City anchor: Bid to translate good intent on social media into real-term work

The group, 'Transition beyond Twitter' spearheaded by retired professional Anil Kohli and professional Jaymin Panchal, has been holding meetings with people in Mumbai and Pune since November to draw up a blueprint for a strong group of like-minded people willing to take up the work in all earnest.

Panchal said it all started with an initiative taken by their platform "Ek Aur Prayas", to help Olympian Sahana Kumari during the recent London Games.

"Kumari was in need of financial support to take her coach to London, which the sports authority refused. We launched an online campaign to help her in which people desirous of helping the girl would be able to donate money directly into her account. This experiment received an overwhelming response from people. We are planning to keep up the momentum," he said.

The Sahana Kumari experience made the duo realise the importance of harnessing the good intent expressed by people on social media. "The need is to channel the good intent for useful social work and guide them to the right quarters," he said.

Thus, Transition beyond Twitter was born and in the words of Panchal, it aims to work as a facilitator for people with right intentions to guide them to the means in which they would be able to translate their intentions into work on the ground.

Transition beyond Twitter has already held three meetings, two in Mumbai and one in Pune, facilitated by the group between Tweeples (people using Twitter), to discuss ways and means to start the work.

"From our meetings, we understood that there is a big touch deficit in society which has to be bridged. To begin with, we started a dialogue with people and various sectors of the governance especially at the local level," stated Panchal.

Voter's registration, generating awareness about present government schemes/ facilities, fighting corruption at the local level are some issues discussed in the meetings. In the Pune meeting, it was decided to form groups to look into the matter of governance and advocacy.

When asked about the often cited observation that in India, people would go for a candlelight march but refrain from voting, Panchal said a tangible change can be seen if the right connections are made.

"In Pune, the hostel for northeast girl students required donations and we ensured that the donors were able to connect to the institutions directly. It is our idea to connect people with the right intention to the right means, which we believe would bring about the changes we wish to see in our society," he said.

Panchal said the next meeting of the group is in Orissa in March and after that in New Delhi.

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