Is there a solution to help India’s 700,000 villages? YES

About 85% of India's 1 Billion population today lives in 700,000 villages. A village may have around 700 families with a population of 2,000. Usually one caste of villagers with 10% of the total population own the agricultural lands and the other 90% work in the fields as day labourers. Many villages now have electric supply, though high priced and unreliable. Water sources vary from place to place. Each village may have an elementary school, a medical clinic, an 'angan-wadi' or a children's day-care centre, a cooperative for farmers. But the typical village is quite poor, the agricultural lands are dry, no other jobs in the village and many have already migrated to nearby large cities.

Basic infrastructure that makes life possible - water, power, food, education, is missing or scarce. It is true that women in many villages in India can easily spend upto 3 hours a day fetching water for daily drinking and cooking needs. In spite of large rural electrification programs in India after independence, most villagers cannot afford to pay for the meager electric power they receive now. Since agricultural production relies on pumped water, many states in India give free power to farmers.

Large-scale unemployment in the rural areas and mass migration (of the rural population) to urban areas are the twin culprits responsible for the economic woes of the developing countries. The former causes the latter and together they result in rural poverty and urban squalor.

Investment, which expects maximum returns and efficiency, seeks out projects primarily in the urban areas. Such investments are invariably in assets and machinery, which by their very nature and purpose further exacerbate the situation by reducing the need for human labor.

Public policy, particularly in response to globalization, woos and seduces capital to come ashore by making available water, power, services and roads. So, dams are built, hydroelectric and nuclear plants are commissioned and roads are widened -- roads that will eventually carry goods from the factory to the nearest port for export. Balance of payment looks better; the GDP is improved. The evil twins linger.

Inevitably, the farmer is at the mercy of the elements for his crop. He debates between growing food and planting a cash crop. Cash crops, which he believes will expand his buying power, can paradoxically diminish it because of the choice not to grow food. He can't afford the food: the drought hits and starvation stares at him. So he migrates… to the city… to the job in the factory…where a sophisticated machine has already replaced him. He squats. The evil twins linger.
It is in such a context that the following experiments are of interest. Elango, a chemical engineer, working in Central Electro Chemical Research Institute (CECRI), in Chennai, left his position in 1994 and returned to his village. He describes his village as a typical Indian village, about 700 families, "no one had any job or income", "80% of the men were drunks", "the women were beaten up", "children could not look up to their parents as role models".

He started building houses for his villagers to replace their thatched roof houses. He obtained assistance from the government to buy raw materials but insisted on the villagers putting in their labor. He re-built the main roads, sewer lines and other village essentials. At this point he ran out of ideas to keep the villagers gainfully employed.

Then Elango thought of producing many of the common day items consumed by the villagers, such as food items, everyday consumable items etc. Instead of spending money, which they did not have, to procure the same items from neighboring larger towns such as the city of Chennai, Elango started producing these items in his own village.

Elango took us through the "production centre". In this centre, the village men and women receive training to engage in revenue producing activities. In most of the projects: Thoor dhal processing, Dairy project, Soap making unit, Bakery project, Ground nut oil production, the resulting products are cheaper and the process provides employment to the village men and women.

Since the successful transformation of Kuthambakkam, 4 or 5 neighbouring villages have sought Elango's advice and are on the mend. Elango is now in the process of creating an "Academy" in Kuthambakkam that will serve as a place to teach Panchayat presidents from other villages.

Similar attempts have successfully transformed Ralegaon Siddhi (Maharastra), Neembi (Rajasthan) and Nagarasu (Uttaranchal) where efforts in water harvesting have been added to local production schemes.

While I was in Chennai during October 2002, I went to see the miracle that Elango had created. I needed to satisfy myself that the same transformation could be implemented at other villages. Mr.P.Chandrasekaran, the Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Foundation in Chennai arranged to take me to Kuthambakkam on Oct 23, 2002.

Elango took us on a tour of the village. We started with the common meeting facility ("Samathuvapuram") in the village. Villagers can use this facility for various functions, family celebrations, religious ceremonies etc regardless of their caste. On this day, we visited the section of this facility used for providing trade skills for some of the village women.

What Elango has done in Kuthambakkam is a step in the right direction. He has fixed the basic infrastructure problems of the village and by creating employment opportunities for the villagers (activities that produce many of the products consumed in the village itself), he has created a continuous economic cycle that can only get better. Yes, I am convinced that Elango's ideas from Kuthambakkam can be implemented in other villages.

The common element contributing to the success is to rebuild the confidence and self-esteem of the villagers, giving them the "can do" attitude. "Can do" is an American phrase. Surprisingly, we say the same thing in Tamil as "Nammal Mudiyum". One easy way to rebuild this sense of confidence is to support villagers who are willing to undertake a small project within their own village. Yes, they can visit other villages, listen to other successful villagers but there is nothing better than doing it themselves.

If you survey the list of individuals passionately working on various projects in India that are close to their hearts, it could be in the hundreds, may be even in the thousands. But given the vast size of India and its bulging population, we only read the depressing stories first. How can these successful efforts thrive when surrounded by negative mindset.

These projects succeeded because they have a champion with a vision, focus and passion. Will the projects continue to flourish if and when their champions move on?

Role of NRI's
NRI have the benefit of having lived outside of India and seen solutions that could be applied to everyday problems that face residents of India. Often a villager or even a city dweller in India never leaves the city or country to learn about the life outside of India. I am not suggesting that everything outside of India is devoid of problems. Partnering with residents of India, NRI can bring a sense of urgency, an atmosphere of 'can do' spirit.

One such NRI effort is underway. While still in its infancy, a small group of about 15 NRI's from different parts of US who listened to Elango in September 2002, have come together. This group hopes to be a helping arm for Elango and determine ways to expand his successful transformations to other villages. This group will visit Kuthambakkam and Ralegaon Siddhi in February to start developing specific action plans and goals for 2003.

What can you do?
- Learn more about the positive developments taking place in India today. Sure, there are negative things in India. But we will not contribute to India's progress if we join the ranks of the critics and nay sayers and harp on the negative for another 50 years.

- Do something. Merely talking about the problems in India and doing nothing about it will get us nowhere.

- Select a part of India that you have emotional ties to and contribute your skills and time to solve just one problem or issue.

Out of a total of 22 million NRI's today, if 1,000 NRI's every year start by "doing something," it will soon make a difference.

Portions of this article were generated with help from Murthy Sudhakar and Sangeetha Sriram.

Ram Krishnan
rkrishnan46@yahoo.com