Cover Story : ‘We challenged taken-for-granted ideals’
Saturday, August 13, 2022
  • Circulation
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
Organiser
  • ‌
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Defence
  • Sports
  • Business
  • More
    • RSS in News
    • Special Report
    • Culture
    • Sci & Tech
    • Entertainment
    • Education
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Obituary
SUBSCRIBE
No Result
View All Result
Organiser
  • ‌
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Defence
  • Sports
  • Business
  • More
    • RSS in News
    • Special Report
    • Culture
    • Sci & Tech
    • Entertainment
    • Education
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Obituary
No Result
View All Result
Organiser
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Culture
  • Defence
  • RSS in News
  • Subscribe
Home General

Cover Story : ‘We challenged taken-for-granted ideals’

Archive Manager by WEB DESK
Aug 10, 2015, 12:00 am IST
in General
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterTelegramEmail


  • How has Goonj’s tryst with development sector been so far?

We would like to work for 100 different issues, and for us the idea and the way we are operating- is a tool and a resource. We may come across as someone who are in the business giving and distributing clothes-but it’s not just about what you give, it’s more about how you give..what kind of value addition you do in the entire process. Today, the entire work of Goonj, we’ve been able to identify a couple of new currencies. When you give it to a community, the community ultimately pays back in the currency called labour, and gets rewarded in the currency—which in this case will be the material. So,  two new currency operates—whether it is health, medicine, education, sanitation or rural development – it's a barter between two new currencies that leads to genesis of a parallel economy which is not cash based, but trash based.

  • What is the core idea behind functioning of ‘Goonj’?

People and their need for cloth are taken for granted, if anything is done in villages, opinions of the villagers is taken for granted, If you are giving something to so-called financially backward person, the dignity of the person is taken for granted, Our work is just to challenge those taken-for-granted ideals, or rather the non issues that need attention.

  • What do you think about evolving trend of social entrepreneurship?

We didn’t start Goonj as an enterprise or a model of social entrepreneurship, these are quite beautiful buzzwords right now and grossly misused. Creating two rupees soap for rural India doesn’t make you a social entrepreneur, because here the motive has to be important.
There must be a thousand different definitions to social entrepreneurship, but to me its a very simple concept- its a concept that does not have a donor or a beneficiary, it only has stakeholders. And, here the stake is not about money, stake is anything you can put in . In our case villagers are stakeholders when they put in labour or a skill or in fact their wisdom.

  • Do you think that citizens of the country are playing the requisite role in nation building?

I think we are certainly not playing the role we need to play. Every year the democracy gets one year older, ultimately we need to understand that what is changing as a nation. Citizens like us are extremely self-centred people, we want the best possible paints and fittings inside our houses, but outside we don’t fight for very basic drainage system for which we pay from our tax money. We are not understanding the gravity of it, no one from outside world will come and solve it. The nations are not changed by building infrastructure alone, it changes when people change. When we travel on roads, we see the government’s role was limited to fixing up of red lights. it was citizen’s responsibility to follow the red light. The government’s role was to create a footpath; it was citizen’s role to go with rules. But, we as a citizens see it becoming a path for our motorcycles. Cribbing about governments is fine, but have we been able to respect our taxes spent? What is ‘not’ created we are happy to crib-about, rightly so…but what exists, we have been largely ignorant about it.

  • What is your opinion on the neglect of rural sector in the process of nation building?

People in villages are doing their part of nation building through their local innovation. Be it ti bamboo bridges, use of bamboo as a pipe, instead proper PVC pipes, from local fan to mat, to how-to-cut-your-grass, it is all 100 per cent local innovation. We might not have valued it as a nation, but these are grassroot innovation that has been happening. They are the people who know it, but they do not know how to market it or patent it – that is why their local innovation is limited to their local area. If you are able to eat rice today, it is not because of the subsidy you give to the farmer, it is because of the subsidy that farmer gives to you, if you start paying the farmer at the actual daily wages rate, you won’t be able to touch the rice, leave alone eating.

  • Are awards encouraging?

Life goes on, we have been fortunate for having our efforts recognised by various organisations. It’s been only a week that Magsaysay awards have been announced, but you won’t sense any difference here (in their office). It is certainly encouraging for sure-for so many people who are associated with us, a lot of people who have been watching us, the ones who have been part of this journey- for them it has been extremely encouraging. It is the recognition of non issues, if Kapda (clothes) has become a centre of talks, even for a week, it’s worth the achievement.   

Download Organiser App
ShareTweetSendShareSend
Previous News

States : Bhanu Bhakta Acharya remembered on 201st Birth Anniversary

Next News

Future of Regional Parties, not so promising—Murlidhar Rao

Related News

Maharaja Ranjit Singh ancestral haveli in Pak collapses due to years of negligence by the government

Maharaja Ranjit Singh ancestral haveli in Pak collapses due to years of negligence by the government

Temples of Bharat Mata

Temples of Bharat Mata

Search For Swaraj: Uprisings in North East

Search For Swaraj: Uprisings in North East

Forest Laws: Plundering Forests

Forest Laws: Plundering Forests

Har Ghar Tiranga: Dos and Don’ts of hoisting the National Flag of India

Har Ghar Tiranga: Dos and Don’ts of hoisting the National Flag of India

Protests fire up in PoJK against Pakistan government’s plans to amend Constitution

Protests fire up in PoJK against Pakistan government’s plans to amend Constitution

Comments

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Organiser. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.

Latest News

Maharaja Ranjit Singh ancestral haveli in Pak collapses due to years of negligence by the government

Maharaja Ranjit Singh ancestral haveli in Pak collapses due to years of negligence by the government

Temples of Bharat Mata

Temples of Bharat Mata

Search For Swaraj: Uprisings in North East

Search For Swaraj: Uprisings in North East

Forest Laws: Plundering Forests

Forest Laws: Plundering Forests

Har Ghar Tiranga: Dos and Don’ts of hoisting the National Flag of India

Har Ghar Tiranga: Dos and Don’ts of hoisting the National Flag of India

Protests fire up in PoJK against Pakistan government’s plans to amend Constitution

Protests fire up in PoJK against Pakistan government’s plans to amend Constitution

UP CM Yogi Adityanath kicks off ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign in Lucknow

UP CM Yogi Adityanath kicks off ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign in Lucknow

Kerala: MLA K.T. Jaleel calls Jammu Kashmir as “Indian Occupied Kashmir”

Kerala: MLA K.T. Jaleel calls Jammu Kashmir as “Indian Occupied Kashmir”

ITBP hoists national flag at high altitudes borders as India celebrates ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign

ITBP hoists national flag at high altitudes borders as India celebrates ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign

Salman Rushdie currently on ventilator, reactions and support pour in from literary figures, public officials

Salman Rushdie currently on ventilator, reactions and support pour in from literary figures, public officials

  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Cookie Policy
  • Refund and Cancellation
  • Delivery and Shipping Policy

© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited.
Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Defence
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Business
  • RSS in News
  • Special Report
  • Sci & Tech
  • Entertainment
  • Education
  • Books
  • Interviews
  • Travel
  • Health
  • Obituary
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Circulation
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Refund and Cancellation

© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited.
Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies