Demanding citizens’ rights through societal participation—that’s Janaagraha

Janaagraha’s defines “quality of life” in two ways: the quality of urban infrastructure and services(read: roads, drains, transport, water supply, etc.) and the quality of citizenship. For Janaagraha, the responsibility for lasting social change rests as much with the residents as is does with the state, and so these two aspects are inter-related. Founded in 2001 by Swati and Ramesh Ramanathan, Janaagraha began more as a civic movement—to enable citizens’ participation in public governance—than an organisation. However, it evolved into an institution working to uphold citizenship and democracy. The idea for the organisation was planted long before the Ramanathans returned to India from the US stints. Both were based and working abroad—Swati as a successful architect and Ramesh in the investment banking sector and microfinance. “We had just moved into a new neighbourhood in Connecticut and noticed fliers seeking volunteers for a clean-up operation at a local park. We thought ‘who does that, on a Sunday?’ However, we did wish to meet the neighbours, so landed up anyway. There was one volunteer in dirty overalls, more vocal and active than the rest who was giving directions. We assumed ‘here’s the tree-hugger’. Days later, on my way to work, I met him again. This time he was in a well-cut, formal suit and tie, reading the Wall Street Journal on his way to work. That’s when I realised that for most of us there’s this definitive idea of a volunteer being someone who has a lot of time on his hands. And those who desist do so because their days are consumed by the pragmatic and the immediate: deadlines, agendas and children. But it’s true that every life demands an underlying foundation and a deeper rationale to guide actions.” That was a moment of epiphany. Swati realised that democracy was not just a part of breakfast-table conversation, but a participatory system in which every cog had a part to play. When home beckoned, Swati and Ramesh returned to Bengaluru, India. At that time, they took a crucial decision— to work together. For two years (1999- 2001), Ramesh worked with then Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, and his Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF). The committee looked into municipal financial reforms and encouraged citizen participation in its budgetary process. He remembers that the records were in a “terrible state”. Once the situation was under control, there were welcome changes. Under the BATF, channels of communication and participation had opened. The time seemed right to involve citizens in greater numbers in the process of governance. “But when we first presented the idea of carrying out similar work as the BATF, the government intervened and resisted. The BATF was a creature of the system. They believed that such a forum, outside the system would be a threat. But we believed strongly in the need for an independent organisation working on similar lines as the BATF.” In Swati’s words, that was the genesis of Janaagraha. Once they started, they did not spend too many hours thinking about the change in their quality of life. There was no denying, however, that their regular nine-to-seven lives were over. Both the Ramanathans were clear from the beginning that Janaagraha would not be a foundation in which they would occasionally step in to review how it was doing. When she looks back at the first few years, Swati remembers, “Despite knowing that we would be devoted full-time, honestly we didn’t know that Janaagraha would consume us so much. But because Ramesh and I sort of jumped into it full force, we didn’t mind when the organisation slowly became a 24x7 affair. Now, it’s the biggest part of our lives.” For the first five years, the organisation was funded completely by their combined savings. They set up a Ramanathan Trust and sent out a call for volunteers—pretty much any one who was willing to be a part of the change: youth, students or community members. Their first project was the Ward Infrastructure Index. Inspired by the BATF, this index assessed the quality of life in the municipal wards of Bengaluru based on their quality of infrastructure. It also rated the wards on a scale of zero to 10, with 10 being the highest rating. Scores gave both residents and municipalities an idea of how well, or badly, they were doing especially against stated government benchmarks. The Ward Index rated services such as water supply, electricity, public safety, civic amenities, transport and environment. The invaluable data, available to citizens for the first time, gave them a chance to hold local administration and elected representatives accountable. From then on, the organisation has branched out into several initiatives. Their most visible initiative, however, was the IPaidABribe campaign. That was Janaagraha’s attempt to tackle corruption, where citizens report actual corrupt acts on the website ipaidabribe.com. Suddenly, ordinary voices from across India were talking about administrators, bureaucrats, contractors or elected representatives asking for bribes. The initiative managed to create quite a ripple. “Over the past decade, corruption has been one of the top three issues that Indians genuinely believe ails the country. At Janaagraha we were not that interested in the major scams; these are a reality in every democracy or regime everywhere. We were interested in the day-to-day entitlements which were denied to citizens. We realised that the problem was data—there was none available that could be taken to the powers-that-be as a case in point. One day a board member, Sreedhar Ganeshan joked that ideally there should be a website which would let people report corrupt practices. The idea slowly took root.” It took them two years to test the theory, get the right people on board and talk to various departments. Once they had the right man at the helm, a former IAS officer called TR Raghunandan, the site was good to go. Today, IPaidaBribe’s “Ask Raghu” segment invites a volley of questions—on licencing and registration mainly—that are answered by the former IAS officer. Though the highest number of questions still come from the Bengaluru areas, most of the other metros also feature in the list. The founders of Janaagraha give the credit for their growth to the quality of people they have on their side. “At any given point, we have around 1,000 volunteers working on the projects,” says Ramesh. “In as much as we trust the power of volunteers, we also believe that having a group of professionals acts as a fly-wheel. If you have a strong core team then it’s easier to rope in and motivate volunteers who come in,” he says. Janaagraha has come a long way since 2001. Today, it is a registered trust. This year it’s allocated budget is `8 crore, most of which comes from donations and support from people who recognise Janaagraha’s efforts. Interestingly, the husband and wife team were wary of asking for financial support in the beginning. “We did decide to fund ourselves till we had achieved a critical mass and credibility. We knew that if we had the template right, we would get the support. What we sought was not just financial support, but also encouragement and ideas from like-minded people,” explains Ramesh. Also, as Swati points out, they were wary of “suggestions”. “We did speak to certain NGOs and individuals who told us of contributors with an agenda— those who offered help and then dictated the direction in which an organisation should proceed. We had a clear vision and so wanted to stay away from contributors till we had built a strong identity.” Today, the foundation has become a self-sufficient entity. The previous year the Ramanathans did not have to put in even a single rupee into Janaagraha. Having said that, they didn’t charge a paisa from the coffers either. Most of their initiatives have a major online presence and this digitisation has helped it reach beyond geographical boundaries. Companies such as Omidyar Network, Dell, Infosys, Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb, Tata Tea and Times of India along with Sudha and Narayan Murthy, Ashish Dhawan and Sridhar Iyengar are all part of the list of donors and supporters who have put their faith in the organisation. When we ask the duo about the future and the big S (sustainability), they appear confident. “We celebrated a decade recently, so we may have passed the test of time,” says Swati with a laugh. It seems that society’s voice of conscience is indeed getting stronger by the day.