Private public participation for growth of Rural Inida

As we witness the BSP spending a few crores of Public Money for statues of Mayawati and now the party's anniversary, one is disturbed and there is a sense of hopelessness. A friend of mine says, "there is not willingness to change the ways".

I chanced to read a note about a small village in Karnataka, compiled by Usha Shetty, who is actually working at the grassroot level at the village. This is an eye opener. A way that many of the BSP type parties should use the funds for the betterment of India. Simple, yet practical.

Usha's Note:

Muthur: Past, Present & Future


Background:
Muthur village in Sidlaghatta Taluk of Chikballapur District has a population of 2,000 and the primary occupations here are sericulture, dairying, grape and other cultivation.

Muthur once nurtured a dream of all-round development under the stewardship of Sanjoy Das Gupta, the former Deputy Commissioner of Kolar District, which it was earlier a part of. He had taken great interest in the village and started the high school here, got the village tank de-silted, run regular medical camps and, among many other things, organized an agricultural fair in 1998, which is remembered to this day. With his untimely demise however, progress here came to a standstill. What we are attempting to do, since nearly 2 years, is a humble continuation of his work.

There has been no permanent professional medical facility within the village, the nearest Govt. PHC at Melur being 4 kms away, and the Govt. Hospital at Sidlaghatta 9 kms away. It is against a milieu such as this that we chose to focus our work in the area of health, apart from sanitation and environment.

Milestones Achieved:
• Since over a year now, doctors from the Community Medicine Dept. of Baptist Hospital, Bangalore have been making weekly visits to the village, spending a couple of hours providing valuable medical services.

• Two Dental camps (once with M S Ramaiah Dental College in September 2008 and once with V S Dental College in November 2009), Cataract Eye Treatment camps (with Globe Eye Foundation, Hoskote in August 2009 & Feb 2010) and a Cardiac camp (with Manipal Heart Foundation in November 2009) have been held. Most of these were sponsored by Rotary Club, Koramangala. The Bangalore chapter of the Indian Epilepsy Association performed a street play in June 2008 to create awareness about epilepsy.

• Mala, a resident of the village, was appointed as a medical worker and is getting trained by the Baptist team. Her salary for the entire year of 2009 has been sponsored by Praveen Shetty of Bangalore. He has generously opted to continue the sponsorship for 2010.

• “Pore Roga Rahita Grama” – Going one step higher to the Gram Panchayat level, an endeavour to create a cataract backlog free zone was launched on 6th of March 2010 in Mallur Gram Panchayat, which Muthur is a part of. Globe Eye Foundation, Hoskote (GEF) has begun work in the 4 villages coming under this Panchayat. Over a period of 2 months, two field workers trained by GEF will be going from door to door, identifying cataract patients and directing them to the hospital. The database created by them will enable tracking of cataract cases and their treatment, as they keep maturing in the future. This effort is the first of its kind in Karnataka.

• A Govt. subsidy scheme for biogas-based cooking stoves was implemented in January 2009 and fifteen households availed of the benefit.

• The village has been introduced to solar powered LED lights in February 2009, thanks to the munificence of Shrinivas Shetty, Director, Mysore Mercantile Co. Ltd. He donated one of the units manufactured by his company to the Primary & Middle School to facilitate evening Sanskrit shloka classes. (Conventional power supply is present but very erratic here.)

• A tree planting and sensitization drive was undertaken in the two village schools in August 2009. Janet Yegneswaran, of the NGO “Trees For Free”, not only gave 50 saplings to each school (consisting of lime, bitter lime, nellikai, nerale, neem, honge, akash mallige, gasgase, chekke, netropium, ticoma argentina, sampige, basavanapada, etc) but, as an active member of Rotary Koramangala, she was instrumental in arranging some medical camps for the village.

• A team from Nimhans De-addiction dept. conducted an awareness programme for children of both the schools in Muthur on the dangers of addiction and also had a session with the teachers on handling children with addiction.

• Donations from various individuals have enabled gifting of stationery materials, cricket and hockey equipment, and a telescope from Indian Institute of Astrophysics to both the schools.

• Apart from this, the villagers are also helped to approach the local administration with requests ranging from a pucca road to connect to Malloor to weekly visits by a Govt. veterinary doctor for their large livestock population.

The Road Ahead:
• A microfinance scheme to be worked out, through the Sthree Shakti groups in the village, to enable the villagers to buy solar based LED lights for their homes.

• Rainwater harvesting project: The High school has recently applied for a govt. subsidy for this (already implemented in the primary school); ideally to be implemented throughout the village.

• A civic education programme run by Bangalore-based NGO, Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) to be implemented in the high school from the coming academic year.

• Looking for donors for a public toilet facility

• The villagers are also expressing needs such as a water tank, a community hall, painting of the village schools, etc.

The Long View:
Increased health awareness and health insurance for all, efficient drainage, proper segregation & disposal of garbage, minimizing use of plastic, water conservation and afforestation, as well as increasing the use of alternative energy sources.