Brick of the Wall to Pillar of the System: A Proud Delhi Govt School Teacher, Manu Gulati

The  2017 National Award for Teachers winner Manu Gulati is a school teacher at one of the Delhi government schools. Manu is a part of the government school system for the past 12 years but never witnessed massive reforms in the education system previously. With dual masters in English Literature and Education, Manu teaches verbal English at her school. She is also pursuing a PhD from Jamia Millia Islamia University in the area of enhancing listening and speaking skills of English among students in Delhi government schools. Manu was one of the six Delhi government school teachers selected for 2017-18 Fulbright scholarship program. At present, Manu has also taken the responsibility of a mentor teacher with Delhi government to improve public education in Delhi.

Manu Gulati receiving 2017 National Award to Teachers 

12 Years with Delhi Govt Schools: In her 2 years at private schools and 12 years at Delhi government school, Manu has witnessed a paradigm shift in Delhi education system in the past 3-4 years. From advanced teacher training and small classrooms to new responsibilities for teachers, entire organization has been overhauled (read more). Mentor teacher is one of the programs that allows trained teachers to mentor other teachers from 5-6 schools. Mentor teachers are trained at various departments/institutes in India and abroad. Before becoming a mentor teacher, Manu Gulati went to USA and Singapore for teacher training. As more than 50,000 teachers of Delhi government schools can not be sent for training in one go, training has become a continuous process where selected teachers go for training and when they come back, they are given the responsibility of training others by working with them closely. Mentor teachers facilitate workshops and provide onsite academic support via one-to-one interaction. It also helps them to learn from each other and prepare supplementary material.

From being a single brick in the wall to becoming a strong pillar of the system, Manu received a lot of recognition in the past couple of years. She is very thankful to the Delhi government. She likes to introduce herself as a proud and happy Delhi government school teacher.

International Relations: Recently Delhi government hosted the Asia Summit on Education & Skills organized by India Didactics Association. There were participants from different parts of India  and 20 other countries. Ongoing education practices and challenges were discussed and display stalls were setup. During the conference, education ministeries of Afghanistan and India came closer and signed an agreement for education transfer. Afghanistan expressed its interest in implementing the happiness curriculum which they later did. Many participants from other nations were also keen about applying happiness curriculum in their home countries. Manu quoted Afghanistan education minister’s statement on happiness curriculum:

Afghanistan’s education minister strongly believes that happiness curriculum can actually ease out the stress among students in Afghanistan schools, the stress students face due to political turbulence in Afghanistan.

Happiness curriculum, which was launched in the month of July, has already started making an impact on the students as teacher can notice their behavioral changes. Exams are the most stressful time for students but in comparison to previous years students were found less stressed during a social science exam. For those students, who were a part of the happiness curriculum, learning process became easy with increased focus.

Manu Gulati with Afghanistan Education minister during Asia Summit on Education & Skills 

Delhi Govt and School Teachers: There is no doubt that a more responsible government plays a pivotal role in bringing decisive changes in the society. Governments are not limited to forming budgets or funding public education only, but it should also make a decision regarding the progress in schools with the help of policies at different levels. Decisions on the allocation and extent of autonomous powers provided should be made. Governments keep changing but schools teachers remain with the system for a longer duration. Type of academic and administrative responsibility to be given to teachers is completely dependent on the government and their ideology. Present Delhi government has education as its topmost priority and allocated more than 20% of the capital budget towards education. The government has transformed public schools at two levels: 1) infrastructural level, and 2) effort level. Newly built schools are equipped with labs, smart classrooms, library, swimming pools, gyms and many other amenities needed for the development of students. An inclusive environment is developed where students, parents and teachers are working and learning from each other in collaboration.

Community Engagement: Community engagement in school system has increased with the help of School Management Committee (SMC) which consists of the school principal, teachers and student guardians who are elected via elections. Parents bring useful suggestions to SMCs and are the backbone of mega parent-teacher meeting (Mega PTM). SMCs are empowered by giving them the authority to make administrative decisions. Recently Delhi government has started allocating a minimum Rs 5 lakh to each school which can be used for any purpose decided by the SMCs. With this fund, teacher or special trainers can be arranged, furniture can be bought, additional lab can be built etc. The allocated amount increases in accordance with school enrollment.

Fulbright Scholar: Manu Gulati was one of the six participants who were selected for 2018 Fulbright scholarship. She was in the US from January to March 2018. This scholarship provided tremendous opportunity for Manu and others as they learnt a lot from the American education system.  Some of the key focus areas of the program were academic excellence, subject oriented workshops, pedagogic intervention, visits to schools and school participation. All teachers came back to India with vast knowledge and started implementing useful learnings in their schools. In a one of its kind of change in the Indian education system, Manu with other teachers started moving students from one classroom to another for different subject periods in her elementary school. This movement created a win-win situation for both students and teachers. Classrooms became resourceful for teachers and students got an opportunity to move and interact with other students at the end of each class. Teachers who returned from the US also implemented subject specific learnings. All six Fulbright scholars are now sharing their experiences with 200 Delhi government mentor teachers who further transfer it to more than 50,000 public school teachers.

Manu Gulati with fellow Fulbright Scholars 

Happiness Curriculum: At present, happiness curriculum is designed for students from KG to 8th class. One of the reasons for tailoring the curriculum for this specific age group is their strong learning capacity. But the happiness curriculum is getting popular among other students as well as many teachers are preparing it for class 9 to 12, even when it is not mandatory for them. Such curriculum focused around mindfulness, attentive listening, attentive breathing etc. is bringing a significant change in student performance. Many people feel that it should be implemented at higher and postsecondary education levels as well. Anything that we learn in classrooms remain with us for a lifetime, so does the happiness.

Sharing and Learning: Many innovative teaching methods are being introduced in Delhi government schools which is a continuous process. Academic Resource Team consists of teachers and researchers who collectively explore best practices used in different countries and then develop a program for Delhi government school students accordingly. Present Delhi government believes in inclusive learning and does not want the educational revolution to just stay in Delhi. A team consisting of software developers, teachers and government officials has started working on building a tool to share their knowledge with schools in other states of India. Soon, Delhi government will launch an online video series in which Delhi government school teachers will be recording lessons to be shared with teachers throughout India.

Watch full video of AAP Ka Radio conference call with Manu Gulati

Read More:

>> Story of Delhi Eduction Reforms by school teacher and Fulbright scholar Murari Jha

>> Quality Education for All

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नर्मदा पुत्र आलोक अग्रवाल, जो अब मध्यप्रदेश की जरूरत है : IIT से AAP तक का सफर

Read In English: From "Narmada Putra" to "A Leader MP deserves" 


आईआईटी कानपुर जैसे प्रतिष्ठित संस्थान के उस छात्र के सामाजिक जुड़ाव की कहानी दिलचस्प है। उस वक्त वह तृतीय वर्ष का विद्यार्थी था। कॉलेज परिसर के समीप एक बस्ती के बच्चे दिन भर आवारा घूमते। उनके पढ़ने की कोई व्यवस्था नहीं थी। उनकी स्थिति से दुखी होकर उसने बस्ती में जाकर बच्चों को जुटाया और पढ़ाना शुरू किया। धीरे-धीरे बच्चों की संख्या बढ़ती चली गई। उसके कुछ दोस्तों ने भी बच्चों को पढ़ाना शुरू किया। इस तरह उन बच्चों की पढ़ाई का एक सिलसिला शुरू हुआ। आईआईटी के इन विद्यार्थियों को ताज्जुब होता कि इतने सारे बच्चों के लिए आखिर कोई स्कूल क्यों नहीं है। जल्द ही पता चला कि कागजों में इनके लिए एक स्कूल मौजूद है, और 2 शिक्षक भी। भले ही व्यवहार में कुछ ना हो।

1986 के उस दौर में सरकारी स्कूलों और शिक्षकों पर कोई जवाबदेही नहीं थी। हालांकि वह आज भी नहीं है। इसके बावजूद हम ऐसे नेताओं को चुनते आए हैं, जिन्होंने बच्चों की कई पीढ़ियों को बर्बाद कर दिया। बस्ती के उन बच्चों की शिक्षा का जुनून लेकर आईआईटी कानपुर के उस छात्र ने जिले के शिक्षा अधिकारी से मुलाकात की। साहब के लिए यह हैरानी की बात थी कि आईआईटी जैसे प्रतिष्ठित संस्थान के स्टूडेंट्स किसी बस्ती के बच्चों की ऐसी चिंता कर रहे हैं। कई मुलाकात के बाद उस अधिकारी ने स्कूल के इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर, बिल्डिंग, शिक्षकों की व्यवस्था इत्यादि सभी कामों के लिए कुल ₹25000 की राशि की व्यवस्था कर दी। यह राशि भले ही मामूली हो, लेकिन बस्ती के 150 स्टूडेंट्स के लिए तो आलोक भैया मानो कोई देवदूत हों। इस तरह अपनी पढ़ाई के दौरान ही आलोक अग्रवाल ने सोशल इंजीनियरिंग भी शुरू कर दी थी।

उसी दौरान आलोक ने देखा कि कॉलेज परिसर में बिहार के काफी मजदूर काम कर रहे हैं। नई इमारतों के निर्माण जैसे कार्य में लगे मजदूरों के बच्चों की शिक्षा का कोई अवसर नहीं था। यहां तक कि इन मजदूरों को पूरी मजदूरी का भुगतान भी नहीं होता था। उनसे जिस रकम पर हस्ताक्षर कराया जाता, उसकी मात्र आधी रकम का भुगतान होता था। ठेकेदारों द्वारा शोषण के खिलाफ आलोक ने संघर्ष की ठानी। दरअसल आलोक को महात्मा गांधी, अरविंदो, बाबा आमटे ओशो इत्यादि की किताबें पढ़ने तथा दर्शन और आध्यात्म का शौक था। मजदूरों के हक के लिए आलोक ने गांधीवादी रास्ता अपनाया। अपने कुछ दोस्तों के साथ आईआईटी परिसर में ही धरना देकर पूरी मजदूरी का आंदोलन शुरू किया। आईआईटी जैसे प्रतिष्ठित संस्थान में ऐसा आंदोलन कभी नहीं हुआ था। आखिरकार कॉलेज प्रबंधन ने जांच की और मजदूरों को पूरी मजदूरी का भुगतान हुआ। इससे आलोक को यह बात समझ में आ गई कि संघर्ष के बगैर कोई सामाजिक बदलाव नहीं होता और ऐसी जीत का फल मीठा होता है।

आलोक ने आईआईटी कानपुर से केमिकल इंजीनियरिंग में स्नातक किया। इसे कारपोरेट इंडिया का द्वार समझा जाता है। आलोक के लिए अमेरिका में स्कॉलरशिप के अवसर थे। उनके ज्यादातर दोस्तों ने आगे की पढ़ाई, एमबीए, बड़ी नौकरी या अन्य आकर्षक कैरियर चुन लिए। लेकिन आलोक पर तो कुछ और ही धुन सवार थी। उसे खुद को लेकर उतने ही सवाल थे, जितने अपने देश और देशवासियों को लेकर। उसने इसी दिशा में अपनी समझ बनाने का प्रयास किया। वह ओडिशा में मछुआरों के आंदोलन में शामिल हो गया। कभी वह आदिवासियों के बीच रहकर उनकी जीवनशैली समझने की कोशिश करता, तो कभी बस्तियों में रहकर गरीबी के मायने का पता लगाता। कभी वह वर्धा के गांधी आश्रम जाकर कुछ सीखने और करने की कोशिश करता। लगभग एक साल तक देश के विभिन्न हिस्सों में घूमने के बाद उसने नर्मदा बचाओ आंदोलन से जुड़कर काम शुरू किया। उसे यह बात समझ में आ रही थी कि बड़े बांध पर आधारित विकास के मॉडल में क्या खामियां हैं। इसमें आर्थिक लाभ को बढ़ा-चढ़ाकर दिखाया जाता है। लेकिन डूब, बाढ़, विस्थापन और नागरिकों को होने वाली परेशानियों की कीमत का आकलन नहीं किया जाता। आलोक हैरान था कि ग्रामीणों को मुआवजा और पुनर्स्थापना की व्यवस्था किए बगैर गैरकानूनी तरीके से उनकी जमीनों और घरों पर बुलडोजर चलाए जा रहे थे।

कुल मिलाकर, 'कारपोरेट इंडिया' ने अपना एक 'हीरा' खो दिया था, जो नर्मदा आंदोलन को मिला। एक ऐसा कार्यकर्ता, जो काफी स्मार्ट था। जनता और उनके मुद्दों को लेकर काफी संवेदनशील। अपनी समझ में काफी तर्कशील और तीक्ष्ण, जिसके पास अद्भुत संगठन क्षमता थी। वह एक स्वाभाविक जननेता था। इसके अगले चार वर्षों में आलोक अग्रवाल ने नर्मदा आंदोलन में भरपूर योगदान किया। अपनी नेतृत्व क्षमता और रणनीति के जरिए उन्होंने डूब और विस्थापन से बर्बाद होने वाले लोगों की काफी मदद की। इन विषयों पर नीतिगत बहसों को दिशा देने में भी उनकी बड़ी भूमिका रही। उनके प्रयासों का नतीजा है कि नर्मदा बचाओ आंदोलन में पांच लाख से भी ज्यादा लोगों को लगभग 4000 करोड़ रुपयों का मुआवजा मिला। देश में भूमि अधिग्रहण का एक नया कानून भी आया। बड़े बांध पर आधारित विकास को लेकर पुनर्विचार संभव हुआ। ऐसी कई बड़ी परियोजनाएं स्थगित हुई। इन सबसे बढ़कर, मध्यप्रदेश की जनजातियों के अधिकारों और सम्मान की रक्षा का एक एहसास पैदा हुआ। यही कारण है कि आलोक अग्रवाल को 'नर्मदा-पुत्र' के तौर पर जाना जाता है।

Alok Agarwal and Medha Patkar at Jal Sinshi, MP Tribal village (1994)

इन अनुभवों ने आलोक को सिखाया कि नागरिकों के अधिकारों के प्रति सरकारी व्यवस्था काफी संवेदनहीन है। आंदोलन के जरिए एक सीमित सफलता ही मिल सकती है। वास्तविक बदलाव के लिए सिस्टम के भीतर जाना और खुद पावर को नियंत्रित करना जरूरी है। आलोक ने देखा कि मानव विकास सूचकांक के मामले में मध्यप्रदेश काफी पीछे है। अशिक्षा, कुपोषण, शिशु मृत्यु बिजली, पानी, बेरोजगारी किसानों की आत्महत्या, भ्रष्टाचार जैसे बड़े मुद्दे थे। आखिरकार उन्होंने अपने पुराने मित्र अरविंद केजरीवाल का प्रस्ताव मानकर आम आदमी पार्टी जॉइन कर ली।

आलोक ने 2014 दिन में आम आदमी पार्टी में आकर खंडवा सीट से लोकसभा का चुनाव लड़ा। इसमें उन्हें सफलता तो नहीं मिल सकी, लेकिन काफी कुछ सीखने का मौका मिला। एक राजनीतिक दल के लिए संगठन बनाने, लोगों का चयन करने, मुद्दों को समझने तथा प्रचार अभियान के अनुभव मिले। उन्हें चुनावी मशीनरी की उपयोगिता, डोर टू डोर कैंपेन, बूथ लेबल संगठन के निर्माण तथा सोशल मीडिया के उपयोग इत्यादि का भी अनुभव मिला।

इन चार वर्षों में आलोक अग्रवाल ने आम आदमी पार्टी को एक जुझारू ताकत के तौर पर खड़ा कर दिया है। अब इसे मध्यप्रदेश में तीसरे विकल्प के तौर पर देखा जा रहा है। आप-का-साथी कहे जाने वाले 40000 से ज्यादा कार्यकर्ताओं की बड़ी फौज है। इनमें प्रत्येक के ऊपर 250 से 300 तक परिवारों से संपर्क का दायित्व है।
चुनाव में विजय के लिए जिस प्रकार के सुव्यवस्थित और मजबूत संगठन की आवश्यकता होती है, उसका निर्माण करके मध्यप्रदेश के विधानसभा चुनाव में आप एक जबरदस्त दावेदार के तौर पर उभरी है।
बूथ लेवल तक मजबूत संगठन की तैयारी के साथ ही आलोक अग्रवाल ने बौद्धिक तौर पर भी महत्वपूर्ण तैयारियां की हैं।

उन्होंने विभिन्न क्षेत्रों के प्रख्यात विद्वानों और पेशेवर लोगों का समूह बनाया है। इनमें आईआईटी, आईआईएम तथा अन्य विशेषज्ञता वाले लोग शामिल हैं। डेवलपमेंट सेक्टर के भी महत्वपूर्ण लोगों की मदद मिल रही है। मध्यप्रदेश के मानव विकास सूचकांक को ध्यान में रखते हुए शिक्षा, स्वास्थ्य, बिजली-पानी, रोजगार, आर्थिक विकास कृषि को खास मदद जैसे विषयों को शामिल किया गया है। इन पर आधारित है आम आदमी पार्टी का चुनावी घोषणापत्र। ठीक उसी तरह, जैसे दिल्ली में आम आदमी पार्टी ने 70 सूत्री घोषणापत्र जारी किया था।
दिल्ली में शिक्षा, स्वास्थ्य में बड़े बदलाव से आलोक अग्रवाल काफी उत्साहित हैं। कहते हैं कि आज तक किसी भी पार्टी ने इतने कम समय में कितना काम नहीं किया। अगर हम मध्यप्रदेश के लोगों को दिल्ली में अपने काम की जानकारी देंगे, तो उनका समर्थन जरूर मिलेगा।

सच तो यह है कि मध्यप्रदेश की जनता ने 70 साल में राजनेताओं पर से भरोसा खो दिया है। अब नए सिरे से लोगों में उम्मीद पैदा करने की जिम्मेवारी आलोक अग्रवाल जैसे लोगों पर है।

सच तो यह है कि आलोक अग्रवाल मध्यप्रदेश के लिए एक आदर्श राजनेता हैं। वैचारिक रूप से काफी समृद्ध, नागरिकों और उनके मुद्दों को लेकर संवेदनशील तथा हर वक्त सीखने की तमन्ना रखने वाला एक शिक्षित दिमाग। मध्यप्रदेश के लोगों के सामने इस 'कर्मयोगी' को चुनने का सुअवसर है, जो एक ईमानदार राजनीति के जरिए सच्चे बदलाव का नेतृत्व कर सके।

1990 से लेकर आज तक के संघर्षो को दर्शाता यह वीडियो:

इस ब्लॉग के अंग्रेजी (मूलतह अरविन्द झा द्वारा लिखा गया ) से हिंदी अनुवाद के लिए Vishnu Rajgadia को बहुत बहुत धन्यवाद

आगे पढ़े: डोरस्टेप को और भी अनोखी सेवा बनाएंगे गोपाल मोहन

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Full-Time Job to Full-Time Volunteer: A New Inning of Munish Kaushik with AAP

Munish Kaushik was working in NGO sector based in Netherlands. He was very active on social media after the formation of Aam Aadmi Party. One day he asked himself “What would be his answer when his kids will ask in future that what he was doing when anti-corruption was booming and a newly born party was trying to change the system?” The simple answer that “Beta, we used like and share on Facebook” made him rethink about his purpose and contribution to the society and nation. After working in disaster management in India and Bangladesh for 17 years, Munish decided to quit his job and joined AAP as a full-time volunteer in 2015. Munish, who initially joined to work with Mohalla Sabha project is currently working with Education Department of Delhi Government. Unfortunately, the former project could not get started.

The Beginning: It was a difficult call for Munish who was working full-time, taking care of his 2 year old son and his wife’s ongoing education. After Indian independence in 1947 and 1970’s JP movement, anti-corruption movement was happening in his lifetime. He supported the movement remotely while working full-time but could not stop himself from trying to join the political movement (i.e. Aam Aadmi Party) that started after anti-corruption movement. In 2015, he took 15 days off from his Holland office to campaign for Alka Lamba in Chandni Chowk constituency. After campaigning, he went back to his job but kept receiving calls from Chandni Chowk residents regarding various issues in the constituency. After failing to convince them that he was just a volunteer in the election campaigns, Munish started working for residents in the evening hours. It became difficult for Munish to continue the balance between his job and volunteer work.

New Inning: Munish started enjoying working with people in India. He decided to join Indian politics full-time but financial decisions kept him in dilemma. With a promise to his wife that “While you are learning, I’m earning and when you will earn, I will learn”, Munish wrote to his friends about his situation and requested minimum financial support by cutting down his luxury expenses. Within a week, 69 of his friends committed a monthly contribution of Rs 1,000 from their pockets. The financial support from his friends made it easy for Munish and he began his political journey in India in 2015. Those 69 friends of Munish are still financially committed and supporting him. Munish also executes some part-time assignments to top-up his family expenses. He not only pays tax (based on annual income) but also maintains all details of financial support and field work on htttp://munshiinpublicservice.com.

Munish Kaushik with AAP volunteers at Jantar Mantar

Day Schedule: An expert in disaster management, Munish managed to join AAP with the help of his friends in the NGO sector. As a full-time volunteer, Munish’s day for AAP starts at 9:00 am and ends around midnight. He goes to the secretariat as a normal employee, campaigns in Atishi’s constituency and work on other stuff related to AAP. On a positive note, as Munish is not getting paid from AAP, he doesn’t have any fear of losing job and can raise concerns when needed. This allows individuals like Munish to work fearlessly and keep checks and balances.

Volunteers: There are many other volunteers working for AAP without any financial assistance. Currently, AAP is not able to help them due to lack of money. AAP Delhi government employs some exceptional candidates as advisors but their number and duration of service is very limited. Some advisors work on a token salary of Rs 1 per month and have been forcefully removed due to poor politics in Delhi (e.g. Atishi was removed by LG office by terming her appointment as illegal). Such embarrassments keep the volunteers from any hope for remuneration either from the party or AAP govt. They try to do their best with limited resources. In order to support these volunteers, we need to find a way and develop a model for continuous flow of funds towards their work.

Biggest Learning: Munish’s journey with AAP has some interesting turns. While working with AAP in Delhi, Munish learnt that it is very challenging to work with governmental bureaucrats. Volunteers with previous experience in private sectors have limited idea of the hurdles involved in working with government offices. He understands now how a government “does not function”. Munish is now knowledgeable in his ways around the public systems. Reasons for delaying or cancelling works appear from nowhere but it takes a lot of effort and energy to complete a single task. He also learnt about mobilizing people to create movements and dealing with individuals with different opinions and egos.

Non-Functional Functioning: There are 1,031 schools under the govt of NCT which used to stay dirty until AAP took over the government. Writing on walls is quite common in schools which on some occasions, also reflects the creativity of students. In order to encourage this creativity, during one of his visits, Manish Sisodia challenged students to paint the walls without the fear of teachers. He took the responsibility to paint all walls with plastic paint and contracted the work to PWD. Money was allocated for this work which was supposed to be completed during summer holidays. But only few walls were painted with non-washable low-quality paint and PWD department failed to buy a single box of plastic paint. In another example, procurement of tablets for school teachers was proposed but the plan remained pending for 2.5 years. Recently the procurement of tablets is approved on the condition that teachers will have to buy the tablets first and will get reimbursed later. Files related to mohalla clinics have similar pattern. Functioning of Delhi govt gained some momentum after SC decision on July 4th otherwise it was working at 10% of its capacity.

Munish Kaushik with Atishi and others 

Schools under Delhi Govt: All the educational revolutions being witnessed nowadays are specifically a feature of the 1,031 Delhi government schools (functioning under the directorate of education). Out of these, 432 schools start classes from 1st and rest from 6th standard. Majority of primary education (class 1 to 5) is controlled by MCD where they manage over 1,700 schools (functioning under different MCD commissioners). Apart from these, there are 1,400 - 1,500 private schools. Majority of students attending primary education are studying in MCD schools which are in a very poor condition. In Feb 2018, Delhi HC questioned MCD about handing over their 1,700 schools to Delhi Govt. MCD came into action after the questioning, but it slowly disappeared. In a momentary push, MCD approached Delhi government for collaborative efforts and participated in “Mission Buniyaad” program initiated by Delhi Govt. Presently, around 1.6 million students from 1 million families attend Delhi Govt schools with 53,000 teachers. Out of these students, 70% belong to families from low economic background.

Impact & Engagement: Around 10% population of Delhi is directly impacted by government educational reforms. The effect is increasing as more and more parents are opting for government schools. A newly built government school in Rohini (RPVP Rohini, New Delhi) has 95% students from private schools. Apart from the infrastructure, curriculum and teaching method developments, community engagement is also increased with empowered School Management Committees. These committees engage parents directly with the school administration. Earlier, parents who were not allowed to enter into the school system are now an integral part of it. They can check bills, food and education quality and make laws. Participation of parents was one of the reasons behind the grand success of Mega PTM organized at Delhi Govt schools.

Phase-wise Revolutions:  After AAP came into power, they started from scratch by building toilets in schools followed by other facilities. This took a lot of energy and time and after 3.5 years we can see the difference. The development process of schools can be categorized into 3 phases. Year 1 was focused on infrastructure, year 2 on upgrading classrooms and year 3 was focused on teachers and teaching methods. Anganwadi and Higher Education did not get enough attention at the beginning but they are in the pipeline. Last year, govt started reforming early childhood education by improving 11,000 Anganwadi centres. Higher Education reforms also started slow but are gaining momentum with time. They began by building skill centres (in collaboration with Govt of Singapore), entrepreneurship centers (at different schools of Delhi University), establishing new institutes and building new blocks in existing institutes. Delhi Act doesn’t allow Delhi government to open a new university. With some amendments, Ambedkar University was established along with few IT schools. NSIT is the latest to be transformed into an independent university. A plan to open an University in Hotel Management is already in progress. 

Quality & Inspections: Quality of work was another challenge for Delhi Govt which they managed by regular and random inspections. Some officials were fired due to irregularities and some were given warnings. On many occasions, payment to contractors was approved after getting a nod from people. One of the school principals was suspended on the day of retirement when he was found using old construction material on the price of new material. Being it an employee, volunteer or minister, no one escaped from the sharp eyes and efficient working mechanism of Delhi Education Department.

Munish Kaushik with Atishi nd other AAP volunteer

Education as Election Agenda: While working on various initiatives, upcoming month will be very critical for AAP. Parliamentary elections are approaching fast and it is very important for AAP to win all 7 Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, specially for Atishi being the face of education revolution in Delhi. If she wins, it will build a narrative that elections can be won on the name of education instead of caste and religion. People openly appreciate and acknowledge the work done by AAP but they fear to vote based on education and health-centric agenda. This is where the main challenge for AAP lies. However, the thought process of people has started changing as citizens in different parts of India are seen questioning their government based on health, education and unfulfilled poll promises. Electoral fight for AAP in Delhi might be challenging but drawing conclusions from previous election vote shares, it will be very difficult to defeat Aam Aadmi Party candidates from 7 Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.

Watch complete video of AAP Ka Radio call with Munish Kaushik.

AP USA chapter organizes a weekly conference call (AAP Ka Radio) every Sunday at noon 12:00PM EST. More details about the call and guest can be found at @aapchat (https://twitter.com/aapchat) 

Read More: Importance of SC Judgement and AAP Navigating Political Conversation 

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डोरस्टेप को और भी अनोखी सेवा बनाएंगे गोपाल मोहन

Read In English: Delhi Govt's Revolutionary Doorstep Delivery of Services by Gopal Mohan 

 

दिल्ली में सरकारी सेवाओं की डोर स्टेप डिलीवरी की क्रांतिकारी योजना सफलतापूर्वक लागू हो चुकी है। फिलहाल 40 तरह की सरकारी सेवाएं घर बैठे मिल रही हैं। अन्य राज्यों के नागरिक जिन मामूली कामों के लिए सरकारी कार्यालयों में धक्के खाने को मजबूर हैं, वैसे कामों के लिए दिल्ली वालों को अब सिर्फ एक फोन करना ही काफी है।

लेकिन गोपाल मोहन के लिए यह शुरूआत भर है। उनके सपनों की आदर्श डोरस्टेप डिलीवरी योजना में कई नए आयाम जुड़ेंगे।

दिल्ली सरकार द्वारा शुरू की गई यह क्रांतिकारी एवं अनूठी योजना गोपाल मोहन के दिमाग की उपज है। उन्होंने एक सामाजिक कार्यकर्त्ता के बतौर अपनी यात्रा 2009 में अरविंद केजरीवाल के साथ शुरू की थी। उस वक्त गोपाल मोहन आइआइटी दिल्ली में पढ़ रहे थे। सूचना का अधिकार पर एक कार्यक्रम में अरविंद केजरीवाल आए। गोपाल मोहन से संपर्क का सिलसिला शुरू हुआ। गोपाल को बचपन से ही सामाजिक कार्यों में दिलचस्पी थी। स्कूल के दिनों में क्लबों और एनसीसी जैसी गतिविधियों में शामिल होते रहे। देश के श्रेष्ठ स्काउट के तौर पर उनका चयन हुआ था। वर्ल्ड जम्बोरी में स्वर्ण पदक भी मिला। स्काउट एवं गाइड प्रोग्राम में दो प्रधानमंत्री अवार्ड और तीन प्रेसिडेंट अवार्ड मिलने जैसी उपलब्धियां उनके खाते में हैं।

वर्ष 2011 में गोपाल मोहन, अरविन्द केजरीवाल, अंकित लाल, स्वाति मालीवाल और अन्य लोगो के साथ

सामाजिक जुड़ाव का वही जुनून आज भी जारी है। इस क्षेत्र में कई बंदिशों एवं सीमाओं के बावजूद गोपाल काफी संतुष्टि का अनुभव करते रहे। उन्हें अपने दो पेटेंट से कुछ रॉयल्टी मिल जाया करती है। 

वर्ष 2011 में जनलोकपाल आंदोलन के दौरान गोपाल मोहन ने बढ़-चढ़कर भूमिका निभायी। अन्ना हजारे तथा अरविंद केजरीवाल के साथ मंच पर बैठने का अवसर मिला। भ्रष्टाचार के खिलाफ उस अभियान के बाद से वह आम आदमी पार्टी के पूर्णकालिक कार्यकर्ता के तौर पर सक्रिय हैं। 

दायित्व: वर्ष 2012 में आम आदमी पार्टी के गठन के बाद गोपाल मोहन को नई दिल्ली विधानसभा क्षेत्र में चुनाव प्रचार के प्रबंधन का दायित्व मिला। उस वक्त लगभग बीस लोगों ने दिल्ली में चुनाव प्रचार शुरू किया। लोग आते गए और टीम बड़ी होती गयी। देश-विदेश के कार्यकर्ताओं ने सोशल मीडिया और चंदा अभियान में मदद की। गोपाल मोहन ने जमीनी कार्यकर्ता के तौर पर आम आदमी का संदेश घर-घर तक पहुंचाने का काम किया। वर्ष 2013 की अल्पमत की सरकार से लेकर 2014 के लोकसभा चुनाव और फिर 2015 की शानदार सफलता के हर दौर में आम आदमी पार्टी के हर भले या बुरे वक्त का गवाह बने रहे गोपाल मोहन। 

उन्होंने जनशिकायत प्रबंधन सिस्टम को दुरूस्त करने में भी महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभायी। वह मुख्यमंत्री के एंटी करप्शन एडवाइजर भी रहे। इस भूमिका में मात्र दो-तीन महीनों के भीतर उन्होंने भ्रष्टाचार के मामलों में 200-250 लोगों को निलंबित कराया तथा 40 से 50 अभियुक्तों को जेल भिजवाया। वर्तमान में वह मुख्यमंत्री के तकनीकी सलाहकार के तौर पर कार्यरत हैं। 

डोर स्टेप डिलीवरी का आइडिया: वर्ष 2015 में जब दूसरी बार ‘आप’ की सरकार बनी तो अरविंद केजरीवाल ने प्रशासन को आसान करने तथा सुशासन से संबंधित सुझाव मांगे। सभी लोगों ने हर चीज को ऑनलाइन करने का सुझाव दिया। विभिन्न सेवाओं को ऑनलाइन कर दिया गया। इसके बावजूद यह पाया गया कि मात्र दस प्रतिशत लोग ही ऑनलाइन सेवा का उपयोग करते हैं। शेष तमाम लोग सरकारी दफ्तरों में ही जाकर काम कराते हैं। 

ऑनलाइन सर्विस का उपयोग न करने के पीछे कई वजहें थीं। पहली तो यह कि बड़ी संख्या में लोग अब भी तकनीक के उपयोग में सक्षम नहीं थे। दूसरा ऐसे लोगों की बड़ी संख्या थी जो ऑनलाइन लेन-देन के लिए क्रेडिट या डेबिट कार्ड का उपयोग नहीं करना चाहते थे। तीसरा सबसे बड़ा कारण यह कि ऑनलाइन आवेदन के बावजूद कुछ प्रक्रिया के लिए उन्हें सरकारी दफ्तर जाना ही पड़ता था। 

ऐसे में गोपाल मोहन के दिमाग में सरकारी सेवाओं की डोर स्टेप डिलीवरी का आइडिया आया। उन्होंने सोचा कि क्या यह संभव है कि कोई व्यक्ति आवश्यक दस्तावेज और फीस की रकम किसी नागरिक से लेकर उसे सरकारी दफ्तर में जमा करा दे। अगर ऐसा होता है तो सरकारी कार्यालय की जटिलताओं से राहत मिल सकती है और नागरिकों को वहां जाने की जरूरत नहीं होगी। 

गोपाल मोहन के इस आइडिया को अरविंद केजरीवाल ने तत्काल स्वीकृति दे दी और इस पर काम भी शुरू हो गया। 

क्यों होता है भ्रष्टाचार: वर्तमान में किसी नागरिक को सरकारी दफ्तर से अपना कोई काम कराने के लिए कई बार चक्कर काटना पड़ता है। पहली बार तो वह सिर्फ इतना पता लगाने जाता है कि उसे कौन-कौन से दस्तावेज जमा करने होंगे। उसके बाद वह अपने दस्तावेज, फॉर्म और फीस वगैरह जमा करता है। सरकारी कार्यालय में लंबी कतारें होती हैं और प्रायः उन्हें अपना काम कराने के लिए काफी समय लगाना पड़ता है। एक मामूली काम के लिए भी लोगों को कई बार जाना और परेशान होना पड़ता है। इन जटिलताओं से बचने के लिए लोग बिचौलियों की मदद लेने के लिए मजबूर हो जाते हैं। 

शोध और विश्लेषण: गोपाल मोहन की टीम को डोर स्टेप डिलीवरी योजना के कार्यान्वयन संबंधित चुनौतियों पर शोध करने में तीन-चार महीनों का वक्त लगा। जो योजना प्रारंभ में काफी आसान लगती थी, वही काफी भयावह दिखने लगी। इसकी फाइलों को इस विभाग से उस विभाग में दौड़ाया जाने लगा। विभिन्न अधिकारियों ने इस पर नकारात्मक टिप्पणियां लिखनी शुरू कर दीं। किसी ने अत्यधिक खर्च होने और बजट बढ़ने का हवाला दिया तो किसी ने लिखा कि नागरिकों का दायित्व है कि खुद सरकारी ऑफिस जाकर अपना काम कराए। किसी ने तो यहां तक लिख दिया कि ऐसी योजना से नागरिकों और उनके दस्तावेजों की सुरक्षा को खतरा हो सकता है। 

विभिन्न विभागों के अधिकारियों ने ऐसे लगभग 130 कमेंट्स किए। गोपाल मोहन और आइटी एक्सपर्ट विजय चंद्रा ने दो-तीन महीने के रिसर्च के बाद सभी टिप्पणियों का जवाब दिया। आखिरकार इस योजना का लाभ समझाने में मदद मिली और टेंडर का प्रारूप बनाने की प्रक्रिया प्रारंभ हुई। 

लेकिन जब एलजी के पास फाइनल प्रस्ताव भेजा गया तो उन्होंने अजीबोगरीब कारण बताकर अस्वीकृत कर दिया। इनमें एक कारण यह भी बताया गया कि सेवाओं की घर-घर डिलीवरी से दिल्ली में प्रदूषण बढ़ जाएगा। 

गोपाल मोहन, अरविन्द केजरीवाल के साथ साउथ कोरिया के दौरे पर (सितम्बर 2018)

प्रारंभिक बाधाएं: एलजी की अस्वीकृति के बाद लगभग एक साल तक यह योजना ठंडे बस्ते में पड़ी रही। टीम के ज्यादातर सदस्यों ने इस परियोजना को लेकर उम्मीदें भी छोड़ दी। इस बीच गोपाल ने एलजी के साथ दो-तीन बार मिलकर उन्हें समझाने का भरपूर प्रयास किया। लेकिन एलजी को समझाना मुश्किल नहीं, असंभव था।

संयोगवश, 4 जुलाई 2018 को सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने दिल्ली सरकार और एलजी की शक्तियों को लेकर स्पष्ट आदेश सुना दिया। इसके बाद तो इस योजना को पंख लग गए। दिल्ली कैबिनेट ने योजना को मंजूरी दे दी और तत्काल इसे लागू भी कर दिया।

डोर स्टेप डिलीवरी की प्रक्रिया: सरकारी सेवाओं की डोर स्टेप डिलीवरी में 40 प्रकार की सेवाओं को शामिल किया गया है। इसकी प्रक्रिया बेहद आसान है। नागरिक को हेल्पलाइन नंबर 1076 पर फोन करके अपनी जरूरत बतानी है। उसकी सुविधा के अनुसार सरकारी प्रतिनिधि उसके घर पहुंच जाएगा। नागरिक को सिर्फ अपने आवश्यक दस्तावेज दिखाने हैं। सरकारी प्रतिनिधि इन दस्तावेजों की फोटो कॉपी अथवा खुद ही टैब में फोटो लेकर आवेदन की प्रक्रिया पूरी कर देगा। वह निर्धारित शुल्क ले लेगा या ऑनलाइन भुगतान करा देगा। इस सेवा के एवज में वह मात्र 50 रुपये सर्विस फीस लेगा। 

नागरिकों को मिलनेवाली यह सुविधा अनुदानित है। सरकार को इसके लिए प्रति सेवा 65 रुपए का भुगतान करना पड़ रहा है। यह सेवा वीएफएस ग्लोबल नामक कंपनी के सहयोग से चलायी जा रही है। इसका चयन समुचित टेंडर प्रक्रिया के जरिए हुआ। इसके लिए क्यूसीबीएस सिस्टम अपनाते हुए ग्लोबल टेंडर निकाला गया था। गुणवत्ता के लिए 70 फीसदी तथा वित्तीय बिड के लिए 30 प्रतिशत अंक निर्धारित थे। टेंडर प्रक्रिया में लगभग छह माह का समय लगा।

योजना का जोरदार स्वागत: दस सितंबर, 2018 को मुख्यमंत्री अरविंद केजरीवाल ने इस योजना का उदघाटन किया। पहले चरण में 40 सेवाओं को शामिल किया गया। दिल्ली के नागरिकों ने काफी उत्साह के साथ इसका स्वागत किया। टीम ने प्रतिदिन 5000 टेलिफोन कॉल का अनुमान लगाया था। लेकिन प्रतिदिन 20,000 से 30,000 टेलिफोन कॉल आने लगे। अनुमान यह लगाया गया था कि 30 फीसदी नागरिक इस सेवा का लाभ लेंगे। लेकिन टीम ने यह तैयारी भी कर रखी थी कि अगर 95 प्रतिशत लोग भी इसका उपयोग करना चाहें तो परेशानी नहीं आए। सरकारी दफ्तरों में कतार में लगे लोगों के बीच एक सर्वेक्षण कराया गया था। उसमें 95 प्रतिशत लोगों ने इस योजना का लाभ उठाने की सहमति दी थी। 

योजना प्रारंभ होने के एक सप्ताह के भीतर ऐसे तमाम फोन कॉल्स को अपनी तरफ से कॉल करके बात कर ली गई, जिनसे शुरूआत में बात नहीं हो पायी थी। शुरूआत में 50 फोन लाइन तथा 70 प्रतिनिधि थे। लेकिन नागरिकों का उत्साह और भारी पैमाने पर आ रही फोन कॉल्स को देखते हुए टेलिफोन लाइन की संख्या 300 तथा प्रतिनिधियों की संख्या 400 कर दी गयी। टीम की योजनाएक ऐसा डाटा वेबसाइट बनाने की भी है जहां नागरिक विभिन्न सेवाओं के उपयोग की जानकारी ले सकें तथा उनके प्रभाव का पता लगा सकें। 

विस्तार: योजना की प्रारंभिक परेशानियों को जल्द ही ठीक कर लिया गया। बड़ी संख्या में फोन कॉल्स आने के कारण शुरूआत में काफी लोगों के फोन कनेक्ट नहीं हुए। लेकिन जिस किसी ने एक बार भी फोन लगाया हो, उसका नंबर रजिस्टर्ड हो जाने की सुविधा के कारण उन्हें कॉल बैक कर लिया गया। फोन लाइन की संख्या भी बढ़ा गयी। इसके कारण सभी फोन कॉल्स कनेक्ट होने लगे और स्टाफ के द्वारा इस पर तत्काल उत्तर भी दिया जाने लगा। अभी स्टाफ की संख्या 380 हो चुकी है। जब कभी 130 सेवाओं को जोड़ा जाएगा तब लगभग 800-900 प्रतिनिधियों की जरूरत होगी।

अडंगेबाजी का सामना: योजना प्रारंभ होने के बाद कुछ लोगों ने इसमें अडंगा लगाने की कोशिश की। उन्होंने हेल्पलाइन नंबर पर फोन करके गलत पते दिए। प्रतिनिधियों को बुलाने के बाद कह दिया कि सेवा की जरूरत नहीं। ऐसे तंग करनेवाले लोगों से छुटकारा पाने के लिए उनसे किसी दस्तावेज के नंबर की जानकारी मांगी जाने लगी। जैसे राशन कार्ड लेना हो तो उसे आवासीय प्रमाण, आय प्रमाण, पहचान पत्र, बिजली बिल इत्यादि का सीरियल नंबर मांगा गया। इनमें से किसी भी एक दस्तावेज के नंबर को सरकारी रिकॉर्डस से मिलाया जाने लगा। इस तरह फेक कॉलर की बाधा को दूर किया गया। 

सीसीटीवी कैमरा प्रोजेक्ट: गोपाल मोहन ने सीसीटीवी कैमरा प्रोजेक्ट में भी प्रमुख भूमिका निभायी। पहले सीसीटीवी कैमरा के लिए प्राक्कलित राशि 3000 करोड़ थी। लेकिन यह घटकर 1.4 लाख सीसीटीवी कैमरा के लिए 350 करोड़ हो गयी। इस योजना के तहत पूरी दिल्ली में सीसीटीवी कैमरे लगाए जाएंगे। वायरलेस सीसीटीवी लगाने के फैसले के कारण प्रोजेक्ट के व्यय में काफी कमी आ गयी। एक ही किस्म के कैमरे की बड़े पैमाने पर खरीद के कारण भी कंपनियों ने दाम कम कर दिए। सभी सीसीटीवी कैमरा के निगरानी और रख-रखाव के लिए एक कमांड एंड कंट्रोल सिस्टम भी बनाया जाएगा। 

अन्य राज्य सरकारों के लिए प्रेरणा: कई राज्य सरकारों ने डोरस्टेप डिलीवरी और सीसीटीवी प्रोजेक्ट के लिए गोपाल मोहन से संपर्क किया है। आंध्रप्रदेश, राजस्थान और पंजाब में उन्हें बुलाकर सुझाव लिए गए। राजस्थान ने दिल्ली जैसा टेंडर दस्तावेज बनाया है। मुंबई में भी 6000 सीसीटीवी कैमरे के लिए 1000 करोड़ योजना शुरू हुई। गोपाल मोहन ने अन्य राज्य सरकारों को दिल्ली सरकार के शिक्षा और स्वास्थ्य मॉडल की भी जानकारी दी। अब वह वाई-फाई परियोजना पर काम कर रहे हैं। जल्द ही इस संबंध में अच्छी खबर सुनने को मिलेगी।

अगला कदम तो और शानदार होगा: सरकारी सेवाओं की डोर स्टेप डिलीवरी का अभी पहला चरण है। गोपाल मोहन की आदर्श परियोजना को इससे काफी बेहतर और शानदार होनेवाली है। उनकी भावी योजना के अनुसार आवेदन के वक्त हर नागरिक के दस्तावेजों की जांच करने की जरूरत नहीं होगी। सरकार के पास पहले से ही हर नागरिक के दस्तावेज मौजूद है। ऐसे में बार-बार नागरिकों से दस्तावेज लेने की कोई जरूरत नहीं है। जब कोई नागरिक किसी सेवा के लिए हेल्पलाइन में फोन करेगा तो उसका वेरिफिकेशन सरकारी डाटाबेस से कर लिया जाएगा। उसके अगले दिन उसका दस्तावेज बनाकर नागरिक के घर पहुंचा दिया जाएगा। उसका पहचान पत्र सिर्फ उसे दस्तावेज सौंपने के वक्त देखा जाएगा ताकि यह सुनिश्चित हो कि सही व्यक्ति को दिया जा रहा है। 

यह गोपाल मोहन का आदर्श मॉडल है और निकट भविष्य में हम इसे भी सफल होते देखेंगे।  

इस ब्लॉग के अंग्रेजी से हिंदी अनुवाद के लिए Vishnu Rajgadia को बहुत बहुत धन्यवाद

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Delhi Govt's Revolutionary Doorstep Delivery of Services by Gopal Mohan

हिंदी में पढ़े: डोरस्टेप को और भी अनोखी सेवा बनाएंगे गोपाल मोहन 

Gopal Mohan, the brain behind successful implementation of Doorstep Delivery of Services by Delhi Government started his journey with Arvind Kejriwal in 2009 as a volunteer. While Gopal was studying at IIT Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal visited the institute regarding a RTI program. This is when Gopal Mohan got in touch with Arvind Kejriwal and started working with him. Gopal was interested in social service from his school days when he started his journey by joining Cubs & Bulbuls, Scout and NCC programs. He was selected as the best Scout from India, won gold medal in World Jamboree, received 2 Prime Minister and 3 President awards in Scout and Guide program. His journey in social services is continuing since then. Life is very restricted in this field but Gopal finds it very satisfactory. He is receiving some royalties from 2 patents. When Anna Hazare's fast began in 2011, Gopal sat on stage with Anna and Arvind. Past the Anti-Corruption campaign, Gopal Mohan is working as a full time volunteer with Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party.

Gopal Mohan with Arvind Kejriwal, Anket Lal, Swati Maliwal and others during an event in 2011 

Responsibilities: After the formation of Aam Aadmi Party in 2012, Gopal received the responsibility of managing New Delhi constituency for election campaign. At that time, there were around 20 people who started the election campaign in Delhi. People kept joining and the team got bigger with time. While overseas volunteers were helping with the social media, calling campaigns and donation drives, Gopal was working on ground taking AAP's message to each and every doorstep. From 2013 Delhi minority government to 2014 parliamentary elections and a landslide victory in 2015, Gopal has been a part of all the ups and downs faced by AAP. In the past, Gopal worked on Public Grievance Management System and was anti-Corruption advisor to the Chief Minister. As advisor, he managed to suspend around 200-250 and jailed 40-50 people accused of corrupt activities in a period of 2-3 months. Currently, he is serving as technical advisor to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. 

The Idea: After forming Delhi government for a second time, Arvind Kejriwal asked suggestions to ease the governance. Everyone suggested to make everything online. After online implementation of certain services was achieved, it was found out that only around 10% of the people were utilizing the services and rest were still visiting government offices. There were certain reasons due to which people might not be willing to opt for online services: 1) many people are not technically savvy 2) many were not willing to use debit/credit cards for online transactions, and most importantly, 3) even after submitting the online application, it was required to visit government offices and go through some additional processes. 

The idea of doorstep delivery of services occurred to Gopal Mohan when he considered the possibility of someone collecting necessary information, application fee, required documents and submitting the forms on behalf of the consumer. 

The process would avoid all complications prevalent in the system and stop consumers from visiting government offices. Arvind Kejriwal agreed with this idea and gave his nod to start working towards its implementation. 

Cause of Corruption: At present, to avail government services, one need to visit government offices multiple times. As a first step, one goes to government offices just to know about the papers required for a particular service. This is followed by a document check, form and fee submission. There are long queues and officials often make people wait by delaying the time needed to attend to their requests. A person is forcefully required to visit the authorities at least 2-3 times to finish a single task. With this complicated process, people are compelled to contact a broker to avail official services quickly.

Research and Analysis: It took around 3-4 months for Gopal Mohan's team to research about the challenges and practical implications of the doorstep delivery of services. The scheme which initially looked very easy to execute, started giving nightmares when project files started moving from one department to another. Many officials started giving negative comments about certain aspects of the scheme such as budget increment, citizen's responsibility to visit government offices, security threats etc. There were around 130 comments from officers of different departments and all of them were answered by Gopal Mohan and an IT expert Vijay Chandra after 2-3 months of research. The team managed to convince everyone of the benefits of the scheme followed by tender drafting process. When the final proposal was sent to LG office, it was rejected citing increase in pollution and other unexpected reasons.

Gopal Mohan on a visit to South Korea with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in Sept 2018

Initial Hurdles: After LG office disapproval, the project was sitting idle for almost a year and many team members lost their hopes from this project. Meanwhile, Gopal had 2-3 meetings with LG and tried to convince him. Unofficially, LG insisted that he was not interested and wanted a different kind of structure with many other things. July 4, 2018 changed a lot of things for Delhi government when SC drew a clear line between Delhi government and LG Office. As a result, the project got clearance from Delhi cabinet right after the judgement (see the list of actions from Jul 4 to Aug 10). 

Process of Doorstep Delivery of Services: In the doorstep delivery service scheme, the process to apply for any of the 40 services is very simple. A consumer needs to call the helpline number 1076 and place their request. Certain details are required. A government representative arrives at a given address and time. The representative will fill the form, collect documents and fee, and take biometric information wherever required. After the application is submitted by the representative, a tracking number is generated and within the given service time, document is either delivered by post or in person. To avail these services at your doorstep, it costs an additional Rs 50 as service fee. This cost to consumers is subsidized by government where government pays Rs 65 for each successful transaction. The service is provided in partnership with VFS Global which was selected by a proper tendering process. A global tender using QCBS system was open for everyone where 70% was fixed for quality and 30% for financial bid. The tender process itself took around 6 months and final the company was selected by 7-8 IAS officers who previously rejected the tender twice.  

Reception: Apart from some initial glitches, helpline received an overwhelming response. The team was expecting to receive 5,000 calls/day but received around 20,000-30,000 calls/day. Although the service was started with an expectation of 30% reception by people, the team was also prepared for 95% usage. A survey among the people waiting in queues in government offices was conducted where 95% said 'yes' to the doorstep delivery scheme. All the unattended calls were cleared within a week of its launch. Team started with 50 phone lines and 70 representatives. They now have 300 lines and 400 representatives. The team is also planning to launch an open data website where visitors can see usage of the service and determine its effectiveness. 

Expansion: This is also the first time when media is not biased against AAP services. There were few glitches in the beginning  but all of them were sorted out soon. Due to a huge call volume, many people were not able to connect but the team called everyone back and increased the phone line capacity. Now 100% calls are getting connected and attended to by executives. As of now only 40 services are offered which initially started with 70 representatives and now increased to 380 representatives. Around 800-900 representatives will be required when all 130 services will be offered at 95% usage of services by the people. 

Roadblock Removal: Right after the helpline number was launched, many people who wanted to create roadblocks in the efficient functioning of doorstep delivery service, called the helpline number and gave fake addresses. They did not show up at appointed time or denied the need of service when representative arrived at the scheduled address and time. To filter out fake calls or fake requests, team asked for the serial number of any document required for the service. E.g. to get a ration card, one needs to present 3-4 documents for verification: 1) address proof, 2) income proof 3) ID proof and 4) electricity bill. Once the serial number of any one of the documents is provided, it is verified with the government database. Following this mechanism, callers with fake details are still being removed. 

CCTV Camera Project: Along with working on the doorstep delivery project, Gopal has also taken the lead on CCTV camera project. Initial estimate of CCTV camera project was Rs 3,000 crore which is now reduced to Rs 350 crores for 1.4 lakh CCTV cameras which will be installed across Delhi. Opting for wireless CCTV cameras reduced the project cost drastically and bulk purchase of one kind of cameras also allowed companies to quote appropriately. A command and control system is also being established where all the cameras will be monitored and maintained.

कैबिनेट की बैठक में दिल्ली में CCTV कमरे लगाने का प्रस्ताव पारित।

CM @ArvindKejriwal ने @DelhiAssembly में दी जानकारी pic.twitter.com/NZQsN8SSIe

— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) August 10, 2018

Inspiration for Other State Governments: Many state governments have approached Gopal regarding doorstep delivery and CCTV camera project. Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab Chief Minister offices invited Gopal to provide a summary of work performed by Delhi government and offer suggestions on how similar work can be done in their states. Rajasthan has already drafted an exact same tender as Delhi. Earlier, Mumbai carried out a similar project worth Rs 1,000 crores for 6,000 CCTV cameras. Delhi's education and health service models are also being talked about in other state governments. Now Gopal has started working on WiFi project and soon we will be hearing news regarding this initiative.

The Ideal Project: This is just a beginning of Gopal's ideal vision of the doorstep delivery of services. His future plan does not require in-person document verification in the initial visit. All the documents required as a proof or verification are issued by the government. Because the government already has all the documents, what is the need to collect them multiple times? When a consumer makes a call to the helpline number for a particular service, required documents can be verified directly from the database after customer identification and the requested documents can be sent next day to the consumer doorstep. Physical ID will be required only when the delivery is being made to make sure that the right person is receiving the document. This is Gopal's ideal doorstep delivery of services which he is planning to work on and we may see the results in future.

Watch complete video of AAP Ka Radio call with Gopal Mohan

AAP USA chapter organizes a weekly conference call (AAP Ka Radio) every Sunday at noon 12:00PM EST. More details about the call and guest can be found at @aapchat (https://twitter.com/aapchat) 

Read More: 

40 Services at consumer doorstep 

How it happened: Power tussle in Delhi 

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Unmukt India Campaign to make India Free from Child Begging by Ashish Sharma

Ashish Sharma on a mission to make India
free from Child Begging 

As an engineer with good pay, Ashish Sharma was living a successful life. It all changed when he met a 9 year old beggar, wildly scratching his arm with nails, and asked for money. Like any other day, and any other beggar, Ashish offered him food instead of money. However, the food offered was enough for only one meal and they met again the next day. Ashish offered the young beggar some food again. This incident led him to think that there might be many people offering food and money to beggars but still we never see any improvement in their lifestyle. We always see them on street begging for money. This also makes us think if begging is their usual business or are they really in the situation to beg. Ashish thought about the kids begging all day on streets that when and where do they ever get a chance to go to school. It took around 3.5 months for Ashish to rescue the 9 year old kid from the red light area. After getting him an admission in a school, Ashish rescued 8 more kids from different parts of Delhi and sent them to a school with the help of other NGOs. It took almost 3 months for Ashish to rescue 9 child beggars. He realized that with this speed he could not rescue every child beggar and send them to school in his lifetime. Anger directed towards social workers, NGOs and government failing to rescue the kids was not enough, there was need for a deeper thought and meaningful actions. Determined to rescue child beggars across India, Ashish quit his job after a year and started working on his plan. 

Child Begging: Child begging is a major issue in India and different people are fighting according to their capabilities. But the total impact is not significant. One of the reasons behind this is the psychological thinking of the masses that needs to be changed. As an individual we give money or food to child beggars thinking this is the best we can do. But what if we don’t give them money/food? Will they be on streets forever? What if instead of giving them money, couple of people can sponsor them to get admission in schools? Giving money to child beggars is not a solution, because this won’t change their situation as they will continue begging. But making them self sufficient and independent by providing education will definitely upgrade them from streets to a better life. In order to change the Indian mindset towards the situation of child beggars, one need to talk in person to the masses and convince them that giving money to child beggars is wrong. Ashish made a bold decision in this direction after 8 months of careful thinking and planning. He started a 17,000 kms long journey across India to create awareness about child begging by interacting directly with the people. As of Nov 17, 2018, Ashish has already completed 12,137 kms. 

In the beginning, Ashish was uncertain if other people will accompany him or not. So he decided by himself toggle his 100% to the cause. The movement for momentum as Ashish started meeting people from different states and convinced them to eradicate child begging from India. 

Entire campaign is divided in to three parts:

1. Development of a Mobile App: An App is under development which will integrate different departments such as schools, colleges, hospitals, NGOs, rehabilitation centres, District Magistrate offices and other ministries. This will help people across the country to connect with responsible authorities whenever they see a child beggar on the street.
2. Psychological Movement: To make people aware about the need to eradicate child begging and establish a network of people working for this cause across India. Ashish is already halfway in this mission.
3. Tourism Schools and Rehabilitation Centres: Using present railway network, open tourism schools and rehabilitation centres across India. Which will allow tourists to observe real india and the network established will keep sending child beggars to schools. It is estimated that even if there are 30-40 child beggars in each village and if we can admit them to a school under the right to education act, child begging can be completely stopped. 

The Walk: Indian flag in hand, Ashish walks on right hand side of the road because of two reasons: 1) keep himself safe from being hit by someone, 2) maintaining eye contact with people coming from the opposite direction. This gives him an opportunity to greet people and talk with them. He goes to schools, markets, bus stations and railway stations. Sometimes curious people approach Ashish to know about his journey and at other times he makes them curious with a small introductory announcement. He also presents some stats related to the problems created by child begging. E.g. 68% of crime is directly proportional to begging which further leads to human trafficking. The begging chain is also connected to the mafia which train beggars such that they can use empathy to extract money from normal people. If we can eradicate begging, we can focus our energy on other issues. This is only possible with the help from people. 

Ashish Sharma interacting with public

Proud Member of AAP: Ashish is proud to be a product of Aam Aadmi Party. He started his journey as an AAP volunteer and slowly got involved with their social media team. With the inspiration from Arvind Kejriwal, who taught him how to fight when all odds are against you, Ashish is thankful to AAP. He credits his sense of determination and courage to AAP. Current movement of Ashish is not supported by AAP or any other political party. It is just the lessons and memories of his life with AAP which are with him right now. Those skills helped him shape the current movement. He is determined to make Delhi free from child begging by 2019. 

The Karma Walk: So far Ashish has walked in 29 states and Union Territories of India. First part of his journey started from J&K which ended in MP in the shape of alphabet “C”. He is now on the second part of his journey starting from Uttarakhand to Delhi, an anti-clockwise "C". This will also complete the sign of Karma (ॐ). Ashish learnt a lot through his journey across different states. He mostly walks along the roads connecting major cities in a state but also takes detour if there is a need. Uncertain about his stay the next night, he just follows his inner voice and reaches right place at the right time. People along the way also offer shelter and food. 

Day Schedule: Ashish’s day start when he leaves his place by 7:30am. This gives him enough time to be present in the nearby schools before the classes begin. By 2pm he covers around 5-6 schools in the vicinity and talk to students and teachers. In the beginning, it was difficult for him to convince principals to allow him to talk to students, but now, with his movement becoming more popular, it is much easier for him to converse with the students. After 2pm, he meets SP, DM, politicians and other officials in the area. Compared to a 50-70 kms walk per day initially, Ashish has now restricted his walk to 30-40 kms per day in order to maximize his social outreach. 

Ashish Sharma meeting government officials and public representatives

Random Meetings: Ashish randomly arrives at a school without informing them in advance. He uses the scientific theory that if you meet someone randomly, the impact increases almost 100 times. While on his journey, he is able to observe the difference in people’s thoughts. Many individuals on motorbikes come back to confirm if he is really walking 17,000kms. Ashish’s decision to walk across India help people understand his selfless service to the nation and also make them keep thinking about the problem. Some of the students even fight with their teachers and principals when the students were not allowed or were not given enough time to talk to Ashish. This signals a positive change in the Indian mindset. Now, students invite Ashish to their schools and organize small meetings. 

Finance and Challenges: Ashish has been able to manage his journey at a cost of Rs 15,000 to 20,000 per month. Without any political party or NGO help, Ashish’s entire movement is supported by two of his friends who were standing with him in solidarity when his family members were against his decision. Somehow, Ashish managed to convince his parents and now they are in his complete support. Walking alone is also beneficial in the way that people are more open to offer shelter to a person in comparison to a group. They also offer him food. Staying with locals allows him to know them better, obtain their contacts and gives him an opportunity to learn from their thought process and experiences. Two threats, stolen wallets and a kidnapping in Jabalpur (MP), couldn’t deter him from his path. 

Bank Account: As a long-term plan, Ashish will open a bank account for child beggars where people can donate instead of giving it directly to the kids. The money deposited will be utilized to admit child beggars to schools, provide study materials and build architecturally efficient school buildings wherever needed. His network of local residents, school principals, SP, DM and officers will help to find kids begging on streets and provide them materials needed for a better future. He believes that if people start donating for education and health instead of donating to beggars and temple trusts, the money can be utilized to build schools and hospitals which will be useful for human kind. 

Nation First: Ashish is also giving a message of “Nation First” by carrying the Indian flag with him. It is the nation which unites us against all the divisions created by political parties, caste and religion. He walked through 29 states, witnessed many gatherings at different scales but failed to see any event with the Indian flag. Everyone is self-centric focused on their personal or political party issues. Through his flag, he is conveying a message of “nation building”. Change will come when every individual in our country stands together for national issues rather than personal ones. It is even possible that we, as a nation, would not have to hit the roads to demand justice for Nirbhaya, if we were on the same page regarding national issues. 

Ashish Sharma visiting schools and interacting with students and teachers 

Solving Issues One by One: Indian society has a lot of problems to solve including child begging, environmental pollution, transportation management, poor infrastructure, inefficient agricultural practices, lack of education, poor health services etc.. Often we are given a sample of one issue and move on to the other without solving the previous one. Continuous movement from one issue to another keeps them unsolved for eternity. It’s mandatory that we should focus on one issue at a time until it is solved. E.g. we plant just a couple of trees on Environment day and then remain inactive for rest of the year. A long-term solution would be to fill a large tract of land or bare soil with trees such that issue is resolved for a generation. We can then move on to the next issue. 

Full-Time Artist: Ashish is also a full time artist who has composed around 141 songs and also applied for the Guinness Book record for abstract art. He has written Asia’s first novel in fiction category book which will be published next year. The entire novel falls under the fiction category and is comprised of 264 page poem. From a regular Delhi boy to a national leader, Ashish’s journey has seen many ups and downs. He is reaching to the youth of India and appealing them to avoid making complaints or excuses. It’s time to solve the issues. Change will never come if we keep complaining. So far Ashish has published around 739 articles on his journey and given many interviews to increase his reach. 14 months & 27 day (as of Nov 17, 2018) old journey of Ashish might end in Feb or March, 2019 when he will reach Delhi. He will be publishing some stats out of his journey soon. 

An Appeal: At present, he is the sole planner of this movement. He is looking for a team of 8-10 like minded people to join his movement and take it to the next level. Ashish meets around 3000-4000 people in a single day. With more members in his team, he can multiply the movement’s reach. Ashish also hopes for UN and UNICEF to join his movement. This is because both the organizations are working in similar fields but their reach is very less instead of a huge financial expenditure. Lakhs of rupees are spent on events organized by big organizations which are hardly attended by 200-300 people. Whereas, Ashish spends Rs 15,000-20,000 per month and reaches 10 times the number of people per day (which is around 1 lakh people per month). If organizations like UNICEF can help Ashish and many other people like him, they can get much better results than what they are getting now.

Watch complete video of AAP Ka Radio call with Ashish Sharma.

AAP USA chapter organizes a weekly conference call (AAP Ka Radio) every Sunday at noon 12:00PM EST. More details about the call and guest can be found at @aapchat (https://twitter.com/aapchat)

Read More: Quality Education for All

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