The annual day function of Development Alternatives was held at headquarters in New Delhi on November, 12 marking the end of the first decade of the life of this organisation. For an NGO like ours working on some of the major problems facing the country, such an occasion provided an opportunity to reflect on its performance and examine the path which it was taking to achieve its objectives. The mood of the assembled audience can best be described as sombre. ‘Celebration’ was not the word that would most appropriately describe the atmosphere of the function. The pre-lunch session was like any other working day except that the cafeteria was closed throughout the first session, as its staff was busy in the preparations for the afternoon lunch. The staff members from all units in Delhi including the ones from the paper unit, TARA factory and IIT laboratory, assembled on the back lawns of the headquarters. Ashok Khosla opened the proceedings by saying that this was a very special moment in the life of the organisation and a time in the life of the organisation and a time to take stock and see whether it was achieving its goals. The reason for the very existence of an organisation like Development Alternatives was to create sustainable livelihoods and a better environment for all. The problem of achieving these objectives becomes more difficult every day and, hence, requires the efforts of more people and organisations. Even though Development Alternatives had come a long way since it was started 10 years ago and has achieved a lot in the fields of environmental management and appropriate technology, much remains to be done to respond the challenge of solving the problem of this dimension. Dr. khosla talked at some length about the special qualities of the work environment Development Alternatives. One feature of this is the high percentage of women workers in the organisation, perhaps as high as in any organisation anywhere. Another characteristic was the spread of places of origin, languages and other background and experience among the staff. Each country has its own style of management based on the particular cultural context. As such, Development Alternatives would be seeking to develop its own form of Indian management which would allow productivity to “go up like a rocket.” He also emphasised the importance of every individual in the organisation and the value placed on the contribution of each person. Since Development Alternatives was working primarily for the rural belt, the most important indicator of our achievement would be a distinct change in the lifestyles of the people there. As a voluntary sector organisation, Development Alternatives still had a lot of work at hand. Every staff member would have to take up this challenge. He asked everyone to work with more enthusiasm and lauded the efforts of the paper unit at TNK which had made remarkable progress in the last two years. He praised the efforts of all at the paper factory had worked to make the paper unit a viable enterprise. The TARA awards were not announced this annual day as the President told everyone present that, like the annual increments, these would now be a reflection of the annual performance review of all the staff members. During his speech, AVM Sahni reminded everyone that we could not achieve our goals unless everyone worked with a “missionary zeal”. An excellent lunch was served on leaf plates. The mood of the function was transformed to a more cheerful one as everyone tried to lay their hands on the good food. The gathering broke up as people started getting back to work. For those who had taken their time in getting to the lunch table and were still eating, Nancy Golloway brought some chocolates, which were devoured in no time. q
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