Empowering Villages in Rural India

Strong village institutions are the nucleus for all of Seva Mandir’s work. For around 50 years, Seva Mandir has slowly built its alternative village governments into spaces where people are able to participate actively and ethically in the decisions which affect their lives. Our 582 Village Development Forums and 650 Village Development Funds manage local development projects, co-fund projects and act as pressure groups on the state. At a deeper level, they build community ownership of the development process, unite communities and ensure the long-term sustainability of Seva Mandir’s work. One such example is that of Bhamti village which is located in Udaipur district in Rajasthan, India. Seva Mandir’s association with Bhamti began in late 1980s after which a lot of interventions were gradually taken up as village development activities by Seva Mandir. These include pastureland development, water harvesting structure, soil and water conservation, agriculture activities, preschool centre and non formal education centres. They have a village development fund of Rs. 12 Lakhs (approx. $ 18,400) out of which around 10 lakhs (approx. $15,300) are in fixed deposit account.

There are 258 resident households. Most of the population comprises of farmers with small landholdings mainly dependent on rainfed agriculture. Major crops include maize, wheat and pulses like pigeon pea (locally called as tuar). Usually most of the agriculture produce is for self consumption. However, in the recent years, Seva Mandir’s interventions in Bhamti have resulted in better ground water situations and now some farmers have started taking up tuar on bigger scale and selling off some production of their tuar to the local markets. But there have been difficulties in individual selling of the produce due to the heavy transportation charges as well as the discrepancies in rate by the shrewd traders. So the village development committee in Bhamti decided to do collective marketing of tuar this year using their village development fund.

They took full responsibility for the marketing and started procurement in January 2017. After searching all beneficial options in nearest Markets and traders they found that the rates of tuar lentil mill (another Seva Mandir’s initiative) situated in Kotra block was higher than other nearby options. Hence they decided that they will purchase tuar from individual farmers at local market rate and sell it to the lentil mill. Hence, the price difference will also meet out the related costs including labour and transportation while the remaining amount i.e. the net profit will be deposited into the village development fund thus leading to income in common fund along with benefitting the farmers at village level.

A total of 5,118 kgs. of tuar was procured by the village development committee alone at the local rate of Rs. 38 per kg and sold at the rate of Rs. 40.5 per kg. Farmers also now feel contented and confident that they have received a good price within their own village and payments with full transparency and accountability. This story is a good example of Seva Mandir’s continuous efforts on ensuring social as well as financial stability at village levels. 

We would like to thank you so much for letting us meet our commitments at the field.  All this has been possible due to your consistent support and trust in us.

We would love to hear from you. For any feedback / suggestions, please write to me at atul.lekhra@sevamandir.org

Remember, together we can make a difference for these villages.

Thank you

Atul Lekhra and Seva Mandir Team

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