Agami Prize: Iska Time Aayega
I had a moment at the last Agami Prize, in 2018. Have you experienced a moment when you looked at a person: a relative, peer in a class or colleague and felt ‘she is on to something”? She may not have been the favorite child in the family, first in class or the colleague who was promoted. But something in you tells you there is something deeper at play here- an enquiry matched with an effort that is bound to yield something powerful. Iska time aayega.
I have experienced this many times in my life. But never more than what I experienced during the Agami Prize 2018. Learning about the many ideas and efforts that serve justice, filled me with a sense of optimism and excitement for the future to come.
While I can not name all those ideas here, here are 3 ideas from the Agami Prize 2018 that you must watch out for:
- Suljhao, Magar Pyaar Se (Resolve Amicably): One stated like that, it is hard to not embrace the idea. Which one of us wants to lose relationships we value so deeply through an adversarial system? The young team of SAMA (erstwhile ODR Ways) focuses on both, market creation and supply of the solution. They are mobilising a large student network- 106 student ambassadors spread across 102 cities in India, to undertake powerful awareness programs around mediation as an option to resolve disputes. Alongside they are creating a platform to connect disputants with the 884 professional, qualified mediators they have on their platform. With the rising number of pending civil disputes in the country and the lack of access to courts, the potential impact of their idea and evolution is immense.
- Justice at the Doorstep of Migrant Workers: The justice challenges of migrant workers have never been more visible than they are today. And Aajeevika Bureau has been ensuring they create a justice system as agile as the workers, at their doorstep for many years now. They have established 20 cells tracking the patterns of migration, at source and destination of migration. The source centres offer pre-migration counselling using videos and simple FAQ’s about their rights and entitlements. Thoughtful and strategic support to maintain attendance dairies and payments received serve as evidence for workers during disputes because they are often left to challenge these disputes with no documentation. Their labour helpline number receives around 300 calls a day. Their cells also leverage mediation as an effective tool to settle disputes as they arise. Where needed, the cell activates formal mechanisms such as court, police, human right authorities, etc. This idea demonstrates, through innovative strategies, that the challenges faced by formal systems in extending legal protection to the informal and migrant workforce can be overcome.
- Put Your Documents on Autopilot : How many times have you been frustrated with the need to need to print and sign, then scan and upload documents? How often have you lost documents or not signed them because of this? Leegality has built a digital signing tool and platform on top of the Aadhaar e-sign system. They have built a ‘signing gateway’, akin to existing payment gateways, that can be used by any service provider to enable customers to e-sign a contract. Leegality is also working to integrate e-stamping solutions to create a full sign-and-stamp solution so that the digital process is not further broken at the time of stamping. Millions of organizations and citizens could integrate this idea to their workflows for greater ease and efficiency over the next few years.
Agami Prize 2020
I cannot wait to learn about many more such ideas during the Agami Prize 2020. Let me know ideas you will place your bet on!!
