An incubator for social innovation

It is now commonplace to argue that India and China would drive global growth in the next few decades. In terms of purchasing power parity, China is already the second biggest economy in the world, with India in fourth place. Again, in terms of the same indicator, by 2010 or thereabouts, India may displace Japan to emerge as the world?s third largest economy. While all this may sound heady, it is of little comfort to those who exist at the bottom of the social pyramid. The fact is that even well beyond 2010, a good mass of our people would remain five to seven decades behind their Japanese counterparts. A cursory look at our current social indicators should have a sobering effect on our ambitions to emerge as a hub of global economic activity.

While we rank among the fastest growing economies in the world, we are not eradicating poverty fast enough. Although the 5.7% average growth rate since 1980 has had an impact on the quality of life, the main beneficiaries have been the middle and upper classes. Percolation to the bottom deciles of the population has been limited. Inequalities have risen.

Current trends in the economy suggest that the trickle-down effect would continue to remain tardy and income growth of the lowest three deciles of the population would be much slower than the national average. This is because the service sector would continue to lead economic growth in the foreseeable future. Apart from IT and BPO, new segments in services are now acquiring momentum and would continue to create opportunities for the educated middle-class. For instance, the surge in auto retailing, restaurants and hospitality services in urban areas, the retailing boom, to be now joined by civil aviation would increasingly reduce unemployment among the educated youth. Indeed, in some areas such as BPO, construction, civil aviation etc, there is already a shortage of trained people and new facilities for education and training need to be created.

As for manufacturing, the government has recognised the weaknesses plaguing it. Reforms in taxation, deregulation and creation of new institutions such as the National Manu-facturing Comp-etitiveness Council would hopefully address the gaps. Manufacturing potential would be realised provided pending policy reforms are implemented in time.

However, a glaring gap remains in our thinking on how to accelerate change at the bottom of the pyramid. While widening rural-urban and inter-regional disparities are being recognised, instruments for addressing them remain old and jaded. There is little recognition of new ideas and people capable of leading new initiatives. It was a foreign institution that recognised the work done by Rajendra Singh in water recharge and conservation. For years, Ralegaon Siddhi?model for a sustainable water system to transform a degraded village ? remained forgotten. In a country where water has emerged as a leading constraint to poverty reduction and income growth of the poorest, this is an unpardonable lapse.

Now and then, an intrepid journalist reports about farmers who have pioneered new methods of increasing crop yields. It is a pity that successful experiments that can transform the lives of millions of marginal and small farmers are being revealed by the media and not by extension services created for this purpose. Similarly, one discovers through the media how an elected panchayat leader has inspired new systems of governance and community participation for the entire village.

But there is no mechanism for developing these ideas or for replicating them across regions or states. There are numerous NGOs and community leaders that have innovative ideas and have adopted practices that can change lives, create environmental sustainability, turn wastelands into lush forests that yield raw material for industry and incomes for the poor, and so on. There are creative administrators who have plans for slum rehabilitation, for educating street children, for rehabilitating beggars. It is not that our planners are totally averse to new ideas or innovations in delivery of social services, or development programmes at the grassroots level. For example, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan incorporates a number of innovations that have spread literacy among the poorest of the poor. But the receptivity of the planning and policy framework to innovations and new ideas for socio-economic change that involve the poor remains weak and inadequate.

What we need today is an institution that can ?incubate? new ideas that stimulate social innovation for transforming the lives of the poor in our country, just like there are incubators for nurturing scientists and technologists with ideas for new products and services and turn them into entrepreneurs. This institution should invite ideas for innovative practices in water, social forestry, delivery of primary healthcare and education, crop production, income generation, skill development among the poor etc. A panel of experts can prepare a list of subjects.

From identification, the new institution should go forward to selecting and supporting the most potent ideas that promote social innovation. It can also act as a venture capitalist. Some funds currently earmarked for rural development and poverty reduction programmes can be used to create a corpus for the new institution. The incubation process could be supported in myriad ways including creation of partnerships between diverse yet committed stakeholders like NGOs, foundations, corporates and charities. These partnerships could really deliver if state governments, municipalities and panchayats are also brought in as stakeholders. Let us begin transforming poor India before we start dreaming of leading the global economy.

The writer is an advisor to Ficci. These are his personal views