Building Leaders for a Better India

In the recent months, in line with the India 2.0 aspirations, a friend and I have been trying to figure out how best we can contribute and participate in the various citizen movements mushrooming in India everyday. As part of this, we got introduced to JP garu who directed us to this non-political group, Foundation for Democratic Reforms (FDR). We were very glad that he took interest in our interest and spent time with us to properly guide us and even went as far as assigning a single point of contact for us to help us navigate through the systems and sub-systems as we figure out where best we can contribute. That said, to be honest for one reason or the other, although we had no dearth of ideas, we couldn't put things into action on our own.

Incidentally, we got introduced to Youth for Better India group (YBI) since FDR was supporting them in their efforts to mobilize youngsters and train them in various aspects of citizenship, good governance and leadership. As we got to know about YBI and its mission, vision, etc we got involved in helping them prepare for their first ever leadership camp they were organizing for 40 volunteers from across the state.
These 40 trainees were selected based on previous events that YBI organized in various colleges across the state. The objective of the training was to train these youngsters in the areas of good citizenship, good governance, rights and responsibilities of a good citizen and leadership skills. Here are some highlights from the preparation, the session and the small talk with the participants:

• Average age of participants was low 20s  (no, I didn't feel old :)). They were mostly from Engineering and other degree colleges and interestingly none from medical colleges
• It was very refreshing to see their energy levels, awareness about whats happening in the country and dreams of how they can make a difference
• Although most participants were from Engineering colleges, they have future plans in very disparate fields like movie production/direction, animation, social service, civil services, politics, etc 
• Just like there is a divide between the 'Haves' and 'Have nots', there seems to be a even wider divide between the 'Cares' and 'Care nots'.. meaning people who care about the country/society vs. those who don't. Even among those who care, there seem to be broadly two sub groups:
• The lower middle class and below poverty line: These are people who are struggling just to make ends meet and for them whoever satisfies those basic needs are heroes and that's all they think about or care about.
• Middle class and upper middle class: These are people who can more or less think objectively and make decisions based on their opinion (if they have one). The problem here seems, most people in this group don't care enough to think through and have an opinion too.. This training is intended to catch this group when they are relatively young and moldable to give them enough knowledge so they feel motivated to participate and understand what they need to do as good citizens and think clearly and have an opinion about at-least the issues that concern them day to day
• Participants were sent 4-5 questions prior to the session for them to survey about 10-20 people each. Some interesting findings from the survey 
• Top problems affecting India - Corruption, Illiteracy, Political System, Inefficient Leadership, Braindrain
• Main reason for increase in Corruption: No enforcement of rules, Lack of citizen participation in policy making or enforcement, Lack of transparency, Compromising Attitude, Getting used to bribes to avoid delays/inconveniences
• Who is responsible for corruption in India - (percentages here mean % responsibility each group has towards corruption)
• Politicians - 25%, 
• People - 25%, 
• Govt Officials - 50% 
• This was interesting. When the class was asked this question, 90% initially said '100% - People', but upon reasoning and thinking through with examples, most concluded that it was more a systemic issue and difficult for the common man to avoid bribes these days unless he is willing to sacrifice his personal life a lot. One person asked 'How do you separate people from this system?' A good explanation for this was given by the facilitator: System is People + Policies + Execution of Policies (Governance). So, as an example: having a rule that one needs to get his income certificate in 7 days from application-time without enforcement or penalty for not adhering to this timeline doesn't do any good and it is such lapses in the 'system' or 'governance' that creates room for corruption.
• Do you think we can still change and reduce corruption - 52% thought we still have a chance which is encouraging
• Brainstorming question - How does one define corruption: 

• Expecting a favor(monetary or other) to do one's job
• Accepting a favor (monetary or other) to not do one's job
• Accepting a favor (monetary or other) to break/change the rules for someone's convenience
• The group was also asked to brainstorm tools they knew to combat different forms of corruption
•  Refer to Citizen's charters, Tatkal schemes and hold officials accountable
• Govt/Policy makers to create more accountability for each role at every level
• Penalty (monetary or other) for not fulfilling one's responsibilities - E.g., Penalty for each day's delay in the rendering of service as defined in citizen's charter
• Use Right to Information (RTI) Act - Powerful tool in the citizens' hands
• RTI: Right to Information Act was particularly fascinating to learn about. I also realized just passing this act is not  enough if the Govt cannot put people, processes and tools in place to execute it efficiently. 

A conclusion that the class came to is that by and large our constitution and the policies in place are very comprehensive and forward thinking, but what seems to be lacking is the tools and processes necessary to put them into effect effectively. So, the end result is that the execution of such policies and procedures is left to the discretion of the person in-charge. Giving powers in the form of spending power or discretionary decision making power without proper checks and balances in the system creates the room for Corruption.
So, to summarize the key takeaways for me and hopefully the other participants: There is a direct correlation between effective policy making and governance/execution to creation of more transparent and less corrupt government, system and nation. While there is lot that needs to be fixed systemically, there is also a lot in our hands to help make a difference - e.g., Start caring, thinking, forming an opinion, choose your leaders from amongst you, but choose the one that is ahead of you in their thinking, in their vision for the country. A leader doesn't necessarily have to support/follow a majority opinion, but should be able to build the majority consensus towards his vision.
Finally, I want to end by saying.. my time spent in the preparation and the training was very useful in just being able to connect with these youngsters, learn from them, and just be encouraged to see their interest and energy.