Author: Prerna Barua
As a means to commemorate 40 years of Participatory Research in Asia’s journey, Dr. Rajesh Tandon (Founder-President, PRIA) embarked on a visit to Udaipur. In lieu of Dr. Tandon’s visit, Seva Mandir (an organisation working in the sector of rural development) had organised a symposium on ‘State, Citizenship and Civil Society’. The panel discussion included eminent civil society leaders such as Binoy Acharya (Founder-Director, Unnati) and Ajay S. Mehta (Current President of the Vidya Bhawan Society, who has also served as the chief executive of Seva Mandir), and was moderated by Ronak Shah (Chief Executive, Seva Mandir).
The discussion began with Dr. Rajesh Tandon recounting the history of his relationship with Seva Mandir and how the field research for his PhD Dissertation on ‘Impact of Organizational Development in Underorganized Communities’ was done through the onus of this organization in Kherwara District, Udaipur. During that period in the late 1970’s, Dr. Mohan Singh Mehta (lovingly referred to as ‘Bhaisaab’) would be the point of contact for Dr. Tandon, creating a lifelong friendship and mentorship. In this same period, Dr. Tandon’s beliefs regarding learning, wisdom and knowledge generation were shaped with the realisation that degrees were not equivalent to wisdom. Rather, the lived knowledge and experiences of indegenous persons, along with human relationships were considered to have greater relevance.
Along the same lines, Dr. Rajesh Tandon spoke about the fact that a limited idea of citizenship exists in the present, as something that is determined by whether or not one has an Aadhar card. The ideas of the same used to be more relational in nature, and should also aspire to be “the solidarity we show as human beings towards distant and unknown others”, according to him. Peaceful coexistence among citizens in a nation state is also correlated to such human relationships. It was noted during this discussion that India has a large youth population who “know how to use mobile phones, but are they creating relationships?”. In the event that ‘Gen-Z’ would need to interact with persons from another religion, race, ethnicity, the lack of knowledge regarding building human relationships would continue to be an issue.
The issue of a lack of human connection has also permeated into the work of civil society, where projects are now donor-driven, and learnings from the community through research and continuous interactions have taken a backseat. Building partnerships with other civil society organisations and with the communities that civil society organizations work with would also need to have a more ‘human’ element.
Binoy Acharya also presented a similar understanding of the importance of human relationships, particularly as they relate to transfer of knowledge between youth and those who have had greater lived experiences. “Learning the ways and wisdom of the ‘old’ is essential for youth today. However, there is no route map for this transferring process, which would thus need to be created, as conscientization of individuals for knowledge generation needs to be emphasized. According to Mr. Acharya, the space for civil society, and civic engagement is shrinking, which would imply that stronger citizen advocacy on human rights is required. In this space too, learnings from community-centred civil society programmes are limited— with “highly referenced journals, with limited primary research and the inability to understand and prioritise field research.”
Ajay S. Mehta also spoke about the shrinking space for learning, civil society engagement, and citizen participation. Divisive forces prevail in the current political climate, leading to increased cleavages across identities— including those of religion, ethnicity, and caste. While the role of the state is to mitigate the conflicts emerging from these cleavages, the current “soulless” nature of the former prevents it from achieving this task. In such an atmosphere, the role of the citizen (or rather, “a person of the world”, in the cosmopolitan version of the idea of citizenship), would need to be enhanced in the rights-based space.
This participatory discussion, attended by college students, young professionals, and sector experts also saw a number of relevant questions being posed to the panel. Among these, included a question regarding the importance of documentation (through Aadhar cards, PAN cards, e-shram cards, etc), and whether the absence of these would mean “citizenship beyond state”. As an answer to this question, it was noted that citizenship should already have an emphasis on relational being, and transnational solidarity, and that citizenship needs to extend beyond state regardless of textbook definitions of the same. An overreliance on state machinery produces a top-down model of development for citizens, where contextualized local knowledge might prove to be more beneficial. Dr. Rajesh Tandon noted in the same context that, “citizenship implies that we need to have a stake in all decisions made. For instance, if we look at a pond that has dried up, we need to ask the people if they know how to rejuvenate this pond, instead of directly digging a well.”
Another question posed was about why civil society today prioritizes service delivery solely, and conscientization takes a backseat. In response, the civil society stalwarts stated that in the past, widespread conscientization with and for communities used to be done in the past by ‘animators’ (now called ‘field facilitators). However, due to state failure in reaching the most marginalized populations, the onus of service delivery now falls on civil society, in many instances. In addition to this, Dr. Tandon described that civil society members in the past had focused on praxis to ensure conscientization. Thought processes were less linear, and that such thinking needed to be inculcated among individuals today, to ensure the growth of civil society and, that “paagal logo ki zaroori hai”[1].
The key themes that emerged in this discussion, on a personal note, were-
[1] Translation: We need more people with non-linear thinking in this sector
Ms. Meghna Sandhir, along with our team members, has been engaged in the Drivers, Limiters, and Barriers to Women's Trust in Digital Platforms Project since last year. She is blogging about her firsthand experiences from visiting our project sites in India.
Ms. Aashini Goyal, along with our team, has been working on the Drivers, Limiters, and Barriers to Women's Trust in Digital Platforms Project for the past two months. This blog recounts her firsthand experiences from visiting our project site in India.
Ms. Meghna Sandhir, our programme officer, along with colleagues from Martha Farrell Foundation and Pro Sport Development, participated in the Trainers of Training (ToT) program conducted at Sahbhagi Shikshan Kendra - SSK Lucknow. The training took place from December 4th to December 10th, 2023.
