righteousness will protect the man kind only if man kind tries to protect the Dharma. Following certain morals and ethics will protect us and once we ignore such important aspects of life, mankind will collapse. Attaching similar kind of importance as Dharma for the sustenance of this world, our ancient scriptures said “Vruksho Rakshathi Rakshithaha” which means that only if we are kind to the tress and the nature then alone the nature will protect us. If we try to disrespect this law of nature, we know what can happen. Some of its symptoms are already being seen in our daily lives. Floods, severe droughts, rising temperatures, various kinds of breathing related diseases are all a result of degradation of environment Protection of environment being such a crucial step for sustenance of life on this planet, we thought we will set “Go Green” as theme for this community day.

The same also reflects your interest and passion. Recently three months back, when Sankalp, the volunteering wing of our AAS was initiated, we conducted a survey to find what kind of community work interests you. The survey has clearly shown that environment protection and education to kids are the things that you are passionate about. Education being the primary focus for the last two community days, we thought we will choose “Go Green” as theme for this year’s community day as per your choice.
If we are celebrating our community day with a “Go Green” theme, what else can be a better partner than Eco-Watch in Bangalore? The moment we have finalized the theme, we contacted Eco-watch and Eco-watch has agreed to involve us in their green initiatives and provide us an opportunity to contribute to environment. Eco-Watch has been responsible for creating Urban Bio-Parks at various locations in Bangalore and other regions. Eco-Watch is putting lot of efforts to convert hundreds of acres of land into green belts.

As a part of the community day in association with Eco-watch, we are going to get involved in awareness sessions on environmental protection and in tree plantation. India has rich traditional knowledge and wisdom in the conservation of nature and natural resources. Religious beliefs and culture have together treated nature and environment with sanctity. Conservation and protection of environment and love for nature have always been part and parcel of Indian ethos and culture. I hope that we get reminded and reemphasized about the love and concerns we share for our environment through this activity on our community day. Wish you a very happy time at these green fields far away from Bangalore involving in tree plantation.

My Mission for a Grand Vision

Each time I sit with my friends or colleagues for a long discussion, we never end the discussion without discussing about our future plans. One after the other, each one starts expressing their distinct ambitions and goals. Whenever my turn comes, I say that politics is something that I am passionate about. The moment I express my interest in politics, a series of questions comes on to my way. The first and the very common question they ask is why politics?

Then I start giving my usual answer. Politics is something that’s inseparable from our daily lives and politics is something that has an impact on almost every aspect of our lives. It is the outcome of politics and political decisions that affect the lives of most people around us. But as a fact we know that the impact depends on what kind of politics we are involved in and for what. Politics when practiced in a good manner can bring a great awakening among the citizens and provide them a happy and a prosperous life and foster a value based society while when it’s practiced for selfish purposes, it has the worst possible impact on the society. It’s time for such great political awakening among everyone specifically among intelligentsia and spiritual people. If politics and politicians of the generation before us have degraded, then it is time for a change in our attitudes towards politics. People who are educated and full of fresh ideas are certainly needed to pull this off.

Having understood this and having seen the ground realities from my childhood and having got inspired by Swami Vievkananda’s ideology for a stronger India, I have decided to pursue politics as an instrument for a better society. I share Swami Vivekananda’s ideology on almost all the aspects of life and society and that itself is a guiding force to me throughout my way.

A stronger India needs good governance to people with a pride in our past and a hope for future. Good governance wouldn’t be possible if a Chief Minister or Prime Minister alone practice good politics and follow good administrative approaches. But it is possible only when even the public representatives at the lowest unit of our country like a gram panchayat sarpanch follow certain good governance principles. Following are the 13 simple ways which I thought of which can help a public representative in providing good governance to his or her electorate.

1. Being accessible and approachable
2. Understanding problems of people of different walks of life, understanding their priorities, interests and their aspirations
3. Developing vision documents for each village, each locality, each section of the society and each sector of the industry in your constituency
4. Strategizing the vision with time bound programs, approaching the Government, inviting non governmental agencies, enterprises and getting the required grants/permissions/projects
5. Creating an atmosphere of inspiration for people to move towards peace, progress and development
6. Making sure that the strategy is implemented without any flaws
7. Being accountable
8. Being transparent
9. Effectively Communicating of your vision, strategy, achievements and challenges to people on a time to time basis
10. Making information of the Government and my own programs available to every single citizen of your constituency
11. Making sure that the Government policies are reaching the right people at right time
12. Taking regular feedback and constantly working on feedback
13. Ensuring that a conducive atmosphere is created for those who want to do anything good to your people

I firmly believe that the above 13 points are basics for good governance. But just listing down the above 13 points doesn’t help unless good strategies are devised to make sure that each of them is perfectly put into implementation. For example, for one to be accessible to people and to be approachable, one needs to plan different ways by which one can do so. May be he needs to set up a full fledged constituency development office in his constituency listening to grievances of people or may be one needs to have a website where people can just login and raise their concerns or may be one needs to spend at least 10 hours in his office listening to concerns of people. In this way, proper strategies are needed to make sure that the above 13 points are put into implementation and thus to make sure that a good governance is offered to people.

For past few weeks, I have been spending a lot of time thinking about these strategies, discussing with many people and referring different ways or policies which different politicians have already adopted. It has been a great learning exercise for me. I kindly request you all to let me know your thoughts on how each of the above 13 can be put into implementation or if there is a 14th or a 15th point which you want to suggest. Integrating my own thoughts and all your good suggestions and different references, I would like to come up with a blue print for good governance by a public representative and would like to follow the same once I enter full time politics.

Let us bind every soul with the thread of love
Let us fill every mind with self-esteem
Let the whole nation march on the path of progress
Let the victory of Bharat reverberate in the entire world
Let the world overcome darkness and be full of light

Jai Hind