New Delhi: India’s growth story has long been defined by physical infrastructure — highways, logistics corridors, housing, and digital networks that connect and empower millions. But as the nation looks toward Viksit Bharat @2047, the next phase of progress depends on something less tangible yet equally vital: collaboration.
Platforms like Charcha 2025 are helping build what Jerold Pereira calls India’s “alignment infrastructure” — the ability of samaaj (society), sarkar (government), and bazaar (markets) to work together intentionally and effectively. In an era where technology, climate stress, and shifting aspirations are transforming how Indians live and work, the country’s real constraint is not a shortage of ideas, funds, or intent, but coordination.
Across sectors, government agencies, social organisations, and enterprises tackle similar challenges — education, health, livelihoods, inclusion — yet often do so in silos. Pereira argues that collaboration must be treated not as goodwill but as infrastructure: a designed, resourced, and maintained system for joint problem-solving.
This alignment is crucial as India navigates fast-evolving technologies, new forms of work, and the need for inclusive, climate-resilient growth. Funders, too, are changing course — moving from project-based grants to ecosystem investments that strengthen public capability and collaborative networks. But such efforts need credible spaces where diverse actors can meet as equals.
That is the purpose of charcha: a working forum, not a stage for speeches. Here, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and social leaders engage candidly on what works, identify gaps, and co-create lasting solutions, said a press statement issued by the organisers. It added that the goal is not consensus for its own sake, but clarity and coordination.
As Pereira notes, India already knows how to build highways and digital systems. The next challenge — and opportunity — is to develop the capacity to work together.
Charcha 2025 will be held at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, from November 12–14, 2025.
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