Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Dilip Banerjee: Unedited material collected for Effective people by Prof TV Rao


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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