National Leaders Converge at The/Nudge Forum’s Charcha 2021 to Accelerate India’s Development

New Delhi: The/Nudge Forum’s charcha 2021, a convening with nearly 300 national leaders and key stakeholders from ‘Samaaj, Sarkaar and Bazaar’ (Representatives of civil society, government and policy circles, and the corporate sector), came together for India’s sustainable development from Aug 13-15, setting the stage for our 75th year of Independence.

Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, who was part of the opening plenary, said, "We have to think of Sarkar & Bazar as subsets of Samaaj, rather than all three being in conflict with each other. Over the years the consensus has evolved that neither the unregulated markets nor a Sarkaar that tries to do everything are desirable for changing the ends of social justice. All the three (Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar) need to work together to address the challenging development issues."

Addressing various developmental agendas like health, education, gender, energy and environment, resilient societies and citizenship, skill development and economic empowerment, equitable cities, social entrepreneurship, etc, charcha 2021 was co-hosted by partners like National Skill Development Corporation; Rockefeller Foundation; Piramal Foundation; Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies; Omidyar Network India; Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy; Central Square Foundation; Dalberg and Water Aid.

Discussing the role of science and technology in India’s development, Debjani Ghosh, Chairman of NASSCOM said, “I do not think we can achieve our development objectives, be they sustainable, or inclusive, without the role of science and technology. Science and technology have to lead the way. This (the pandemic) is the opportunity for us to recreate a better world,” while co-panelist Dr. Chitra Rajagopal, former Director-General of DRDO added, “Innovation is the key to address all sustainability issues, and the drivers of innovation are science and technology, which are fundamental to the intelligent management and use of all our resources. Innovation is the key to achieve sustainable development goals."

Sonam Wangchuk, Founder of SECMOL, voiced his ideas on building an institutional approach to sustainable development, saying "While many of us think governments and corporates make a nation move, what makes these institutions move is the people of the nation and we should work to mature and groom the people, so that democracy is strengthened and better policies get devised, which decide what governments and corporates do, and more importantly, what they don't do."

Talking about the pandemic and cultivating resilience to future shocks, Dr. R S Sharma, CEO of National Health AUthority (MoHFW), GoI, emphasized, "There are some very unique digital public goods that India has created of which there are no parallels anywhere. India is undergoing a transformation in the use of technology for the delivery of health services. Information and Communication Technology is quite permeable and is being leveraged in various domains including the health sector to create resilient health delivery systems."

Leading global institutions hosted their respective events on the Charcha Platform, each with a focused agenda on a development topic. The Skill Development event hosted by NSDC included a keynote by Prof. Neharika Vohra, Vice-Chancellor of Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University (DSEU), who spoke about what skilling and economic empowerment can mean for the country. "India will not be able to have an economy with something that runs on Jugaad where we only improvise. Skilling would mean that we are striving to be perfect and that we do things that stay for a longer time. We need skill because skill is what ensures personal success, and the success of our community and the entire world.", she said. At the Resilient Societies event hosted by Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, director Hansal Mehta spoke on the role of media in shaping societies, and that “motivation for movies should be driven from a personal perspective because personal comes before the public." Social entrepreneurs like Ashif Shaikh, Aniket Doeger, Dr. Rukmini Banerji, Academic leaders like Dr. E Revati, Dr. Purnima Menon, Policy influencers like Dr. G R Chintala, Chairman NABARD, Dr. Gagandeep Kang, and Dr. Srinath Reddy and business leaders like Prashanth Prakash, K Ganesh, and Vineet Rai were among 300+ speakers at the 11 events of Charcha 2021.

“Charcha2021 marked a spectacular coming together of all socio-economic stakeholders for the nation’s development, which is a shared agenda. The various aspects of development - such as health, education, equity, and industry- are interconnected. A siloed approach to growth and transformation doesn’t work. Civil society, government, corporates, academia, scientists, and community leaders need to come together for powerful change-making.  We were delighted to have so many thought leaders enrich the summit over three days. The success of Charcha2021 gives us confidence that together we will be able to forge ahead with an inclusive and empowering agenda for the nation”, remarked Sudha Srinivasan, CEO- The/Nudge Centre for Social Innovation.

#charcha2021 witnessed the coming together of over 4000+ live audiences, with nearly 100 hours of programming on development sector topics. The free-for-all event welcomed all stakeholders and socially conscious Indians,  to participate in India’s development agenda, through conversations and collaborations on solving the nation’s most challenging problems, together.