A few hearts - whole, sincere, and energetic men and women can do more in a year than a mob in a century.
Swami Vivekananda
Mentor On Road started its day
with a visit to Takht Sri Patna Sahib, a Gurdwara built in remembrance of the
birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the tenth Sikh Guru, who was born in Patna,
Bihar. Besides being the birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh, Patna was also
honored by visits from Guru Nanak as well as Guru Tegh Bahadur. We prayed for
global peace there. Jai Ho!
Mentor On Road then met a group
of 12 NGO's of Patna who are doing good work across diverse areas such as
healthcare, education, women empowerment, people with disabilities, blind
people, old age homes, orphanages, environmental awareness etc.
They shared the variety of challenges
being faced by them with Mentor On Road, to which I provided them vital inputs on how to
generate funding for their projects.
Four of the prominent challenges being
faced by these 12 NGO’s are:
·
Too much documentation for projects
·
More paperwork and less actual fieldwork
·
Too much corruption to get projects implemented
·
Not being able to get committed staff
Mentor On Road then moved on to meet
the top management and members of the Bihar Industries Association (BIA), which
has been the apex representative body of the industry and service sectors
across the state of Bihar. Its membership comprises of large, medium and small
scale industries spread throughout the state.
Mentor On Road shared with them new
approaches of doing business globally through Digital India and Skill India. In
spite of several challenges in Bihar and at the centre - entrepreneurship is
the game changer. I observed and at the same time also quoted vivid
examples of those entrepreneurs and businesses that have been successful in
India under the same environment.
My assessment was
that there is too much dependence on the government in Bihar and as a result
too many challenges of doing business. The IT sector of India grew because it
was not dependent on the Government but rather on global markets. This same
approach and implementation was needed in Bihar. à
For instance, I raised the question as to why can't the famous Madhubani
paintings (Style of Hindu painting, practiced in the Mithila region of Nepal and
Bihar. Painting is done with fingers, twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and
matchsticks, using natural dyes and pigments, and is characterized by
eye-catching geometrical patterns. There are paintings for each occasion and
festival such as birth, marriage, Holi, Surya Shasti, Kali Puja, Upanayanam,
Durga Puja etc.) be sold online directly by the artists? Digital India is the
answer.
Eventually, I planted
some insightful seeds for thought in Patna which will see fruition in a year’s
time.
Mentor On Road closed the action
packed day in Patna by interacting on quite a few developmental issues with the
Aga Khan Foundation. (A private NGO and international development agency, which
seeks to provide long-term solutions to the problems of poverty, hunger,
illiteracy and ill health in the poorest parts of South and Central Asia,
Eastern and Western Africa, and the Middle East.)
Interesting
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