| |
Health:
ANILBHAI & LATABEN DESAI Jhagadia, Gujarat
Life
as an Offering
 Nearly
two decades back, two young doctors, Anilbhai and Lataben Desai, who had
been practising in New York for almost five years, decided to return home
and pitch their tents in Jhagadia town in Gujarat's Bharuch district.
It was in keeping with the vow they had taken as medical students in Ahmedabad
that they would serve the poor in their own country. The inspiration came
from the teachings of Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Swami Vivekananda. Living
up to the adage "Let Life Be An Offering", Anilbhai, 58, and
Lataben, 57, have turned Jhagadia and its surrounding areas into oases
of good healthcare through their voluntary body sewa (Society Education
Welfare Action)-Rural. The results are very visible. The 40-odd villages
are almost cataract-free when the condition affects 13 of every 1,000
people elsewhere in India. Infant mortality has come down to 42 (national
average: 65) from 172 in 1980 when the Desais began work in the region
while the birth rate has come down from 38 to 20 per 1,000. Impressed,
the state Government handed over the task of running the primary healthcare
centre for Jhagadia region to sewa-Rural in 1989, perhaps the only instance
of the government asking an NGO to manage rural healthcare on its behalf.
The Desais runs the show with a staff of 123, including 13 doctors and
23 nurses besides village-level volunteers. Poor patients, mostly tribals
from the 1,000-odd villages in the region, throng to the 75-bed, well-equipped
hospital of sewa-Rural from as far as 300 km away. Skipping government
hospitals close to them, they come to Jhagadia simply because they have
faith in the Desais. B.B. Swain, district collector of Bharuch, says,
"They've also helped the tribals in the region to get rid of their
superstitions and belief in witchdoctors." It's been a journey of
learning for the duo too. Says Anilbhai: "The poor and illiterate
are at times better than the literate in their comprehension. And another
lesson is that in India the leadership has failed and not the people."
-Uday
Mahurkar
Society:
HEMA BEDI, Penugonda, Andhra Pradesh
Mummy
Dearest
 She
is virtually the last hope of 500-odd young women from the backwaters
of Andhra Pradesh who are engaged in the flesh trade in big cities. Some
address her as "mummy" while others call her badi didi
(elder sister) endearingly. Hema Bedi, 46, a Bangalore-based ad agency
owner-turned-film production controller, quit "the crazy urban life
doing mad things" to identify and rehabilitate rural sex workers
by taking on an unusual and difficult challenge. Many have tried to create
awareness on child prostitution and trafficking to wean sex workers away
from urban red light spots. But few pursue a consistent campaign to track
down where they come from and convince them to give up their sleazy ways
of making quick money for a more meaningful life. It is not an easy task.
The Bedi
strategy is to strike at the very roots and ask the families or fellow
sex workers to woo back home sex workers from brothels in Pune, Mumbai
and Delhi. "We first strike a rapport and build a relationship. Then
we nurture it by giving them respect, strengthening them, showing them
the right direction and motivating them to feel wanted in society rather
than being treated as outcasts," explains Bedi. Helping Bedi are
her wide contacts in the Rayalseema region of Andhra Pradesh. She is in
touch with officials of Anantapur and Cuddapah districts and UNICEF and
has launched several initiatives, from getting loans for women who wish
to take up sheep rearing to forming self-help groups of sex workers who
want to quit the flesh trade. Also planned are rehabilitation centres
in every district for distressed women and children and aids victims.
It has been the "most satisfying experience" of Bedi's life
but she knows it's only the beginning towards an elusive goal of "a
world free from sexual exploitation".
-Amarnath
K. Menon
Irrigation:
SIDDU NYAMAGOUDA Bijapur, Karnataka
Sweet
Success
 For
years they exchanged stories of suffering. Despite being on the banks
of Krishna river, cane farmers in Jamkhandi in north Karnataka's Bijapurkar
district were vulnerable to water shortage. It was a problem begging a
solution. But none was found. Till Siddu Nyamagouda decided to find it.
To him it was clear that the government wouldn't have the answer to the
people's problems. So in 1987 he organised the farmers of his village
and those from Athani taluka under a collective: Krishna Teera Raitha
Sangha. The plan: shun government and build a barrage on the river on
their own. The idea: bring irrigation to 35,000 acres of land across 30
villages besides potable water to three lakh villagers. Nyamagouda spoke
to villagers about contributing both money and labour for the 3 million
cu ft barrage across the Krishna. People came forward in droves. Some
gave Rs 100, some Rs 20. Retired engineers came forward to help design
the barrage. Autorickshaw drivers pitched in to help. The 430-m long,
8-m high barrage was built with Rs 93 lakh (as against the government's
estimate of Rs 2 crore) in just 11 months. The fruit: sugarcane yield
has doubled to 40 tonnes an acre while production of foodgrain has increased
manifold: from 4,000 tonnes to 1.5 lakh tonnes. Per acre cost of land
has gone up from Rs 10,000 to about Rs 2 lakh. Maintained by the farmers'
association, the barrage shows what empowerment can do.
-Stephen
David
Water:
SUKH LAL MEENA AMAWRA, Rajasthan
The
Lone Ranger
 Every
sunrise, sukh Lal Meena, 72, trudges to the foothills 2 km from his home
to where his tools wait for him. For the next five hours, all alone, Meena
carries out his mission as he has been for the last five years: to dig
a johad (a kuchha pond) so deep that it becomes a stepwell. Lofty
thoughts were, however, not always his forte. A bachelor and a simpleton,
Meena led a lazy and aimless life till a chance meeting changed its course.
In the early 1990s, Chaman Singh of the Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS) visited
Amawra and motivated people to dig more ponds and johads. Like
many others, Meena too was sceptical. But in 1995, he realised that the
water table in his land had risen from 60 ft to 20 ft and increased his
yield. "The ponds were bringing prosperity by recharging groundwater."
He gave Rs 6,000 and the TBS contributed Rs 5,000 to dig a johad to retain
rain water. When the 5 ft deep johad was ready, Meena decided to continue
digging. "It is still not an oasis," he says. But he has built
his memorial in his lifetime.
-Rohit
Parihar
Cooperatives:
RAJ NARAIN AND SUNIL Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh
Fishers
of Men
 Displacement
and destitution was a way of life for many rural folk in Hoshangabad district.
First, an army range near Kesala made residents of 26 villages homeless.
Then came a reservoir that gobbled up 44 villages. The compensation of
Rs 75 per acre left them without any means of livelihood. As Imrat, a
fisherman from Tawa, recalls "exploitation was extreme and poverty
was acute". Then, in the mid-1980s, two outsiders made the area their
home. A diehard socialist Raj Narain and Sunil, a topper from Delhi's
JNU, took up the cause of the farmers and the adivasis. Though identified
as "troublemakers" by the government, the duo organised the
tribals under the banner of Kisan Adivasi Sanghathan (KAS) and launched
a series of agitations, forcing the government to take notice. In 1996,
the KAS persuaded the government to grant the fishing rights of Tawa reservoir
to displaced persons. The results have been astounding. The average income
of the fisherfolk has increased by more than four times. Productivity
is up from 6.96 kg per hectare to 32.37 kg. Sunil says the co-operative
has succeeded because "local communities can manage their resources
better than the government can".
-N.K.
Singh
Environment:
RAJINDER SINGH, Sariska, Rajasthan
Symbiotic
Success
 A
decade ago the Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS) launched a drive in Sariska in
Rajasthan to educate villagers that to benefit from the forest they must
allow it to flourish. Says TBS Secretary Rajinder Singh: "The idea
was to make people accept the right of wildlife over forests." As
awareness grew, TBS connected the movement to conservation of groundwater.
Today there are over 100 small and big ponds in the area, curbing the
need for people and cattle to enter deep forests for water and fodder.
Significantly, this has also stopped big cats from straying into populated
areas, reducing the conflict between man and animal. The number of tigers
has gone up to over 25 and that of leopards to 65. Says wildlife activist
Valmik Thapar: "Sariska is the only success story of saving the tiger."
-Rohit
Parihar
Education:
VISHWANATH P. VISHWAKARMA, Gaya, Bihar
Mobile
Teacher
 Every
morning, a train whistles its way to Gaya carrying an earnest teacher,
Vishwanath Prasad Vishwakarma, and his flock of students. As the Keul-Gaya
passenger train, jampacked with commuters, pulls out of Nawada railway
station in Bihar, in a corner of the last bogie, hawkers stand with baskets
slung round their necks clutching notebooks. Vishwakarma's class for hawkers
is about to start. Since January 1997, Vishwakarma has been daily transforming
the train into a school on wheels for illiterate hawkers. Boarding the
train at Nawada, he spends the next one hour-till the train reaches Gaya-teaching
them how to read and write. The emphasis is on the three Rs: arithmetic,
reading and writing (Hindi as well as English). Vishwakarma doesn't see
it as an overambitious exercise. "This section (vendors) is quite
neglected and there is absolutely no scheme for them. So I decided to
do something on my own," he says simply.
Vishwakarma's
mind was initially filled with misgivings. The hawkers were sceptical
and had to be convinced to suspend work for an hour of learning. It hasn't
been easy but Vishwakarma has been fine tuning the formula. On an average,
10 hawkers in the 12-30 age group attend classes. The curriculum is need-based.
Since vendors must know a little arithmetic for their business calculations,
they are taught addition and subtraction. Ajay Kumar Vimal, who sells
books at the railway station, reveals he has "been attending these
classes for three years" and is now preparing to appear for the matriculation
exam next year. His teacher does not charge any fee. In fact, Vishwakarma
often ends up buying books, notebooks and pencils for his students. So
far 11 hawkers have learnt to read and write and another 40-odd vendors
are waiting in the wings. Vishwakarma says the secret of his success is
simple. "I never asked these hawkers to enrol in a formal school.
I teach them while they work."
-Sanjay
Kumar Jha
Development:
MANEESHA GUPTE AND RAMESH AWASTHI Pune, Maharashtra
Equal
Power
Jayaprakash
Narayan's advice "to go to the villages, the real India" 25
years ago inspired two students-Maneesha Gupte, a microbiologist from
Sophia College, and Ramesh Awasthi, an engineer from IIT Delhi. After
working in Mumbai slums, the duo decided in 1987 to shift to Malshiras
on the outskirts of Pune to work as health educators. Thus was born Masum.
Over the past 13 years, the NGO has metamorphosed into a development umbrella
focusing on women.
Today, the
movement has expanded to encompass nearly 40,000 women from 42 villages
in Malshiras and Parner in Ahmednagar district. Activities include health
programmes, movement against domestic violence and alcoholism, education
for children and vocational training for women. The most impressive effort
has been Streedhan, a savings and credit programme for women. But Gupte
and Awasthi are self-effacing about the success. "The progress is
driven by the community. We are just listeners. They plan and execute."
-V.
Shankar Aiyar
Education:
SHRINATH KALBAG, Pabal, Maharashtra
Real
Education
For
someone who studied at the Royal Institute of Science and did a PhD in
food technology at the University of Illinois, to be the head of engineering
services at HLL, Shrinath Kalbag, 72, doesn't display much faith in conventional
education systems. "It robs the curiosity factor and makes children
dependent. Hence the high drop-out rate," he says. So in 1982, Kalbag
quit and came to arid, backward Pabal, 70 km from Pune, to set up the
Vigyan Ashram to propagate his idea of non-formal education. His first
step was to formulate a course for dropouts to equip them with basic vocational
skills. The basic rural technology course teaches skills ranging from
cooking to pregnancy tests, engineering design to poultry management and
soil analysis. It is now part of the recognised curriculum for Class VIII,
IX and X students in 20 schools. "The existing school system is a
factory. Here we stress learning."
-V.
Shankar Aiyar
Top
|
|
In
India, youth is marked by impetuosity and prevented from getting ahead.
Elsewhere, of course, the young rule the world, says INDIA TODAY Deputy
Editor Swapan Dasgupta in 
