Achieving the MDGs in India is an uphill task, given its enormous size. The realization of these targets in India is vital not only for attaining human development and economic growth within the country, but given its enormous size, they are critical for reaching the MDGs worldwide.

STATISTICS

According to UNDP,
27.5% Indians live below the poverty line.
296 million people are illiterate.

We all live in a deeply divided world, where the gap between the rich and the poor keeps widening. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The poverty statistics is growing at an alarming rate especially in India. Many children are not able to afford for their education. The intensity of poverty is so high that they are not able to make use of the government’s free education schemes and are forced to become breadwinners for their family at such a young age. So the future of these underprivileged children is a big question mark.

When I started collecting information about the United Nations millennium goals for this essay, I was startled with the revelations. The future of the future leaders of our country is at stake. We need to do something to change it (the current situation). Isn’t it? So I was motivated and determined to come up with some innovative and indigenous solution which would give back these underprivileged young children their future.

So my solution to solve this problem is the PROSPERITY NETWORK.

Prosperity Network is a proposal that aims at bridging the gap between rich and poor, by providing the underprivileged with basic amenities, education and employment to improve their quality of life. This network begins with the philanthropists (initiators) at the top who provide monetary support for the underprivileged (benefiters). Benefiters evolving out of this scheme then become the new initiators providing monetary support to the next level of individuals like them thereby extending the circle. Thus the network keeps growing in a cyclic fashion thereby nurturing the deprived lot. This is the rationale of Prosperity Network.

OBJECTIVES

The main objectives of the Prosperity network are to provide the underprivileged with equal opportunities in this deeply divided and competitive world by

• bridging the gap between rich and the poor
• providing the underprivileged with basic amenities
• helping them in getting education and a job

The PROSPERITY NETWORK comprises of the philanthropists (initiators) and the underprivileged (benefiters) as illustrated in Figure 1. The network begins with the philanthropists at the root level who provide monetary support. Philanthropists are the key players of the network without whom success would be out of reach. Each philanthropist has a target. The target is the number of children to whom he is going to provide monetary support. The philanthropists select only one child from a poor family. So the philanthropist after selecting the target number of children, each of whom represent a separate family, provide the following to them

• Basic amenities like food, clothing and shelter.
• A monthly stipend to support his/her family.
• Free education and life skills.
• Helps them in getting a job.

Ozone layer has a hole in it, which is getting larger day by day. Most of the people are not aware of it. And even the educated people who are aware of this problem do not have the seriousness. Because of this situation, I feel very bad. When I thought seriously about this, certain things came to my mind. The main causes for air pollution and the hole created in Ozone layer are the smoke coming out from gas (Chloro Fluro Carbon) from air conditioners, Fridge, Plastics etc., Alternatives to this problem in my view is using cycles to nearby distances and use paper bags, instead of plastic bags which I follow in my day today life. Everyone should follow this. This impact has two advantages.

Figure 1. Roles of prosperity network

The philanthropist appoints a mentor to tutor the benefiters and groom them efficiently. The mentor designs a specific curriculum based on the interest and skill set of the benefiters. The curriculum aims at inculcating life skills, business skills, social skills and linguistic skills which are very important to be successful in today’s society. The progress of the individual is keenly monitored by their mentor through evaluation of their performance on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis. The mentor discusses the progress of the benefiter with the philanthropists there by deciding on the extension of the monetary support. This naturally instills the quality of working under pressure and makes them understand the most important virtue of life "The survival of the fittest”

Figure 2. Schematic representation of the prosperity network

Once these benefiters get settled with a good job, the philanthropists (initiators) make an agreement with the benefiters that each of them must sponsor at least one underprivileged individual like them based on their source of income. So now, the benefiters evolve into the new philanthropist (initiators) in the network. The entire process keeps repeating over and over again as demonstrated in Figure 2. The network keeps on growing rapidly and more families are benefited as they are brought into the network. The original philanthropist now selects a new set of individuals and the whole cycle repeats over and over again.

This blueprint would be made successful through adoption by the government. The scheme can also be adopted by the NGOs as well. Eminent personalities like CEOs, politicians, actors, sportsmen, millionaires can foster this design of prosperity network, contributing to the development of the society, thus serving as icons for the present and future generation.  The adoption mechanism if implemented successfully would render more benefits to the underprivileged. This would inculcate the quality of helping the poor in the minds of the people and would naturally lead to more people becoming philanthropists and would help out in spreading of the network.

CONCLUSION

Thus the Prosperity Network provides the underprivileged with an opportunity to defeat poverty, to improve their standard of living and also to help individuals like them. This Network not only alleviates poverty but can also boast of providing better and more responsible individuals to the society.