The Rural Immersion!

“The true India is found in its villages”, exclaimed Gandhi.

This statement gains all the more importance today, because understanding that of the 83.3 crores of Indians live in rural areas, 40% of whom live without electricity. We rank a dismal 136 in the UNDP(United Nations Development Programme) Human Development Report-2013, on the HDI index; ironically developed by an Indian, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen.

To be the superpower that it so wants to be, the upliftment of these villages is critical.

It was with this aim that the Rural Immersion programme was initiated by XLRI. “Leadership with a humane touch" has always been the cornerstone of the institute.

                      
                       

It was thus that we set out on the journey to Chaibasa, approximately 62 kilometers from the institute. Our basecamp, the Tribal Research and Training Center (TRTC) at Guira. The Director of TRTC apprised us of the various undertakings under the aegis of the center, to help the under privileged sections be a part of the mainstream.

To  make  us  understand  the  attachment of the people to  their  villages, he showed us the video on Adivasi Struggles  – “GaonChhodabNahi”. For the uninitiated, think about The Na'vis sentimental attached to their lush jungle moon of Pandora, in James Cameron’s Avatar.

Recently, a  Kolhan Community College was opened to offer vocational training to the tribal youth and to organize the un-organized youth in a movement called the ‘YuvaJumur’.  Also, the center hosts students from rural areas who were studying to clear their board exams.

He also gave us some insights on how to conduct ourselves in the villages, especially when we need to get permission from the village headman(the Munda’) and how  to  get  them  to  open  up  regarding  various  day-to-day  struggles. Some caveats related to interaction with villagers were also given so that we do not hurt the sentiments of villagers, even mistakenly. We must thank TRTC for being the great host that it was.

                           

Our visit to the Purnapa­ni, Peta Peti and Khedabera villages gave us the opportunity to interact with several people in and around the village. There included people ranging from  the Munda of the villages to the families including the womenfolk. The conversations gave us immense information and insights about their economic status, education, health and social standing.

The primary occupation of the villagers is agriculture, with Cereals, rice and wheat being the primary produce. The harvest is heavily dependent on rain. Inconsistent monsoon and lack of nearby water bodies such as ponds and lakes have hampered growth and forced some of the poorer villagers to seek jobs elsewhere. The farmers also face difficulty in finding willing labourers to work on the farm during planting and harvesting seasons. Villagers also complained that they receive no agricultural aid from the government.

The villages we visited, being close to the jungle, had many people taking up wood cutting to be their primary source of income. Some villagers also make axe handles to earn a living. The point of concern here is that trees are being cut but no measures for afforestation was being undertaken. There is also the migration of villagers to larger cities (going as far as Bangalore) to do odd jobs.

Government schemes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) are in place. Villagers seeking employment usually have to go through the Gram Sabha. Some of the jobs that came under the purview of MNREGA included manual labour jobs like digging and road laying. This year 3-4 roads under MNREGA scheme were constructed. The villagers, who availed employment as part of MNREGA, however complained that they did not receive payment for up to a month after the job ended. Most of the villagers had obtained their Aadhaar card and availed the benefits of Direct benefits Transfer for their wages and other Government incentives. There were also cases where people had applied for the Aadhar card, but had not received it after a long time.

Rations and provisions are availed through the Public Distribution System (PDS). Below Poverty Line (BPL) families are entitled to receive 35kg of rice. However, they receive only 34kg of rice, the remaining 1kg being siphoned off by the transporters citing fuel expenses. They are also entitled to avail four litres of kerosene through PDS every month.

In our discussions back at Basecamp TRTC, we concurred that Education, Health and Electricity are the key drivers which can put these villages on to the road of development.

The current scenario

Electricity:

There was no electricity in the village. Electric poles and lines were in place. However, the electricity supply for Chaibasa was unreliable. Solar panels and solar lights instead were installed in some places, but were not used that frequently. Villagers said that they themselves had to dig pits and install poles and wires, while the government retracted from funding the tasks.

Education:

There was one government school in the village. However, there was only one teacher available to teach students of classes 1-8. One teacher in a school teaches 200 children. Some students enrolled in the government schools move to Chaibasa or Purulia after 7^th grade for further education.

The only incentive for sending children to these schools was the Mid-Day meals. The quality of the Mid-Day meals was found to be satisfactory. The people hired to prepare these meals were grossly underpaid, thus forcing some of the older students to contribute towards its preparation. Also it was noted that the  villagers mostly sent boys to school and not the girls.

           

HealthCare:

There was no major primary healthcare centre in or around the village. The nearest major hospital was in Chaibasa. There was however a small Government run centre present in the village which was ill-equipped to handle the major needs of the villagers. Health programs are initiated by the government, but villagers claim that they don’t get the medicines when in need. TRTC had opened night school for illiterate people, but have now closed it due to poor attendance.

The brightspot was that the Government appointed Anganwadi workers were present in every village. They were responsible for the care and conditioning of pregnant women and newborns. The pregnant women had health checkups conducted every Thursday. They were given some basic nutritional supplements and medication based on their condition. Vaccination schemes for Polio were also in place for newborns and children up to the age of three.

The Munda and the residents also told us that the villagers receive no help from the government in agriculture like provision of subsidy for fertiliser. Also, the kachha houses added to their misery. Since there is no supply of newspaper in the village, nor there a television due to lack of electricity, the villagers are literally cut off from the outside world.

We have compiled a comprehensive report citing the issues that demand immediate attention.

It gives us joy to know that our recommendations for the village’s development will soon be implemented, with the future batches taking up the task of monitoring the progress of the villages adopted by XLRI.

The Village Immersion programme gave us the (much required) jolt to help realise the harsh realities of the people residing in villages. It also provided us the opportunity to understand that there are more important things that demand our attention (more than status updates on Facebook or tweets about what you had for lunch).

In short, it sensitized our being, for the greater good.