It requires a rare courage for an individual to change the lives of others, especially when the beneficiaries belong to the marginalized section of the society. Meet Siddhartha Upadhyay, the founder and Secretary General of STAIRS (Society for Transformation, Inclusion and Recognition through Sports) who for over a decade has been relentlessly helping young children and professional sports persons across urban and rural India to discover their untapped potential, enabling them to gain a foothold in the social mainstream and the confidence to compete and excel. The New Delhi-headquartered sports NGO recently bagged the coveted ‘Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar 2016’ award from President Pranab Mukherjee in recognition of its contribution towards the ‘Identification and Nurturing of Budding and Young Talent’ in India. Acknowledging its efforts, the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs has included STAIRS in the steering committee for development of football in the country. Ramesh Kumar Raja had a conversation with Upadhyay about his journey to make it big in sports charity and the policies that guide sporting spirit in India.
Your struggle to promote sports among the children of disadvantaged section of society finally paid off with Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar 2016 in your kitty. How do you look at this achievement?
I and my team believe that awards and recognition are the by-products of what we do. We cannot measure our success on the basis of them. Hence, I would not say that the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar marks a ‘paying off’ of our efforts. The efforts pay off when we see that the objective of all our programs is being met. For instance, about a decade ago, we had a vision of creating sporting opportunities for at least one lakh kids across the country. We struggled in creating that environment, paving way for the needed opportunities, and building a sporting culture at the grassroots. Today, STAIRS takes pride in claiming that at this point there are nearly three lakh children (three times of our expected number) who are the direct beneficiaries of our interventions – that is the actual achievement for the team. Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Award is a great milestone for us and recognition at that level has undoubtedly added more to our confidence.
STAIRS is now a name to reckon with. What’s your plan going forward?
The obvious answer to this question will be that we want to ‘sustain’ as well as ‘scale up’. The plan is quite simple: a) reach out to as many more children possible in as many nooks and corners of the country; b) enable each one of them to exercise their ‘right to play’; c) ensure that the deserving one gets a chance to showcase their talent on higher and larger platforms; and d) ensure that each child associated with us has a better prospect from the socio-economic point of view and ultimately becomes a worthy citizen of the country.
This story is from the October 2016 edition of Governance Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the October 2016 edition of Governance Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Our Companies Are Very Interested in Sharing Their Knowhow and E-governance Solutions
A small country located in Baltics, with a population of just over 1.3 million, Estonia has been a major global case study on how to implement effective and efficient digital governance. Estonia was among the first countries globally to apply emergent information and communication technologies in governance and delivery of public goods. Today, there are hardly any services that are not fully available online in the country. Anand Mishra, Editor, and Rajesh Mehta, Consulting Editor, Governance Today, spoke to Mr. Riho Kruuv, the Ambassador of Estonia to India, to find out more about the bilateral relations between the two countries and how they can cooperate on various matters. Mr. Kruuv is also the Ambassador Designate to Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Singapore. Prior to this assignment, Ambassador Kruuv held several high ranking positions in the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the Security Policy and Arms Control Division, Political Department and as Chair of the Estonian Export Control Authority. Prior to that, he served as the Chargè d’ Affairs in the Embassy of Estonia in Canada and as 1st Secretary at the Estonian Embassy in the United States of America.
The Hidden Truth
We don’t speak about medical education and its role in nation-building.
E-way Delight for Realty
The high-speed Agra – Lucknow roadway opens a new avenue of growth for real estate sector, besides allowing the commuters to save a lot of time while travelling and helping in decongesting the traffic on the alternate route.
Two years of environmental governance
Although the Narendra Modi government has done well on pollution standards and monitoring, it needs to do much more on green clearances, forestry and its flagship schemes on sanitation, and the Ganga
Finnish Companies Have a Lot to Offer in Renewable Energy
The first impression of Finland in the minds of most Indians is of the country with best educational system in the world. While that is true, Finland is equally known globally for its expertise in clean tech, IT, start up environment and Northern Lights. Ms. Nina Vaskunlahti has recently been posted as Finland’s Ambassador to India. After graduating from the University of Turku in 1983 with a Masters Degree in Political Sciences, Ms. Vaskunlahti joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland in 1984 and has held many important positions in various countries and in the European Union in Brussels. Prior to her posting in New Delhi, she served as Finnish Ambassador to Turkey for four years. In an interaction with Anand Mishra, Editor and Rajesh Mehta, Consulting Editor, Governance Today, Ms. Vaskunlahti shares her opinions about how to strengthen the relations between Finland and India.
Not so clean (India)
The biggest challenge to Swachh Bharat Mission’s success is lack of data-led behavioural change.
The Gargantuan Garbage Mess
Jairam, and his wife routinely pick garbage from households from many housing societies in Sector 62 of Noida, billed as the most happening part of the satellite city of national capital, because of numerous educational institutions, thriving tech companies and more than three dozen housing societies. Its past noon, his cart full of garbage collected, he moves to a slightly isolated part of road a couple of hundred meters away from local shopping plaza, and empties his cart. Ask him if he realizes the implication of what he does, he nods in affirmation, knowing fully well that garbage littered just meters away from where people live, spews foul smell and breeds mosquitoes. But he says he just does not have any other place where he can throw garbage. The municipality has virtually non-existent system of waste collection and management, the result of which is that the largest vacant area of the sector, supposed to be developed as a park, has become the de facto garbage dump. There are half a dozen other spots where Jairam and his likes dump garbage.
All Lives Have Equal Value
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in India focuses on key areas that will affect the future of India’s most vulnerable communities: reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health and nutrition; sanitation; agricultural development; and financial inclusion. Headed by Dr. Nachiket Mor in India, the foundation, in its decade long journey here, has been building momentum in developing scalable, measurable programmes across all priority areas. Dr. Nachiket, flitting between the financial and philanthropic worlds, has been closely associated with the core interest areas of the foundation, including healthcare alongside sanitation, agricultural development and financial services for the poor. In conversation with Rajesh Mehta, Consulting Editor, Governance Today, Dr Nachiket Mor, India Country Office Director talks about the foundation’s values, services and plans in India...
More cities make the cut
The new induction in the list of Smart Cities will provide a boost to the realty sector.
Many Next-Gen Indian Americans Are Now Inspired to Do Public Service
Indians constitute one percent of American population, are the highest earning expat community in the country and most Indian Americans are in high end professions. Indiaspora, a non profit entity set up by M.R. Rangaswami, works to leverage this strength to further the interest and influence of Indian community in the US. Rangaswami, a software engineer by training, is an investor, entrepreneur, corporate eco-strategy expert, community builder and philanthropist. In 1997, he co-founded Sand Hill Group, one of the earliest Angel investment firms and was featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. He was also listed on the Forbes “Midas” list of investors. In 2012, Rangaswami founded Indiaspora to unite Indian Americans and to transform their success into meaningful impact in India and on the global stage. Rajesh Mehta, Consulting Editor, Governance Today, spoke to Rangaswami, to find out more about what made him set up Indiaspora and the work that this entity is doing to fulfill its mission.
