About IRC

India, in the near term, will continue to be overwhelmingly rural and the ground realities on education, healthcare, and governance are unlikely to change without urgent, concerted efforts. Accelerating inter-generational mobility in villages is critically linked to India’s growth aspiration and building a just and equitable society. Accelerated social mobility is also an unrequited aspiration in villages. A combination of mutually inter-linked and reinforcing actions related to ascent (education, job), preventing descent (health shocks), improving growth and equity (economic development, gender equality, nutrition), and strengthening governance and public service delivery is required to transform opportunities in rural India. Challenges in rural and transition zones became most poignantly visible in the returning migrant crisis. The pandemic revealed the vulnerability of rural economy – broken agricultural supply chains, lack of local jobs as also existing social mechanisms of resilience – capacity of communities and economy to withstand shocks. Covid-19, as a once-in-a-lifetime black swan moment, has laid bare existing vulnerabilities, brought new risks, broken dreams and also new pathways of growth and transformation.

The first India Rural Colloquy, brings conversations that matter to rural communities. The Colloquy’s focus is on surfacing answers and response to the changing profile, opportunities and challenges of men and women who are entering the workforce; confronting emerging opportunity trends, building resilience and exploring antifragile opportunities in a post-pandemic context. These conversations among and with leading development practitioners, policy makers, administrators and philanthropies will guide in our seeking an equitable society with opportunities for all. The conversations are structured as fire-side chat with space for participant engagement

Colloquy celebrates and commemorates the 79th anniversary of the August Revolution, one of history’s largest mass movements of freedom and dignity, 9th August 1942 expressed the will of the Indian people, communities became their own leaders in quest of freedom. In human history, August has been special month of remembrance in our shared quest of freedom, dignity and a better world.