Big Society in India...Part 1
on Jana Gana Mana (India), 31/Dec/2010 07:46, 34 days ago
Yes, it is part 1– as I’ll be writing on this intermittently over the next year!There has been considerable discussion since the launch of the Big Society concept in the UK earlier this year. Much head scratching followed the unveiling of“Big Society” – a rather esoteric vehicle by which the vision of a re-balancing of the relationship between the role of government and citizens was proposed. Since then many commentators have sought to pin down a definition of what was meant and the implications of this concept. Not wishing tobe left out, I’ll give you my take (and why it is relevant to be writing about it on this blog as I’m sure there will be those who are scratching your heads thinking “he’s not in politics anymore....he needs to let go and move on!”).Two years ago, I undertook research with the Norfolk Fellows which initially sought to primarily understand how communities could become more economically resilient– “bouncebackability” from the shocks of the global economy. But we also ended up looking extensively at the glue that holds communities together. The full report can be found here –http://www.norfolkcharitabletrust.com/activities/activity.navigation.php?activity_id=2&subactivity_id=73it’s great if you’re looking for something to do on a cold, wet winter’s day with little happening!We pretty much travelled to the four corners of the world in search of what makes certain places more economically sustainable than others. And although there were occasions where we had simply chosen the wrong location (as our travels were based on desktop research), for example, Culiacanin Mexico which is actually narco-central and awash with money laundering, street shoot outs and drug barons, however we still believe we gained a good insight into some of the fundamental requirements as to what it takes to sustain resilience.Anyway, one of the countries we visited was India and we spent a week in Tamil Nadu. I found India to be fascinating– not just for the anticipated sensory overload (I wasn’t disappointed) or Delhi Belly (again, I wasn’t disappointed) – and I’ll explain why and how I see it relating to the Big Society in part 2!But for now, here's a vlog (video web log!):http://www.youtube.com/user/ourdelhidiary?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/Ct2XwiRytKQ of the 'enclave' where we live. I hope it gives small taste of our big society. Katie and I wish you all a happy new year and hope to see you sometime in 2011!