Bridging the great divide

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

Philanthropist Rohini Nilekani feels that serving society and doing business have to go together.

Nilekani has begun the effort by anchoring a programme called Uncommon Ground on a private news channel where she gets together people perceived on either side of the fence to talk to each other.

Her list includes activists like Medha Patkar, Sunita Narain and Aruna Roy and captains of Indian industry like Mukesh Ambani, Anand Mahindra and Rahul Bajaj.

“It is true that business is seen as something that is against the country. But then we need growth,” says she.

And companies are asking what kind of growth do we need? This is a positive change in the way companies are thinking, feels Nilekani in her attempt to bridge the divide between the two sides.

Nilekani is no stranger to the rich world of businessmen. Her husband, Nandan Nilekani, is the co-founder and former CEO of Infosys Technologies.Nilekani doesn’t value corporate social responsibility so much as the way companies do business.

“Businesses need to ask themselves second-generation questions like why should millions have no access to basic amenities or why Naxalites are holding the country to ransom,” she says, sounding more like an activist.

She says project-based NGOs may run out of funds but social movements which are not dependent on funds will always remain. And her attempt is to get these groups to open a dialogue with industry.

The TV series is just an initial attempt to get this started, says she. There will be other initiatives suggested by the response generated by the programme from both social activists as well as industry.

“The dialogue has to go on. What I would ultimately want is that this would lead to a broader platform where the two sides can talk to each other, and address the same concerns together and find answers to difficult development questions together,’’ she says.

Nilekani founded and chaired Akshara Foundation which worked with the Karnataka government to take children to school. She is now no longer associated with it except as a trustee. “You need new blood. So now I am no longer there,” she says.

She is now engaged totally with Arghyam, the funding agency she started with her own funds to activate drinking water projects. She appreciates the shift in the government’s emphasis from ground water to surface water but feels such issues are finally determined by the local situation. Arghyam has 32 projects on drinking water running in 11 states.

Nilekani is funding 32 NGOs under Arghyam and laughs when told that NGOs are already on the same side as the industry as the latter are the main funders. “People have to find solutions together,” says she.