Jun.17,2008:DNA: IITians with smart degrees have fastened themselves to a social cause

Graduating from a reputed institute generally implies that one will opt for a high-end job; especially if you’re an IITian. However, there are a few among these intellectuals who have chosen a different route—one which involves sorting out crucial social issues. By setting up NGOs and social institutions these IITians are trying to solve problems such as water and power shortages, inadequate education, corruption and so on.

Girish Sant, who pursued BTech in chemical engineering and subsequently his MTech from IITB, has been instrumental in forming Prayas, an NGO dedicated to making power policies pro-people. “Having an IIT degree helps in formulating these policies,” says Sant. “While pursuing my masters, when I looked at the social causes that people were fighting for and saw the lack of support from the intellectual community I decided to opt for social work,” he explains.

Treading a similar path is Shripad Dharmadhikari, a mechanical engineer from IITB, who conceived Manthan—a policy research organisation that monitors water programmes with a focus on privatisation. “My interest in engineering and other sciences led me to pursue my degree and social work happened after graduation,” he says. Dharmadhikari started his venture not only because he was deeply disturbed by the issues of pollution, but also because he felt that as an engineer he, had the power to initiate change.

To Vinay Somani, who holds a degree in BTech from IITB and a MBA from Harvard the thought of social work came only in 2004, which was when he started Karmayog. “Its aim is to improve the world by connecting citizens, civil society organisations, corporates, and government officials and organisations through online and offline methods,” explains Somani.

While fellow batch mates reap benefits from their well paying jobs, how do those involved in social issues earn their returns? “The fact that the knowledge and skills that I acquired at IIT are being put to a good use today gives me great satisfaction; and that I think is my return,” says Dharmadhikari.

Sant also agrees that he learnt a lot from his student years at IIT. “My engineering degree has helped me in developing and implementing policies in the power sector,” he says and emphasises that he derives immense fulfilment from his social work.

Somani who manages a business alongside his social venture, says that he has gained his returns through it. For him, Karmayog’s success is also satisfying both financially and mentally.

As far as measuring the impact of their work is concerned; not everybody has a specific method. “Although there is no particular way by which we can measure impact, we do interview people regularly to understand how our work is affecting them,” elucidates Sant.

“At Manthan, we interact with the people through our website and also write to government officials regularly and keep in touch with them to assess our impact,” explains Dharmadhikari.

Somani comments, “Measuring impact is not our philosophy. We are, in fact, a network for all other NGOs to do so.”

Despite the humanitarian efforts of these intellectuals, society as a whole is still lagging behind. Explaining their limited impact, Sant says, “IITians are a very small part of the engineering community, let alone society.” Agreeing with him is Somani who adds that, even from amongst the IITians, very few have explored the social work arena.

Presenting a different perspective is Dharmadhikari, who believes, “Although we IITians are well-networked amongst ourselves, the link between us and society is weak, we’re not making as much progress as we should be.”

These social minded IITians seek to develop the future of India and believe in having a participatory relationship with society. “We hope to see a system in which the intellectual inputs of individual citizens are taken into consideration whenever new policies, programmes, or procedures are initiated by or suggested to the government,” says Somani.

Sant aspires for greater efficiency in the energy sector. “Resources have to be used optimally and channelised towards the development of poor people,” he says.
According to Dharmadhikari, “There should be policies that advocate justice and transparency, bring about overall development.”

The contribution of these IITians who are investing their intellectual capital into developing our society, is a commendable step. It stands as a good example of the use of education
at its best.