Tata Jagriti Yatra

Jagriti Yatra is an initiative of the Tata Group and Jagriti Sewa Sansthan, a non-governmental organization that promotes entrepreneurship, launched in 2008. In Hindi, Jagriti Yatra means a journey of awakening, and as the name suggests it is a journey of social awakening. Youngsters, between the age group of 20 and 25, from India and overseas can apply to go on the yatra. The journey is for 18 days in which, a distance of 9000 kilometers is covered. The INDIAN States of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Gujarat are covered in a train that transports only the yatris or travelers of the Jagriti Yatra. The individuals who go for the journey are supposed to live in the train for the span of 18 days and interact with their fellow travelers.

The Jagriti Yatra has the aim of exposing the Indian Youth to the concept of social entrepreneurship and social ProgresS through enterprise led development.

Introduction

The first Yatra was an idea conceived by a team of youngsters who wanted the Indian youth to understand, in much needed depth, as to how India's rural regions function. The Yatra began on 24th December, 2008 and ended on 11th December, 2009. A group of 400 individuals were selected to go for this journey. The main motto is awakening the entrepreneurial spirit.

The lead sponsor, Tata Group decided to join hands with Jagriti Sewa Sansthan only in 2009, for the second Jagriti Yatra. From then on it has been referred to as Tata Jagriti Yatra.

The main activity of the journey concerns with meeting entrepreneurs who have initiated measures to improve the standard of living and quality of life of the community through their enterprises. In the book Discover India, which talks AbOUT the entire process of the journey, it says that the journey induces transformation at different levels. These changes result from the firsthand knowledge the yatris receive is a way of creating inspiration in them so that they can find new and innovative methods to tackle social issues through direct interaction with the rural counterpart of India.

Enterprise Led Development

Enterprise led development is the process of creating enterprises that will eventually lead to social and economic development through generation of employment and inculcation of a sense of economic security. In this context, the yatra about sensitizing the youth to the socio-economic problem faced by the rural areas of India in order to assure a certain level awareness in them about the entrepreneurial opportunities in these areas. The creation of an inclination in the youth towards the concept of enterprise led development is one of the goals of the programme. The Chairman of Jagriti Sewa Santhan, Shashank Mani, in an article about the yatra, said, "Enterprise Led Development, or Udyam Janit Vikas, seeks to change the development paradigm from one of dependence to that of taking charge. It seeks to shift the mindset of young India from job seekers to job creators. It seeks to shift the role of government from that of a captain to one of the coach and a catalyst." The process of enterprise led development CREATES scalable improvements in the society and this is through training the most important factor, which is the human capital, and for this the potential entrepreneurs should be intuitive and should have the technique of assessing the opportunities. Many individuals who have not travelled away from home get an opportunity to meet successful entrepreneurs who have made a difference in their societies and the inspiration that they receive in the process is what they take back at the end of the journey. For example, an individual from Uttar Pradesh gets a chance to see the Amul Factory in Gujarat during the journey, and he is inspired to start an economically viable enterprise in his hometown. The foundation for such initiatives is laid down during the process and the travelers or the yatri are expected to build on it through their own interest, perseverance and vision.

Jagriti Sewa Sansthan

The Jagriti Sewa Sansthan was founded in 1985 with the main objective of societal development, based in Chhattisgarh. The NGO focuses on participatory development and works against illiteracy, woman empowerment, discrimination in terms of wages, [...], caste, community etc. It is not an organization that supports religion and politics and the absence of profit motive makes it an NGO. The main objective Jagrithi Sewa Sansthan are

  • To strengthen local self-governance and build leadership in panchayati raj institutions.
  • To enhance the capacities of traditional village leaders, youth and women so that they can actively participate in gram sabhas.
  • To make the workings of the panchayat transparent.
  • To increase the participation of women at both the organisational and community level, by creating a gender-sensitive environment and MainStreaming gender in every stage of the programme’s implementation.

By pursuing the above mentioned objectives, the organization has promoted many activities including community mobilization, working for forest and water-related issues, training men and women for dealing with daily livelihood concerns and training panchayat members to integrate with the local men and women in their activities.

The yatra was an idea initially planned by the Jagriti Sewa Sansthan team in 1997, called Azad Bharat Rail Yatra. It was a journey embarking the 50th year of Independent India. This was the first step towards materializing the idea of inspiring the youth towards enterprise led development of rural India.

See Also

  • Social entrepreneurship
  • Social innovation
  • Microfinance

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