Economic Growth India Project #1900

Empowering Villages in Rural India

by Seva Mandir

Project Report | Apr 2, 2023
Building Strong Village Communities

By Atul Lekhra | Programme Incharge

Dear Friend,

Seva Mandir has nurtured its village development groups into spaces where people are able to actively participate in the decisions which directly affect their lives. To further empower these village groups, the groups have been amalgamated into federations. These are multilayered, self-governing community institutions created by Seva Mandir to resolve larger-scale issues. The federations work on the social as well as financial issues of the region and liaise with various government as well as non-government agencies.

Jhadol is 50 kms away from Udaipur and is inhabited by mostly tribal population. Seva Mandir has been working very closely with village communities in Jhadol for over 40 years and that has resulted in strong village groups and federations in the region. The federation meets every month to discuss issues pertaining to their zones (each zone comprising 10-15 villages).

Ogna zone in Jhadol proactively worked on an issue that helped not only the daily wage laborers of their zone, but for the entire region. In order to ensure employment in village, government had launched a programme called Mahatama Gandhi Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) under which 100 days of guaranteed employment is ensured in villages. However, along with labor, the act also ensures other conditions like availability of a shady area for rest, toilet, crèche for children and first aid kit should also be ensured at the work site.

While working on one of the construction sites for a road, a woman got severely injured on her head. There was neither a first aid kit available nor a resting place on the work site and she had to be immediately rushed to a hospital. Despite terrible blood loss, the woman could be saved but the incident was an alarming situation for the federation. The federation collectively wrote a letter to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) appraising him about the situation and demanding a medical kit at each work site for the region. The CMO also responded immediately to it and within a month, medical kits were made available at all MNREGA work sites in Jhadol.

In another effort by Phalasiya and Madri zone federations, a very old and regressive social ritual was collective discarded. During the festival of Holi, every year for a period of 15-20 days vehicles on highway used to be stopped by women and children to demand money from passengers. It was very risky and exploitative for people to travel during these areas. The federation members launched a campaign against this practice and discussed it with every village group. The number of cases reported dropped by 80% now and the federation have committed to uproot this tradition completely.

The federations are slowly transforming to highly active and responsible action groups which are challenging social norms and demanding quality in government services. They will be very instrumental in ensuring development remains ‘by the people’ and ‘for the people’ in the region. The localized understanding of these federations about grass root challenges is multi faceted and empowering them to take collective action can bring profound changes in the lives of people.

Thank you so much for your continued support which has enabled us to keep supporting people in our villages.

Regards

Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir Team

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Nov 28, 2022
Nobel Laureate & J-Pal Group visited Seva Mandir

By Atul Lekhra | Programme Incharge

Dear Friend,

Recently, Seva Mandir was elated to welcome 2019 Nobel Laureate Prof. Abhijeet Banerjee, Economist, Director J-Pal (The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab) and Mohammad Abdul Latif Jameel, Chairman and CEO, Abdul Latif Jameel Group and J-Pal team. This visit was a special visit for both parties due to the exciting exchange of thoughts and ideas shared on the mutual interest in the development of rural communities in Rajasthan.

Prof. Banerjee and Seva Mandir have had a longstanding and strong relationship since 1996. The Nobel laureate has worked extensively on studying various development problems and has helped in contributing to their solutions.

The few days of their Udaipur visit were jam-packed with visits and productive discussions. The J-PAL team, along with Seva Mandir’s team, traveled to remote villages Jalpaka and Jhabla; where they were formally introduced to Seva Mandir’s initiatives including natural resources, early childcare and nutrition, women empowerment and education.

A notable highlight of the visit was Prof. Banerjee’s enthusiastic discussion at a women’s Self Help Group (SHG) regarding the growing challenges of poverty and need for climate action in vulnerable regions and communities such as theirs.

During the community discussion, Prof. Banerjee vocalized, “Climate change and water scarcity are global challenges,and it will worsen in future. In India, the rural community has vast knowledge of water related challenges and its solutions. I look forward to understanding community perspectives and suggestions on tackling the future challenges and its solutions. This democratic approach will enable us to find collaborative solutions to the future challenges.”

Thank you so much for all your faith and continuous support to our programme.

Best Wishes,

Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir team

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Nov 11, 2022
Development through Participatory Approach

By Atul Lekhra | Programme Incharge

The government of India is working very hard to eradicate poverty and illiteracy from the country and in order to achieve this, the government has launched many schemes focusing on sustainable development of underprivileged. Such schemes can be proved a milestone if executed properly. However, implementation of government schemes in a country with a population of around 1.37 billion is a cumbersome task. The lack of awareness, high illiteracy rates, poor governance and corruption leads to the failure of these schemes.

Seva Mandir is working closely with the village communities to bridge this gap in between so that the benefits can reach ground level. With the help of proper communication channels at the village level, Seva Mandir is successful in bringing awareness in communities.

Kumbhalgarh, a world heritage site has been the focus area of Seva Mandir for the past 13 years and the bond between the two has brought an impact on many lives in the area. Seva Mandir regularly provide trainings explaining the government programs and schemes in simpler terms. The trainings demonstrate the economically backward communities about government policies, financial services such as cattle and crop insurance, loan, pension and remittances and the process for availing these policies. The process involves training on application form filling, submission of application in respective department, and regular follow-ups on the application status till the motive is achieved. Team Seva Mandir keeps the applicant involved in this entire process cycle so that they can become independent for similar future tasks.

The impact of these trainings in terms of numbers is incredible. The communities received assistance for many schemes like education at primary and higher levels, health and nutrition for all, insurance for crops production, cattle insurance cover, workplace death compensation etc. The work of Seva Mandir has made people realize their rights and to take a stand for everything. Now the trained individuals from Seva Mandir have become key resources for the communities and they are encouraging the next generation as well. Apart from this, Seva Mandir keeps track of all latest schemes launched by the government of India and provide trainings accordingly.

Thank you so much for your continued support which has enabled us to keep supporting people in our villages.

Best wishes,

Atul Lekhra and the Seva Mandir Team

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