Unsung Heroes
|
Dilip Banerjee
(Inputs by Debangshu Bhattacherjee) |
A sense of equality and indomitable spirit
characterised Dilip Banerjee from a young age. Born, in a village of Hooghly
district of West Bengal, he has always been involved in mass movements for the
constructive development of the society.
His work, projects how grass root development require inclusive work
from all the stakeholders.
Right from his childhood he had treated the
hapless, and people from less financial, means equally. In times when. Children
from upper caste Brahmin families would not mix and play with tribal children;
he would mingle with them uninhibitedly. He was not bothered with the social stigma
attached to it. These children from tribal, lowly background could not afford
to pay to the clubs for playing football, but had the desire to so found a
friend in Dilip, who coming from an affluent family could buy a football and
play with them. His indomitable spirit for standing for the right cause came
into first prominence when he stopped a private circus party from occupying
their school ground. He had mobilised the students in his school to stand up
against the political bosses who profited from the circus party. His actions
were supported by the village elders who saw the logic behind his protest. He
was successful in saving the ground but he had to pay the price of this
insolence against the political bosses later in his life.
After doing his education from ND College, in
Hooghly; he became involved in mass movements, assisting coal miners in the coalieries
of West Bengal and Bihar to get their rightful dues from the owners. His
actions were instrumental in the tribal people getting back their land from the
mine owners, who were helpless against the might of the mine owners. He
strongly believed that people should have control over their land and be the
masters of their own futures. This ideology of people involvement in
developmental processes helped him in devising means for the strengthening and
empowerment of Panchyat Raj Institutions (PRI).
Having successfully getting the people their
rights, he moved on to join CINI ( Child In Need Institute) : an institute
working for poverty alleviation among the downtrodden, specifically directed to
women and children health and safety. As a health program officer, he had
introduced systems whereby the people of the communities it served in were
involved to improve the health conditions. Mobilisation of women, through the
platform of CINI helped in raising awareness about immunisation, appropriate
breastfeeding practices, and diagnosing of illness at an early stage. Training
of these workers was of primary importance for the project with the view to
empower them and then gradually phase out the external help that was provided.
Training and capacity building focus led to the creation of a separate training centre for them, which
led to the primary health care movement Dilip believed that a truly successful
developmental process is one in which after the venture has dug its root to
transfer the work to the local people. One needs to empower the people and
delegate the responsibility to its stakeholders for the continuity of the
development process. Only then can the
process be self sustain and the development sustainable.
Having served the cause of primary health development,
he moved on to work in the areas of Sunedrbans, a mangrove covered area in the
southernmost part of West Bengal, ravaged by cyclones. He recognised that
natural disasters like cyclones were a regular feature in many parts and
treating them as a one off problem is not the correct way to tackle the
problem. The reactive strategy of doling out aids, human and financial help
after a disaster would not help the community to stand up to its feet. Many a
times the doles did not reach the intended targets and even a class struggle,
where only lower and middle class affected people got the benefits. Even though
the upper class people were affected by disasters, they were not receiving the
benefits. He used the strategy of empowering people as he had previously done
in the case of primary health department. He has helped in launching efforts to
understand the real needs of the people in the affected communities and help
them in designing programs that will lead to a sustainable development. This
helps them in their emergency preparedness and faster and efficient responding
to disasters. Better preparation and
response can save many lives. In today`s time when we face various kinds of
environmental issues, ranging from tsunami, cyclones, to earthquakes
preparedness and quickening the response time is of paramount importance. Man
made environmental pressures like that of desertification seen in parts of Asia
and Africa can be tackled by building a model around need understanding and
capability building for sustainable livelihood.
He has a very clear understanding of the
processes which hinders or facilitates development in an area. His strategic
acumen plus his understanding of the ground realities led him to formulate an
action plan in which, he works with existing communities to identify people and
groups who have the capacity to implement the plan. Then he forms a village
community from these people. These people being from the community in which the
programs are implemented are well conversant with the problems of the plan. He
them guides these people who are from diverse backgrounds through his experience
for the better implementation for the program. These people being stakeholders
themselves are more involved in the developmental process. This increases
ownership and accountability in them and helps in managing and spending of
public money better, and coming up with innovative solutions to their problems.
His methodologies stands vindicated when during floods in the Sunderbans,
people with strong communities had faster response time and efficient use of
materials. This resulted in a lot of damage control.
Spending his childhood in rural Bengal and most
of his time among the working class people, he has a good understanding of
these people and trust in their abilities. The Panchayati Raj Institutions were
formed to be the backbone of development in rural India. Though effective in
paper the vertical process makes it difficult for resource convergence and
getting the desired level of output.
Most of subjects have been delegated to the local bodies for identification
and fulfilment of their requirements, but it is the funnelled approach, due to
which the benefits do not reach to the audience it is intended for. The
approach propagated by Dilip calls for planning for the local needs,
utilisation of resources and progress monitoring by capability building of the
people involved in the process. One of the problems that Panchayats face is non
delegation of power from the upper hierarchies for greater control over them.
Dilip with the collaboration from the government of West Bengal and Chattisgarh
have conducted workshop to raise awareness about the role and responsibilities
of the local bodies. This ranges from the central government schemes to action
plans for implementing development programs. His work is showing significant
effects and the decentralisation model of Panchayat Raj Institutions have been
supported and scaled by the government of Chattisgarh in strengthening the
local bodies.
He is working in Orisaa and Jharkhand on
similar projects that are to empower the local bodies. His work on reversing
the damaging effects on prawn production in Chilka Lake, and conservation of
forests in North Bengal are doing good but one of the challenges that he has
faced over the course of his time is politics and their interference in
developmental activities. Indifferent attitude of political parties to
development , compounded with corruption is a big hindrance. The mindset of the people also needs to change
from short term benefits, to long term sustainable benefits.
He believes that he alone cannot do everything;
the effort has to come from every one.
He expects people to just trust on their as well as others abilities and
take the risk to stand up for a cause. He stood up for a cause in his
childhood, got beaten badly by politically protected hooligans, but he was
successful in his endeavour. “Please
make a mark of your existence on the society; it may start small but it will
scale up further.”
Dilip Banerjee has been one of the few
individuals who through their openness and creative learning approaches are
trying to empower the rural masses. Through this he is strengthening the local
government bodies and creating sustainable model of development. He is currently associated with Sanchar, an
organisation working for promoting equal rights and opportunities for people
with disabilities. He is acting there as an executive board member, guiding
this noble work. “I enjoy every moment that I work for others; that gives me
strength and energy.”
His empathetic nature towards the poor people
and transparent approach in his work has brought him credibility in his
interactions with the village folks. His good analysis of real life problems
and seamless communication with the folks has made him connect to the masses. His is a story of an individual who works
tirelessly for empowerment, and sustainable development of rural people who
constitutes a large part of the society.
·
Words in apostrophe commas
are words of the person himself.
Excerpts of the interviews as conducted by Debangshu
Bhattacherjee over the internet:
1.
What has been your
inspiration in making a difference to the lives of others? What are the sources
of inspiration? (If you like you
may mention any one or two instances that changed your life and made you start
something new or something different that laid the foundation for your work). I think this has influences of my
child hood in rural Bengal. I preferred to stay more time with the working
people families, because they loved and cared for me so much and no scolding
for anything. I grew with them and had a very strong group while I was in
school.
2.
What are the
challenges that you faced while starting your initiative and what are the
current challenges that you are facing now? Main challenges- party politics
(especially in Bengal), Mindset of the people, their own experiences and
corrupt practices.
3.
What is your
opinion on getting inspiration and using your talent for doing simple things
that eventually become great and make a difference in the lives of others? I don’t see any
“talent” in it, it depends on understanding, perception, mobilization, people’s
strength and keeping trust on the whole
process.
4.
What do you
consider as your own strong points that helped you to accomplish whatever you
have been able to? When did you discover them? How? How did you cultivate them?
Mobilization,
Transparency, Strategies and negotiating skill. It started when I was a student
of standard VI (mobilized almost whole village to protect our school ground).
To mobilize others around a common agenda like protect a play ground from
private Circus parties and political bosses.
5.
What in your
opinion are some of the qualities that people need to cultivate to make a
difference to others? How to enjoy every moment in working for others (it
gives energy and strength) Learning
ability, Openness, Commitment, risk taking ability, mobilization, analytical
and communication skills.
6.
What in your
opinion prevents successful people from making a contribution to the society? Lack of
-understanding, trust on people’s strength, flexibility and risk taking
ability.
7.
What future scope
do you have in mind for your work? I can’t do everything, but try to
respond on the basis of my understanding and priorities, so there is no fixed
future agenda. It’s ongoing so long I’m active.
8.
What messages
would you like to give for others to be or to become an effective person? Please mark your
presence of your existence as a member of the larger society, it may start from
individual of one’s family or friend and extend one’s ability at every moment
for scaling it up further.
Reference: The following websites have been used for
the secondary research on Dilip Banerjee
Downloaded as on:
25/04/2015
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