Publications
1. JANAAGRAHA INTROSPECTION DOCUMENT
Somehow we have to make the agendas of different societies and cultures come together. It’s already happening in the world of communications. Fast travel, open borders and the internet have radically changed the relationship between governments, the private sector and individuals.
The relevance of government to individuals is being diluted. There is, in other words, a power-shift taking place. The individual matters more. The shift is not cataclysmic, as from war. The effect is to create, still in quite a rudimentary way, a global society. The process will inevitably become more sophisticated. But it is in many ways at the moment an undirected phenomenon; out of the control of any organised leadership. So what are these parts? What are the building-blocks of this new world which globalisation is creating? If the influence of nations represented by governments is diminishing, what is growing in power?
To read more........
2. SHAPING VIBRANT CITIES
Elizabeth Clay, Swati Ramanathan
Ramanathan Foundation, 2004
The WARD VISION CAMPAIGN involved citizens in the neighbourhood planning process. It was an ambitious experiment in both scope and time-frame. Over 2,000 citizens participated in constituencies that represented 10% of the city's wards. An additional 1,500 people volunteered in different aspects of the campaign. In designing the process, we explored best practices around the world and innovated for our unique environment. The citizens' Vision document for each ward was only one of several intended objectives. This document is a process record and analyses the successes and shortcomings of the Ward Vision Campaign.
3. PARTICIPATORY PLANNING, A CITIZENS' HANDBOOK
Swati Ramanathan
Ramanathan Foundation, 2003
The book is intended to provide information to citizens on the myriad living, breathing mechanics of the city they call home. It empowers citizens with the means to understand and participate in the decisions that shape their city taking a citizen-centric approach, rather than a service provider approach, it is a ready reckoner aimed at explaining urban services, their costs, the policy history and current status, and the various agencies and experts involved in each service delivery, along with basic details like contact information. It also attempts to give a strong starting point to a collaborative approach to solving the problems associated with Bangalore.
4. PARTICPATORY PLANING, A CITIZENS' HANDBOOK
Supriti, Sharon M. Barnhardt, and Ramesh Ramanathan
Ramanathan Foundation, 2002
Volume 1
A general assessment and a particular perspective
Volume 2
Landmark government initiatives for the urban poor since independance
Note from the Authors
Poverty in India has been the focus of many debates and policies for decades. Most of this focus has been on rural poverty issues, but urban poverty being as prevalent as it is today, seeks equal attention. In this document, we attempt to present in one place all efforts made by the government in alleviating urban poverty and understand patterns in the approach over time. New policy action should itself follow a thorough examination of the research issues raised in this report. Our hope is that we have made a first step in this direction by analysing Urban Poverty Alleviation Initiatives.
5. JANAAGRAHA - DEVELOPMENT BY DESIGN
Ramesh Ramanathan
Making Participatory Democracy happen
The Idea
Participatory Democracy is central to Good Governance
Citizen communities need support and strengthening
Constructive engagement with the system
The Assumptions
Enormous amount of unharnessed social energy
Problem-Solving the need of the day, above Ideology
The Approach
Focus: 1 issue at a time, defined outcome, rigid time-frame
Best practices: communications, technology, technical skills
Platform for “Practical Patriotism” & “Professional Voluntarism”
6. URBAN DESIGN IN INDIA
A whitepaper by Swati Ramanathan
The universal conception of India is that of a rural country. Popular images that we see, the bulk of Government programs, the focus of non-government organizations (NGOs) as well as international funding agencies, are all geared towards the rural population.
With political forces and reform agencies concentrating on rural issues, the urban phenomenon has not been on the radar screen for most.
In fact, between 1901 and 1991, the urban towns or agglomerations have doubled to 3768 in number. The 23 big cities have grown the fastest and retain 32-33% of the total urban population since the past 30 years.
While “development” is an issue common to both rural and urban areas, specific to urban centers, is the issue of planning and design. With such phenomenal growth, urban planning is critical to sustain a minimum standard of infrastructure and quality-of-life delivery.
7. WHAT IS OUR ORIGINAL PURPOSE?
By Ramesh Ramanathan for Voices Magazine
There is a powerful concept in Mathematics called the "Mobius Strip". The experiment to understand this is fair straight forward: take a strip of paper of the approximate dimensions of a 12-inch scale. Bring the ends tougher to form a ring. This shape has two surfaces, one on the inside of the ring. Repeat this exercise, except twist one end of the paper before bringing it to meet the other end. This new structure has an astonishing property: it has only one surface. No matter where you begin on the surface of the paper, you end back there.
8. INTERVIEW OF RAMESH RAMANATHAN
Interviewed by Cheryll Rebello for the newsmagazine Khobar
1. Briefly, tell our readers what Janaagraha is all about.
One of the areas that Indians feel very disappointed and hopeless about is the quality of our governments. We term this area “public governance”. What all citizens want is better public governance. At Janaagraha we believe that it is not possible to get better governance without deepening the meaning of democracy from representation to participation. This means that in the alphabet of democracy, you cannot go from E to F, elect and forget; you need to stay on the letter E, elect and engage. For this to happen, citizens need to recognize their role and responsibility, and also that there is new language of constructive engagement that is required, where citizens and government are partners, not where citizens are out to expose government.
The last piece of the framework is to do with communities. This essentially says that for citizens to engage, what is required is robust institutions of the people, which can be informal. Communities of citizens are the way forward, rather than just individuals.