By Ramkrishnan Balakrishnan, Vice President, Digital Bharat Collaborative

After spending over two and a half decades in Healthcare IT, I had grown comfortable navigating the interplay of health and technology. At Digital Bharat Collaborative (a part of Piramal Foundation) when I began leading the Citizen Community Engagement Centre of Excellence, I naturally assumed my work would remain within the bounds of healthcare. So when I was asked to explore the education domain, specifically student scholarships, I hesitated. “This isn’t my domain,” I told myself, but something nudged me forward. Perhaps, some journeys begin with unlearning.

Immersing myself in the scholarship ecosystem through our Samriddhi project at the Piramal School of Leadership, a new world unfolded. A web of pre-matric, post-matric opportunities – tangled in issues of access and buried under process. It was here that I encountered ONEST: a quiet but powerful system that moves like a hidden river beneath the surface. That’s where we came up with a simple idea – Digi-Vritti – a fast-pass for entitlements, inspired by the seamless experience of Digi Yatra. I realized that this wasn’t just technology. It was a chance to restore dignity, speed, and trust to those who have waited far too long.

This idea quickly found resonance at the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) and ushered in deep dialogue. I met remarkable individuals – the Secretary, Additional Secretary, Director, and the CEO of ALIMCO, among others – all deeply committed to seeing technology not just as a convenience, but as an instrument of equity. And from that shared conviction, #UnifiedBenefitsInterface (UBI) was born.

For the Proof of Concept (PoC), my heart chose Bihar. There was something about the soil, the stories, the silent resilience of its people that always pulled me back. We anchored the PoC in Patna and from the moment I booked my flight I knew -“This isn’t just a visit. I will camp here. I will stay until it breathes life.” I reached out to my colleague Gunjan Gaurav, asking him to book a room which would serve as a quiet lab where ideas can take shape. Over the weekend, we were joined by our colleagues to visit a school in Bakhtiyarpur. It was a learning ground and a field test – not of technology, but of alignment.

We had no formal letter. Just relationships, built on goodwill. Unsure of what we’d find, we hoped to meet at least a couple of eligible beneficiaries who could show us the ground realities. That’s where we met Ruby Kumari. She arrived quietly, on a tricycle. A post-matric student, full of composure. Her documents were incomplete – no UDID, no income certificate – and she wasn’t even aware of the scholarship scheme. When asked about her dream, she said with quiet certainty, “Main teacher banna chahti hoon. Fine Arts padhungi.” That moment shifted something within me. Ruby was the reason we were here. We sat with her dreams for a moment – simple, sincere, unshaken by circumstance. I told our team, “Ruby should be the first beneficiary of this PoC.”

We trained our field teams in the Blue Dot concept– a simple yet powerful way to locate the unseen and introduce them to the technology being piloted under #UnifiedBenefitsInterface. We told them about Ruby. Soon, we identified over 150 potential beneficiaries – persons with disabilities who were either in pre-matric or post-matric classes. In this journey, two of our own emerged as sparks: Sweta (Karuna Fellow) and Shruti (Gandhi Fellow) -teammates who didn’t just understand the mission but embraced it.

We returned to Ruby too and gently guided her toward getting her missing documents, a concern shared by many others. In time, Ruby received her scholarship. Then came Ujjwal Kumar, another student, riding a handmade cycle because no scheme had helped him. Thanks to ALIMCO and UBI, he received a motorized cycle. And his scholarship followed. These are not isolated wins. Between Ruby and Ujjwal, there are many more names ringing quietly in our hearts. Names of children our team reached. Children who received a little more light – through scholarships, or through the dignity of mobility.

At the UBI launch, Ujjwal joined on virtual call – silent, smiling, connected deeply with his new machine. A motorized cycle, and a T-shirt that said HOPE. We have a long way to go. But this simple step gave us direction on how to leverage technology to find the invisible and to turn blue dots into impact.

About Ramkrishnan Balakrishnan

An experienced professional with 25+ years in Information Systems, specializing in large-scale ICT and health-tech initiatives, team leadership, and collaborative problem-solving.