Development beyond numbers: why India’s progress must be inclusive, deep and compassionate

This blog is based on a speech by Amit Chandra at Dialogues on Development Management

A developed India cannot — and should not — be defined by GDP alone. True progress is measured by how inclusive our growth is: whether the wealth created in booming markets reaches aspirational districts, and whether that growth is resilient in a world full of shocks that hurt the weakest most.

Realising that vision requires more than top-down programs. It calls for initiatives rooted in compassion, a highly skilled corps of professionals who guard our social fabric as fiercely as our defenders guard our borders, and institutions and movements that are aspirational, resilient and sustainable.

My own journey began with small cheques and volunteering alongside a day job. Over time, with the team at the A.T.E. Chandra Foundation, we stepped into systemic work in water, agriculture and capacity building. The path has been one of constant learning — punctuated by mistakes I would encourage everyone not to shy away from. It’s the course corrections that let small efforts ripple outward, creating larger impact across states and touching tens of millions of lives.

If there’s one simple lesson from that journey, it’s this: progress is evolutionary. It deepens when we go deeper — when we specialise, when we push ourselves to be more aspirational. I have tried to capture those learnings in what I call the 5-C Framework for Social Progress — four pillars on which to build a socially Viksit Bharat, and one that must sit at the heart of everything.

I am going to summarize these learnings in what I call the 5-C Framework for Social Progress. The pillars on which we must build a skyscraper of a Socially Viksit Bharat, and one that lies at the heart of it all.

A visual representation of the 5C framework

1. Core

One of the biggest enemy of good – whether we are donors, NGOs, or the government is moving away from specialization and what we can really be great at. Mission creep is often our Achilles’ heel.  It comes either because as humans our brains seeks diversification of ideas on a constant basis, or because our heart is tugged by suffering and so we want to solve every problem we see.

I was no different and I have most painfully had to withdraw from things I was deeply passionate about for decades to now focus increasingly on farmer related issues of water & agriculture.  I can see the benefits for myself and I should have earlier, because globally, the most successful & enduring organisations are those that stay true to their mission and build depth around it.

I have often wondered whether we would have very different outcomes if a reasonable part of our IAS cadre was groomed as specialists, much as their colleagues in IFS.  Some of the best thinkers I have met are in the bureaucracy and if we had 2-3 exceptional leaders from it in each state and the same at the Centre who have 2 decades + experience in health, education, livelihoods, environment – I think we would chart a very different course as a nation.

2. Capacity

Here lies one of the social sector’s biggest blind spot. When we build or run an aspirational corporate, the board and the investors are deeply focused on issues like – how are we investing in leadership and talent development?  What is our technology strategy and is it adequate?  Do we have the right investments in areas like fund raising capability, marketing, research, M&E?  Unless the organization is consistently a laggard, these are all not considered overheads to frowned upon. 

However, a very low single digit percentage of our budgets in India goes to building institutional capacity and we need to change this.  When we do, the difference is visible.  If you read published ATECF studies on this topic in IDR, you will notice how organizations have a very high return on investment (RoI) from investing in this area and we hope donors take note of this and stop treating capacity as overhead and start recognising it as the key engine of growth.

3. Collaboration

Development is too complex and large for lone actors. Consider the numbers: the government accounts for 93% of all social spending; philanthropy and CSR together are less than 7%. The fragmentation within the 7% is staggering, on both the donor side as well as the implementer side.  These facts alone make collaboration not just desirable but essential.

And when collaboration is done right, we see transformation:

• Central Square Foundation worked with government to co-create NIPUN Bharat, embedding foundational literacy into the NEP. CSF’s efforts itself was a collaborative involving multiple donors and learnings from working with NGOs over a 10-15 year period

• Our own work in Rejuvenation of Water Bodies across 9 states has taken a time-tested technique and built a highly efficient process around it - anchored around community mobilisation that sits on a technology platform.  However, it’s key feature is collaborative nature of supporting state capacity to deliver water security.  Importantly, it would not have got to where it is if it wasn’t for a deep collaboration at start with Caring Friends in MH, with whom we worked hard to develop the model. Today, this movement has helped governments revive nearly 12,000 water bodies across 18,000 villages, impacting over 15 million people.  Importantly, it is gathering serious momentum.

• ARMMAN’s mMitra started as a mobile health service reaching 3 million women and was later adopted by the Ministry of Health as Kilkari, scaling nationwide to 47 million.

These are all examples show that how collaboration can turn good projects into systemic initiatives.

4. Catalytic Change

A Sattva study highlighted how the top 200 NGOs combined are still smaller than one major state government scheme, or the budget of the largest NGO of Bangladesh. So, if we want real change, we must move from incremental funding to catalytic bets—BIG or disruptive ideas that can transform the system.

Nandan Nilekani’s efforts on UPI was one such bet. Built on India Stack, with a few hundred million dollars of investment, it has impacted the life of every Indian. An initiative that we have got involved with is Paani Foundation’s bold Sampurna Maharashtra initiative – Based on a successful 50,000 farmer pilot project, this aims at tipping 10-15% farmers in every district of the state, to increase their income by 2-3x over the next 3 years, in partnership with the MH government. 

Catalytic change means daring to back ideas that may fail, but when they succeed, shift the trajectory for millions.

5. Compassion (the Centre)

At the centre of it all lies Compassion. It is easy to forget. Bureaucracy, technology, and even ego can create walls between us and the people we serve. Too often, organisations & individuals end up serving their reputations rather than those at the margins.

Compassion grounds us. It reminds us that the ultimate purpose is not just in scale or efficiency but in the dignity and wellbeing of those we work for. Gandhi ji reminded us that true purpose lies in humble service, in persevering effort, and in bold courage.

As we look toward a Viksit Bharat by 2047, these five Cs — Core, Capacity, Collaboration, Catalytic Change, and Compassion — are a practical compass. Strengthen these pillars in your work and India’s rise will not merely be an economic story; it will be the story of 1.4 billion people living with dignity, resilience and opportunity.