By Moin Qazi* The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. — Eleanor Roosevelt The world is witnessing a spring of a new generation of young game-changing women social entrepreneurs that is gate crashing and boldly scripting inspiring stories even as they are pairing their ingenuity and knowledge with passion for bringing innovative and sustainable solutions to its long entrenched social challenges to create a sustainable and more equitable world. Several of them are young icons who are stepping into power in technology, philanthropy, politics, business and media. They are showing the pathways to fundamentally transform our world – to end hunger and poverty, make healthcare universal, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. The world is poised at the cusp of large scale transformations in which everyone needs to do their part: governments, the private sector, civil society and social entrepreneurs in o

In a letter to the Prime Minister of India; Gujarat chief minister; secretary, Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change; chairman, Central Pollution Control Board; Gujarat chief secretary; additional chief secretary, Gujarat Forest and Environment Department; senior officials of the Gujarat Pollution Control Board; and Vadodara district collector, the Vadodara-based environmental body, Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti (PSS) has drawn the attention “dangerously very high COD” (Chemical Oxygen Demand) levels observed and documented in the groundwater in village Luna, Padra Taluka, Vadodara District. Text of the letter: This is to draw your attention to the findings of reports that we availed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 on 11.03.2019, to take action in view of Dangerously Very High COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) levels observed in ground water in village Luna, Padra Taluka, Vadodara District. The levels were determined as an outcome of a joint investigation c

By Moin Qazi* I vividly remember my moment of epiphany. It was a balmy afternoon in early 1996 in Warora, a small township in northern Maharashtra. I was posted as a manager of the local branch of my bank, the State Bank of India. Like any other day, there was a crowd of unruly people queuing outside and creating a commotion. I was busy doing my daily tasks when I was interrupted by my assistant who said that a group of women was waiting to meet me. I peered through the glass and, without giving a thought, I gestured them in. Though dressed in discoloured flimsy saris, the women appeared relaxed and confident as they walked in nonchalantly. I beckoned them to sit. Without beating about the bush, their leader struck an immediate chord. She boldly announced they had come to take a loan to set up a small business. Although it was the early office hour, and not the right time for too much discussion, I decided to hear them out. I lobbed a few soft questions at them. They answered them co

By Venkatesh Nayak* I am placing in the public domain a copy of the meeting minutes of the Board of Governors of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which legitimised the Central Government’s initiative to withdraw the legal tender nature of currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 denomination (also known as demonetisation or DeMon for short) on 08 November, 2016. Readers might remember my earlier despatches about RBI’s stubborn refusal to part with any information about the preparatory stages of this exercise. Readers might also recall my brief analysis of the stark differences between the 2016-17 exercise and the previous such exercise conducted in 1978. I salute the efforts made by the Indian Express and other media houses which have already reported the contents of RBI’s Board meeting minutes in November 2018- a worthy example of investigative reporting. However, I have not been able to locate a copy of the actual document on the Internet. I am publicly sharing the document conta

By Moin Qazi* In a free enterprise, the community is not just another stakeholder, but is in fact the very purpose of its existence. — Jamshedji Tata When we flip back through the business history of the world, we find that all large mercantile communities were great patrons of the art of philanthropy. They regarded it a divine tradition. The world is witnessing a growing realization in businesses of an important need for playing an active role in improving the world for the better. Hence, a great deal of money has been flowing into the social sector. Like individual citizens who have moral and social responsibilities, businesses are being perceived as corporate citizens who need to commit a part of their time, talent and resources for the welfare of the society as they draw their sustenance from it. This idea has now been corporatised under the appellation, ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ or better known by its acronym, CSR. CSR is a very broad concept that aims at managing a busin