Rathnamma, a street vendor who made her living by selling greens and vegetables in Mysuru. One of the actions that emerged from this experience of having spent some time with her was the project of working with street vendors. From collectivizing them and forming Self-Help Groups, to extending credit facilities and giving them the training to manage their finances, to empowering them to negotiate with the local power structures; the SVYM team worked hard to ensure that their human and social capital was constantly expanded. Along with these activities maturing and stabilizing, I too had moved on and laid down office at SVYM. This meant that I was not aware of how our work had changed the lives of the people that we worked with, till a pleasant encounter with Shivanna helped me understand the lasting impact that SVYM had created.
My wife Bindu and I were returning back from our morning walk when we found enroute an auto selling fresh vegetables. Though, this looked like a regular auto, it had been modified by Shivanna into a mobile vegetable store. As Bindu was wrapping up her purchases, Shivanna recognized me and mentioned that he was part of the SHG initiated by SVYM for street vendors and his life had changed over the last several years. He proudly told me that he now had a consistent and near-certain daily income of INR 500 after deducting all his expenses. He also now owned the auto and his working day was fully under his control. What made one feel truly happy was he mentioning that his older daughter was now studying in the second year Bachelor of Science program, while his son was in the eight standard. His life had truly transformed, and he and his family could now look forward to a more meaningful future. Our efforts at building his human and social capital were now seeing economic consequences.
It is experiences like these that serve to reaffirm our conviction in the development paradigm of SVYM. SVYM believes that the development process is inter-generational and does not happen overnight. We strongly believe that development is best manifest by the constant expansion of human capabilities. While economic growth is necessary and a part of our vision for a strong nation, we believe that our primary efforts need to be focused on building the human and social capital of people. We are convinced that this will enable the creation and management of the economic capital that will ensue. Not only has Shivanna expanded his own capabilities but is slowly building the equity that his children will benefit from. From a personal viewpoint, I not only felt emotionally fulfilled but intellectually reaffirmed too.
-Balu
