Leaving no child behind

(Published in The Hans India on April 26, 2015)

“Social service runs in the family,” says Suman Malladi, social entrepreneur and the founder-President of CHORD, a Hyderabad-based NGO that works to protect child rights. Both his parents served in remote missionary hospitals in Coastal Andhra for several decades. But, in 1986, Malladi was still not sure what he wanted to be. So like most others, he pursued his MBA and prepared to leave for the US.

Fate had other plans for him. “I received my I-20 very late, so when I went for my visa, they sent me back.”  He walked out of the Consulate “distraught”. He went home to Akividu to intern with doctors-cum-mentors like Dr. Janaki, renowned for her selfless service. That experience sowed the seed for a lifelong career in community development. “The best thing that happened to me,” Malladi says..

The defining moment came when he filmed a documentary on children toiling in limestone quarries that takes a toll on their health and well-being. “The children are not only subjected to permanent physical injuries, but are left emotionally battered”.  Malladi had found his calling and founded CHORD, in 1998, in Hyderabad. US did not happen until much later in 2013, when Malladi visited Columbia University as a Ford Fellow.

Why is there a need for intervention? “India has 13 million child workers, and the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are home to 1 million.” The harsh reality is that these hapless workers even forget that they are children. They need much help and counselling to “get used to childhood itself”. Child labor elimination works in two ways. “One, we identify pockets where it is a serious problem and hand over a list to the government officials, who then raid the areas and release the children. Or two, our own volunteers venture into slums and bring child workers to rehab centers.”

Malladi’s motto – leave no child behind – speaks volumes of his determination. CHORD began with sixty rescued children and one rehabilitation center. “Today, we have rescued, rehabilitated and reintegrated over 14,000 children in the last 14 years.” These children are joined in a bridge school for two years to bring them on par with their contemporaries. Later, they are enrolled in a regular school.

Not always is this transition smooth. “We found that children once mainstreamed were unable to cope with the many pressures of schooling. They would drop out.” Reforms in school curriculum could go a long way in achieving retention. “Curriculum must be more child-friendly,” he adds.

“From our experience we have conceived a three-pronged strategy to eradicate child labor. We educate the child, engage the parents and sensitize the community. Family poverty is only one of the causes that drive a mainstreamed child back to work or drop out of school. The society also must be more willing to accept these children as one among them.” Furthermore, restoring the child’s dignity is an uncompromising priority. “The thrust is on dignity.”

Malladi’s credibility and professionalism earned him the goodwill of many corporate associates  – SuperGas, Microsoft, UBS, Qualcomm, Accenture, and Oracle to name a few. Over the years, they have been a compelling force and filled the gaps where government funding dwindled.

At the turn of the millennium, “Hyderabad joined the bandwagon of economic reforms in a big way. The city welcomed the IT boom. People’s mindset began to reflect the structural changes that the city underwent. A rise in incomes together with an expansion of the middle class saw a commensurate rise in social consciousness. There was an exponential increase in middle to high income earners eager to give back to the society by funding developmental activities. “Motorola was one of the first companies to have worked with us. Many others followed.” CHORD struck the right note with its outcomes, output and social impact.

The Acess English Micro Scholarship Program is very dear to Malladi. This program is funded by the US Department of State. It is being implemented in 85 countries across the world, and in 20 cities within India. In Hyderabad, CHORD is the chosen program coordinator. Ms. April Wells, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Consulate General Hyderabad, notes that, “the U.S. Consulate is proud to partner with the CHORD School to make English language instruction available for their students through the English Access Micro scholarship Program. ‎We believe CHORD students are among the future leaders of their communities, and proof of the strong value India and the U.S. both ascribe to educational opportunities." Over a span of 24 months, students from disadvantaged communities are exposed to English language, American culture, and personality development. “The children enjoy learning and use the language more confidently,” says Malladi, on the sidelines of the program’s Mid-Term Intensive Program.

While, language is one skill we cannot do without, skill development has itself taken center stage in the country’s economic discourse. CHORD contributes in its own way. “We have an ongoing project – Skill Bharath – wherein we train school dropouts, women and other vulnerable groups in short term employable skills. Tailoring, for instance. And driving is another.” Recently, five women from a CHORD-adopted slum went ahead to train as drivers under the GHMC’s She Taxi project.

With as many as 23 projects in various stages, Malladi’s plate is full. And, he has set himself ambitious targets. “By 2018, we hope to rescue, educate and empower another 7000 working children and train 3000 youth in skills through initiatives that are child-centric.” That is not all. “We want to make three mandals – Qutbhullapur, Balanagar, Serilingampally – entirely child labor free,” adds Suman Malladi.

“Marriage for togetherness, Bangaram.” “Ok!”

(Published in The Hans India on April 20, 2015)

OK, so filmy love has either become too predictable or I am much too smart for it now. A few seconds into the film, OK bangaram, I was so sure it is going to be yet another of those love stories, where there is little love and hardly any story to boast of. Add to that, the first half hour is not only run of the mill but terribly silly - silly mannerisms, silly dialogues, and silly everything.  To think 20-somethings are not even capable of an intelligent conversation made me wonder if the director was really showing me the mirror or merely exaggerating for the sake of drama/cinema.

Try digesting this. The movie begins with the heroine (Nithya Menon) fending off one guy by threatening to commit suicide, only to fall in love with our hero(Dulquer Sulaiman) across railway platforms and trains moving in opposite directions (makes for a good physics problem, you think?). In a city as vast Mumbai, our boy and girl have common friends. Obviously. The girl, unhesitatingly, shares her phone number with this guy with whom she has only exchanged looks so far, no words. In no time, he is following her everywhere, but you such stalking is OK, I suppose. How did he show up at her office? In fact, a little later the audience is gently evidenced to the fact that this girl does not even know her guy's name until the time where they are checking into a lodge for a night in Ahmedabad. 

Notwithstanding all these shortcomings, it is her very genuine fears that tug at our hearts – of having to compromise on her career goals or of having to give up on her Paris dream were she to get married. And, why not? She built herself a personal and professional life, leaving behind a business-tycoon mother and royalty in Coimbatore. Doesn’t she have every reason to be concerned? To her credit, Nithya plays every part of her part convincingly -- from being a rebellious daughter, to a non-committal girl afraid of her being bogged down by melodramatic relationships, to being a doting girlfriend unsure of taking the next big leap. All of this makes her character truly endearing to us as the audience. 

Then, our young lovebirds are subtly pitted against an elderly couple, where, for a change, the husband is seen nursing the wife with advancing Alzheimer’s – indicating how the intoxicating speed and excitement would one day have to come to mean much more. At no point in the film does the director get preachy. Instead, he has loaded the movie with layers of meaning and left it to the audience to choose to simply scratch the surface if they wish, or delve deeper. Just like that, Mani Ratnam lets his brilliance shine through effortlessly. His ultimate masterstroke lies in how the hero, who is just as ambitious and sometimes borderline selfish, reassures the girl that marriage would change nothing but make a promise of togetherness for life. 

It is a refreshing and very neatly made film, if you can sit through the first half somehow. But, apparently, even in all that madness, there is some method! 

Hyderabad’s own crusader of the silkworm!

(Published in The Hans India on March 29, 2015)

Wear silk, but must you slaughter silkworms?

Thousands of silkworms. “Boiled or treated with hot air”. For one saree.  Yes, you read it right. This was before Kusuma Rajaiah revolutionized the process of making a silk saree. The question is, can Ahimsa silk replace the cruel silk?

In 1991, Mrs. Janaki Venkataraman came visiting to Hyderabad. As was the custom, a few menfolk, then working with the Andhra Pradesh State Handloom House or APCO, carried the best of silk sarees for the former President's wife. A thoughtful woman that she was, she asked them if they had a saree that was woven without sacrificing fifty thousand silkworms. Yes, you read it right again. As many as fifty thousand silkworms make one silk saree. So our flummoxed APCO folk went back with their sarees, and posed the same question to their in-house technocrat in handloom technology – Kusuma Rajaiah.

Little would Mrs. Venkataraman have anticipated her question was going to a spark a lifelong revolution to save the silkworm. Rajaiah's revolution – in the name of Ahimsa silk. "Why do you have to wear silk? Can you not do without it?” he raises his voice at me. I was hit by his anguish and passion.

Meet Kusuma Rajaiah. A 59 year-old from Hyderabad, Telangana. So humble and so down-to-earth, you will be struck by his simplicity. This man has been leading a crusade against slaughtering silkworms for over 25 years now. All alone. These “ill-fated voiceless insects are “born to die”, he laments. “What business have we to interrupt their natural lifecycle?”

"In earlier times, tradition was to wear and wed in madhuparkalu, garments made from cotton for the bride and groom. Even the richest stuck to the code. Today even the poorest buy silk for such occasions. They do not mind being cheated. We are that corrupted with silk for the sake of richness and grandiose. It’s a show of wealth!" I couldn't agree more. I also feel guilty as I am reminded of the heaps of silk that my family bought for a wedding and images of cocoon slaughter float before my eyes.

 We go back in time to 1991, when it all began. The then President’s visit left Rajaiah enough food for thought. After much careful study, he made the impossible happen. He made his first Ahimsa silk saree that year, after setting the silkworms free.

“In the conventional method,” he explains, “a thousand yards of silk filament is produced from one cocoon. And 95 percent of it is usable”. The conventional method is the one where live cocoons are mercilessly treated with hot air or boiling water to obtain unbroken filament. This has become standard practice – not allow the silkworm to leave the cocoon. If the insect leaves the filament breaks, and the processor cannot have continuous filament. Hence, no profit.

Rajaiah waits for the insect to break out of the cocoon. Never mind the discontinuity in filament. So the filament obtained from the Ahimsa method is only 15 to 16 percent usable. That is the major challenge, commercial viability. Therefore, there are few takers.

“My process is also time-consuming and labor-intensive”, he adds as a matter of fact. But, unlike its cruel counterpart, “Ahimsa silk is air-permeable and wrinkle-free.”

His next task was to ensure quality of the yarn produced. After much trial and error, and “burning his fingers”, he figured Ahimsa silk would be of better quality were it mill-spun rather than hand- spun. He ran from pillar to post looking for a mill that would be so kind as to allow his brand of silk to be spun. Rajaiah persisted with the Lohia group for three months, writing to them repeatedly and visiting their Hyderabad office, before they allowed him to explain his cause and concept. “I had to go Raipur in Chhatisgarh. First I had to reach Nagpur from here. And from there I sat in a passenger train to Raipur, in bone-biting cold!” The silver lining is that journey had a happy ending and has resulted in an enduring relationship between Rajaiah and the Raipur mill. To this day, he sends his worm-free cocoons to Raipur, and they send him back Ahimsa yarn. He remembers, nostalgically, “first time I sent 100 kilos of pierced cocoons, and they sent me 16.5 kilos of yarn.” The 15 to 16 percent usability of Ahimsa filament, so to speak.

He admits rather modestly that he did not know he could be granted a patent for his Ahimsa concept. “I was rather naive. I had no idea until some well-wishers urged me to patent my innovation. Back then in 2001, in Hyderabad, there was neither the right person nor place where I could apply for one.” So he went to the Patent Office in Chennai. There they were rather aghast and furious that not only did he not apply for a patent but by then he had let the press in on his kind method. “They were very helpful. They acted on their heels to get me a patent for Ahimsa silk in the name of “Eco-friendly Method of Manufacturing Mulberry silk (Bombyx Mori) Yarn”.”

The press coverage, which may not have given him soaring popularity, did earn him a niche international clientele and repute. Ahimsa silk has since made inroads into countries and celebrity wardrobes around the world. Something he is quite upbeat about and something that keeps him going. “You are the first one to know that my silk has reached the Duchess of Cornwall... and then of course, Megawati Sukarnoputri.” Earlier this year, he wove an exquisite Ahimsa silk in kalamkari print and dye for the Obamas. “I could not get an appointment to meet them.” The Obamas do not know what they have missed! “You know celebrities in Hollywood take interest in my work and are approachable.” Mary Fanaro of OmniPeace, a humanitarian fashion brand, called on him while he was in the US. “And Courteney Cox too. She wanted to meet me in person and learn more about my work. Over a simple meal, we had a great conversation.”

“I am just a small entrepreneur,” he says. In the larger scheme of things, however, it is these small entrepreneurs like Kusuma Rajaiah who are harbingers of change and innovation. Their enterprise, all it needs is a fillip of hope that only the state or private venture capitalists can provide. But is commercial viability the all-important, all-determining factor? Does social relevance of such enterprises not beg some investment to take them further?

CS Ramalakshmi, the former Commissioner of Sericulture, shares her thoughts with us. “Cost is certainly a significant factor. Ahimsa silk is more expensive than conventional silk. Also, powerlooms and to an extent, even handlooms require long fiber.” She adds further that why Rajaiah is unable to make a mark is also because of little visibility. For a beginning, the deities in the state must be adorned in Ahimsa silk, Ramalakshmi thinks.

In 2007, the officers in charge of the state government’s Handloom and Textiles were extremely supportive of his initiative, and Rajaiah’s future seemed bright. An application was sent to the Union Ministry of Textiles nominating Rajaiah for the Padma awards. “Now, of course, it must be lost in the sea of government paperwork”. He never followed it up.

Every governor, chief minister, and the handlooms minister were presented Ahimsa silk on their birthdays. In fact, one of the governors wrote to Rajaiah how immensely touched he was by this gesture. But, the tradition has died.

What lives on is the spirit and ethics of non-violence. Gandhiji once sent a message to the Indian silk industry asking it to produce silk that spared silkworms. “What can be more rewarding than realizing the Mahatma’s dream!” concludes Kusuma Rajaiah.

New State, Another Life?

(Published in The Hans India on March 22, 2015)


Perini Prakash was twenty when he began his journey into Perini Natyam. One day, he accidentally heard late Dr. Natraja Ramakrishna’s speech in Sircilla Taluk, Karimnagar in a loud speaker from across the street where he was waiting to catch a bus to go home. But, well, such was Dr. Ramakrishna’s influence, Prakash left home for good to live and train with the master himself. And the rest as they say is history. Like teacher like student, Perini Prakash lives and breathes dance. His wife, Suneela Prakash has trained in Perini Lasyam.

I walk into the dancer-couple’s house and, the first thing that catches my attention is a life-size portrait of their teacher and numerous trophies. “They are our teacher’s!” Prakash says proudly.

To say Dr. Ramakrishna was a Padmashri-awardee might be an understatement. “He was an encyclopaedia on dance. And he devoted a whole lifetime to dance, teaching it and studying it.” His students were his children and his only family.

As many as 700 years after the dance form perished and almost faded in peoples’ memory, he revived Perini Natyam to its present form and fame. Suneela Prakash explains how “he travelled all over Andhra Pradesh and met court dancers. He studied sculptures on temple panels in Warangal and more importantly, dance treatises by Jayapa Senani and Nandikesvara – Nritta Ratnavali and Bharatarnava. And finally, he matched his research with his own imagination and impeccable knowledge of sound and vibration, and gave the dance form a new lease of life.”

Perini natyam has a rich and interesting history going back nearly a thousand years. The dancer-couple dates it back to the reign of the Eastern Chalukyas, where it seemed to have been birthed. It flourished, however, during the Kakatiyas’ rule – particularly during the time of Emperors Ganapati Deva, Rudrama Devi and Prataparudra, between the 10th and 13th centuries. Jayapa Senani penned his Nritta Ratnavali in this period.

This once-forgotten dance is unique among other classical dance forms, in the sense that it has a fully evolved male-oriented solo dance technique, “which is Perini Siva Thandavam. Perini Lasyam is the feminine component that women performed in temples and the courts of kings.” (Seen here in the picture taken at Kothapally, Karimnagar).

And, I wonder how the dance got its name, Perini. We know Kuchipudi is named after the place where it was born. So is there a place by the name Perini, I ask. Then Prakash chips in, “the Siva Thandavam would be performed before the Kakatiya warriors, when they were about to set out to battle, to “invoke” (which in Telugu translates into “prerana”) the spirit and courage of Siva in them. Hence, the name Perini.” Perini Thandavam is very intense and powerful. Apart from the great amount of legwork, speed, and movements of various parts of the body in isolation, the accompanying music transports the audience into another world. “In three minutes, the dancer is drenched in sweat!” he adds.

Suneela elaborates that most temples built during the reign of the Kakatiyas had what is called a rangasila, or a stone platform used for dance performance, before the garbhagudi or sanctum-sanctorum, and that dance was an essential part of deity worship. “The entrance panels of the sanctum carry sculptures of musicians with various instruments.” And in an ancient temple built by Ganapati Deva in Kuchimanchi, Khammam district, they found sculptures of male Perini dancers on temple walls, from where they could discern the costumes that were worn at the time. “This is proof enough that there was a thriving dance form in this region, which is now Telangana.”

The husband and wife have travelled across all the ten districts of Telangana, visiting more such temples, dusting away the cobwebs that gathered over centuries, collecting pictographic evidence, and meeting local Perini dancer-teachers. They have put their work together into a book, which is set for release later this month, on their teacher’s birthday. A fitting tribute and guru-dakshina indeed!

“We do all we can to raise awareness. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, I have performed all over India,” As though that is not enough, he toured twelve states in the USA last year, where his former students are keeping the tradition alive, and he is gearing up for another tour later this year. He also has been to Dubai, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, UK among others. “We want people to know and talk of Perini Natyam in the same vein as Kuchipudi or Bharatanatyam.”

Post the state bifurcation, Perini dancers are hopeful that the new state will give Perini Natyam its rightful recognition and pride of place as a classical dance form of Telangana.

As we are about to wrap up our conversation, Prakash pulls out photographs of his previous performances, and classes he taught. In one of them, he is teaching a group of 80 young boys in a school in Hyderabad. “Eighty, no less. And not one of them has taken to the dance after that. All of them are now either doctors or engineers or cricketers!”

"School chale hum...."

(Published in The Hans India on March 3, 2015)

Three-year old Naresh ran away from the classroom every single day, soon after his parents had left him at the school. His teachers gave him chocolates and what not to woo him back to the class. This continued for an entire week. Now he is after his parents to leave him at school every morning. Even if it’s a Sunday! 

For three-year old underprivileged children like Naresh, the ECE (Early Childhood Education) class at the Jamai Osmania Government School is a “transitional classroom”, as Rubina ma’am calls it. “They leave their homes and parents for the first time. And they gradually get used to another phase of their childhood – schooling.” Most government schools, teachers say, start from Class I, skipping the crucial kindergarten years. 

ECE might not be new or novel, but here at this school, they have realized its importance early and implemented it successfully, with a few hiccups, of course. The government first introduced the concept of early childhood education four years ago at this school – a program it ran for two years with bare minimum infrastructure (read one caretaker) before it ran out of funds. But, the Principal Mrs. Aruna Devi was certain they must continue with the program nonetheless. That was when Rayeesa, a tutor on behalf of Vidya Sahyog, stepped in and offered to help. 

When Rayeesa took over, there were just four young ones. As for parents, it was enough to have a place to leave their children behind until the evening. Education was not their priority. 

Rayeesa, however, was determined to make this a productive platform. “When they just joined the class, they did not know how to sit in a row. They had never held a pencil before. They had no social skills. They would quarrel, refuse to sit together or listen to the teacher. But now, they are much ‘disciplined’, and talk politely to each other and us too.  They write beautifully. They can even sing rhymes in at least two languages,” she says proudly. Today, she has a forty strong class. ECE has proven successful in improving the children’s social skills and classroom etiquette. They are also “better behaved”. 

This ECE class has been a real patchwork of efforts and resources. One ‘kind soul’ donated slates, while another donated shoes. Rayeesa herself brought notebooks and stationery to the class. More importantly, the school even managed to accommodate the ECE children in the midday meal scheme. “This class no longer figures on the government’s roll call. So they do not apportion them midday meals. But with absentees in other classes on a more or less daily basis, we are able to accommodate our ECE children.” All for a cause. A good cause. 

Malleshwari ma’am, who teaches higher grades in the school, has seen the attendance in her own classes improve. “Earlier, the parents left young ones at home with their older siblings to look after them. Now, with ECE in progress, all the children, older and younger, are at school. No one needs to stay at home”

And what more, they will also do well when they are formally enrolled in Class I. 

Ever so patient, Rayeesa adds, “baccho ko khelte khelte padhana!” And, her students play “teacher teacher” with their parents and siblings when they go back home. 

Well, we are all here and reading this because of teachers like Rayeesa who poured themselves into their profession. We may not have memories of the classes or the lessons, but those early years in the classroom certainly laid the strongest foundation. 

For the children in the government school, it is a life changing experience. Rayeesa’s lessons are not simply meant for the classroom. They are lessons for life. 

Tuck in Your Pallu.....For What?

(Published in The Hans India on February 12, 2015)

A gender ratio skewed against women. A literacy rate skewed against women. Infanticide targeted at female foetuses. My heart bleeds every time I see girls grappling with these issues and those whose precious lives are extinguished before they see the light of day. The statistics, the numbers and that much well-intentioned legislation later, little has changed on the ground. 

Consider this. 2011 Census says only 65 per cent of women were literate, compared to 82 per cent of men. Why so? Is it because a girl cannot add two and two or she is not capable of anything more than knitting and sewing? Don’t think so. She drops out, so her brother can study. She cooks, so he can eat. She earns, so he can spend. She lives a tougher life, so he can have it easy.

Among the girls who do manage to go to school, quite often there are a handful of them who are at the top of their class and the top of their game. With a spark in their eye and spring in their step. They are ready to take on the world. In my own class of mechanical engineering, a department that is considered most unlikely for women, eight out of top ten students were girls. Most of them pursued a Masters degree in mechanical engineering.

Sadly, many do not make it that far. They are compelled to dropout to earn for the family or get married.

If they do manage to finish school, they are boxed into professions that the society approves of. If you are a woman, you are not “cut out” to be a politician.

Research indicates that Indian women hesitate to put themselves forward as political candidates. Worse still, rarely are they encouraged by their family or peers to do so.  When women can turn out in record numbers as voters as seen in the 2014 elections, then why not as elected representatives? 

Remember, you are cut out to be a “good” housewife, a role most artfully institutionalized over generations, and feed your family in all your waking hours! TV commercials have perfected it. Haven’t you seen the MTR advert where the woman of the house wakes up before everyone else does, ties her hair up into a highly efficient kitchen-friendly chignon, tucks in her pallu around her waist, and charges into the kitchen with a big grin to make ten different tiffins to suit every other member’s taste and requirement! Thank you MTR!

A few months ago, FP reported about a new matrimonial website founded for the alumni of Ivy League institutions. Mind you, the boys must be alumni of “premier institutions”, Indian or international, to register. As for girls, the criterion is a degree from a school with a “countrywide reputation”. When FP quizzed the founder why such glaring differences, he replied that highly educated and well placed men are happy to find a woman who would mind their house. That is one educated man sharing the opinion of other educated men.

There are women in professions not considered quite typical and there are those who have and are breaking the glass ceiling. They have scaled the upper echelons of various fields with sheer determination to overcome traditional challenges and a strong will to multitask, and much less because their responsibilities have changed or are being shared. There are men who share responsibilities, but they are in the minority. 

A career-minded woman is labelled “selfish” and “individualistic”.  What is wrong if she wants to be true to herself? What is wrong if she wants to realize her true potential? And, what is wrong if she wants to chase her dreams?

Not very long ago, I was discussing with a friend how society’s treatment of women has hardly changed and how society conditions the woman to always walk a meter behind the man. And he dismissed my argument, “oh, gone are those days!” I laughed because I couldn’t cry. Just like anybody else moving about in swanky skyscrapers, it may be natural for him to believe in the romantic idea of a changing India. Or has the country changed and it is  just that the change has somehow bypassed half of its population?

When you move away from the Silicon Valleys of India, you cannot begin to count the innumerable women who continue to find it a challenge to realize so much as basic rights as human beings – struggle to complete their education, fight for survival, and lose lives during pregnancy and childbirth. So really “those days” have not “gone” anywhere. They are very much here and palpable. You only have to look closer. 

Let’s tuck in our pallu to empower our girls and understand them, we can make idli and dosa later.

Can the SDGs achieve what the MDGs could not?

(Published in The Times of India on September 28, 2012)


Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are discussed in the "The Future We Want" Outcome Document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) or Rio+20 that was held in Rio de Janeiro that year. During the Rio+20 consultative processes, SDGs were introduced in a proposal made by Guatemala, Colombia and Peru with some themes being food security, energy access, renewable energy, oceans, sustainable human settlements and water.

With the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) completing its cycle in 2015, SDGs have been in the spotlight of international deliberations. SDGs, according to the Outcome Document, should be aspirational, universally applicable and take into account capacities and priorities of countries. These goals should also be respect on past global summit outcomes including Agenda 21 and Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.

Governments have recognised that the MDGs have been a useful tool that has guided government to achieve specifics within the framework of international development. Processes around SDGs could borrow lessons from
successes and failures of the MDGs and provide direction for national-priority setting and resource-mobilization. Being an integral part of the UN post-2015 development agenda, they should encompass the three pillars of sustainable development - social, economic, environmental.


MDG processes and questions for SDGs

MDGs include eight internationally agreed development goals. These goals are related to poverty alleviation, hunger, education, child mortality, maternal health, gender equality, environment sustainability and international cooperation. The MDGs, with 21 targets and 60 indicators, came into existence in international policy after the UN Millennium Summit of 2000 that was held in New York. However the processes associated with the formulation of MDGs started in the historic 1990s or the post-Washington Consensus era.

Scholars argue that the determination of MDGs was underlined by global ambivalence and was an outcome of an unorganized and evolving discourse where certain ideas and actors played a key role. MDGs came into being at a
time when the idea of "human development" was gaining prominence. During the same time, an increased engagement of the civil society with multilateral processes was also prevalent. While member states like USA and
its OECD allies played a key role in defining the purpose as well as ambition of the MDGs, the UN General Assembly, the UN Secretariat, the UNDP, UNICEF and NGOs think-tanks influenced the specifications of the
MDGs.

As is evident from Goals 1-6, MDGs have been framed from a basic needs perspective with goals that meet minimum human development needs. The MDGs 2012 Progress Chart for South Asia indicates that sufficient progress still has to be made in targets related to poverty, hunger, employment, sanitation, education, child mortality and maternal health. Ambitious poverty-related targets such as reducing economic and social inequality
within and between countries has been absent in the MDGs process. Similarly goals linked to environment sustainability and international cooperation were also weak.

Key questions for the post-2015 development agenda would then include - Would a new MDG era, post-2015, mean a stronger meta-goal for addressing poverty? Would SDGs set ambitious goals linked to environment sustainability and global partnerships?

No single meta-goal

From the nature of MDGs, one clear meta-goal emerges which is that of addressing basic human needs based on the idea of human development. In case of SDGs, no clear meta-goal emerges as insofar the process has been
discussed on the basis of principles of past multi-lateral processes. Taking the Rio Declaration forward, more ambitious targets in the SDGs for poverty eradication based on principles of equity would be a giant step
forward.

The multi-focal nature of current multilateral systems and process such as the Conference of Parties (COPs) and thematic Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) sessions could form some basis for the goals particularly around global environmental issues which were not specified in the MDG 7 and MDG 8.

Regarding the universal nature of SDGs, it would be relevant to examine how goals relating to climate change especially the Bali Action Plan on Climate Change would be considered. On local environment, goals related to natural resource use efficiency would be relevant. Environmental goals, global and local, with clear co-benefits such as human health, livelihoods and energy security would also serve to enhance international cooperation. Such goals may be translated into domestic actions based on national needs and respective capabilities.

Furthermore, multilateralism is the call of the hour. Inadequate means of implementation and inflow of overseas development assistance (ODA) would help the SDGs to remain only aspirational but never be fully realized.
Global partnership for development or MDG 8 tantamount to finance, technology transfer and capacity building is as important, if not more, a goal as poverty eradication itself. Goals linked to international cooperation could continue to play an important role in a globalizing and economically integrated world.

An Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals is expected to propose a SDGs-framework to the 68th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2013. This group will work in tandem with a High-Level Advisory Panel appointed by the UN Secretary General and the MDG Review Summit, scheduled for September 2013, to feed into the multilateral deliberations to zero in on a potential successor to the MDGs that would reinforce the post-2015 development agenda.

An organized deliberation around SDGs and MDGs would bring clarity on some key issues around SDGs. However, it is clear from recent experience that in a multilateral system, goals purely determined by member states and political principles could result in weak aspirations around sustainable development especially for goals linked to addressing global environmental issues. Clearly, the need to act is urgent and the time to act is, now.