Deepaavali. Let there be light, peace, and joy to all of us. Let there be awakening towards truth, light, and life.
31 October takes us to Akhandata – unity, integrity, integration – geographic, thematic – matters. We need it.
The trickle of the movement started in Samarka in 1946 as Kaira Cooperative Union, AMUL. Found a way to produce milk powder from buffalo milk. Shastri mandated its replication nationwide in 1965 through National Dairy Development Board (Society), NDDB/Dairy Board, and Indian Dairy Corporation (Government Company), IDC, both chaired by Dr Verghese Kurien. Operation Flood, a billion litre idea, in Milk started. More unions in Gujarat came and got federated as GCMMF in 1973 with AMUL as an umbrella brand. Replication continued across the country. Several federations and brands. Institute of Rural Management, IRMA came into being in 1979. Operation Goldenflow in edible oilseeds/oils started in 1980.Thereafter, Technology Missions on Dairy Development and Oilseeds started. 1987, IDC merged in NDDB and NDDB became a national institution under Parliament. Market Intervention Operation in edible oils, started in 1989. We have already become self-sufficient in milk, in oils, by the time Dr Kurien retired from Dairy Board in 1997.
He continued with GCMMF and IRMA till 2006.
In this journey of Dr Kurien’s journey, Dr Ram Prakash Aneja has been there for about 25 years starting in 1968. We listen to and converse with him on 13 November, drawing lessons from this journey for sustainable/ regenerative/natural farming, fodder, fibre, food systems now.
Now, we could quickly gather 100 pointers of work for India Plan 75à 100. India 2047 Vision, Values, Approaches, Institutions, Strategies, Methods. Let us unveil it soon and start working on it. At least from 15 August 2022. Here are the first cut 100 pointers –
- Happiness Focus
- Hope, Faith, Promise and Love as dominant values, with inclusion, equity and sustainabilty driving
- State moves to policies, regulation and tracking
- Reduced staffing in ‘State’
- Local Goverments, Collectives, and Individuals takeup service provison and business
- Nature-sync simple-simplistic life for most of us, yogic, spiritual
- Smaller units of governance, 100 states/UTs; 1500 districts; 15000 blocks; 500,000 GPs
- 10,000 to 100,000 self-reliant and may be self-sufficient local economy units of 5-50 GPs
- 90%+ workforce being engaged remuneratively locally
- Substantial powers, responsibilities and budgets decentralized
- Multi-stage Development Fieldstay/work/apprenticeship/internship for all
- Rs. 20 lakh Crore GDP, 1 million per capita/year
- Knowledge workers, self-employed and entrepreneurs
- Literacy, Digital Literacy, Financial Literacy; Banking Literacy
- Teachers of high regard for all at 1:10 students
- Basic minium urban facilities (to be defined) for all
- Doctors for all at 1:1000 population
- Direct benefit, 25,000 a month to all; State to put Rs.10 Million per child as wealth
- Free Education, Quality Education to All, upto 18; and at loan above 18
- Work hours 35/week or 1500/year; portfolio of works; portfolio of incomes
- Work up to 80 years
- No retirement age for teachers, doctors and LPRD facilitators/leaders
- Single Tax, Tax on Expenditure?
- Freedom of Life, Living, Livelihoods, Portfolio of Livelihoods; Association; Expression
- Thriving Free Media
- Reduced low-high wage structure, 1:100 (Rs.1000 a day and Rs.100,000 a day)
- Returns limited to five times the interest rate
- INR to be a global benchmark currency
- No Foreign Development aid into India
- 75%+ families meet half their FNH needs on their own
- 50%+ families to be prosumer families
- All families have own or rent free shelter. At least 200 sft per capita.
- Life Expectancy crosses 80 – sahasra chandra darshan
- 1000-day services, kits to all infants and mothers, including universal vaccinations
- Walking space, cycling tracks, healing parks for all
- Learning Centres, reading/e-reading rooms-libraries, at least one per 100 families
- Every adult, a member of a functional collective
- Every being, an active member of civil society
- 365 day green cover agroecology everywhere, with chemical free produce for all
- Improved understanding of microbial world
- Equitable Development Fund
- Equity for Poor, Vulnerable and Marginalized
- Access to senior citizen homes and universal access to geriatric care
- Local and short value chains, local value-addition, with limited intermediate VC players
- Increased propoprtion of consumer rupee to basic producer/service provider
- Per capita/family Ceilings on farm, non-farm, housing real estate to functional levels
- Self-sufficient Sustainable Energy
- SDGs met; 2030 Commitments on Climate met
- Referendums on key reforms
- Destination to world students, workforce and entrepreneurs
- Privacy, with transparency in community-public life
- Mandatory 1000-day community living and work for students
- Mandatory community work for youth, as a citizen
- Integrity everytime everywhere?
- Eldercare for all, eldercare homes for all who need
- Cash dispensing ATM/BC in every village/GP
- Internet broadband for all with no or small price
- Mobile/Tablet/Laptop, email id, bank account for each one; savviness to use them
- Residential education access to 50% students in schools and 100% beyond schools
- Local Governments and Community Collectives take all things local into their fold
- 3-4 in 100, to be leader-animator professionals in the service of the 100, accountable locally
- Simple nature-centric life for all
- Infant/childcare for all working mothers outside homes
- Mediation, Stretches, Walk, Jog, Yoga by/for all who can do
- Nature-Community-Spiritual Travel-Stay, at least 1000 days and nights, away from home
- Renewable Sustainable Energy reliance
- Local self-reliant economies, Gram Swaraj
- Forests, Green Parks on 30%+ lands
- No/near zero fallow land
- Recycled waterflows
- Thriving local artists and craftsmen, across ‘64’ arts
- All pervading rational thought and scientific temper, science clubs
- Water harvesting in the basins, watersheds, springsheds
- Reduced or no private health expenditure, except for insurance premiums linked to taxes
- Mental healthcare
- Commons in the hands of the Communities, People’s Collectives
- Empowered wards/sub-wards/colonies
- Functional associations/clubs of children, adolescents, youth, elders
- Local Multi product/service and special purpose Consumer Collectives, stalls, outlets
- Local uberized certified standard services, service providers
- Free authenic knowledge access to all
- Individual, Collective and Corporate Social responsibility in all walks, based on business
- Institutionalized payback
- Social sabbatical(s) to all
- Happiness and wellbeing as a function in Government at all levels
- Information, Education, Engagement, Employment, Entertainment as a right
- Right to life to include agency to access and have ‘life’
- Mandatory Education to include Nature, Culture, Local Occupations, Arts, Skilling, Behaviour, Sports
- Practice and Project Works in School and beyond
- Leadership and Management education early in life
- Apprenticeship in schooling
- Daily/weekly local cultural fairs, in addition to markets
- Food, Nutrition, Health and Health Management Education in schooling
- Self-defence, self-care, self-reliance, combined with care and sensitivity for vulnerable, needy
- Disaster preparedness
- Informed choices for living, livelihoods, leading
- Transcending survival level towards self-actualization
- Fearless upright citizens, servant leaders
- Universalized Self-help and Mutual help
- Systems Changes for India 2047 and beyond
Now we revisit, refine, realign, hybridize these and make plans to realize them The portfolio of plans will be e-published for planning, support and action.
Neuroscience confirms that there is a constant interaction/struggle between emotion and deliberation (reason) in the brain and often emotion holds sway, notwithstanding willpower and rational conclusions. Some of us may go for the thrill of the hunt, the prospect of a reward/averting a risk, or the desire to take revenge/retaliate and some of us may go for the pleasure of the feast, the reward/averted risk/threat, or the actual revenge. Someone likes the chase, some other likes to reach the goal. It also confirms that our gut, and the unconscious impulses work quickly, swiftly and powerfully, without our conscious realization. Start focusing on the gut, intuition and impulses.
We are not doing well on the Global Hunger Index. National data is also more or less saying the same. Undernutrition – stunting, micronutrient deficiency – wasting and overweight are increasing.
Beneficiary is not a revenue-paying customer. Often donor is a paying customer. Therefore, non-profits are in two simultaneous businesses – program, raising funds. They need to run the programme and also raise funds. From individuals – by connecting to heart; seeking pay back; by seeking joining in ‘let us help ourselves’. From large donors for a large cause. From public schemes/sources. For alternative ways and innovations. Fee-based services to beneficiaries as part of large programmes. Resource re-cycling. Legal/ethical alternatives to market players. Larger/wider movements at local levels. And hybrids of these and more other ways. Can we facilitate this learning to our non-profit leaders?
We might be geniuses, all we know. In any of the 9 intelligences – natural, musical, logical (and numbers), existential (life), interpersonal (people), kinaesthetic (body), linguistic (words), intra-personal (self), spatial (spaces, picture). If we are creative/overthinking. If we talk to ourselves more often. If we are passionately more curious of how and why. If we are absent-minded now and then about basic things. If we are not in for ‘fashion’ and less ‘social’. If we read constantly – deeper and/or wider. If we enjoy stretching ourselves to the hilt, expanding our horizons, out of our comfort zones. If we suffer from social anxiety. If we struggle with some addiction or the other. We need to discover our zone(s) of genius and pursue. For our lasting happiness. Why not?
Lasting happiness is liberation. Kaivalya. It comes from a life in harmony with our deeper values, leading to a life of servant leadership. Our values give us the sense of this purpose, will, strength and energy. Can we have it?
Yes, we can. If we are awake to possibilities.
If we seek inside us. If we keep moving, towards nature and be there. If we go inward and outward. If we are in the flow of N. For 7L.
Join us in the world of yoga of inner light for useful coexistence – hridayayoga for 7L.
G Muralidhar