Jagriti Yatra summary and purpose
24th December 2008 - 8th January 2009
Why Jagriti Yatra?
Jagriti Yatra is an annual train journey that will take 400 of India’s highly motivated youth between the ages of 18-25 on a sixteen day national odyssey, introducing them to unsung heroes of India. The aim is to awaken the spirit of entrepreneurship – both social and economic within India’s youth by exposing them to individuals and institutions that are developing unique solutions to India’s challenges. Through this national event we will inspire them to lead and develop institutions nationally and within their communities.
Youth are increasingly celebrity conscious, while those Indians who have made lasting social and economic impact are often not visible as role models. The Jagriti Yatra aims to showcase inspiring success stories by taking young Indians to meet these “real heroes”. These role models, located around the country particularly in rural and semi urban India will demonstrate how social and economic enterprise has succeeded. We propose to engage the national media to act as a multiplier of this message by projecting it to the millions of Indians who will watch this journey unfold across the country, and become an annual event. With this we seek to awaken the aspiration of ‘being the change’ in the youth of India.
Jagriti Yatra - Impact
Jagriti Yatra will have an immediate impact on the 400 odd participants in the Yatra. In addition we expect to have an applicant pool of over 5,000, and through formal and informal networks this will be extended to over 25,000 young Indians.
We will use 6 televised debates at key stops of the journey. With the help of a well known TV anchor, we expect to have 45 minutes program slots to discuss social and economic enterprise through a role model we have met at that stop. The 400 participants will be the audience, a role model as the interviewee and the anchor as a facilitator. We are in discussions with IBN-CNBC for this telecast over the course of the journey.
At the 13 locations where the train stops, we will engage local youth in our discussions as well as local and national press to spread the message of enterprise. We are looking at strong use of mobile networks to spread the message of the Yatra as well as use of our website (with updates from the train), a growing face book group, an active yahoo and mobile networking group. We have already got extensive coverage in
Times of India, NDTV,
IANS, Gulf News, and are pursuing a partnership with Dainik Jagraran in the North and Anand Vikatan in the south. Our aim is to create an ongoing forum for message dissipation.
The train itself is a strong medium to spread the message of enterprise. We expect to create a documentary on the journey and are in discussions with Endemold and McCann Erikson for creating a program which brings to life this unique national journey not only to Indian but also to international audience. Prasoon Joshi (of the Taaren Zameen Par fame) who was inspired by the spirit of the Yatra has produced our own song for the journey – Jagriti Geet.
Please listen to it
The Yatra has been tested 10 years ago by a similar train journey which visited various locations around India. The experiences from the 1997 event have been published as a book by Harper Collin, titled
India – a journey through a healing civilization. The book was launched in August 2007 by Shashank Mani, our current chairman and continues to give the Jagriti Yatra considerable publicity.
Jagriti Yatra – current status
We have already launched an active participation drive across wide cultural and lingual spectrum of India and begun engaging college communities through vernacular and national press, and radio, besides association with college festivals and entrepreneurship development cells.
Jagriti Yatra aims at having extensive impact. Raising awareness in college campuses assisted by media campaigns with jingles, slogans and posters crafted to appeal to youth in metros but also the vast non-english speaking heartland, including reliance on SMS and mobile networks to reach beyond those who are not connected through internet. If you live in the UK, you can donate £5 to the Jagriti Yatra fund by texting YATRA to 78001.
Our rigorous selection process includes assessment of the candidates demonstration of entrepreneurial spirit. This is being done by three independent judges of high merit including volunteer leadership consultants. Alongside, distinguished mentors from various fields will also be selected to come on board as facilitators, upon invitation by this distinguished panel. We also intend to attract eminent personalities are honoured by the confirmation of participation of
r. Kiran Bedi,
Mark Tully and possibly
Dr Rajendra Pachauri, all of whom took part in the last Yatra.
The Yatra organizational infrastructure includes an experienced non-executive advisory board, a professional executive team based in India and a motivated group of volunteers from around the world. The extended support network includes ex-Yatris, selected participants and partnering institutions including entrepreneurial institutions like CIIE – IIM Ahmedabad and School of Business and Entrepreneurship, University of Essex as well as IIT Alumni chapters.
Jagriti Yatra is being organized under the aegis of Jagriti, an NGO dedicatd to youth and women vocational and enterprise training. Any contributions to the Jagriti Yatra will be tax deductable under the 80G provisions of the Income tax act.
Jagriti Yatra – Partnership Opportunities
Jagriti Yatra is actively seeking support from Individuals, Trusts and Corporates interested in youth development. The unique concept of an annual national journey has a massive appeal to all age groups and creates a significant opportunity for national branding.
