Jan 18, 2018

Ever since Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s first look for Manto was out, the movie has been in the spotlight. But director Nandita Das couldn’t be happier as she gears up for her film.

Playwright Saadat Hasan Manto was renowned for his unfiltered and uncensored writing during the post-Independence period. If word is to be believed, this could lead to trouble for the movie too. While she is aware of the debate that her colleague Sanjay Leela Bhansali is caught in with Padmavati, Nandita says her courage comes from conviction.

“When you are deeply convinced about something, you don’t need to seek conviction, hence I think there is no fear. Otherwise I would have never made it,” Nandita said after she was awarded the social change pioneer at the Sankalp Global Summit 2017. “I went bald for Water, I was attacked during Fire. I was stopped from promoting my film Firaaq. I am used to it in some ways,” she added.

The biopic stars Nawazuddin in the lead role of the celebrated writer, Manto. Nandita says her films resembles our society and doesn’t point finger on anyone. “I try to become a mirror and show our society. So if you resonate with it, it is good. If not, that’s also fine. Manto is a way to respond to today,” Nandita says, adding, “There is nothing controversial in the film. In fact, the film celebrates the human spirit. There is humour and wit so I think it’s a very young people’s film.”

Jan 8 2018

In 1992 in the heartland of conservative Rajasthan, a woman fought against sexual assault openly, for the first time. This is the story of Bhanwari Devi.

The Vishaka Guidelines on sexual harassment has empowered millions of Indian women to work safely and given them the confidence to report any incident of sexual harassment in the workplace.

According to a report released by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, at least one case of sexual harassment in the workplace is reported every day in India, with a total of 1,971 cases reported since 2014.

This empowerment has been largely possible because of the struggles of one brave woman, Bhanwari Devi, who hails from a nondescript village in Rajasthan.

In 1992 she dared to speak out against some members of the upper-caste community who allegedly gang-raped her and also against her employers, who refused to take any responsibility.

Dec 11 2017

The BJP says it’s fighting the elections in Gujarat on the so-called “development” plank. It is for the electorate to decide, and half of them have already done so, whether they want to reward the incumbent state government for the “development” they have witnessed — enough water for households, electricity in every house, good roads, higher income from agricultural produce, other big ticket infrastructure — whatever the issues the electorate want to highlight upon.

Gujarat remains one of the fastest growing states, and has managed to keep its fiscal deficit in check. But despite all the development that has happened in the state, it remains sluggish when it comes to social indicators — health, welfare and access to education. According to a study by Bloomberg Quint, the state has the second lowest literacy rate, as per the 2011 census. Literacy rate is 78.03 per cent, compared to Kerala, with 94 per cent, or Maharashtra, with 82.34 per cent. Regarding access to education (measured by the prevalence of colleges per lakh people), the state fares lower than the national average.

It has only 28 colleges for every lakh people, compared to 50 for Karnataka and 43 for Kerala. Gujarat is also laggard in terms of gender parity in education, the report says. Students who enrol in higher secondary schools after completing secondary education are far less in Gujarat compared to Kerala, which also fares very well here. The state also has fewer engineering, technology, management and chartered accountancy institutes compared to other states.

Interestingly, Gujarat’s spending on the social sector is the second highest among the states compared with Maharashtra, which tops the list. That the state is still a laggard in social indicators could be because the issue is of such magnitude that even an earnest effort by successive governments there is not making any significant changes to the grassroots. Or it could be the manner in which the schemes are targeted, or the priorities given. This is not to take away any laurels from the BJP government in the state, for its continued push for investments, its thrust on infrastructure, and its efforts to ensure more social stability, which is also quite important for businesses.

In this day and age, humans have a quality of life that previous generations will only envy. We are spoilt for choice when it comes to healthcare and food. However, with the good, there comes the bad and this period can also be called some of the worst that we have seen in centuries. To highlight the condition, Oxfam last year highlighted that 62 people own as much wealth as 3.6 billion of the world’s poorest people.

Healthcare has been the biggest challenge. With the refugee crisis plaguing various pockets of the world, and developing countries such as India still working towards tackling diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV, encephalitis, malaria, and dengue, just to name a few, we’re still in a phase where we’re still trying to reach that point from where we can steadily advance.

The Sankalp Global Summit 2017 that was held in Mumbai last week saw 800 thought-leaders come together to address some of the biggest challenges humankind faces. One of these topics was the future of health, although they also looked at the future of food, and future of work.

The future of health brings a number of challenges, since the Government of India is currently aggressively working to eradicate tuberculosis by 2025. And while India has become a nation for medical tourism, the road ahead has a lot of hurdles. “The good thing is that if you manage to fix your own problems, they are very applicable to other developing countries and to the developed world as well. We should always play to our strengths. It is good to think about the global issues but act on your own problems first,” said Dr Aniruddha Malpani, Director and Founder Malpani Ventures, who was one of the speakers at the summit.

Another problem faced by not just India, but the world is affordable healthcare for all. People in the United States have raised concerns over US President Donald Trump’s health insurance policy replacing previous president Barack Obama’s policy that many believe reached out to the poorer sections of society.

In India, too, while medical services are subsidized in government and municipal-run hospitals, complex surgeries are still expensive. “A lot of it depends on what your actual definition of healthcare is. If you think that healthcare means doing bypass surgery for everyone then that’s definitely not going to happen. There lies a huge gap, a doctor’s definition of healthcare is perhaps very different from an oddly layman person. A doctor’s definition comprises all about illness care but if you ask are there going to be enough CT scanners or hospitals and that’s your perspective for affordable healthcare for all, then the answer is going to be no. But I think that’s a flawed dimension and I feel that if we use a sensible matrix, then the answer is going to be yes. I feel that unless we have a healthy population, we will never be able to reap our demographic dividend. Hence, it makes a lot of business sense to make sure that young kids remain educated and healthy,” Dr Malpani added.

Another problem faced by both doctors and patients is the insignificant doctor-patient ratio in India. In the Lok Sabha this year, Union Minster Anupriya Patel said as per information provided by the Medical Council of India, there were a total 10,22,859 allopathic doctors registered with the state medical councils or Medical Council of India as on March 31 this year. This means that there is one doctor for every 1,000 people, a staggeringly low ratio, given the number of infection-related deaths in the country. A 2009 report by the Guardian said that 2 million slum children died every year due to infection. The numbers may have come down, but it’ll be a while before India sees a significant drop in infection-related deaths.

However, Dr Malpani says that the problem is the way doctors are distributed. “If we continue like this then the misdistribution will continue, which implies that the number of specialist in Mumbai will keep on increasing but will we be able to get those doctors to go to places where they are needed? So we need to change the way we look at this completely, if we continue what we are doing right now then it will not be a sensible solution.”

With the Central government’s ambitious plan to eradicate tuberculosis by 2025, there are many challenges. While speaking to DNA, David Gallipeau, Chief Impact Office, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Impact Finance​ (UNSIF) said, “If you look at future of health, Med-Tech Health-Tech and such kind of remedies, this is going to bring a revolution in healthcare. The lifespan of the people will increase, diseases will be eradicated, even medical equipment like cancer mammograms and the introduction of artificial intelligence in learning, identifying and making decisions about cancer that are taking place as we speak is going to get commercialised. Hence, there will be a revolution in both Health-Tech and Med-Tech,” he said.

Gallipeau, however, added that there was a stigma attached to a number of diseases such as tuberculosis, but said that it was a cultural issue. “I was previously working with UN AIDS for combating HIV in 2004 when the stigma was relatively high. There is a way to approach stigma and it revolves around attitudes and mind shifts. Just for the understanding of people that there are diseases out there like TB, AIDS and HIV and we need to fight it out. But there is going to be a big revolution in Health-Tech and Med-Tech without a doubt. People are going to live older and feel younger,” he said.

Dec 9 2017

Stating that identity-based inequality is the biggest inequality in India, former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University student union Kanhaiya Kumar Friday said that to live, people should have freedom and accessibility to resources.

Kumar was speaking at Sankalp Global Summit, a conference to discuss social change. He added that farmers are the first producers and last consumers in India, and there is a need to share prosperity and resources equally with them. “There is a need for direct market links for farmers to distribute better profits in the supply chain,”

The third edition of the Sankalp Africa Summit will be held from February 25-26 in Nairobi, global investment and advisory firm, Intellecap has said.

Intellecap said the summit will bring together investors, corporations, development financial institutions and foundations and see the participation of over 800 delegates, reputed leaders, eminent social impact partners.

“The Sankalp forum was established to enable a common action platform to connect, collaborate and celebrate African entrepreneurship. Over the last three years over 1000 people have attended the summit,” it said.

Intellecap said each year Sankalp recognises high potential entrepreneurs as leaders of the Future of Africa.

“This year, 13 enterprises will pitch to the audience at Sankalp to compete for the coveted Sankalp Africa Award,” it said.

The Sankalp Africa Summit is the fastest growing inclusive development platform for entrepreneurs, investors, innovators, donors and corporations.

The Sankalp Africa Summit, considered by some as the fastest growing inclusive development platform for entrepreneurs, investors, innovators, donors and corporations, is set to take place in February 25 – 26, 2016 at the Kenya School of Government.

Sankalp Africa Summit 2016 will be the third edition in East Africa with over 800 delegates – consisting of eminent social impact partners like World Bank Group, USAID, The Lemelson Foundation, Shell Foundation, Kenya Climate Innovation Center, Educate Global Fund and ICCO Cooperation among others – expected to attend.

Over the last three years 1000+ people have attended the summit which has featured partners, enterprises and entrepreneurs from 30+ countries, including 15+ African Nations. The Sankalp Forum was established to enable a common action platform to connect, collaborate and celebrate African entrepreneurship.

Each year Sankalp recognizes high potential entrepreneurs as leaders of the Future of Africa. This year, 13 enterprises will pitch to the audience at Sankalp to compete for the coveted Sankalp Africa Award. Over the last 2 years, Sankalp has recognized 20 enterprises in Africa and facilitated investments worth US $ 200,000 into one enterprise. Globally, Sankalp has supported 500 such businesses and channeled investments worth US$ 120Mn.

Winners of this year’s award will be chosen by a jury featuring leading industry veterans including investment guru Aly Khan Satchu, CEO, Rich Management, Duncan Onyango, Regional Director, Acumen Fund, Manu Chandaria, Chairman, Comcraft, Amrote Abdella, Regional Director,Microsoft4Africa, Jasper Snouk, CFO, Doen Foundation, Eline Blaauboer, Managing Partner, Spark Fund, Mark Carrato, Economic Growth Director, USAID and Courtney Blodgett, Program Officer, Vulcan Inc.

PT Bank DBS Indonesia bersama dengan DBS Foundation bekerja sama dengan wirausaha sosial dan wirausaha berskala usaha kecil menengah/UKM (small medium enterprise) di Singapura, India, Indonesia, China, Taiwan dan Hong Kong. Untuk kali pertama di Indonesia, sebanyak 17 wirausaha sosial di Indonesia dibina oleh DBS Foundation untuk dipertemukan dalam satu wadah pada Sankalp Southeast Asia Summit 2015.

Acara yang digelar oleh Intellecap ini merupakan wadah kolaborasi bagi para pelaku UKM pemula, inovator sosial dan juga investor dari berbagai negara di Asia Tenggara. Dengan tajuk “The Next Frontier of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Social Impact”, acara ini mengidentifikasi para penggerak berbagai sektor untuk menciptakan bisnis yang berdampak luas dan kemudian mempertemukan dengan calon investor.

Salah satunya adalah CV Sentinel Pratama, sebuah social enterprise yang bergerak di bidang pertanian ini menjawab permasalahan kemiskinan dan rawan pangan di pulau Sumba, Nusa Tenggara Timur. Dengan mengubah lahan kering menjadi lahan sawah irigasi, Sentinel menawarkan pemasangan hydram-pump, pompa yang mampu beroperasi 24 jam tanpa listrik dan bahan bakar bagi penduduk Sumba.

Kedai Mikro speaks to Rizki NH Penna, representative of Sankalp Forum in Indonesia post Sankalp Southeast Asia Summit on the opportunities that the Sankalp Indonesia Award finalists have to travel to India for the Global Sankalp Summit 2016.