The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) hosted the Book Launch of Anchoring Change: Seventy-Five Years of Grassroots Interventions That Made a Difference on Tuesday, 15th November | 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM IST. The book has been edited by Vikram Singh Mehta, Neelima Khetan and Jayapadma RV.

The book was launched by the Hon’ble Dr Karan Singh. Mr Mehta discussed the book with a stellar panel comprising of Naina Lal Kidwai, Renana Jhabvala and Vijay Mahajan.

Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/1316679870383/WN_Pk4U5DT_T7OUNiwQj_4j-g

About the event:
All too often, the focus of conversation in India is on our failure as a socio-economic polity. We despair about our inability to realise our full potential as a country: we find fault with our political system, the leadership, the state of our institutions, the economic model and much else. What we do not do is reflect on the micro successes and the many examples of hugely impactful interventions that have shifted the needle of society in positive directions. We do not ask the questions: what were the ingredients of these successes? Are they scalable? Are there learnings from these that could be applicable elsewhere in India, and might these learnings provide the guts for a new developmental model? 

Anchoring Change attempts to answer these and several other such questions, through accounts of organisations from across India, spanning the seventy-five years since independence. The idea is to revisit these examples of civic action and explore their relevance for the future of India. 

Chair:

• Hon’ble Dr Karan Singh
  Born heir apparent (Yuvaraj) to Maharaja Hari Singh and Maharani Tara Devi of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr Karan Singh was catapulted into political life at an early age of eighteen when, in 1949, he was appointed Regent by his father on the intervention of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Thereafter he was head of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir for the next eighteen years as Regent, as elected Sadar-I-Riyasat and lastly as Governor. In 1967, Dr Singh was inducted as a member of the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He was elected thereafter to the Lok Sabha from the Udhampur Parliamentary Constituency in Jammu and Kashmir on behalf of the Indian National Congress. He was a four-time member of the Rajya Sabha from Delhi and Chairman of its Ethics Committee.  Dr Karan Singh was for many years Chancellor of the Jammu and Kashmir University, the Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Banaras Hindu University, President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Chairman of the Central Sanskrit Board, President of the Authors Guild of India, the Commonwealth Society of India, the Delhi Music Society, the India International Centre and member of the UNESCO International Commission on Education for the 21st century, Co-Chair of the Indo-French forum jointly set up by the Govt of India and France. He is Chairman of the Auroville Foundation with the personal rank of Central Cabinet Minister, of the Temple of Understanding, Vice Chairman of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund.Dr Karan Singh passed the Senior Cambridge examination from the Doon School, Dehradun, in the first division, and later graduated from the Jammu and Kashmir University, of which he was himself Chancellor. In 1957 he took the M.A. degree of the Delhi University in Political Science with a first class first. He then earned his doctorate from Delhi University. Dr Karan Singh is associated with many cultural and academic institutions. He has received several honorary degrees and other awards, including doctorates from Banaras Hindu University, Aligarh Muslim University, Soka University, Tokyo and the Shenzhen University. He is a member of the prestigious Club of Rome and the Club of Budapest and a Trustee of the Green Cross International. He is a lifelong conservationist, having been Chairman of the Indian Board of Wildlife. He was awarded Padma Vibhushan by the President of India in 2005. He is an Honorary Major General in the Indian Army.

Speakers: 

• Vijay Mahajan
  Vijay Mahajan is the CEO of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. He was co-founder and former CEO of Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) from 1982-87, an NGO which has promoted the livelihoods of over two million poor households. In 1996, he co-founded and was the CEO (1996-2016), of the Basix Social Enterprise Group which has supported over five million poor households through microfinance and livelihood promotion services. In 1999, he co-founded Sa-Dhan with Ela Bhatt; and in 2009, the Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN) with other MFI leaders. He is a graduate of the IIT Delhi, 1975, post-graduate of the IIM Ahmedabad, 1981 and a mid-career fellow of the Princeton University in 1989. He was selected among the 60 outstanding social entrepreneurs of the world at the World Economic Forum Davos in 2003.
   
• Naina Lal Kidwai
  Naina Lal Kidwai is Chairman Rothschild India and Senior Advisor Advent Private Equity, and a non-executive Director on the boards of Global and Indian companies and Past President of FICCI. She retired as Executive Director on the board of HSBC Asia Pacific and Chairman HSBC India. An MBA from Harvard Business School, she is the recipient of several international and Indian awards and honours including the Padma Shri for her contribution to Trade and Industry. She has authored 3 books including the bestsellers “30 women in Power” and “Survive Or Sink: An Action Agenda for Sanitation, Water, Pollution, and Green Finance”.
   
• Renana Jhabvala 
  Renana Jhabvala is best known for her 40 year long association with the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) and for her writings on women in the informal economy. SEWA, which has a membership of over 2 million women, is India’s largest non-profit organisation and the largest organisation of informal workers in the world. Jhabvala has served a five-year term as the Chancellor of Gandhigram Rural University, Tamil Nadu (2012-17). In 1990, she was awarded a Padma Shri from the Government of India for her contributions in the field of social work. Renana Jhabvala is a graduate in mathematics from Delhi University and Harvard University and an MA in Economics from Yale University. She has co-authored seven books and written widely in journals and newspapers. She has made a significant mark internationally as a member of the UN Secretary General’s High-level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment. In 2016, she was honoured with the FICCI Lifetime Achievement Award for her national and international contributions to social work. 

Moderator: 

• Vikram Singh Mehta
  Vikram Singh Mehta is Chairman and Distinguished Fellow at CSEP. He was the Executive Chairman of Brookings India and Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution from 2012 to 2020. Vikram is an independent, non-executive, director of Larsen and Toubro Ltd, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, Colgate Palmolive India Ltd, Apollo Tyres, Hindustan Times and Jubilant Foods. He is also on the Board of Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company, among others. Vikram was the recipient of Asia House’s “Businessmen of the Year” award for 2010. He also received the Asia Centre for Corporate Governance and Sustainability’s Award for “Best Independent Director”  in India for 2016. 

For general and media related queries, please contact Trishna Wahengbam at twahengbam@csep.org. 

All content reflects the individual views of the speakers. The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) does not hold an institutional view on any subject.