VisionsIndia

About 1.5 years back, I along with a friend formed VisionsIndia. This is an umbrella platform trying to unite scattered micro-steps in social development, working for a better India. The idea is that professional expertise and especially free cycles coupled with an intent to contribute towards social development can help India progress towards a better future. We paired up with a couple of other small organizations in North America including Sai's group based out of Michigan and another small group of individuals operating in Windsor, Canada.

Many small and scattered groups working independently are unaware of what other similar groups are doing often resulting in duplicated and overlapping effort. This is not detected until too late and the effort often goes unnoticed because one other such group has already implemented the idea first. VisionsIndia attempts to bring all such steps under one umbrella.

The above is only a very basic step. VisionsIndia's primary purpose is to serve as a network of professionals working towards social development and a common goal - a better India, a better future. We connect with NGOs working at the grass-root level and with professional experience and expertise, try to resolve some of the stumbling blocks at the grass-roots. Thus on one hand we tie up with professionals who have skills in specific areas (and that actually covers almost everything under the sun) and NGOs on the other.

Of course, social enterprises and social development look great in theory. In practice it is a different ballgame. We are aware that this is a mere beginning and really, we do it because we have cycles to spare and want to see India step towards a better future.

The areas of focus is almost anything connected to a developing country, as it steps into the future. Some of the issues of today include Micro-finance, Waste Management, alternate energy resources, construction, application of technology to improve conditions in the rural areas, water management, employment, politics, education etc. And before you roll your eyes, let me tell you this is really not cliched at all. The number of initiatives in the above areas will stagger you once you start looking at things. You can read more about the above at VisionsIndia.

For example, projects like these are feasible: 1. We develop a google maps mashup of a city say Bangalore with a very easy interface using which a person who has faced some corruption issue en route to work can simply click on the website and add details of the incident. People might be too tied up to visit the local police station (or the local station may not have the right reputation to encourage people to barge in and complain) or might simply want to remain anonymous because of their immense faith in the system. In such cases, a red flag will appear on the map for that city; if you click on the flag the details of the incident will appear in a slick popup. Many such red flags on a city map would mean an alarming rate of incidents in the region. The data can then be taken up by a firm fighting corruption at the local courts. There are lawyers who do that. Unfortunately they don't get the data to substantiate their cases and support from the victims in general. With such an application, the victims need only come forward when the case is actually being fought in the court.

Other than this there are a number of project ideas taking shape. Will update as we progress...

If you are a student or a professional and into social enterprises, social entrepreneurship and think about a better India, don't hesitate to get in touch with visionsIndia. We are currently building a diverse and experienced network of professionals, we usually collaborate over the Net, conference periodically and in general it is good fun...

Cheers.