India Tribune

Chicago: India Development Coalition of America (IDCA) held its Seventh International Conference at the Illinois Institute of Technology — Rice Campus on October 31 and November 1. 
The conference was inaugurated by  lighting a lamp by guests, Sam Pitroda, Advisor to the Prime Minister of India and Ashok Kumar Attri, Consul General Of India in Chicago.
In the inaugural session, Dr. Prakasam Tata, president of IDCA,  explained the conference theme —”Finding Innovative Strategies to Alleviate Poverty and Mitigate Climate Change.”   As part of the theme, Dr. Tata presented a couple of innovative strategies to alleviate poverty by generating income by managing wastes and sewage and floodwaters.  He said that open defecation and indiscriminate disposal of animal manures could be eliminated and revenue generated if people, who defecate in open fields were paid a small amount of money not to do it when they use a community latrine and the manure  was collected in a concerted effort and used to generate biogas.  The biogas could be used as an energy source or burnt to generate electricity by running a generator. Carbon credits earned by capturing methane and burning it for beneficial purposes, could be sold to generate an income to make the strategy sustain itself.  In order to manage flood waters and sewage disposal, he said that they could be collected, treated and stored in reservoirs and pumped to arid and desert areas to make them bloom with green vegetation. This in turn would fix carbon dioxide from the ambient environment and obtain carbon credits in doing so. 
Sam Pitroda, in his keynote speech, said that India had very little to build on when the British left it in 1947.  He said that with no significant industry and practically no good educational institutions in India, the nation’s founding-fathers had the vision and rightly focused on planting the seeds to build institutions like IITs, IIMs, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and its national laboratories and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), and other industries. When he got involved in the telecom industry in 1985, he said that he was convinced that the growth of this industry would help build India.  He said that the telecom industry after 20 years of persistent efforts had given the country an edge in the world in software development and computers field, and India currently has 800 million telephones and 10 million phones per month were being added.  BSNL had 250,000 km of fiber network.
Pitroda said  that the UPA government had made poverty alleviation as its top priority and made a commitment to focus on economic growth, for without it poverty could not be alleviated.  India had achieved in the past few years a growth rate of 6 to 9 percent.  “While it is good, there is still a lot more that needs to be done.  Governmental programs have the mission of inclusion and access to programs like NREGA, Right for Information, Rural Health Mission, more electricity, and more roads.  Efforts are being made to reduce the time for settlement of court cases from the current dismal and unacceptable record of 15 years. Within the next two years that period will be shortened to only three years,” he added.
He said that for any significant results of development to be achieved, it might take 20 years. While significant advances had been made, a lot was still to be done,   many villages still did not have schools, electricity, sanitation, good roads and other facilities. In spite of the bureaucratic hurdles and corruption that one faced in India, he said that persevering and persisting on the social causes that one undertook could achieve results.
Ashok Kumar Attri,  who invoked Swami Vivekananda’s   Chicago call  “Awake, arise, and stop not till you reach your goal,”  added the IDCA slogan “Inform, Inspire, Empower, and Engage, “ and encouraged the participants of the conference to do their best to eradicate poverty rather than simply alleviating it by working with organizations like IDCA. He also echoed Pitroda’s statement that ideas were plenty, but the challenge was to develop synergies with the government and through the government.  He mentioned the examples of Pratham and Akshyapatra, which had successfully synergized with the governmental programs of primary education and midday meals in primary schools. He stated that through governmental programs such as NREGA, 1,400 million days of work had been provided in villages. At the ongoing discussions in Barcelona, Spain and in the upcoming Copenhagen convention in Denmark, he said that the government of India would articulate India’s stand on the issues related to climate change and would work towards mitigating the adverse effects of climate change.  He said that his office would always help the IDCA and its member because they were doing an outstanding job in inspiring and promoting  development of India. 
In all 10 sessions were conducted that addressed issues related to water and sanitation, education, livelihoods, health and change. 
The conference ended with delegates developing an action plans for volunteers, who wish to take up projects based on the action plans.
On behalf of the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors of IDCA, Dr. Prakasam Tata met the Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi, at  the Indian Consulate and extended an invitation to him to inaugurate the 6th Indian Annual Conference of IDCA in Gurgaon, on January 12, 2010.