PRNewswire
New Delhi [India], November 19: The sixth edition of charcha 2025 by the*spark forum concluded on Nov 14 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, after three days of dialogue, ideas and partnerships at the intersection of technology, inclusion and livelihoods. India’s largest collaborative convening on livelihoods, charcha brought together 2000 leaders and practitioners across government, markets, and civil society across three days to align on how India can build resilient livelihoods and inclusive prosperity for every citizen on the road to Viksit Bharat @ 2047. 2000 stakeholders including 200 speakers across samaaj, sarkar and bazaar convene in New Delhi to shape India’s inclusive growth agenda. Co-hosted in partnership with 29 co-hosts including Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), LinkedIn, Meta, DBS Foundation, Meesho, Mphasis and other sector leaders.
Expanding on the roadmap to a ‘Viksit & Inclusive’ India @2047′, India’s G20 Sherpa and FormerCEO NITI Aayog, Government of India, Shri Amitabh Kant (IAS), stated, “If we want to create an employable population, it is very critical to focus on improving health outcomes and nutrition standards as well. Additionally, if we want to grow at the rate required to transform India into a 30 trillion economy, we need to fire on all cylinders – you need to do services but you also need to do smart urbanisation, which will be a key driver of job creation in India.”
Adding to this, Dr. Shamika Ravi, Member, Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister, added, ” There is a big gap between degree and skill. We have a lot of educated people, degree holders, but the market actually values skill. Most of the industry surveys are telling me that today, the biggest constraint to our growth is not finance, we can raise capital, but the biggest constraint to the growth of existing firms, creation of new jobs, etc. is skilled manpower.”
Over three days and 50+ hours of live programming, the event featured 200 speakers and 29 co-hosts including Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment – Government of India, Meta, LinkedIn, Atal Innovation Mission – NITI Aayog, The Gates Foundation, DBS Foundation, British Asian Trust, Mphasis, Meesho, NuSocia, Magic Bus, The Bridgespan Group Magic Bus, Lend a Hand India, The/Nudge Institute and others to explore seven cross-cutting themes: Tech, Data & Impact; Agri & Rural Livelihoods; Policy & Capacity; Skills & Livelihoods; Inclusion, Empowerment & Sustainability; Capital & Philanthropy; and Social Entrepreneurship & SMEs.
Highlighting his vision for charcha 2025, Jerold Pereira, Managing Director, the*spark forum, commented, “India’s growth is at a stage where scale will come not from silos, but from alignment. At charcha, we are building the connective tissue between government, markets and civil society – an infrastructure of collaboration that can outlast projects and personalities. The most powerful infrastructure we can build today is the one that connects institutions: linking the intent of sarkar, the innovation of bazaar and the insight of samaaj. And charcha serves as this collaborative platform where key stakeholders across India’s livelihood development ecosystem come together to share, learn, celebrate and discover scalable pathways to drive meaningful change, aligned with the government’s Viksit Bharat by 2047 agenda.”
Talking on social justice and equitable growth, Mr. Amit Yadav (IAS), Secretary, Department of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India, added, “The measure of any society is how it treats its most vulnerable members. India’s constitutional vision of justice, equality, liberty and fraternity, continues to guide our mission to build a just, inclusive and equitable society where every individual has equal access to opportunity and a life of dignity.”
Adding a market perspective, Kumaresh Pattabiraman, Country Manager and Product Head, LinkedIn India, reflected that India’s growth will be defined by how well its tier-two and tier-three cities convert energy into opportunity. The promise of Viksit Bharat @ 2047, he noted, depends on building ecosystems that make skills and jobs accessible to every professional, no matter their pin code.
Rukmini Banerji, CEO, Pratham Education Foundation, speaking on empowerment, said, “Desh ko badalna bahut badi baat hai, but apne gaon ko badalna is possible (Transforming the nation is a massive goal, but changing our villages is possible). We’ll need mechanisms like School management committees, and mothers groups which, if activated, will lead to ownership.”
Throughout the convening, a powerful narrative emerged around the role of technology in inclusion. Sessions on AI and digital infrastructure examined how these tools can strengthen livelihoods rather than replace them. Leaders from Meta, NASSCOM Foundation and Atal Innovation Mission shared examples of AI-enabled social innovation, digital skilling for rural youth and emerging models of micro- and nano-entrepreneurship that combine technology and human agency. Focusing on gender inclusion and tech, Dr. Kalika Bali, Senior Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research Labs India, stated, “There is going to be disruption because of AI, I agree. But we need to ask which sectors women in India are most employed in, mostly in lower-skill jobs. These are the jobs that will be most affected by AI and high tech. One sector where women cannot be replaced is the care economy, like ASHA workers.”
Conversations on agriculture and rural livelihoods spotlighted regenerative farming, climate resilience and inclusive value chains as the foundations of a prosperous rural economy. Whether the focus was on gender, technology or sustainability, the message remained consistent: India’s path to inclusion will depend on the ability of governments to enable, markets to innovate and civil society to bridge last-mile inequities.
Since its inception in 2020, charcha has grown into one of India’s foremost platforms for development dialogue, engaging more than a thousand leaders, fifteen thousand stakeholders and reaching over one and a half million people. The 2025 edition deepened this legacy by focusing on livelihoods resilience, technology for inclusion and partnerships that can translate India’s demographic potential into equitable economic growth.
About the*spark forum
the*spark forum is India’s leading platform for dialogue and collaboration on livelihoods, curating cross-sector convenings that inspire ideas, partnerships and action toward a poverty-free India.
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