Sam Pitroda, Adviser to the Prime Minister for Public Information, Infrastructure & Innovations and Honorary Chairman of Action For India (AFI), addressed a gathering of 100 young social innovators (YSI) at the second annual Action For India Forum held at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi on January 20, 2013 and encouraged them to continue participating in job creation and social change. The event featured discussions on scaling social impact through technology and policy support, with prominent leaders of the social development field like Arun Maira, Gururaj ‘Desh’ Deshpande and Shiv Khemka. Five YSIs including Neil Patel (Awaaz.De), Sameer Sawarkar (Neurosynaptic Communications), Gaurav Malik (Nuru Energy), Kaushlendra Kumar (Kaushalya Foundation) and Rikin Gandhi (Digital Green) were awarded with the Action For India Growth Prize 2012 as a result of a competition held in collaboration with Ashoka Changemakers.

Sam Pitroda, who guides AFI as its Honorary Chairman, said, "We need an Indian model of development that targets the needs of the people at the bottom of the pyramid. We are looking to entrepreneurs to help us bridge this gap. Action For India aims to provide social entrepreneurs a platform to create new applications and solutions that are affordable, scalable and sustainable."
 
AFI Founder and President, Sanjay Kadaveru added “Collaboration and partnership between organisations is key for social innovation to flourish in India. Action For India aims to evangelise regional hubs of social innovation through the MoU signed with the Deshpande Foundation at AFI Forum 2013, also the Social Innovation THINKBook launched at the forum, in partnership with The Khemka Foundation, aims to inspire Young Social Innovators (YSI). Action For India aims to encourage the YSIs to interact with each other, leverage the use of technology for social good and provide a platform for the Indian Diaspora to give back to the country by supporting these social entrepreneurs.”  

Speaking at the forum, Gururaj Deshpande, Co-Chair of President Barack Obama's National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, added “The country often does not get a chance to see the extraordinary work that social entrepreneurs are doing. The Action For India Forum is highlighting this work. There will never be zero hurdles but social entrepreneurs should continue to innovate while policy makers should aim to remove as many hurdles as possible."

Arun Maira, Member of the Planning Commission and the National Innovation Council , at the AFI Forum 2013 keynote panel discussion said, "Social impact is not transactional, it must be relational. Our job hence is to create an environment that has positive impact on entrepreneurs. The government and the non-governmental sectors need to work together to learn how to measure social impact."

"Given the magnitude of work that still needs to be done in the development sector, it is imperative that every one of us sees ourselves as being or supporting social entrepreneurs. The Action For India Forum is driving social change that the nation needs today. Simply education and leadership are not enough, the values that underlie leadership are important." added Shiv Khema, Trustee of The Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation.

The event also saw young innovators and entrepreneurs like Mayank Sekhsaria (Greenlight Planet), Sean Blagsvedt (Babajob) Ketan Deshpande (FUEL), Nirmal Kumar (Nirmal Foundation’s ‘G-Auto’), Neha Juneja (Greenway Grameen Infra) and Punit Rustagi (Huskpower) taking part in a day of discussions and debates.

About Action For India:

Action For India’s (AFI) mission is to help social innovators in India overcome barriers to scale and achieve greater impact at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP).  We believe in the pivotal role that technology plays in scaling market-based solutions, and we work to connect social innovators in India with impact investors, mentors, and technology experts worldwide. Launched in 2012, AFI is inspired and guided by Sam Pitroda, Adviser to the Prime Minister of India and Chairman of the National Innovation Council of India. AFI is headquartered in New Delhi, India and has a chapter in Silicon Valley, California.

Website: http://actionforindia.org/

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