Up, close and personal: Nilratan Shende

Today, we spend some time to get to know better one of our own team members. Nilratan Shende, who heads the projects department in Mumbai, talks about his life and what motivates him:

What is your background?
I was born in Raipur, Chattisgarh, and moved to Pauni, which is in Maharashtra, where I spent all my childhood till my graduation. My parents continue to live there.
After graduating in Biology, I started exploring other career options. I was always inclined towards social development, so I began preparing for the entrance examination at TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences). My hard worked paid off when I got in the Masters programme for social work.
I graduated in 2002 and had the opportunity to work on diverse development areas like resettlement and rehabilitation, education, health, women’s empowerment, rights of the children, advocacy for the rights of Dalits and marginalised.

What are the hurdles you have faced in your life?
The experiences and socialisation you are exposed to leaves a deep imprint and shapes your personality and response. All through my childhood and even later, I had to listen to derogatory comments about my caste. I was discriminated against for this reason. People were prejudiced about me, isolated me in school and looked down on me. I even missed out on several professional opportunities because of my caste.
My experiences made me conscious about Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, a great reformer who worked for the empowerment of Dalits. The more I read about his struggle and work on emancipation, the more it ignited the spark in me that motivated me to strive for success. I have taken hardships and rejection as an opportunity to prove myself. And I let my actions speak to counter criticism and humiliation.

 How do you feel about Mumbai?
I have been in Mumbai for close to a decade. I love its cosmopolitan culture, the opportunities, the challenging life, the pace of the work and the acceptance of the people.
I hate the hunger and malnutrition around me, the income and health and social inequality. I’m disappointed at the state’s disinterest in education and the discriminatory agenda that social organisations and political parties have.

What do you think Mumbai needs to provide a better life for its citizens?
• Inclusive housing
• Bridging the gap between haves and haves not
• Better options for a livelihood
• More public spaces
• Regional tolerance
• BMC schools are closing down which is forcing students from vulnerable social groups to drop out prematurely. Government needs to ensure that education is provided to everyone as it breaks shackles of poverty and provides dignified life.

What is your work at Mumbai Smiles?
I’ve been with Mumbai Smiles for about six months now. As projects director, my role involves networking with NGOs, identifying local counterparts, assessment of the needs of the diverse target groups, research, impact assessment, conceptualizing developmental projects and executing them following the guidelines and Vision set by General Direction, accessing the project proposals, and monitoring and evaluation of the developmental projects.

What motivates you?
I enjoy the challenges in the field of development. The challenges of inequality, human rights violations, precarious poverty, being sensitive to the culture of the people you work with. I believe that my training and experience will help me to contribute towards the growth of the organisation. More importantly, I believe I can try to alter some of the development indicators like education, health, livelihood and work closely on issues related with inequality, injustice, human rights violation. In return, the learning I get from my work and, especially, from Mumbai Smiles has helped me blossom as a professional.

What do you enjoy about your work?

The intervention that brings social, educational and economical change and, most importantly, the smiles on the faces of the stakeholders and beneficiaries are the most satisfying.