Founders Message

I am always inspired by the values of leaders like M K Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and when it comes to education, the words of our erstwhile president Dr. Abdul Kalam, and even Julius Nyerere of Tanzania have impacted me a lot. Philanthropists like Milinda and Bill Gates have inspired us to take up social actions which enhance human living conditions. Generations are passing away and we have many success stories and inspiring people in India and the world. Yet, we in India have not realized our potential. We are somewhere stuck and still face fundamental challenges. Education, Healthcare, Agriculture, Rule of law, and social empowerment are still the biggest challenges in India. However, I opine that national development is not only the duty of a state or political parties, it is the duty of every citizen.

I believe education is the foundation for any sustainable development of a nation. Ironically, we have sub-standard school infrastructure and approximately 95.2 percent are not yet compliant with the complete set of infrastructure indicators.

A very minimal amount of subsidy is provided for higher education so if the student seeks to get chances of higher education still misses out because of lack of economical resources. I understand that fees in the government universities are quite less, but the same is with the quality. If high-quality institutes are to be preferred like IITs and IIMs, then they are not affordable for the poorer sections of the society. This is just one extensive example I am quoting here. There are many sectors of our country which need structural changes to avoid systemic collapse.

Such systemic and structural failure is witnessed more vividly in times of pandemic. In these times of Pandemic, we are in the toughest and helpless situation ever. We see government hospitals are in very bad shape. Some government hospitals don’t even have the proper equipment, and going to private hospitals is more challenging. Even if a healthcare facility is physically accessible, the quality is questionable. Almost 75% of healthcare expenditure comes from the pockets of households. Then what is the use of insurance? Why are people selling their money in the name of health security? The public sector offers healthcare at low or no cost but is perceived as unreliable, indifferent, and generally not the first choice unless one cannot afford private care.

After 73 years of independence, this is where we arrived at. With no proper education system, dysfunctional healthcare system, and further, there is a danger of diffusion of the domestic social contract between the state and citizens. However, India as a country still manages to peacefully function because of its ethos and societal values. We at ADSCV foundation have realized that we can introduce structural changes to our national system with proper action research and policymaking. This is how we arrived at providing policy advocacy through anticipatory research and action research. We started this journey with simple tools in our arsenal and hope to expand our skillset so that we can push forward the structural changes needed to our political, economic, education, and social systems and see the dawn of the new visionary country.

Lastly, I would like to reiterate the point that my love towards this nation cannot be tinted by the faults of the state structures or political parties. As a citizen of this country, I would contribute through ADSCV FOUNDATION. I solemnly swear that we always stand by our objectives.