The fundamentals of Giving
Op-ed co-authored by Rohini Nilekani & Vidya Shah in the Financial Express Like the market in India boomed once tight controls were lifted, NGOs and CSOs in the country can thrive, and have more sustainable impact, if donor capital is flexible and NGOs can invest in their own growth. The number of wealthy Indians has […]
सेवा ही है एक बेहतर समाज का रहस्य
कुछ महीने पहले, मेरी टीम और मैं हमारे कार्यालय के ठीक बाहर सफाई करने के लिए एक त्वरित स्वैच्छिक अभियान में शामिल हुए। अग्ली इंडियन (Ugly Indian), एक गैर-लाभकारी संस्था जो आम लोगों को नागरिक गौरव विकसित करने के लिए प्रेरित करती है, के उत्साही स्वयंसेवी अरुण पई ने हमें दिखाया कि कैसे हम अपनी आस्तीन मोड़कर कोई भी उपकरण उठाएं, जो हमें […]
Seva is the Secret to a Good Samaj
An op-ed published in The Economic Times A few months ago, my team and I joined some flash volunteering to do a quick cleanup right outside our office. Arun Pai, an enthusiastic volunteer with Ugly Indian, a nonprofit that inspires ordinary people to develop civic pride, showed us how to roll back our sleeves, pick […]
Putting Samaaj on top for Positive Collective Action
This is the third book by philanthropist and civil society leader Rohini Nilekani, the founder of Arghyam, a foundation that works towards sustainable water and sanitation goals, and Pratham Books, a publishing nonprofit that helps millions of children to read books. Samaaj Sarkaar Bazaar is a collection of Nilekani’s articles, speeches, and interviews, which offers […]
A Call to Action: Why We Need a Citizen-First Approach
Recently, unseasonal rains flooded the city of Bengalaru. Visuals of privileged citizens living in upscale independent bungalows, riding tractors to get away from their inundated spaces, as their luxury cars lay submerged in the water, flooded our phones. Delhi is choking. As I write this, there are alarming newspaper reports of the rise in pollution […]
A Job For The One Percent:The elite must help build better cities, in public interest and in their own interest
The recent Bengaluru floods washed up the dirty linen of mismanagement and corruption on the shores of a crumbling city infrastructure. Yet, no matter how quickly various governments build out physical public services, especially in urban India, the demand for it outstrips the supply. Be it roads and transport, electricity and water supply, hospitals, or […]
Grand Tamasha: ‘No govt can do without civil society in a developing nation’
“Governments need civil society organisations to serve as mirrors; they need them to reach the first mile… they need all the risk-taking capital. No government can do without that in a developing country like ours which is so highly aspirational,” Nilekani told Milan Vaishnav, host of the Grand Tamasha podcast. Grand Tamasha is a co-production […]
Rohini Nilekani is Changing Philanthropy
Of India’s many prominent business couples, few can match the Nilekanis in their uniqueness. Nandan Nilekani is now a business legend, for his role in building Infosys (with N R Narayana Murthy and his co-founders) and for rescuing it a few years ago when he came back to set the company right. But unlike most […]
Plotting Impact Beyond Simple Metrics
By Natasha Joshi | For NGOs, impact comes in different forms and to track the cycles of social change work, we must think across the tangibility and the speed of emergence of change. A few months back, we received an internal letter from the founder of an NGO, reflecting on the relationship between funders and […]
The young, optimistic and idealistic will shape India at 100
It is 75 years since we raised our own flag in our own country, reclaiming it for ever more. What a time for celebration. Here we are, a young democracy, alive with the throbbing hopes of a young population, seeking to fulfil the promise of the Constitution that we gave ourselves in the new India. […]
