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CAG at 40

I write under the shadow of the loss of Tara Murali. For years she held the baton, guided CAG’s activity, and was the source of inspiration and strength to the organization, its full timers and Trustees. She is irreplaceable. All we can do is to carry on.

When we started 40 years ago,  little did we know that we would last this long. We were just a group which wanted to protest, focus  attention, do something. Challenging authority came naturally to us, I think, from our composition. Lawyers, ex bureaucrats, socially sensitive corporate head and journalist. So we had our tangles with government and Chief Ministers and the like, and we came off not too badly. At the least, we were reckoned as a force to be reckoned with.

Change comes and with it organisations change. CAG has reinvented itself. It is now a vehicle for concerted action in chosen areas – the main ones being electricity governance, environment protection, road safety, climate change, safe packaging. Its mode of functioning has also evolved into ways which are participatory, communicative, inviting others to work with it. Because of its history and bank of good work it has come to be respected across the board. Both citizens and official bodies connect with it and see it as a partner with resources of expertise and experience and commitment.

What will the future be? I think that will be a combination of internal thought and reaction processes on the one hand and what the environment  and happening events demand of us. It will also depend on those who run CAG, and that’s not just the Trustees, not just the office holders, but all including the young who make it the large and vibrant group it is. So I wouldn’t be surprised if the future sees more reinvention. All I would want is that we continue our basic strengths of integrity, of solidity of work, of openness, of valuing all who work with us and keeping our basic goal of serving the common good.

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