DiscoverBangalore is pleased to bring a special feature on Janaagraha, a Bangalore based Organization striving for citizens' involvement in democracy and democratic processes. Githa U B chats with Ramesh and Swati Ramanatha in the first part of this two-part series and writes about the dedicated staff and committed volunteers in this concluding part.
Click Here to read the first part.

Be the change you want to see ---is all about empowering the citizen and heralding the people’s campaign in a professional way. The platform at Janaagraha enables their team to merge their skills and passion for being a part of the catalyst process. Set into a symphony by the Ramanathans, they believe in youth power to change the system of governance. Averaging 30 years the support team’s refreshing enthusiasm finds the challenge in Janaagraha to break the barriers of stereo typed thought.

At any given time the two hundred volunteers forming an important component of the work force contribute to the ethos of practical patriotism and professional volunteerism. Janaagraha relies heavily on their creativity and enthusiasm.

Community leadership support as the anchor for change at the local level and informed citizenry bring about the needed difference to Janaagraha’s initiatives. Its taxation with transparency campaign spear headed federations of Resident Welfare Associations in spreading the message effectively not only in their ward sabhas but across the State.

Sapna Karim

Heads the HR and Voluntary management programs. Assisting in community grassroots campaigns and government technology related problems and volunteer management this IT professional understands the human resources needs of the organisation. Janaagraha chugs on voluntary energy -- 5,000 volunteers contributing 4 million man hours at the last count. “This constant engage and leave, of volunteers is important for us in our advocacy, grass root programs or enabling technology in the organization. Its here that this department adds value. Volunteers come with different perspectives and different visions, those coming in ones and twos from wards have transmitted our goals and practiced the same in their areas. So overall the citizen benefits.”

Drafting the nagara raj bill, researching on advocacy, putting a policy that enables technology to be leveraged, is all the infusion of voluntary energy. Their volunteers include diverse groups like housewives, IT professionals, students etc. With pride she further adds “this organization uses corporate practices, and the sense of urgency gets things moving and keeps the ethos going as the trajectory is a 20 year goal.

Pramod Goni

Is the coordinator for the various support groups .The leadership support group activity is to support other activities of Janaagraha, relating to working with communities. “We are looking after the people participation module. We have visited 14 wards and collected the best practices from 100 wards in Bangalore. After documentation we suggest guidelines that will help the newly formed sabhas. Hubli Dharwar Municipal Corporation has sounded us for assistance on initiatives to start area sabhas and citizen committees.”

“The process has commenced there as the Municipal Corporation has identified six citizens and two Government officials who have undergone orientation training. Underlying the importance of government partnering people’s initiatives, Ramesh has submitted a paper that has resulted in a GOI notification in JN-NURM, (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) proposal. Here of the 14 reforms, seven are mandatory that includes people’s participation and disclosure norms. The paper was circulated to all States for their comments. Initiated in 2002, Proof (Public Record of Operations and Finance) a powerful concept promotes greater transparency and accountability in local govt.institutions.Integral to it is the quarterly presentation of accounts by the city corporation. PROOF is now an independent body.” So Janaagraha is creating a bridge between the government and communities, to sit across the table and sort out issues.

Pramod has a Masters in sociology and experience of different organizations, mostly NGO’s, being exposed to their functioning at the national and international levels. “But here it’s on the soft aspects of motivation education and empowerment. Understanding the functioning of Janaagraha took me 6 months.” This says it all.

Gayathri Vijayan

A student of architecture and a PG in graphic design from NID, Ahemadabad, she is on a six month internship, having completed two months tenure. She is very upbeat to handle the visual communications and the design needs for the advocacy and Bala Janaagraha areas. “I have done an exhibition and a film, the power of the visualist is very intense, especially with Janaagraha that targets any issue but always is inclusive keeping in mind the mass reach. While working on a conservation project for the Rajasthan government we were looking at putting together an institutional structure and not just a monument. In the step well conservation project I came out with the idea of an exhibition with lots of panels with city plan etc that would interest a lay person. It’s so much fun working together. I work on ideas, concepts and then start visualizing and put it into implementation. It could be everyone’s ideas that I am translating, or I might just make an add on. I am carrying forward what Janaagraha is doing and making it more effective.” She literally swept me with her enthu quotient.

Manaswini Rao

Advocacy associate who prepares training material for community training on the concept of Area Sabha. Training material is based on availability of resources, draft bills, legal aspects etc that effectively mange communities. “I have made a pluggable module that can be used by the government, and also for research.” she avers.

Satish S.V.

Part of technology team who is an application programmer. Currently he is working on the web site and its improvements.

Murali. R.

An active member of the technology team. This engineer channelises his specialized expertise in GIS, as Janaagraha is making use of the technology for better urban planning and governance. Dealing with engineers at the ward level and the bureaucratic tangles that leave a citizen hapless, Janaagraha’s simple graphical interface enables a citizen to source information about the location of his ward and the concerned officials to contact. So Murali’s job profile entails getting the maps of jurisdiction from the government agencies and digitizing them. When the civic agencies themselves seek his expertise in the boundaries of their wards it is worth while. He is looking forward to the major challenging task in the said area for the Greater Bangalore scheme.

Anil Varkey Kuruvilla

He is the Systems and network administrator. With an M.Sc in chemistry and a Diploma in networking he was on deputation from Hard Soft Technologies but opted for working with Janaagraha. He supports the web site maintenance. Improving on his skills, he is adept at handling the new software- Volunteer Management System that captures the data of the volunteers and their utility which is crucial to the HR head. He not only maintains the system infrastructure, but also trouble shoots the network glitches, ensuring system and data security.

Volunteers

Jaya Roopa J.

This corporate banker, as Project coordinator handles the drafts for the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC). Her husband was already a volunteer with Janaagraha and following suit was easy.

Shubham .G. Setlur

A first year student of Gujarat National Law College. “As part of the curricula, I had to undertake a project in an NGO and hence chose Janaagraha as my parents based in Bangalore were highly impressed with the kind of work it is into. On a 5 week program I assist Roopa in condensing the ARC documentation. This experience is invaluable.”

Deepak.C.N.

With a B.Sc. degree he is part of the leadership support group with Pramod Goni. If needed he accompanies him to help governments understand the concept of Ward sabha. “Wherever there is community aspect, we provide the link, set up initial meetings as Janaagraha is all about the citizen.” And that’s the last word.

Indu Kumar C.T.

Assistant administrator, for the last five years. Her job profile is to look after the over all administration and is given a free hand in taking decisions.

Indira .V.

Technology coordinator who holds a Masters in Computer sciences. Her work enables volunteers to register online and look for opportunities thereof. Also looks after the online Complaint Management System. “Here the citizens can log in their complaints and we do the follow up. This is accessible for four wards and we are working on extending this to the remaining wards in Bangalore.” She is actively involved in the community in her ward.

Priya Venkataraman

Trainee associate with a B.E. in Instrumentation coordinates the various activities within CAP that has seven coordinates. Involved in the content up gradation and presentation, getting the right people to address and content facilitation are the other areas. “I coordinate all the activities .We are devising a program for CAPS graduates and hand hold then initially. We also assist in Municipal Finance area of ARC to make its functioning transparent with ARC.

Syeda. K. Shataj

Has been working full time since inception, handling administration and accounts. Combining her work with a part time MBA (III semester) is the value addition that she brings to her assignment.

Shankar

As the man behind the wheel, he does not drive the Ramanathan crazy, but is crazy about them. He finds them an interestingly fascinating couple. With them for the last five years, he potters on the computer, helps in filing work, reception etc.

Cheryl Rebello

This Communication coordinator is an M.A. in Economics. She believes in people commerce that is pivotal to Janaagraha’s larger vision for effective governance of cities. She emphasizes “It is participation that unbundles every citizen. Our role is to keep all the stake holders in commune- be it governance, or dialogue which could also be democracy dialogue. In Janaagraha nothing is centered, our asset is our advisors and volunteers.” She heads the editorial team and for her it’s a wide spectrum challenge to explore each channel of communication potential and ownership for the role she executes. Here the communication is to reach out to every citizen which is the power of such a platform. “I am talking not only to Bangalore but reaching out to people at the local, national level and international media too, so its not just target groups. Janaagraha’s platform is all inclusive. It’s challenging for me being a part of the organizations broad vision.”

Every one of the staff is unanimous- to be the change they want to see. One cannot miss the immense pride and faith they place in themselves to take the movement forward with their visionary founders.

Janaagraha extends an open invitation to the Discover Bangalore visitors to attend their open sessions every Saturday between 4-6 PM, where one gets an insight and answers to- how can I Help? Monday morning sessions though internal are open to anyone interested to participate and link.

So the opportunity to be a part of this change is not to be missed.

In a tete with Githa.U.Badikillaya

 

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