In November 2019 PM Modi announced his ambition to make India a $5 trillion economy by 2024, and in a pre-budget exercise at NITI Aayog at the start of 2020 discussed a host of suggestions for reviving economic growth and improving engagement between policy makers and diverse stakeholders towards achieving that aim. Even as the country was taking steps towards this grand ambition the juggernaut of COVID-19 brought to a halt the economy pushing more people than ever before into joblessness and poverty.

COVID-19 exacerbated the inequalities in Indian society and disproportionately impacted the poor and marginalized. The reverse migration of millions of hitherto invisible Indians - for the first time shone the spotlight on the wretchedness of their condition and the fact that they deserved better. It raised the collective conscience of middle class India, moving the migrant workers from the shadows to front and center of debates about ethics of free market forces and those who live on the periphery of society.

After the initial missteps India saw an unprecedented coming together of governments, corporates and civil society organizations to support migrants and rural India. The COVID-19 experience has removed any doubts about how inextricably countries, communities and societies are linked, and how closely they need to work together to make this world a better place for everyone. It’s a good time to celebrate our new found enthusiasm for collaboration to address the challenges that threaten our world and communities - health, nutrition, livelihoods, education, women’s rights, domestic violence etc. It is time for us to reiterate our commitment to working together to make this world a better place for everyone.

This is an opportunity for the entire development ecosystem to reboot, reinvigorate and reframe on how we engage with each other, serve our communities and live up to our values. Governments, businesses and civil society will need to strengthen the spirit of collaboration to ensure that we pursue the twin agenda of achieving our GDP targets on one hand and ensuring dignified lives and a sustainable planet for all, on the other. Samagam 2020 will be an opportunity to introspect, in the context of the past 6 months, and create an actionable roadmap for a better future which ensures that doing well in terms of economic growth necessarily co-exists with doing good in terms of sustainable, inclusive development. Successful, and sometimes the not so successful, partnerships at grassroots, panchayat, district and state levels will provide us the guiding light to relook at, and plan for, our future with renewed confidence and self-faith, to pursue our goals and ambition of realizing a “sab jan hitaye, sab jan sukhaye” India (or an India that ensures “sab ka vikaas” with “sab ka saath”).

Ideas and insights that emerge from Samagam will form the basis for collective action, and further deliberation, to effectively address the issues of the most marginalized and those currently “excluded” from the development process. Deliberations during Samagam 2020 can also provide important inputs for arriving at the Voluntary Sector Policy document that is due for a refresh in early 2021.