MY Experience with Deendayal Research Institute, Chitrakoot
To begin with I heard it’s one of the
most neglected cities as it falls right in the border of MP and UP and neither
government willing to take care. Also it is the place they say where Sri Rama
of Ayodhya stayed for 12 years during his exile. I heard 10-15 years back, it is a
place dominated by bandits etc. In this place Mr Nanaji Deshmukh with the help
of Dr. Bharat and Dr. Nandita Pathak set up an example of rural India which now
stands as a paradigm for the rest of the country to take notice. Dr Abdul Kalam
statement that rest of the country should follow is an accolade in itself.
The key for its success was its
ingrained methodology ie independence. It doesn’t depend on the city for the
resources rather work on the better utilization what the village contains. In
that way it is not affected by outside industries, business, politics etc. A
number of strategies for alleviating the poverty and development of villages
were implemented. All these methods were focused on addressing the issues like
water scarcity, poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and ill health.
One of the main concepts they run is
called Samaj Shilpi Dampati where young graduate couples stay in a village for
5 years. They associate themselves with the villages thus bringing awareness as
well as education. The organization can work with the graduate couples who in
turn work with the villages. With the communication problem taken care of, the
DRI people get associated with the villagers by doing various activities like
games shows etc. Once the trust is achieved then slowly they raise the
villager’s awareness towards proper agriculture techniques, watershed
management, organic farming etc. Micro financing is also provided. So the
whole purpose is to inculcate the villagers into being individually
self-reliant thus making the village self-reliant. Another important aspect of
it is the free dental surgeries they do for the people with disfigured mouth
etc.
One of the great dependencies for a
success of this kind of project will be funds which will run into crores. So
how does the money come? It is because of the donations of Mr Nanaji Deshmukh
and hundreds of other people several of them his allies who contributed for the
cause. Mr Nanaji is one of a kind person who gave up marriage and served the
entire life for the welfare of the community.
I
do understand that not every village can be made like this nor every person who
is willing to do this has funds. But what
about those hundreds of politicians who are pocketing thousands of crores which
if used properly could have made India a completely developed country? And also what about hundreds of thousands of
individuals like us who in our capacity if we serve the society itself could
result in a gigantic change of the society and the system.
Surya Jilludimudi,
Software Engineer, Social Worker
Atlanta, USA
