The CEO & the Carpenter: What it means to be a Social Entrepreneur

It always intrigued me to know how every face has a name, and every name has a story. It drew me, like iron chips to a magnet, to know that these stories are bunched up into statistics to report a wrongdoing, or to report a phenomenon. So you often don’t hear how a daughter left home to get her first salary only for a bomb blast to claim her life on the way. You often don’t hear what it feels like for one to wake up in a new land after being driven out of her own homeland thanks to war – to be tagged with the label refugee. You seldom hear of the story of survival, of how a woman fought the burden of stigma and social isolation after surviving sexual assault, to own her life and lead it on her own terms like a true victor.

In December 2012, I turned 25. In the run up to my birthday, I was actively involved in a range of based programs: the Connection Point Dialogues by Peace x Peace, volunteering with the UN Online Volunteering Service, and working as a Commissioning Editor with E-IR among other things. Through these many different platforms, I had the opportunity to interact and learn from some of the world’s most amazing women. Everything I imbibed made a huge difference to me and my life. In the run up to my birthday, I went to sleep each night with thoughts that centred around this one question: what if I could bring all the voices of these amazing people I had interacted with, onto one platform, and take them out into the world so people could be inspired to act, as I was?

Two days after I turned 25, I went to the US Consulate at Chennai to receive the US Presidential Services Medal, awarded by President Barack Obama, and presented to me by the then Consul General, Ms Jennifer McIntyre. Later, at the First UNV Partnership Forum, I would talk about my experience as a Volunteer, in successfully helping open up the first college in 30 years, in a village in Nigeria. In a few days, I would also receive the UN Online Volunteer of the Year Award for it in 2012.

Even after all this, call it what you might, the wheel of fortune or whatever, but a chance encounter with a trigger brought all my repressed memories back, and I finally came to terms with a truth I had dissociated with: that I had survived abuse as a child. That night, I remember thinking to myself that I wanted to use my voice in a way that it would be heard, in a way that people would know that my voice would count, too.

I was already doing that – screaming through my own blog and whining occasionally on the kind and bountiful space that another would offer me every now and then. I had friends who shared a similar passion – and needed a little space to get out there. So I decided that I’d tie in my second book with an organisation that would be the voice of girls and women everywhere. That night, the Red Elephant Foundation was born.

Kirthi speaking at the UN Volunteers Forum

As is wont to happen, when you start an initiative, especially in the dead of the night, your mind fills itself with ideas. And since you are the only staff member of the newly founded initiative, you give yourself orders to implement these ideas. Over the next few months, the President doubled up as the Plumber, the CEO donned the cape of a Carpenter, and the Executive Member became the electrician. The nuts and bolts of creating an organization were not easy – but being a lawyer by education helped me choose. For a year or so, the organization ran without anything beyond a platform online. I interviewed survivors and changemakers and told their stories. Then, trusted friends and former co-workers got on board to head different divisions, and my core team soon grew to encompass one of the most inspiring teams I have and will ever work with. Through our stories, we pivoted our key goals around gender equality and civilian peacebuilding. We told stories of women, men and transgendered people who fought and overcame odds and braved through difficult situations. We then built up online visually driven campaigns that took forward the core values of gender equality, that culminated in peacebuilding through dialogue.

By and by, we realized that we had a sustainable readership. But what if the buck stopped there? We wanted the conversation to go on, and so, we kick started dialogue programs and workshops, both online and offline, so as to be able to get in as wide a participatory community as we possibly could. Slowly, we realized that we could build into the space of training and hosting workshops with communities at all levels and ages, to encourage critical thinking. We began to workshop with a series of schools across the world, and built our own community platform for peace and gender-based curriculums called ChalkPeace. Soon, we are growing into a space where we kickstart our revenue model of raising funds through workshops. Until then, my team and I are working on a purely voluntary basis, and effecting change through the power of an equally great investment: Time and Effort.

Assistance to help sharpen my skills were always around, thanks to the benevolent selflessness of several global organizations. I made it to the Vital Voices’ VV Lead Fellowship, and to the World Pulse Voices of the Future program, and more recently, the Local Pathways Fellowship Program.

Today, when I look back, I see that every day involved a learning experience that no university could give me. I had no management skills, no leadership training, no understanding of what a business model should look like. I wasn’t afraid to fall, and I wasn’t slow to get up when I fell – because it was imperative that since I started the journey, that I would continue. The process was not easy: I had hate mail. I had people calling me names for being a feminist. I was labelled a freak and what not. Many laughed at me. Still more thought I was crazy. But what stands out for me, is that I move, every single day.

About the Author:

Kirthi Jayakumar is an activist, artist and writer from Chennai, India. She founded and runs the Red Elephant Foundation, a civilian peacebuilding initiative that works for gender equality through storytelling, advocacy and digital interventions. She is a member of the Youth Working Group for Gender Equality under the UNIANYD. Kirthi is the recipient of the US Presidential Services Medal (2012) for her services as a volunteer to Delta Women NGO, and the two-time recipient of the UN Online Volunteer of the Year Award (2012, 2013). Kirthi is also the recipient of the Global Peace Prize 2016, from WeSchool, and the Rising Star of India Award, 2016, from We The City India. Her second book, The Dove's Lament, made it to the final shortlist for the Muse India Young Writers' Literary Award. Kirthi was recently invited to the United State of Women Summit at the White House in Washington DC, as a nominated changemaker. She is also a Zen Doodler, and her works have been commissioned by corporate establishments, non-profits and art collectors world over.

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Demonitization Plus: Financial Inclusivity in India

November 8, 2016, shall be remembered as the day the lives of Indians changed, temporarily at least. Overnight, our economy was put in a position where over 80% of the money in circulation was not accepted as legal tender and the queue at ATMs became never-ending. Post offices had never been as populated. Amidst all the drama of black money, opposition party’s rants and conspiracy theories, there might have been an aspect that we as observers of this charade missed out on. Demonetization, as uncomfortable as it was, can also be a step to increase the financial inclusivity of our system. By definition, financial inclusion refers to the pursuit of making financial services accessible at affordable costs to all individuals and businesses, irrespective of net worth and size respectively. Financial inclusion strives to address and offer solutions to the constraints that exclude people from participating in the financial sector.

 In the year 2005, our then RBI governor DR YV Reddy spoke about financial inclusion and the term has since been doing rounds in government offices, even becoming a priority in the Eleventh Five Year Plan. However, no move can be deemed as successful as the one on November 8^th to push for financial inclusion of various strata of our society. The extent of financial exclusion in our nation is staggering and until recently 600,000 villages in our nation collectively had only 30,00 commercial bank branches with over 50% of the population not having a bank account of any sort and 50% of the total farmers not seeing any institutional or non-institutional source of credit.

However, these statistics are a far cry from today’s scenario as reports state that a total of 30 lakh bank accounts were opened as of 30^th November, with the State Bank of India alone accounting for 11.8 lakh accounts and opening around 50,00 bank accounts a day in its 17,097 branches, with half of these accounts being for rural and semi-urban areas. This goes on show that although not by choice, the move has helped include a greater percentage of the population in the financial system which could be a step towards a truly cashless economy, which despite current policies is a far off dream due to the number of people still outside the financial system, the apprehensions people of this country have in relation to e-wallets and plastic money and the acute lack of financial literacy in our nation even among the urban population. True financial inclusion can only be achieved through mutual benefit and trust between the citizens of this country and the providers of financial services, it is imperative to find a balance between providing affordable and accessible financial services to the people while also ensuring that the providers do not run into losses and are sustainable. It’s a very difficult scale to manage and the role of the government in this equation has never been as important as it is today when lakhs of Indians open their first bank accounts.

But the question that we need to ask is why have these Indians never opened a bank account before the 8^th of November? Why did they have to be presented with a situation of having no choice in order to open a bank account? The answer lies in the lack of reach of the banking sector along with a heavy cloud of distrust associated with it among the layman who preferred cash transactions as cash was simple, didn’t involve complications and was accessible.

The impact of these bank accounts on the economy will be magnanimous as the banking sector will now cater to a larger section of the society, this in turn means that their policies now have to be more accommodating and ensure that these citizens are provided with the same ease as cash-based transactions but the banks now also have an additional responsibility of educating these citizens who are unaccustomed to the concept of ATMs, Debit cards, and chequebooks while bettering their reach and distribution system. In the case of SBI where 66% of the branches are situated in rural areas, it becomes even more vital to push for greater financial inclusion while providing banking services at economical rates and convenient time slots. It also becomes imperative to hire and train local talent while constantly training existing employees in order to connect better with the people. All in all, a move meant to curb black money has only helped achieve a small step towards financial inclusion which could result in greater and accelerated development in some rural states which now have access to banking facilities and better growth opportunities.

About The Author:

Alekhya Madiraju is a first year bba student at symbiosis centre for management studies , Pune. Her various interests include poetry , debating , reading , dancing and human resource management. She is someone who believes in standing up for her ideas and is not afraid of voicing her opinions.

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Reviving the Snow Lion: The Indo-Tibet Relation

It was my recent trip to Dharamshala which acquainted me closely with the plight of Tibetans living under forceful Chinese occupation. Sitting in a café overlooking The Dalai Lama’s Temple, made me wonder what His Holiness endured during the siege of the Norbulingka Palace, in the onslaught of which, he fled his land disguised as a border guard. The siege eventually resulted in the massacre of the nearly eighty-seven thousand people and the ultimate Chinese control over Tibet. In continuation of these thoughts, I came to ponder upon another horrible reality – that, this was the first-time India shared a boundary with the dreaded “Chinese Dragon”. The following article highlights the implications of the Chinese invasion of Tibet on our country, the dire consequences of a non-existent policy on Tibet followed by commentary on a possible route that can be opted in framing India’s Tibetan policy.

        The first and obvious implication, as I have already mentioned above, is the common boundary issue. With the invasion of Tibet, China had renounced the McMahon Line drawn by the British as part of the Shimla Accord of 1914 which led to a heated debate about the actual boundary dividing the two Asian giants, which eventually snowballed into the Sino-Indian War of 1962. The victorious People’s Liberation Army of China temporarily held significant and strategically important sectors on the Indian side of the McMahon Line. The war of ‘62, not only shook the morale of the Indian troops, which bore significant casualties, but also the faith in the traditional defence provided by the mighty Himalayas, which until then was thought to be unbreachable by the Indians.

The occupation of Tibet had also allowed China to rapidly develop its resources and strike capabilities extremely close to the Indian border. The construction of highway number 219 in the disputed Aksai Chin sector formed a vital part of the discourse that led to the First Sino-Indian war.  Since then, China has come a long way. In her paper[1] for the Institute for Land Warfare Studies, Ms. Monika Chansoria listed out various developmental projects undertaken by the Chinese in the Tibetan Autonomous Region. This list, inter alia, includes the construction of more than 58,000 km of roadways, an almost equal number of kilometers in railroad and nearly 5 airfields in the TAR. These developments can be broadly classified into civilian and military categories, however, they are largely interlinked. The road and railways are ostensibly constructed for the development of the Tibetan Autonomous Region; however, they serve other purposes important to Chinese interests in the region - the first being to facilitate the exodus of Han Chinese migrants into the TAR which forms a vital part of the government’s agenda to argue Tibet’s annexation into the Chinese mainland. The second is to enable rapid deployments of infantry and mechanized divisions along the Indian Border. Ms. Chansoria further observes in her paper that all roadways have been constructed as per military standards, which allows deployment of nearly 12 divisions in less than a month. All airfields are tailor made to suit the landing requirements of PLAAF strike and airlift aircraft such as Russian-made Sukhoi fighters and the IL series of transport aircraft. Thus, with the occupation of Tibet, China had essentially provided herself with a white canvas to elaborate plan and structure its strike capabilities against India, which were used with devastating consequences in the various Sino-Indian Wars.

       Another area of serious concern to India is the vast investment China has poured into the building of dams in the occupied Tibetan region. Unfortunately, all the rivers upon which China proposes to construct or has constructed barrages and dams, are rivers of vital importance to Indian interests, to name a couple – Brahmaputra and Sutlej. These seemingly civilian projects go long way in establishing diplomatic superiority and leverage to keep status quo in favour of China in the event of a conflict. As it stands now, the ball is comfortably in China’s court.

 Just before the commencement of the invasion, the Nehru Government had strongly urged Tibetan authorities to order the construction of an airfield in Lhasa through which India could supply inventory and if necessary, men, to the Tibetan defence.

Tibetian Army 

However, the Kashag rubbished Nehru’s offer as it didn’t believe in a Chinese invasion (due to its isolation in Lhasa and lack of communication with other provinces), which by then had overrun the North-Eastern Provinces of Kham and Chamdo. It was not until the rapid PLA advance could be seen from the Potala Palace that the authorities realized the magnitude of the problem that stood before them. However, by then Nehru had to withdraw the offer due to the fear of Chinese aggression.

        Apart from this initial offer, India’s Policy on Tibet has remained rather dormant. Though India and the Tibetan Government in exile share a close bond, India never overtly condemned Chinese action due to geopolitical circumstances. This dormant policy was portrayed even in the UNGA when India abstained from voting on the motion proposed by El Salvador requesting UN intervention in Tibet. Nevertheless, one of the biggest message India could deliver to the world conveying its support for Tibet was granting asylum to His Holiness The Dalai Lama, his entourage, consisting of the 97000 refugees and the recognition of its government in exile. Due credit must be given to Nehru and his advisors for showing such tact in spite of Chinese objections.

   A little more help came from the Indian side post the war of ‘62. After suffering defeat in conventional warfare, India started to consider its asymmetric options in the war against China. Most certainly, the attention of military strategists went to the Tibetan resistance. India established a covert facility called Establishment 22 where it started to train and arm Tibetan fighters to be used as asymmetric units.  This served as a big shot in the arm for the resistance which by then was in a strategically and tactically diminished state, owing to the withdrawal of support from the CIA. However, this project did not run well and was soon shut down, and with it shut down any positive policy maneuver India made in favor of Tibet.

  It is the opinion of the author, and with due respect to my country’s policy planners, that they misjudged the requirements to prevent the occupation of Tibet. Though military support was essential, it wasn’t adequate to oppose the massive Chinese offensive. Tibetan freedom couldn’t be attained by a military initiative. Tibet needed India to rally international support for it at the United Nations. This is exactly what our Indian diplomats failed or refused to do, leading to exploitation of not only Tibet, but the occupation of Indian sectors and the never-ending border dispute. The lack of Indian intervention and support for Tibet at the United Nations, allowed China to ascertain undisputed superiority in the Asian geopolitical circuit, thus giving it immense leverage in international decision making, which it uses to maximum effect to obscure India’s advance into the Security Council, the Nuclear Suppliers Group and other platforms which allow a state to assert itself as a superpower.

Indian authorities did not strike the iron when it was hot, hence now there is not much left for our country to do – that time has passed. Nevertheless, policy on Tibet can flow to help the country maintain its traditional practice of choosing its leadership. Though Gaylo Thondop (the elder brother of His Holiness), in his autobiography The Noodle Maker from Kalimpong, criticises the practice of choosing leadership by reincarnation, one cannot even imagine the sway, the Dalai Lama and other Lamas like the Panchen Lama have on decision making in the Tibetan context. To divert this sway in its favor, the Chinese authorities kidnapped the 11^th Panchen Lama in 1995 and instead elevated its

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

own nominee to the office. This illegitimate maneuver gives China an acute strategically advantage in elevating its own candidate for the office of Dalai Lama - a position so keen to Tibetan politics - keeping in mind the immense authority of the Panchen Lama in choosing the Dalai’s reincarnation.

India must use its geopolitical superiority (second only to China) in the south Asian circuit, to lead a united front of nations against China to condemn and counter such actions, firstly by non-recognition of any such proxy posts and leaders and by promoting and securing Tibetan rights to choose its own leadership. Secondly and very importantly it must actively vote or propose motions like the recent UNSC Resolution No 2334 against Israeli settlements in Gaza in the UNSC. It must work to remove any legitimacy of Chinese occupation: a start can be made by explicitly demarcating the original Tibetan boundary in all maps as propaganda to confirm its denouncement of the annexation and to keep the cause of Tibetan freedom going. India can try to lobby UN embargoes against the economic zones set up by china in the TAR.  Lastly, India can also bring to light all the violation of human rights China has been constantly committing in Tibet to gain international momentum for the cause.

On the other hand, all this is easier said than done. The Government of India led by Prime Minister Modi has recently proclaimed Tibet to be an integral part of China. As far as Indian interests are concerned this is a positive and skillful diplomatic tactic as it allows India and China to put aside matters of the border dispute and focus on economic empowerment such as developing the maritime silk route and other economic corridors. Per contra the lack of trust in a neighbor, that generally forms a vital basis for a foreign policy decision must be considered, keeping in mind the never-ending border violations committed by China in the Arunachal Pradesh and Kashmir sectors.

       These small initiatives go a long way to secure the rights of our neighbor and to keep alive its struggle against an aggressor of China’s might. However, whether such a stance should be adopted at the cost of our self-interest, economic upliftment and the obvious threat of conflict is a dilemma that has troubled leaders since long. As necessary evaluating policy decisions of such nature might be for academic purposes, one must always bear in mind the unseen factors that come across decision makers before making hasty judgments. Policy makers must be trusted and a strong presumption must always be made, that decisions have been taken for the welfare of our nation. Nevertheless, the battle for Tibet and the freedom of its people will continue to rage and so will the ideology of the Dalai, for all those it matters to until the snow lion flag flies over the Potala Palace again.

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[1]Manekshaw Paper N o. 32, 2011China’s InfrastructureDevelopment in Tibet: Evaluating Trendlines, By Monika Chansoria, for the Centre for Land Warfare Studies, New Delhi.

About the Author:

Nazeer is a fifth year law student from the Faculty of Law IFHE. He is an avid reader of war history politics and law. He has high interest for foreign policy and the legality of armed conflict. He is also a staunch pacifist.

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Call For Papers: Samvaad 2017, Organized by Model Governance Foundation

Model Governance Foundation hereby invites original research papers and case studies on the following themes for presentation at Samvaad 2017 and publication in a book with an ISBN:

1. Ek Bharat, Shreshth Bharat
2. Uniform Civil Code
3. Removal of Article 370 from the Constitution of India
4. India v/s Bharat – Bridging the Divide
5. Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao – Need of the Hour
6. Make in India – A Boost to India’s Manufacturing Sector
7. Start-Up India, Stand-Up India – India’s Entrepreneurship Movement
8. Government of India's Policies, Programmes and Schemes
9. Right to Education
10. Right to Information
11. Goods and Services Tax
12. Corporate Governance
13. Corporate Social Responsibility
14. Growth, Development and Sustainability
15. United Nations
16. BRICS
17. G20
18. SAARC
19. ASEAN
20. NITI Aayog
21. Gender Equality
22. Women Empowerment
23. Affordable Healthcare
24. Affordable Housing
25. LGBT Rights
26. Olympic Games
27. AFSPA
28. Juvenile Justice System
29. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
30. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
31. Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana
32. Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana
33. Amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS)
34. Piracy and armed robbery against Ships
35. Implementation of IMO Instruments
36. Human Element, Training and Watch-keeping (HTW)

The topics listed above are just indicative and not exhaustive. Therefore, you can select a topic of your own choice under the following broad themes: Economics, Education, Governance, Healthcare, Technology, International Affairs, Law, Public Policy, Management, and Strategy.

Eligibility

1. The submission is open to all students, research scholars, teachers and professionals around the world.

2. Co-authorship shall be permitted. There is no bar on the number of co-authors.

3. All authors must register separately as delegates for the main event.

Submission Guidelines

1. The work should be original, and must not be previously published or must not be in the stage of submission/consideration anywhere else.

2. The word limit, excluding footnotes, endnotes, references, and bibliography can range between 2500-7500 words.

3. An abstract should be written at the beginning, explaining the aims and motives of the paper. Word limit: 250-750 words.

4. Submissions should be made in MS Word format.

5. Main Text – Times New Roman, font size 12, double spacing, justified, with a margin of an inch on all sides.

6. Footnotes – Times New Roman, font size 10. Substantive footnotes are accepted.

7. Citation Mode – Any uniform method of citation is allowed. However, you must name the method of citation used at the end of your submission.

8. Bibliographies or reference lists are welcome, but not necessary.

9. Each submission must be accompanied with a short description about the author(s).

Submission Policy

1. The Editorial  Board  will  follow  the  Anonymous  Peer-Review  policy  for  judging  the submissions.

2. The Editorial Board reserves the right to reject or edit any paper whose content is offensive or defamatory, explicitly unethical or if it supports racism, sexual or religious discrimination, illegal activities or terrorism; similarly an article may be refused if the Editorial Board deems that it might harm the political or religious sentiments of interested readers in any manner.

3. The Editorial Board reserves the right to disqualify the paper on account of plagiarism.

4. The research paper should not infringe the copyright or any other right of a third party, if so, the Model Governance Foundation disclaims any responsibility for copyright violation or any other liability.

5. The research paper shall be considered the property of Model Governance Foundation, which reserves the  right  of  publication  of  the  same  in  any  book  or  in  any  other manner  as  it  may  deem appropriate, without providing any royalty or compensation.

6. The editorial board reserves the right to vary, repeal, alter any of the rules, if as required, as they deem appropriate.

7. A soft copy of the research paper must be uploaded at www.samvaad.co/research.html by 30th April, 2017.

Cash Prizes

Rs. 5000 - First Prize + Gold Medal
Rs. 3000 - Second Prize + Silver Medal
Rs. 2000 - Third Prize + Bronze Medal

Book Prizes worth Rs. 9000

Evaluation Criteria for Prizes

1. Thesis and Thesis Statement
2. Organization
3. Support and Development of Ideas
4. Insight into Subject
5. Writing Style (clarity, flow, transitions, etc.)
6. Grammar, Paragraph and Sentence Structure

Average Score of Paper and Presentation will be used for ranking in the final merit list.

General Guidance

1. Types of Research Papers: Literature Review, Exploratory/Original Research, Case Study, Descriptive, Commentary or a mix of various types.

2. Our Editorial Board will provide detailed comments to author(s) in case their paper needs revision and improvement.

3. A Publication Certificate will be issued to the contributor(s) whose research paper(s)/case study(ies) is/are selected for publication in the book.

4. Participation Certificate will be issued to all the participants (including e-participants) of Samvaad 2017. No separate participation certificate will be issued for participation in this competition.

Presentation Guidelines

The paper can be presented through any of the two methods:

Offline Mode - By attending Samvaad 2017 physically

1. Powerpoint Presentation - The paper can be presented through a powerpoint presentation which must not contain more than 15 slides.
2. Video Presentation - The paper can be presented through a high definition video.

Online - By attending Samvaad 2017 through Video Conferencing - Google Hangout/Skype

Note: Discussion on every presentation will be facilitated during the conference.

Publication in the Book

1. Selected presented papers (online and offline) will be published free of cost in a book having an ISBN.

2. Non-presented papers will not be considered for publication.

For any other queries, please write to us at eb@modelgovernance.org

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