Notes from the Road & A Thought for 2011
Last week, I spent a thought-provoking few hours in an intense discussion with a small group of friends in Delhi. In a fortuitous coincidence, this was the same place where I had a discussion more than 2 years ago that shaped many of my activities in 2009-2010. I shared my observations and experiences from travels and meetings over the last two years…We also discussed some very fundamental and critical questions that need to be satisfactorily answered for this effort to succeed…Below is a brief summary* of these discussions. Please do contribute with your comments, ideas and suggestions…
My Observations:
- New (political) groups are proliferating; Average age of members/founders is between 20-30 years; Average lifetime is 2-3 years; The groups/members have passion but it remains limited to them…group rapidly disintegrates once key members move on
- The few notable exceptions include Lok Satta, Jago Party and Professionals Party of India (the average age appears to be higher in these groups as compared to others)
- Using online platforms to identity and excite potential (political) leaders does not appear to be working. What seems to work are repeated encounters, personal meetings (that help move from initial judgments to building trust). Hence good idea to travel extensively and meet as many people as possible
- That said, online platforms work very well to create awareness, have debates and discussions on issues (e.g. recenyt live chats on J7K, Corruption, Media etc)
- What might work is a mix of online national platform + local chapters
- FB and twitter will be significant game changers (especially as they become more “mobile friendly”)
- Having mental or physical filters acts as a barrier in these efforts (e.g. asking people to register online or having membership criteria to join a group); We need to appeal to a larger canvas
- People don’t get excited about plans: they get excited about what you can do in the “here and now”; they like to hear stories and real experiences
Some critical questions:
- (Raised by Piyush): We need to answer a fundamental question, “what is in it for me?” As an individual what does any philosophy or policy idea do for me?
- Important to communicate the idea in the right way such that it is heard and understood; We may need different message for different types of people
- (Piyush): How do we create a mass movement? How do we build traction? How about having simultaneous meetings across multiple locations to help build momentum? Can this help create a ripple effect?
- Where are the “leaders”? the doers – the ones willing to risk their personal lives?
- (Shantanu) Is it important that these people be accomplished in their fields, and have shown success and integrity? Are they willing to sacrifice 10-15 years without any “returns”? Are they willing to travel? What brings them together?
- What is the binding force of such a movement? Corruption? Creating open (equal) opportunity? Classless society?or tenets of ancient Indian philosophy?
- Why might this effort fail? Lack of leaders? Lack of the right issues with political traction? Failure to answer the fundamental question about what is in it for me? Lack of commitment or sense of urgency? Lack of people devoting full-time? Lack of political experience?…
If the above is making you feel despondent and pessimistic, pl don’t. Yes the task is daunting and the challenges we face are humungous…but they can be overcome…As long as we believe we can overcome…The rest is “execution”. And so a year that started with cups of tea and living in hope, is ending for me on an even more hopeful note...Pl do share your thoughts and comments on the points above.
And as 2010 draws to a close, please spare a thought for the ~300 million fellow Indians who have no idea that tomorrow is going to bring a change of date (and month, year & decade)…and a similarly large number who are too poor to care…Please ask yourself what can you do to change their plight in 2011 (and I am *not* thinking of charity). Join us in the quest to Reclaim India. Please consider becoming a part of a group of committed and passionate people who are willing to break the mould – and challenge the paradigm of popular politics, of vote-banks, electoral compromises and sub-serving of national interest.  While success in this effort may not make any of us (individually) super-rich but it will put India on a vastly different growth trajectory. If we succeed, we will have the chance to make the 21st century, India’s century and help India reclaim her rightful place of pride in the community of nations…
On that note, wishing everyone the very best of health, happiness and prosperity in 2011. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
* Thanks to Manali for her great notes which form the bulk of this post – and to everyone who took several hours out of their precious evening schedules & braved the Delhi traffic to join the discussion. Dipinder, Swapnil, Mayank, Piyush, Manali and Somnath: Thanks to all of you.
Thanks for this, Shantanu
A very happy new year to you, and my very best wises that your (and our) dreams for India come true.
You’ve worked indefatigably on this project since December 2007 when you found the FTI concept worthy of your further exploration. It is largely due to your work across India that FTI is now a reasonably well-known concept.
If you type in the following three phrases into google advanced search you get the following:
a) Freedom Team of India: 107,000 results.
b) Breaking Free of Nehru: 21,400 results.
c) Sanjeev Sabhlok: 4,300 results.
The book which introduced the idea of the Freedom Team (BFN) has clearly been swamped by that idea! The idea of FTI definitely has substance; there is an interest and it will grow further with the years.
However, when you compare all this with “bharatiya janata party” you find it has 4.2 million “results”. And if you add its other combinations, e.g. BJP, you end up with well over 10 million results.
With merely 0.1 million results, it shows you that FTI’s brand recognition is at least 100 times lower than BJP’s.
That is a matter of concern – that we have not yet found enough uptake of this idea even after three years of public discussion and debate. Indeed, the visits to FTI’s website have stagnated over the last year, at about 200+ per day. That is very low by any standard.
What has happened is that the much of the educated Indian middle class – which needs to provide the leadership for this movement – has not yet heard about it, or if it has, then it has not yet been persuaded enough to join and support it (including financially).
The questions and issues you discussed in Delhi are crucially important – and so a lot of work needs to be done. The FTI conference should discuss these issues further and arrive at realistic goals for 2011.
It is vitally important, in my view, to raise at least Rs.10 lakhs during 2011 and use Facebook, google ads, and twitter to spread the message about the FTI.
We need to do everything to find 1000 leaders quickly. That would generate the kind of critical mass we need to start moving on the ground in a big way. In addition, many of these leaders need to start building local constituencies and support through Freedom Partners.
FTI as a concept won’t die because it represents two simple things: freedom and citizenship. That is something dear to many (if not to most) of us. The questions now are only this: (1) DO INDIANS WANT TO REFORM INDIA? and (2) ARE THEY WILLING TO STAND UP AND BE COUNTED?
We have built a platform that is determined to reach for the stars, no less. Now, are the people of India willing to reach for the stars?
Regards
Sanjeev
I follow all your posts regularly. WIsh you a HAppy 2011!
Going through the above questions and based on all other recent readings, what about the idea of nationalism? This is in answer to your 6th question. How about bringing everybody together on the idea of nationalism? An Indian Muslim is an Indian Muslim in Saudi or an Indian Christian is an Indian in America or Europe.
For the so called “liberals†and international major powers and major powers wanna-be, nationalism is a dirty idea.
Every time a political leader or a public person makes an off-color comment such as P.Chidambaram’s “Saffron terror†comments or Digvijay Singh’s attempt to rewrite 26/11 or A.Roy’s recent drama or Barka gate issue, the debate should be centered around the idea of nationalism vs. anti-nationalism. A big ruckus must be raised to make them aware that these people are intensely anti national and they are simply no-good. The common people must be made aware of the anti-national nature of every issue, every event that has recently grabbed the headlines in the recent years and the recent days.
I can imagine educating the masses with the idea of nationalism will be possible with a dedicated television channel that hosts many different types of programs in many formats (entertaining as in game show, movie or a play or a short serial or Documentary format). Range of topics for documentaries can vary from non-Marxist history, social, temple architecture etc., discussion of INdian literature in the respective local languages, recent scientific advances, past Indian scientific and mathematical discoverie to Indian calendar system and so on. Of course, there needs to be a separate daily “Kids programming†too. We also need NPR or PBS style sober news dissemination, interviews and an Indian version of “THis American Lifeâ€.
I hope some of your readers catch on the idea above and has the means and the influence to start such a channel. Sri Sankara TV is doing an awesome job in the area of South Indian performing arts and Sanatana dharma philosophy. We need something similar to cover all of the areas above in PBS/NPR style of soberiety (as opposed to the shrieking banshees of NDTV, CNN-IBN etc), but not as lifeless as Doordarshan news reader.
Thank you Sanjeev…yes, we face monumental challenges but like you, I remain optimistic..We have a hard road ahead of us but giving up is not an option…
More on this in the days to come…
***
@ Sumitra: Thank you for your comment…Good point about “nationalism” as being a binding force…The challenge is to differentiate ourselves on that alone…that is going to be hard..but worth a serious thought…
Re. a media channel, this has been discussed and debated before…Unfortunately the biggest constraint is people who are dedicated to this idea and are willing to make a go if it without waiting for funds…otherwise it is the proverbial chiecken-and-egg situation.
Hi Shantanu
Just one suggestion .. to spread the message through FACEBOOK..
there is group with a link below .. it has over 4 lac members..
If we contact the admins .. may be we can spread the message to a vast audience..
http://www.facebook.com/AwakIND
I have tried emailing them … But no reply as yet..
Thanks
Vijay
Welcome to 2011 CE/AD. A good post with lots of introspection done. Agree to Sumitraji on Nationalism as a plank, because frankly speaking thats lacking in our citizens. Agreeing on the need for Social Networking sites, my experience is that we have to meet the masses, especially the young ones & it has to bottoms up on economic conditions. Shantanuji frankly speaking, i dont find most of the middle Class/Elite even bothered to exercise their franchise.First we need to educate them on them on the need to exercise their vote. With rgds to pt.5 (critical Q)i am sure there are like minded ppl. in every town, city who are ready to participate, have to mobilize the resources. Think you should have a chat session on these lines, we should have an select target panel of ppl from different walks participate in the same. With regards to Sanjeevji’s concern of FTI’s page hit i would say it should be linked to blogs, n if it is a source of information with lots of links, i am sure the hits would improve. An idea, pls. think over. Anyways this post yes should make all of us think of POA for the coming decade. All the very best. jai Hind..Vande Mataram
ranganathan
The fact that most of the middle class do not bother to vote does not mean they need to be educated. They probably are happy and perhaps believe that nothing will change any way. Yes, you can try to impress upon them the need to vote. But educating them sounds condescending.
@Vijay: Thanks great suggestion…I am trying to get in touch with them..will keep all posted.
***
@ranganaathan-ji: Thanks for the good suggestions…will certainly think them over. Agree that we need to connect with the masses and go to the towns and the cities…Might have a chat session on this too.
***
@Morris Re. “They (middle class) probably are happy and perhaps believe that nothing will change any way.“, not sure about “being happy” but agree that there is deep-rooted scepticism towards any efforts to reform the system.. I believe we have lost role models..We need a 100 (nay 1000) committed people to say we believe that the system can be changed – and we are committed to it…That is when things will turn.
Dear Shantanu & all,
Your starting thoughts present in a few succinct words the enormity of the challenge ahead.
I will comment on one key thing…”what is in it for me”. To me, all other challenges can be met by organising coordinating & other managerial skills. It is the thought leadership that provides answer to this key question that will help us move forward. Even if we gather people on a platform, how will they be enthused enough, or how would a desire for action and identification be ignited, the answers lies in how simply we can answer the key question…and that includes a clarity on how classical liberalism can be made a common good (for understanding) because as I see FTI, this is the only differentiator as most other referred groups would also like to claim focus/honesty/high-motivation. I am refering to a compelling simplistic understanding of our politico-economic liberal thoughts.
There is another aspect to this key question. and that is “clear engagement”. This is like answering the question…well I have joined FTI, now what?, what action? Most young and presumably old people too do not put much value on discussions and debates happening on e-platforms. To them, action is on the ground, on actions that has ability to create a “vow”/”thank-you” or the most basic of all “yes-I-have-done-this-that-contributes-differently” feeling.
At FTI, I feel this latter part will take time to come as we would need action platforms than mere discussion platforms. We would need more full-time people to move such efforts. Possibly that will have to wait till we find sufficient enough people to start with.
Regards.
Kamal
Hi Shantanu
IMHO couple of things we need to focus on
1 How this initiative can be sustainable for long term. We should not end up in a position like what is happening to RTI activist in Pune/Mumbai
2. FB/twitter can be game changers but again it will be restricting the audiennce to educated city youths. How does one reach a larger audience
3. Education or lack of it is our biggest problem. I think that if our people are educated, then it can help us in a big way
Thanks
Manish
Kamal, Manish: Thanks for sharing your thoughts…I would be lying if I said I had all the answers..Agree that communicating the message in a manner that resonates is the key…and yes, we do need “next steps”.
Am working on this at present.
@Manish: The initiative will sustain only if we manage to gather enough people..I am not sure FB/twitter wil remain to educated city youths…I think their appeal may be wider (esp. when one includes regional languages)