Mission Statement: Inspiring just and caring Indian citizens’ to promote social action and responsibility.
Promoting Citizen Social Responsibility In All Sectors: We as responsible people of the world’s largest democracy should not just be glad about our democracy and think we are free citizens but practice responsible freedom and lead change in all sectors to make India a true democracy with proactive responsible citizenship.
We as responsible and just citizens of a true democracy need to address the issues plaguing our beloved country. We need to take stands. We need to ask questions. We have a privilege and we need to exercise our rights to ask for accountability not only from the charity we invest with but also the government bodies, corporate sector, SME media and local bodies who can make a change.
The idea is to all come together to RIGHTeveryWRONG. Sounds utopian? It’s not. As a true democracy is only possible if we have an enlightened awakening amongst people to practice against any malpractice by asking for accountability. We the people have the power to bring about change. Alone we may not be strong enough but together as a collective people power we can make a change. We can be a force to reckon with and RIGHTeveryWRONG. That is the awakening and it is not impossible if we start addressing issues together and come together to RIGHTeveryWRONG.
So what is the RIGHTeveryWRONG movement.
We as the people power of the world’s largest democracy have the wherewithal to bring about change. If we think we can do it we can. It’s just about coming together and endorsing the movement to RIGHTeveryWRONG that is happening in various sectors. We can RIGHTeveryWRONG by addressing child rights. We can RIGHTeveryWRONG by addressing the absolute denial of basic rights to various communities. We can RIGHTeveryWRONG with mishaps happening with wildlife.
We can RIGHTeveryWRONG with the harm being done to the environment by uncaring and irresponsible companies. We can RIGHTeveryWRONG with companies who are depriving communities of their livelihood and impoverishing them and with the governments who support them. We can RIGHTeveryWRONG with big and small issues and it is about starting with the smallest thing. We need to be bold to RIGHTeveryWRONG on a day to day basis like stopping eve teasing, kicking and maltreatment of street children and stray dogs and other such issues. These may look like small issues to us but they are not. These incidents reflect the image of our society. It is easy to endorse the killings of stray dogs but do we realise that we are murderers and have done wrong. In the land of Gandhi where everyone studies his teachings in school we fail to practice them. After all he did say that a society is known by the way it treats its animals. Rightly so. If we cannot learn to live in harmony with innocent, harmless sentient beings, we cannot then live in peace and harmony with each other also. We all need to practice secularism and true harmony and bring love into our hearts. With love comes the courage to take a stand and RIGHTeveryWRONG. We all need to get together and lobby as that is our duty. We have a responsibility to create a legacy of a better India and a better world for the future generations. We need to thus address issues in various sectors and thus work together to RIGHTeveryWRONG.
Addressing issues in the
Government Sector: - Corruption, Bad governance, Convenient politics, Communalism and Goondaism, Malpractice, Denial of basic rights to indigenous people, Irrational provisos to irresponsible Corporates and NGOs and bilateral/ multilateral bodies.
Corporate Sector: - Unfair trade practices, Lack of social responsibility, Depriving communities of livelihood and basic rights, Misuse of licenses to misappropriate funds belonging to poor people and small investors, Child labour, Environment degradation and other burning issues by uncaring companies.
Media Sector: - The fourth estate is the voice of the people. Responsible media can make people aware and create action amongst people to RIGHTeveryWRONG. Responsible media can make or break governments and also create a conducive environment by putting pressure on wrongdoers to start doing the RIGHT things. Irresponsible media on the other had compromises causes. In today world where tabloid journalism has started receiving conspicuous consumption it is important to use media spaces to high light social issues and inspire social action. It is not just about sensationalism and ad revenues as the media is the watchdog for the society. The media needs to be cutting edge and report wrongdoing rather than not reporting it since it could affect ad revenues. A classic case of irresponsible media was when various leading newspapers carried front-page headlines saying “RAPE AT THE WSF” in 2002 at Mumbai. Thus an entire social movement was compromised with one headline that reported a falsehood.
Multilateral/ Bilateral Agencies: There is a huge amount of foreign aid coming into our country. However there is no accountability. Moneys brought in by agencies like USAID, DFID, ECHO, etc. are given to state governments for addressing the basic rights of marginalised communities. However this money does not reach the end user as government bodies use their NGO nexus and registered on paper charities to show creative accounting for this money that never get used fully for community welfare. Over 60 to 70% of this money is used for all sorts of hidden agendas including election campaigns and putting up huge cut outs of electoral candidates and well written reports are then forwarded to the bilateral/ multilateral agencies by these government bodies. These agencies feel smug with these reports sitting in their AC offices and do not bother to go into grass root details. They are happy receiving these reports but do not push for accountability as their job of spending their fund every year has been realised. It’s not about spending the fund but about investing it as what good is it to just spend without making a positive change in the lives of people.
The Religious Sector: The church, temple, mosque, gurudwara and all such religious bodies are established for the good of mankind. All these institutions raise various funds and are accountable to the people. Practicing what one preaches is the need of the day and it calls for all these institutions to be forthright with their agenda and collections and how the moneys are used.
Schools And Colleges: - The idea is to have grading in report cards and drive social responsibility in these institutions as these are the foundations for people who are tomorrows’ leaders and social responsibility should be inculcated at an early stage.
NGO Sector: - This is actually the people sector because all NGOs claim that they are working for the larger common good of the people and communities. It is important to introspect and RIGHTeveryWRONG within before campaigning with other sectors. It is important not to hold ourselves as holier than thou and point fingers at every other sector saying they are doing wrong while not looking within. Change like Charity starts at home and it is important to get off our high horses and look within and address various issues within our sector. There are over 1.2 million registered NGOs today most of which are registered on paper to take grants but do not do anything on the ground. Research shows that Credibility for the sector is a huge issue. Mismanagement of funds, Money laundering, Corruption is the reasons the sector is not trusted. Whole lots of NGOs talk and deliver lectures but fail to walk the talk. And these include big NGOs that are national and international brands. Half the funds raised are spent wrongly on futile meetings and mindless, badly planned and executed campaigns that really do not inspire or influence change. NGOs, Corporates and religious outfits for money laundering use provisos like 35 Ac and 35 (1 & 2) and the Government needs to check on the funds raised through these provisos. We need to be a 100% accountable and transparent and should ensure that administration and marketing costs do not go over 20%.
SME Sector: Small and medium enterprises is a burgeoning sector and are the future. Corporate social responsibility has become the buzz word but pray how can CSR be effective with just large corporations hyping CSR mantras in the public domain while squeezing small businesses working with them for bottom lines thus creating a vicious circle where small businesses exploit labour, employ child labour at much lesser than the minimum wage.
Good governance and Social responsibility & action are not just the domain of large corporates and government but needs to be practiced by all in a holistic manner. If people start being socially responsible all the sectors shall automatically be governed well and practice social responsibility. The citizens drive change as any organisation, government or institution is nothing without the people who represent it.
So what is the RIGHTeveryWRONG rationale: You and I alone cannot right every wrong but if all of us are willing to do our bit by coming together than we can RIGHTeveryWRONG. All the above mentioned sectors and organisations or bodies within comprise of people who run. People like you and me. People like us. Hence the real power is people power. The above mentioned sectors can RIGHTeveryWRONG because “We the people” would like to RIGHTeveryWRONG. It is “We the people” who make the government, Corporates, media, NGOs and other such bodies run.
It is “We the people” who make this country the largest democracy in the world. It is “We the people” who can bring about change by coming together and pledging to RIGHTeveryWRONG. Making wrongs right is not the domain of the government, corporate, media or any other sector. It is the peoples’ domain. It is the power on 1. When various individuals come together and make a pledge saying, “I would like to RIGHTeveryWRONG” a journey for change shall begin.
A journey where we all walk the talk together to create a just, responsible and caring society. You could be anyone a celebrity, politician, bureaucrat, executive, mill worker, farmer, laborer, student, homemaker, business person with a small enterprise, doctor, lawyer, CA belonging to any caste, sex and religion.
You are the 1 who can make a difference; you are the one who could fuel this movement to bring various people together to RIGHTeveryWRONG. Like I said earlier it is the power of 1. When many such powerful 1’s make a pledge by saying “I would like to RIGHTeveryWRONG”, this becomes the voice of the people that can move mountains, part seas and touch the sky. That’s a democracy and though this sounds like a utopian dream and passion of a few people it is possible. A wise man said, “When 1 has a dream and is passionate about something, the world conspires to make it happen”.
TOGETHER AS ONE WE CAN RIGHT EVERY WRONG