Eradication of poverty and upliftment of villages

I find that lots of people, especially students and youth are offering their voluntary services to social organizations, which in turn are involved in the development of villages and in uplifting the poor. Volunteers from US, Australia and Europe visit India, the South Asian countries and the African countries to better the standards of living of the poor. Even in India, good lot of people from the top bracket are offering their services, timewise, moneywise or both to better the conditions of poor, especially children and women.

One of the major reasons for the villages lagging behind is the disparity in pay scales for the same job between a village and a town, a town and a city, a city and a metro, and a metro and a destination in a developed country. Thus if a villager gets $2 per day for a job, the wages are $3-4 in a town, $5 in a city, $6-8 in a metro, $10-12 in metros of top bracket and $40-80 in a developed country, that is 20 to 40 times that of a villager.

But, when it comes to buying an item by a villager, the product being manufactured somewhere else, costs more in a village, than say in a metro of top bracket. Thus, compared to his counterpart in a top bracket Metro, the villager pays 5 or 6 times more relatively. He is penalized here. This holds good for hospital expenses, education expenses, consumer goods, or even agricultural inputs, though many of the agricultural inputs are given at subsidized rates by the government. Where will the poor villager go?? Most of the items mentioned above have become essential items nowatimes.

Adding to these woes is the rampant alcoholism prevalent in the villages.

Making the villages computer savvy and linking these villages to other villages as well as to the world at large by internet is one good way of improving the income of the people. They will get better price for their produce which in turn will percolate down to the income of every one. For example, the price of an egg at Namkkal, a town in Tamilnadu is seen as a benchmark in the country.

Even at village level, all over India, the parents and the children are for good education for the children. Knowledge of English and knowledge of computer are becoming a must, that even the school drop outs attend the classes regularly, when the classes on these subjects are taken by some agency. Thus a good road linking the village to the outside world and an SMU vehicle to take these children to the schools and colleges nearby will be of great help. These vans can also be used to commute a patient to nearby hospital in an emergency. Even commuting the workers to nearby towns and cities to help them earn better wages may be thought of.

Local skills and attractions may be marketted to bring extra income to the people. People may act as guides in tourist locations in the villages or nearby. They also can market their produce there, which is happening already in most places. The NGOs may pitch in here to professionalize the business for the villager, where possible, so that the villager gets better value for his product or service. Local skills may be utilized to manufacture handicrafts, wherein an eye for the market is constantly kept. Thus the popular, modern and the new replace the existing ones. As example the food plates and cups made of leaves of some plants and trees are gaining popularity, especially with plastics shunned by people. These can be produced in large scale as cottage industry and supplied to the hotels and catering people in big way!

Educate the people to give off their addiction to alcohol. Industries may be found if they don't pollute the atmosphere, water bodies or the surroundings. Solar energy and wind energy may be encouraged in villages so that they get 24 hours uninterrupted cheap power supply. Utilize the Mahathma Gandhi National Rural employment Guarantee Schemes properly to improve the infrastructure in the villages, and the amenities and facilities. Form Self help groups especially of women.

Not that any of these ideas are new. Kuthambakkam village in Tamilnadu developed by Mr.Ilango Rangasami stands as an example. When I typed 'Ilango' in google search, somewhere it instructed me to type 'Ilango Rangasamy' or 'Kuthambakkam' to know about the developments in this village. When I typed 'Ilango Ramasamy', the very first web article nri-home-coming.com/LessonsFromKuthambakkamOct18Chicago.pdf gave much better write up on this topic than I can ever do. The article also gives the names of the developed villages in India, Ralegaon Siddhi near Pune (by Anne Hazare), Alwar and Neembi in Rajastan (by Rajendar Singh), Kuthambakkam (by Ilango), Nagarasu in Uttaranchal (Anil Joshi), Vanarai in Maharashtra (by Mohan Dharia), Sagroli in Maharashtra, Vizag area villages (Parameshwar Rao). A reading of the article throws up many interesting details and also an in depth look into the village development. The other articles may also throw up many more details.