INDIA'S

our village for financial inclusion; promote
savings; reduce the monopolization
of money lenders; improve delivery of
pensions; provide loans to students –
especially for girl education; farmers - many
of whom earlier were unable to benefit from
the Kissan Credit Card. BhartiyaMahila
Bank has come forward to provide loans to
self help groups.
Social welfare schemes have been given
focus to ensure beneficiaries receive the
required support. Visits to various wards
and hamlets were made to raise awareness
of the same and, the underprivileged
omitted from the BPL were added to the
list. To ensure fair supply of ration through
PDS, to stop the monopolization by a single
dealer we distributed wards amongst two
dealers and there have been no complaints
thereafter. In addition, reports and regular
feedback is taken from the dealers about the
quality of supply, amount and price that is
charged if any.
Various self-help groups have been formed
to provide alternate source of livelihood
in a village otherwise dependent only on
agriculture that is seasonal. Women and
young girls enjoy coming to the learning
centre where they have been taught the art
of candle making, making paper mache
products, handicrafts, stitching and, with
the support of I-Create we even have a SHG
which grinds spices. These products have
been sold by Asmat – an NGO formed by
students of Lady Shri Ram College that
I graduated from and, we have received
orders from other cities such as Mumbai
and Vishakhapatnam. Though, still at a
nascent stage, it has provided huge support
and confidence to women. We celebrate
their success especially on festivals e.g. on
Diwali, in particular, we organize a rangoli
competition at the newly constructed
common square where the winners are
given candles along with the prize money.
This initiative is also carried out to ensure
that villagers learn to respect newly
constructed common areas and build a
positive community spirit.
To improve the condition of electricity I
met minister Jitendra Singhji with whose
support, by end of 2010 itself, we saw
nearly 16 hours supply of electricity (single
phase & three phases) and got two hamlets
connected on the RSEB grid. For the three
hamlets that were not on the grid, we
provided them solar electricity with the
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support of UNO Minda Group and nearly
70 households benefited from this initiative.
While these are some of the initiatives
carried out in Soda, there is much to be
done.
I wish the support from the private
sector were easier, I believe a multi-sector
partnership is essential to carry out an
effective development. Government plays a
very important role of course and I wish our
system were made accountable in ensuring
efficient disbursement of funds that, rarely
happens – siphoning off of funds is only
phase two of the problem which, give the
way our panchayat functions we have
not experienced. One can be honest and
still deliver, yes it is not easy but patience
and perseverance does bring its reward.
Information about the various schemes
needs to be shared with the villagers and
panchayats and team work respected
and celebrated. With such partnerships
and support the process of development
in the rural sector could easily speed up.
Panchayats and villages have to be seen as
the real stakeholders in the process of such
development. The bottom-up approach is
the only way forward.
» » (The author is sarpanch of Soda village in
Rajasthan)