“…a site which caught my attention this week is ChangeBhai, this portal allows you to report civic issues along with pictures, was surprised to see some issues reported from Pune already fixed. If such help is available for citizens on internet we should make use of it for overall betterment of our community. Lot of arm chair activists give up when it comes to taking a civic problem heads on and what remains is a diarrhoea of tweets and posts on social media.
Hats off to people who have created this portal and taking issues that concern the common man to the right authorities which may go unnoticed due to social apathy and lack of awareness on methods to deal with such problems….”
Thank you! It is heartening to know that ChangeBhai is being widely recommended by the active blogging community. We look forward to more support from active bloggers like you.
Team ChangeBhai embarked on a nation wide ‘Ground Engagement Campaign’ for schools and colleges last month. We are covering hundreds of such institutions, small, big, government, private and so on. Have a look at the pictures below from one such campaign.
These are students of Laxmibai Nandgude International School, Pimpri Chinchwad.
We were to take a session on ‘How to use ChangeBhai to report issues” in this school. A peep into the window of the makeshift tin room where the students were seated and my colleague whispered to me “Dude, I bet none of these kids would have access to internet. We need to drop the original plan of educating the kids about ChangeBhai..let’s not throw that whole ‘tagging the issue on a map’ gyan here..no point..why to bug the poor kids…nahi samjhega inko”
I agreed. “Ya..ya..of course..lets chuck it..Plan B is cool here..let’s just speak about some popular social issues…garbage..potholes..and leave”
There were around 60-70 kids from 8th, 9th & 10th standards, girls seated on one side and boys on the other. Around 10-15 teachers were sitting on either side of the small jam-packed room.
I began the session with the general gyan on social issues that we face on day to day basis. As I was about to introduce the portal to the students, I thought of asking the students some questions to gauge their ‘internet awareness level’ so that I can tweak my pitch accordingly.
“So, how many of you use internet regularly?” , I ask, expecting 4-5 kids to raise their hands.
Barring 2-3 girls, all of them raise their hands. Yes. All!
“Ahem..mmm..ok. ..g..gr..great..Ok..so how many of you are on facebook?”
70% hands went up again.
“What about mobile?..How many of you have it?”
50% hands up again.
“Do you use any apps on your phone?”
“Whatsapp”
“Angry Birds”
My colleague looks at me. We know what to do next. We go back to Plan A which was a ‘Spot The Issue’ activity. The activity was super successful. 11 students tied up for the 1st place!! A 1 min on-the-spot extempore competition was conducted to pick two winners.
The students were to speak about the issues featured on ChangeBhai which were close to their hearts.
Reik Khan, 14 said “I want to do something about Child Labour in India. No parent should send their kids to work when it is time for them to study..So, Yes.. I want to use Changebhai to report all such child labour issues that I see on a daily basis in my city”
Pratik Sonawane, 15, Reik’s senior in school, said “We, the citizens are as much to blame for bad civic situation in our country as are the authorities. Educating the citizens to report the issues around them is the need of the hour”
Winner!Our Spot-Report-Change Message
The more we interact with young guns like you, the more we feel confident about the success that awaits ChangeBhai!
Let me give you a reference before I come to the point. This blog is regarding two Mumbai issues (issue no. A0141 and A0125 on ChangeBhai); both of them pertaining to the same problem – Garbage at the gates of a society called Divya Gunjan in Kandivali West.
The users reported the issue to ChangeBhai and we got it cleared through Assistant Engineer Environment – KW Ward of BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation). The issue was closed. Fantastic! Sab khush..
BEFOREAFTER
Hardly a day or two passed and voila!, there comes the garbage again (grrr…at exactly the same spot). I look into the issue and get furious thinking “What the hell is wrong with BMC! The user cannot report the same issue again and again. Why can’t they place a damn bin there so that people can throw the garbage in it?”
AFTER-1
AFTER-2
Since we, at ChangeBhai solely rely on the information shared by the concerned citizen and the respective authority, I decided to personally get in touch with the user for the feedback and the need to take up this issue with BMC strongly. The user informed me that the BMC has placed a bin close by but nobody wants to throw the garbage in it, it seems. Holy mother of all Gods, Nooooooo!!!
Garbage bin at the gates!
So, what to do now? Should the user keep on reporting the issue on ChangeBhai again and again whenever he/she sees it? Sounds stupid, right?
We love to point fingers at the authorities at the drop of a hat. Am confused. Who to blame? The authorities for not running after each person (who is looking for a place to throw the garbage) to ensure he/she throws it at the right place or the pathetic civic sense of the citizens (people living in and around Divya Gunjan in this case)?
Our motto is to work ‘with the authorities’ and not ‘against them’ and after having interacted with a lot of municipal corporations across the country, I can tell you for sure that most of our perceptions about them are exaggerated. They do want to help us. But, do we want to help ourselves? We doubt.
There are new lessons to be learnt at ChangeBhai with each passing day. It is as much about ‘Citizens ko Samjhao’ as it is about ‘BMC ko Pakao’. Ah! The sad realities of life at ChangeBhai!
I was at NIT Rourkela recently for their annual technical festival Innovision 2013 where the evening show’s highlight was a supposedly popular Indian band’s performance. The band was called Underground Authority. Frankly, I had never heard of it. Without much excitement and after much coercion by the organizing committee to attend their ‘festival’s highlight’ show, I went. And boy, was the show popular! The ground was choc a bloc with students and staff. As I occupied the first row escorted by event organizers, the band was performing in full flow. Head banging. Hands up in the air. Shrieking and yelling. Fire show. And all that jazz that normally accompanies such shows.
The band was, without any doubt, super impressive but what really caught my attention was one of their tracks ‘I can lead a nation with a microphone’ brilliantly sung by the band’s lead singer Santhanam Srinivasan Iyer. In between, the talented Iyer boy was rapping about the need to bring about a change. Good stuff!
The moment I left the grounds, I googled on my phone to find out more details about the band. Underground Authority, Wikipedia says, is a Kolkata based band and their music is flavoured by a blend of protest poetry, reggae, alternative rock, rap rock and hard rock. The band is prominently noted for their socio-political messages / Anti-capitalism agenda and also for their ‘Music to express and not impress’ quote. Hmmm. Sahi hai boss, I said to myself.
Coming back to the microphone track, it was so apt for what ChangeBhai stands for, I thought to myself. We indeed can bring a change with a microphone. That is what ChangeBhai ‘s logo depicts as well. Low, distant voices can be heard everywhere. They fail to make an impact that a collective voice through a microphone can make. ChangeBhai intends to be that ‘microphone’ to amplify your voice. Let’s get ourselves heard. Let’s all pick up the microphone.
At Changebhai, one of the most common targets of the citizens filing issues under the ‘Civic’ category is the ‘Garbage Bin’. Overflowing garbage bins. Dirty area around the garbage bin. Garbage not picked up for days at a stretch. And so on..
I, for example never took this issue seriously ever. I once remember passing by an overflowing and stinking garbage bin and telling my mother in my usual what’s-the-big-deal tone ‘It is impossible to keep these bins clean in India. Have you see the variety of garbage thrown here? And the number of people who stay in this locality. Don’t think that can ever happen.’
Never say never, folks. I was passing by an army area in Pune yesterday and look what I saw.
It is Ganpati time in Maharashtra and this bin was kept in a fairly crowded area open to civilians and right next to a water body where the idol immersions were happening. And boy, look at it. Neat. Painted. Organized. A good example for our municipal corporations to follow. What say?
What would you say/do if you were running late (add ‘very’) for the most imp meeting of your life and you see this tree fallen on the only road that connects you to your destination?
a. $%&*@%!!! (yell out your fave’ abuse)
b. _________ (hint: go speechless)
c. Pray like crazy to invoke God’s mercy
d. /\/\/\/\___/\/\/\______ (hint: Faint)
e. All of the above
Oh! Did I forget to add any other scenario?
We, at Changebhai provide you ‘option f’
f. Open the ‘ChangeBhai’ app on our phone and report the issue in less than a minute.
What say?
Psst.. This question is based on a real life event in the life of the author..ahem..
Somebody so rightly said “When you’re following your inner voice, doors tend to eventually open for you, even if they mostly slam at first.”
So here we are…after a crazy month of deliberations, disruptions and discussions, we are happy to declare that Changebhai will be launching on 20th of August 2013.
Do share your inputs with us on now_or_abhi@changebhai.co! We are open to your suggestions, critique as well as random thoughts. Whatever it takes to ensure that we, at Changebhai are moving in the right direction. But do it NOW OR ABHI!
Watch this space for more updates!
The number of internet users in India is increasing by leaps and bounds…Cool!
Social media has never been so powerful..Great!
A lot of online campaigns are being undertaken proactively, mostly by the youth.. Fantastic!
Citizens of this country have never been so vocal about their issues…Awesome!
Where are we lacking then, one would ask.
In CHANNELIZING this whole movement in the most effective way, we think.
We, at Changebhai strongly believe that the time for change is ‘NOW OR ABHI’!. Imagine a world in which every resident feels empowered and can play an active role in solving his/her neighborhood issue on a day to day basis. We, at Changebhai, seek to use the power of the internet to bring the citizens of our country closer and make our neighborhoods better places to live and work. Changebhai is aimed at providing a single platform to the citizens of India to make their voices heard!
What we intend to do now is structure this whole phenomenon of ‘social media’ and ‘citizen movement’ in a way which is interesting and buzz-creating. How do we do it? Watch this space for more details on that!
Last month, I was driving back after a long and hectic day at work from my workplace in Hinjewadi (outskirts of Pune) and met some crazy traffic on the way..Well, its nothing new…I am always suicidal by the time I reach home. But to make the situation worse that day, I encountered a bunch of onlookers who were fascinated by something in the middle of the road, bang opposite my building lane. Out of curiosity, I parked my car and came to see what the fuss was all about. I have no clue what struck me that day as I am not the kind of person (like most of you) who would do anything other than crashing head down on my couch after a crazy day at work. I just don’t know why I went back to see what was wrong on the road that day..
I reached the spot and try to peep over the crowd to get a good view of the ‘subject’. My jaw dropped when I saw a small kid (must be 8 years old max) sitting bruised covered in muck! It seemed like he had fallen into an open gutter. Shit! His fancy looking bicycle which was lying near him seemed to indicate that he was no slum kid. The kid was howling like nobody’s business. While most of the onlookers were busy making ‘tch tch’ sounds, some were seen asking him his address and parent’s phone number. Needless to say, the kid was in no position to tell them anything. He looked like a lost puppy.
As I turned away assuming there are a lot of people already trying to help the kid, I heard a local hawker comment ‘Arre..kal bhi koi gir gaya tha yahan pe..ye toh ek hafte se khula pada hai”. Nothing new, right? I keep on reading about these kind of stories every other day. But that was the first time I felt so terribly bad about this whole situation. I just walked back home feeling numb. For me, that day, it was something much more than sympathy towards that kid. It was that feeling of utter helplessness that was killing me. I kept on asking myself..Can I really not do anything about it?
