N Raghunathan, co-founder and chief mentor at Vrutti, is now an Ashoka Fellow. Raghu works in the Livelihoods space. Raghini has joined as CEO in Vrutti.
National Cooperative Organics Limited (NCOL), a national multi-state cooperative that aims to provide access to markets and increase returns to farmers and their organizations, gets going. Flagging-off on 8 November. NDDB, NCDC, GCMMF, NAFED, and NCCF are the promoters. NCOL intervenes at various stages of organic/natural farming products reaching the final consumers. These include: aggregation, processing-storage and related value-addition, produce to product conversion, and branding. Transformation, capacity building, technical support, market intelligence, certification-traceability-residue free testing, financing for these activities and working capital are expected to be in the portfolio of NCOL. Any collective can be a member. 2000+ members are already on board as members or seeking membership. Membership drive has begun earnestly.
A recent re-classification says 18-65 years is youth. Unemployment and underemployment of young persons is high. What causes these? Low literacy? Low quality and not-so-relevant education? Low suitable skills? With youth being not-ready-for-jobs? Weak English, Digital, and soft life skills? Available jobs versus aptitude of job seekers? Are we seeking to create jobs or are we seeking to equip job seekers for the existing job spaces? If India adds 2-3 million youth in the workforce every year, do we have these many jobs per year, by whatever be the names – jobber, freelancer, private and public servant, entrepreneur et al? Easy and not-so-qualitative higher education pushing unemployment? Long-term employment rate in vocational/skills training less than 10%?
Are we investing well? Higher education costs more than INR one million per person. Skill education budget is less than INR 0.1 million. If Higher education cannot give a job, will a skill education give it? Track record says a mere 10%. On the other hand, Natural Farming transformation costs even less than this. Most probably, it can give sustainable employment. Where is the budget? 120 Million families – say 250 million youth in the country, and the budget – INR 5000 Billion. Maybe over 10-15 years or 500 Billion – 50,000 Crore a year. Mere 20% of the Fertilizer Subsidy in the country per year?
Shouldn’t we invest more into building entrepreneurs? How can we forget that we are a Krishi Pradhan country? How do we move from founder-driven to team-driven? How do we build these teams? How do we hand over to the ‘next’. It takes time – months to years. How do we raise resources and move to growing with surplus revenues? How do we find, engage, and enlist more investors? Not fake? How do we prepare for more and newer possibilities? How do you retain the agility without diligence casualty? How do we remain cost effective, without losing investments into possibilities? How do we remain lean and yet support growth and scaling? How do we ensure ‘support’ does not take over the ’core’? How do we spin-off and yet bound to vision, values, and brand? How do we move from form-storm-norm-perform to transform and reform? How do we prevent bureaucracy, and aristocracy setting in?
We are all aware: security of life and livelihoods is decreasing; pace of life and livelihoods is increasing; top gear. A culture of restlessness, over stimulation and distraction. We have become more ambitious, and aggressive. Without investing in acquiring abilities. Our attention spans are coming down. We do not spend enough time to know, and understand. We fast forward. We do not read, listen, or observe. We do not stop. We skim. We run. We race. We gulp. We skip food. We skip water. We skip sleep. We consume ‘adrenalin’. Toxins. Media. We do many tasks jumping from one task to the other in one second gaps – some even in micro-milli seconds gaps. We have no time, energy and interest for things that matter for our lives.
Can we pause? Declutter? Away from stimuli? Away from data dumps? Away from temporary thrills? Away from unnecessary activities? Can we retrieve some of our time, energy and interest and redirect them in the direction of meaning, and usefulness? Can we move from having to being? Meditate, reflect, and unlearn-learn? Read, and write? Time with people, and nature? Slow? Walk? Being useful?
Yes, we can. If we flow. The flow of N. For 7L.
Join us in the yoga of meaningful usefulness in harmony with nature – saathakayoga for 7L.
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