THE RISE OF INDIA

India is on it’s way to becoming a USD10tr economy in 20 years. We’re ready to fly – to deploy solutions for rapid, sustainable, resource-efficient growth….with a belief that small steps by millions can culminate in a giant leap forward for the nation…a ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ to lift millions into prosperity. This would be the largest national development effort any democracy has ever attempted.

BUT, DOES GDP DEFINE SOCIAL PROGRESS ?

Michael Green of Social Progress Imperative says GDP isn’t the best way to measure good society. His alternative? The Social Progress Index, which measures things like basic human needs and opportunity. Analysts, reporters and big thinkers love to talk about Gross Domestic Product. But the big problem is that GDP only accounts for a country’s economic performance, not the happiness or well-being of its citizens. With GDP, if your richest 100 people get richer, your GDP rises … but most of your citizens are just as badly off as they were before.

India ranks a lowly 93 out of 128 countries on Social Progress Index.

INDIA NEEDS A RESET

Indians demand economic growth accompanied by equally valuable improvements in human development.

Our Creative Idea : BE THE CATALYST FOR THE RESET

George Bernard Shaw, said, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world, the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

Our PM said that it’s people and their actions that will help strengthen the democracy from within. This was the genesis of Janhit Jagran - an idea that had the potential to change the way people participate in a democracy.

Janhit Jagran encouraged millions of Indians to take small steps that could culminate in a giant leap forward for the nation, to come forward with ideas that could have a transformative impact on the worlds’ largest democracy.

Hence the campaign idea “There will be as many mornings as the number of Suns”. The campaign was a clarion call to all the “suns” to rise and create new mornings.

1. Janhit Jagran workshops in 17 cities: To inspire attendees to come up with ideas to deal with social challenges.

2. Janhit Jagran workshops at start-up hubs, pre incubators: All these were institutions with strong eco-systems for social enterprises.

3. Closed Door Pitches: 3 closed door pitch events for social enterprises. The audience for this was incubators or co-working spaces.

4. Partnerships : We got on board, social organizations across each of the 7 domains as expert partners to anchor the programme

5. Newspaper Content as the pivot of the programme to set up the agenda: Space equivalent to 29 Full Page editorial articles on the campaign were carried in Dainik Jagran – India’s largest read newspaper with 70mn readers. The newspaper profiled people doing exemplary work in social arena, with case studies of innovative solutions to tackle social problems, and expert columns.

1. Direct contact with 2740 potential social entrepreneurs.

2. 889 project entries received from across 18 states of India

3. There were 135 projects that could potentially impact over 100mn people each

4. 520 ideas were from people who wanted either financial/mentorship support or wanted to set up their own social enterprise.

5. 217 entrants wanted their idea to be implemented by existing governmental/non governmental agencies

6. A Jury comprising social activists, consumer evangelists, and policy makers evaluated the ideas. The Grand Prize winners were awarded a startup fund of INR 1 mn to implement the winning idea/ideas.

7. Brand Impact : Over comparable period last year, our scores improved on:

a. “This newspaper makes me a better citizen”. Score up by 5% points

b. “ I look forward to getting this newspaper” Score up by 9% points

Source : Brand Study, Dec’17

Our society is on the threshold of the fourth stage of how it addresses its thorniest problems. In stage one, caring for people was largely left to families and charities. In the second stage, the government tackled poverty eradication. In stage three the state tried to foster partnerships with the private sector. In the fourth stage government is encouraging responsible citizens to deliver “disruptive, transformative innovation”.

We dug deep within to draw from the very core of our editorial philosophy which had the seven Principles as its foundation. The challenge wasn’t just to communicate this philosophy to readers, but to “walk the talk”, and encourage and create a new young breed of social entrepreneurs.

We launched a programme called Janhit Jagran, encouraging citizens to address societal problems through disruptive, transformative innovation. We asked people for ideas to solve societal challenges in the above mentioned 7 domains.

Dainik Jagran exists to shift the collective consciousness of people and transform lives to create a better world and a better future….because an awakened individual is one who goes beyond the barriers of his own mind and lives life in a larger context.

Living this vision of our brand, we draw from the very core of our newspaper’s editorial philosophy which has 7 Principles as its foundation – Women Empowerment, Environment Protection, Population Management, Poverty Eradication, Health, Education, and Water Conservation. These are intrinsically linked to our country’s progress. Everyday, we necessarily carry stories of change, of challenges, of hope and of crusaders across any of these domains.

All of the above principles draw from the SDG, and as a media brand, we attempt to contribute in achieving the SDG targets.

Specifically through our programme, we aimed to :

- Empower our 70 mn readers to demand and drive change, and encourage them to give back to society. When each of us does our bit, the world becomes a better place to live in, and hence the thought “The more the Suns, the brighter the Dawn”

- Encourage social entrepreneurship