Gandhiji dreamt of a strong independent India. His message was – go to the villages. Till the villages became self sufficient and self-administered, the dream of a strong India would never be fulfilled. Mahatma Gandhi used to say that development should not be based on exploitation of man and nature. Let us plan whatever nature has given us properly so that every person, family and village becomes self sufficient.
Today we have a dream for development but this development is taking place by exploiting nature and mankind. Petrol, diesel, kerosene, coal, water etc – such natural resources which are found underground are being exploited indiscriminately for development. This is not the right kind of development. The population would keep on increasing and due to this increase in population people’s needs would also increase. There is no limit to increase in population. But the resources provided by nature are limited. And these resources are depleting one by one. This is a matter of concern. Due to indiscriminate exploitation, there is severe water scarcity in many villages of India. In summers water has to be imported in tankers to these villages. Today water has got exhausted, some day petrol would get exhausted, diesel would get exhausted, kerosene would get exhausted, coal would get exhausted. What would happen to our future generations? No one is thinking about them, that is why Gandhiji believed that correct planning for development should take into account the availability of natural resources. God has endowed India with vast amount of natural resources. However, it is important to correctly plan for development. Gandhiji said that if you want to change the economic condition of India, you will have to change the economics of the village. Because India lives in it’s villages. If villagers had adequate food and adequate work, then even if they had lesser facilities in villages, they would not leave villages and migrate to cities. This would change the economic condition of villages.
Many of our leaders thought that without big industries, country’s development was not possible and many of our leaders started encouraging big industries. As industries were set up in cities, people started migrating towards cities.
As cities expanded, slums and crime increased leading to exploitation of nature and mankind. Exploitation of nature led to environmental imbalance. Increasing industry led to deterioration of water and land. This pollution of water and land can’t be cleaned with any amount of investment. The rivers which used to be so sacred for us, even their water has become polluted due to industry. This water goes to dams. Those cities who get their drinking water from these dams, their water has also got polluted. Industries were set up indiscriminately to fulfil India’s dream for development. In 65 years, this indiscriminate industrialization should have led to development but did that really happen? What is the real picture of today’s India?
65 years after independence, India which was once called sone ki chidiya, is under a burden of huge debt. We don’t even have the money to pay interest, so we take further loans to pay interest. This is the current state of our country. Today, every child is born with a debt burden of 22-25 thousand rupees. Is it the child’s fault that he was born? If after independence, along with industrialization, if we had correctly planned for land and water resource in every village and if some of the amount that was spent on industries were spent for the development of villages, then the social and economic condition of our country would not have been as bad as it is today.
These are not mere words for me. I have actually experimented this on ground – not in one village but in many villages. I am saying this on the basis of success of these experiments. Today the rainwater falling in every village flows to the rivers because it is not conserved in the village. From rivers, it flows to big dams and from dams, it flows into the sea. The water that has gone to the sea is of no use for the villages and the people. Due to wastage of rain water, the water scarcity is increasing across villages in India. With the help of dams, water is brought to cities for drinking and for industry. Therefore, to run industries in cities, village water has to go to dams.
It Is not just the rainwater but also the fertile soil of the villages that flows into the dams. Year after year, tonnes of silt is getting accumulated in every dam. Due to this, the water storage capacity of dams is decreasing. If the leaders and the people of this country did not pay due attention to this, then this could become a greater threat than corruption. Every human being dies after 70-100 years, as it is the law of nature. Just like the death of a human being is inevitable, in the same way, the death of every dam is also inevitable. Every year along with rain water, thousands of tones of silt is getting accumulated in dams. In 400/500/1000 years, dams would get filled with silt. Neither the government, nor the people will be able to clear out this silt. Since the backwater storage area of any dam is 60-90 km in length and more than 500-600 meters in height, the silt will slowly accumulate into a mountain. Who will clear it out? Where will you throw this silt?
There will be no site left for building new dams. What will happen to electricity generation and to our industry then? Where would cities get their water from? To prevent this national disaster, it is important to conserve soil in villages only, which is flowing out of the villages to dams. By doing this, not only national disaster would be averted, but also by conserving soil in villages, village water would also be conserved. This will help in village development work. This is because village development work is based on water shed development program.
In Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district, there is a village called Ralegansiddhi with a population of 2000 people. Earlier, in this village, there used to be no drinking water in summers. 80 per cent people did not have food to eat. People were forced to travel 5-6 kms outside village due to lack of work in the village. There was neither adequate work nor adequate food for all. This forced many villagers to make liquor. There were as many as 30-35 liquor manufacturing units. Liquor was made and sold from village to village for livelihood. Due to alcohol, there were regular fights in the village. There were no proper educational facilities in the village. 4 classes were held in 2 rooms. There were no medical facilities, neither for villagers nor for animals. People used to practice untouchability.
Girls were married off at the age of 12-13 years. The circumstances forced them to do this. Efforts for developing this village started in 1975. Swami Vivekanand used to say that people with empty stomachs can’t absorb knowledge. First we should think how to procure food for empty stomachs and work for everyone. And we did that. We tried to conserve every drop of rain water in the village. We increased the green cover by growing grass and planted more than 3 lakh trees. Nala bund, Check Dam, cement dam, CCT, Percolation Tank and other corrective measures were taken and rain water was conserved in the village. This being a drought affected area, the annual rainfall is just between 400-500 mm. Earlier, the village had less than 300 acres of cultivable land, which yielded one crop annually. Due to water conservation, cultivable land has increased to 1500 acres, which now yields 2 crops annually. After 35 years, it is the same village, same people and same land- but without taking any money from any industrialist, this village has become self sufficient. The village in which 80 per cent people once slept hungry, this village now exports vegetables. People once used to go out for work. Now its hard to get even 10 people for labour as people tend their own farms. Since they have got work and food in their village, the number of people migrating to cities has reduced. No family in the village procures grains from outside. Earlier the village did not produce even 300 litres of surplus milk, which could be sold outside. Today, 4000-5000 litres of surplus milk is sold outside the village on a daily basis. Every day the village earns around 80 to 90 thousand rupees by selling milk. The village which once used to sleep hungry, is now selling vegetables to cities. Every year 150-200 trucks of onions are sent to Chennai and Bangalore. The village, where the school was only till class 4 is now imparting education upto class XII in both Art and Science. Earlier the girls did not have access to education. Today, they are completing graduation.
Earlier, dalits were not allowed to enter temples. They were forced to draw water from a separate well. They were made to sit separately during wedding feasts. Today, when the dalits were unable to pay back their loans amounting to Rs. 60,000, the gram sabha decided that other non-dalits would pay off their loan. All villagers did two years of ’shramdaan’ on the land belonging to dalits. Crops were grown and the loan was paid off by the villagers. Now-a-days, in any community feast in the village, dalits are also involved with people of other castes and religions in cooking and distributing food. Untouchability is no longer practiced. Buildings like school, temples, community temples worth crores were built by people through their hardwork and ‘shramdaan’. In the last 7 years, the village has been visited by nearly 5.5 lakh people from India and abroad. 5 villages neighboring Ralegan Siddhi are also developing on same lines. Similar development work is now taking place in many villages of Maharashtra. 50 new villages are being chosen for similar work.
The purpose behind my writing all this is that if you want proper development of the country, firstly we need to curb corruption. To achieve this we are working for strong anti-corruption laws like the Jan lokpal and the Janlokayukta Bills. To further tackle corruption, we also need electoral reforms, right to reject, decentralization of power and along with that we also need to work on implementation of existing laws. Simultaneously, we also have to develop 100 model villages in different parts of India as a start. i.e., we not only need to stop corruption but also on the other hand, we need to develop model villages – these are both very critical tasks. Only by doing these two things simultaneously, we will be able to develop a strong India.
Today we have received letters from more than 50 very educated, experienced and committed people with sound social and national vision, who are willing to commit their lives, to volunteer for this cause. Many people, after fulfilling their family responsibilities, are offering to devote 12-15 days per month. Many people are ready to work in their own areas as volunteers. There are many young people who have not married till now and do not wish to get married. They say they are ready to devote their life for the nation and society. The youngsters and people who participated in the movement that took place on April 5, 2011 and August 16, 2011 have become source of inspiration for the nation.
Many people are committing their entire lives for the cause. This is a sign of hope for the country. From among these, we will have to choose people with good character. We will have to send our trusted people to do their inspection. Along with selection, we will also have to train them. Leadership training will have to be imparted to volunteers interested in creating model villages. It will be a three months training. It is necessary to generate two leaders per village.
All of this is not mere imagination but based on our work over the past 35 years. Some industrialists had financially supported Mahatma Gandhi. To create model villages, we will also have to involve such industrialists, who are willing to serve the country and are of good character. I believe that curbing corruption and creating ideal villages will provide a new direction to the country. I strongly believe that if activists who have experience in village development provide the necessary guidance this could help set the direction for the future of India.
