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Developing Villages
quality of life Vikas Bharti located in Vishnupur in Ranchi district of Jharkhand has a unique story. A group of dedicated youths are guiding it. They have received training in social work from the RSS and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and are now highly qualified engineers and scientists with appropriate educational qualification. The speciality of the project is that it uses scientific and technical knowledge for the overall development of forest dwellers. In some ways, Vikas Bharti is making rapid progress, as refined substances are prepared from available raw materials; ‘Gyan Prabodhini’ is running a project of integrated village development in all the villages of Shivanganga and Gunjawani river basins of Pune district. The academy is also giving primary importance to health. It runs three courses for village-level health workers. It has also set-up health camps from time to time to create awareness about the personal and collective cleanliness in the villagers. Special emphasis is given on eradication of leprosy and tuberculosis. Leprosy sufferers have been reduced. The work being done in villages now has more strength from receiving the support of a 100-bed hospital located in Pune. This hospital is the result of education-experimentation of knowledge-management. In Pune, the pre-students of the talented Bal Vidyalaya have taken up the responsibility of managing this hospital to present the ideal form of ethics and rational medicine. The ‘Ayurveda Box’ has been provided under a special health project since 1990. In this box, there are some simple Ayurvedic medicines that are beneficial in common illnesses.This box will be with any worker or teacher of the village who wants to do this work with the spirit of service. Uplifting Dalits After completing his education in Pune, swayamsevak Madhukar Rao Deval returned to his village Mahaisal in Sangli district of Maharashtra to take care of his ancestral property. He was very disheartened to see the poverty of the Harijans. Deval inspired the Dalits in his village to establish Vitthal Agricultural Cooperative Committee. Through the committee, they gave them loans, gave them back their property, taught them ways of saving agricultural production and helped them in building their own homes. 125 Dalit families have
already paid all their debts and the average annual income of each family is about Rs 11,000. There has also been a clear change in social life. The distinction between ‘touchable’ and ‘untouchable’ has ended. The Dalits now roam free in the village and they are living in the society with a sense of equality. Swayamsevaks in the district and elsewhere have followed this model. Forest protection and forestry Swayamsevaks have started ‘SewaSagar’ project in Sagar tahsil of Shimoga district of Karnataka. This has given rise to many such movements of social transmigration. There are several types of activities going on in dozens of villages of Tehsil, such as Yoga and SanskritPromoting-Centre, Sanskar-Kendra, Health Centre, Vanvasi-KalyanKendra, Maternal Circles, BalGokul etc. have been opened. Villagers have given immense support to the programmes of forestshielding and plantation. Until a few decades ago, the tehsil which was famous for very dense forests has now become mostly tree-free. Due to tampering with the environment of these tropical forests, the trees supporting the lives of millions of depending on forest have been broken for centuries due to their daily needs. Wood industries, hydropower projects and mining
February 05 - 11, 2018
Madhukar Rao Deval was very disheartened to see the poverty of the Harijans in his village and inspired them to set up the Vitthalbhai Agricultural Cooperative Committee have had a lot of fierce clashes with them. In 1983, the participants of an adult education centre led by swayamsevaks carried out resistance campaign in Jiglemamna. Soon it spread to surrounding villages. Initially, this team successfully resisted tree cutting in 90 acres of forest. The result is front. Its creative side is the ‘plant millions of trees’. Every village under its flag is encouraged for ‘village-forest’. This expansion of the villagers has been rekindled by this. New practices have been introduced to create environmentrelated consciousness, as these are given in the form of awards as well as on auspicious occasions and those achieving success in various fields. Due to all these efforts, a flood of millions of new trees has come to Tehsil. mantra: self-sufficiency The ‘Gram-Gaurav’ programme is actually a unique project. It was conceived in central Bihar and
its implementation is being done successfully. So far, the experience in 58 places of 18 districts is really very instructive. In essence, this programme is centred on creating a sense of pride for the remarkable achievements of its village. It has had an amazing effect. This is where the feeling of social harmony is felt all around. It also gave rise to the desire to improve their villages. The entire program is characterized by its ‘villagers, in relation to the villagers and in the style of operation’ for the villagers. The committee formed for this purpose determines a convenient day and invites the neighbouring villages and the local villagers living outside the village, and the specific or well-respected person of the state level in the area is as the ‘Chief Guest’ After that, the person of the village who has studied the achievements of the village narrates the same. The prominent people of the village in, education, social service, handicraft, politics, trade,