More than 57 Lac people have participated in the voting process of the National Agenda Forum (NAF), and used the platform to set an agenda for contemporary India. The success of NAF was possible because of collaborative efforts of the entire NAF ecosystem, most importantly its 1 Lac+ Part Time Associates (PTAs) who registered to campaign for India, in order to take the chosen agenda forward.The Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) launched the National Agenda Forum (NAF) as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th Birth Anniversary year. NAF is a modest attempt to resurrect the conversation around Gandhiji’s 18-point Constructive Programme and use it to re-imagine and co-create an actionable agenda for contemporary India.
NAF was launched with the aim to mobilize the citizens of India for 4 key action points:
1) Sharing the vision
2) Setting the agenda
3) Choosing the leader
4) Campaigning for India
NAF was launched on 29 June 2018; by more than 25,000 Youth Associates from 1,788 colleges spread over 530 districts across India. Over the course of two months, 57 lac+ people participated in the voting process. NAF received immense support from all quarters including 1 Lac+ Youth Associates, distinguished personalities including eminent Gandhians, Padma awardees, sports champions, prominent TV &film celebrities and civil society organizations.
Over the last two months, in addition to the massive online participation NAF accomplished the following:
NAF Field Dialogues were held in 777 colleges across 84 districts
2 Insta-Meets were organized in partnership with UNESCO-MGIEP at Hyderabad & Chennai
5,000 Dabbawalas sported NAF badges and delivered 20,000 tiffins with NAF tags
As a finale, NAF Dialogue (webinar) was hosted at the I-PAC office featuring 6 distinguished personalities
The resultsof the National Agenda Forum are as follows:
Top 10 priorities chosen by people for India are:
1.Women: Ensure social, political and economic empowerment of women realizing that men and women are partners with equal rights
2.Kisans: Protect the interests of farmers and help them become self-reliant without exploiting them for political purposes
3.Economic Equality: To ensure sustainable growth and progress, reduce economic inequality and promote equitable development with a humane approach
4.Students: Develop an ecosystem for youth to meaningfully participate, engage and make an effective contribution in nation building
5.Education in Health & Hygiene: Empower citizens with knowledge and practice to ensure access to clean water, food and air for themselves and the community
6.Communal Unity: Ensure national integration and communal harmony rooted in personal friendship with and respect for persons of other faiths and communities
7.Provincial Languages: Promote the usage of Indian languages to improve capabilities of its citizens to understand and communicate effectively
8.New or Basic Education: Make children ‘model citizens’ and help them realize a glorious future with education rooted in Indian culture and its realities
9.Village Sanitation: Strengthen the sense of sanitation as a virtue to make habitations a “model of cleanliness” and eliminate open defecation
10.Adult Education: Support continuing education with an aim to tackle ignorance, broaden world view and acquire skills to increase employability
Top leaders best suited to adoptand execute the people’s agenda are:
Top 2 leaders:
Narendra Modi
Rahul Gandhi
Top 4 Chief Ministers:
Arvind Kejriwal
Mamata Banerjee
Naveen Patnaik
Nitish Kumar
Note: Results reflect the voter’s choice on a leader best suited to adopt and execute people’s agenda and is not necessarily a reflection of popularity.
To view full results please visit: https://www.indianpac.com/naf/
The way forward:
Together with its 1 Lac+ youth associates who have opted to campaign for India and the NAF eco-system of supporters, I-PAC will:
• Strive to take the peoples’ agenda to the masses, especially the youth, to ensure that they remain informed and engaged on the key priorities for the country rooted in Gandhian ideals
• Ensure that the peoples’ agenda is a part of key priorities for any political party it chooses to work with in the future by getting it adopted in their official manifesto
Additionally, people nominated top non-political personalities, who they feel should join active politics (in alphabetical order):
• Aamir Khan
• Akshay Kumar
• Anna Hazare
• Baba Ramdev
• Kailash Satyarthi
• MS Dhoni
• Raghuram Rajan
• Ratan Tata
• Ravish Kumar
• Sourav Ganguly
About I-PAC
Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) is the platform of choice for students and young professionals to participate in and make meaningful contribution to political affairs and governance of the country, without necessarily being part of a political party.Started as Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG) in 2013, I-PAC has brought some of the best minds from diverse academic and professional backgrounds together and provided them with a unique opportunity to become a part of the election process and influence policy making in India. I-PAC works with visionary leaders with a proven track record. In the process, the group helps them set a citizen-centric agenda and partners with them to conceptualize & implement the most effective methods of taking it to the public and gathering mass support.
For regular updates on I-PAC, please follow our Twitter handle https://twitter.com/IndianPAC