I-PAC launches NAF as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and to set the agenda for Lok Sabha elections 2019

Photo Credit: Reuters

Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) together with associates and youth volunteers has launched the National Agenda Forum (NAF), a pan-India initiative which aims to resurrect the conversation around Mahatma Gandhi’s 18-point Constructive Programme. According to I-PAC, the agenda will take this spirit forward, as the nation celebrates Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary in 2019. The agenda is a way for the nation to pay tribute to Gandhiji by realising his teachings to reimagine and co-create India’s priorities to formulate an actionable agenda for our present and our future. 

Written over a period of time and last shared by Mahatma Gandhi in 1945 (73 years ago), this 18-point Constructive Programme outlined the key priorities for independent India. I-PAC decided to launch the NAF due to the following reasons:

1. Set the Agenda: Reimagine and co-create India’s key priorities and help formulate an actionable agenda for contemporary India. 
2. Choose the Leader: Nominate the leader best suited to adopt and execute this agenda. 
3. Campaign for India: Help the chosen leader to get elected in the upcoming General Elections in 2019. 

NAF was launched on June 29, 2018, by more than 25,000 volunteers in 1,500 colleges spread over 500 districts across India. Ultimately, 10 lakh students and professionals will come together to engage with the platform. Online voting, by 5 crore citizens, to set the key national priorities and choosing the leader would open on July 11, 2018 while the results would be declared on August 15, 2018.

The volunteers will meet the chosen leader in September and October 2018 before taking the agenda to the entire nation between November and December 2018. The volunteers would work to ensure that this agenda is officially adopted as part of the manifesto of political parties in January 2019.