India, Sept. 29 -- Three years ago, when Avadesh Kaushal passed away at the age of 87, I felt as though I had lost not just a friend but a guide. He was one of those rare men who carried the weight of India's conscience on his shoulders. He headed the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK) in Dehradun, an organisation whose name still resonates in the annals of social development. He worked not for charity but for empowerment-teaching villagers to claim rights that had always been theirs.

I remember once when he asked me to speak at RLEK on communication. The audience that day was not the usual group of barefoot activists or villagers who had walked miles to listen. Instead, I found myself facing a roomful of young Sri Lankan civ...