Foundation Course is like a marathon itself. You need to keep on moving and pushing yourself for a really really long time. We had not even recovered from the fatigue of the Athletics Meet and before we knew, we had boarded the train to our respective villages. Our sub-group of six was allocated Gram Panchayat Sohwal in the Rae Bareli district. On that train there were many other groups as well who were going to nearby districts. Our village visit started early, as we could only manage seats in the Sleeper coach and that too the first compartment from the washrooms. Oh, that strong smell of urea up your noses. And then the constant inflow of people who apparently think that an empty seat in the Sleeper Class is their Fundamental Right. Overall a good ice-breaking experience for all i guess.
The next day in the morning the train stopped at a station. When it stood there for like an hour or so, we decided to get down and find out. The moment we stepped down and read the name of the place, we pondered over the possibilities of all this being a conspiracy. It was Kakori railway station. When you are at such places of historic relevance, you tend to get these visuals of what happened here. And then these visuals shake you up real nice. Respect to all the revolutionaries of the freedom struggle. As our train crawled forward, we finally reached Rae Bareli junction around noon. At the station the local administration was there to receive us and they perhaps brought all the govt. vehicles of the district for our convenience.
As we moved across the city there were many wine shops which were captioned as "घनघोर महा ठंडी वियर " for crying out loud. Amusing. Soon after our lunch we were off to the DM's office for a briefing session which fortunately was also attended by all other functionaries of the district. It was perhaps also a monthly review meeting and we did get to learn few things. In his address, the DM gave a special mention to the KTP community and jokingly stated that it is for them that the others get to peace out. Amusing again. Post that all the subgroups started for their respective guest houses where they were supposed to stay for the rest of the visit.
Finally the other morning we started for our village Sohwal. Now the agenda for the first day was to meet all the stakeholders, do a transact walk through the entire village and to observe and analyze the basic statistics available about the village. Talking of the first impressions, as we moved into the narrow and dusty streets into the villages, it was all very dry, fewer people and malnutrition across ages. Children playing in the dust or rather left unattended alongside the road was common. They were probably wearing the school uniform which they collected on the only day they went to the school. As the procession of government vehicles passed by, they looked upon us. Perhaps with hope, perhaps a deja vu. They have seen this a million times. People come, people talk, people go. Nothing changes for them.
First stop, the Pradhan's residence. In fact, you cannot call that a residence. A palace of sorts when you compare it to the rest of the households throughout the village. Neatly dressed in white, he had a larger than life persona. But bigger than that was the gold chain that he was showing off. We were welcomed with numerous sweets and other delicacies. Everything so symbolic that within an instant we understood the political dynamics of the village panchayat. All the village functionaries were there and so were some of the block administration people as if this was the so called secretariat. After a quick briefing we started the transact walk exploring the resources and housing patterns throughout the village, the schools, the ponds, the dry fields, the lost faces and those very many condescending eyes. The better half of the day was spent understanding the village so that we could do some relevant work.
In the coming days we used many PLA techniques like Timeline Exercise, Problem Preference, Venn Diagram etc to analyze the issues pertaining to the villagers. Many pressing things came up which are alarming to the uninitiated. One of the things that shocked me to the core was the problem of drinking water. The only source for drinking water was the hand pump but the water it was dispensing was clearly yellowish which we got tested from the block JE and it was indeed extremely toxic as the fluoride levels were very high. You could actually see the effects especially in the children. Most of them had yellow teeth, brown hair and stunted growth. Many other people had issues with the underdevelopment of bones. They were not aware of this problem and had no knowledge of how to filter the water.
Secondly, in spite of having some toilets, the entire village indulged in open defecation. They felt that the amount which was provided by the govt to make the toilet was not sufficient and hence most people were hesitant as they had no money. Also, the issue of water unavailability made the whole idea of toilets redundant. Most of the villagers were using these toilets as changing room or as a place to store things. In the Swacha Bharat campaign that we conducted, we majorly focused on spreading awareness about open defecation. We targeted all the schools as it is easy to make the children understand. We organized a poster making competition and screened various educative films on cleanliness and hygiene by the UNICEF. It's such a joy to be among the children. Pure hearts.
Talking of schools, there is a major problem with the large number of vacancies for the posts of teacher. Also, the uneven deployment of teachers is also an issue. Somewhere we found 7 teachers and somewhere a single one was managing the entire school. Moreover, since the School Management committees (SMCs) are non functional mostly everywhere, the responsibility of Midday Meal, construction activities and maintenance comes upon the teachers. As a result they loose half of their teaching time which is a really unfortunate situation. In spite of having good teachers, the students cannot benefit because of the additional administrative responsibilities thrown upon them. Plus, the funds under various heads are not revised regularly which further multiplies the problems for the teachers.
Thirdly, no heed has been given to the issue of irrigation. It has been years since the canals have dried up and still there is no substitute for that. People are so destitute that almost no one has a pump. And even for those who have, the electricity plays hide and seek with them and seldom is there. Those having access to pumps and generators are even doing contract farming hinting that it's only the lack of resources which is stopping our farmers from reaping benefits and hence most of them end up doing subsistence farming. The per capital land share shows a dismal figure of around 1-2 bigha. Hardly enough for subsistence agriculture. Such scarcities even prevent them from doing Animal husbandry and other allied avenues thus resulting in large levels of unemployment.
All the people we came across were very simple and genuine. They were happy for the fact that at least someone is there to listen to their problems. But at times, it was difficult to listen to them. Especially knowing the fact that we can only listen and not do much about it. And they also knew this. It was like making fancy tables and charts from the miseries they face in life. I don't know what people mean when they ask me "Did you enjoy the village visit? Did you have fun?" How can one "enjoy" a village. Did you not see the extreme levels of poverty? Did you not see the fluoride contaminated water running down their veins? Did you not see the grief? Did you not see the frustration?
Yes, it was perhaps the most relevant part of the Foundation Course. The opportunity to understand them and their issues was unique and more such exposure visits should be conceptualized. At the end, we had a debriefing session with the DM where we presented the problems of the villages and our analysis. I hope some changes are made based on the suggestions. And I also hope that when we go to the field, we do remember what we saw in the villages, we do remember the administrative apathy they face and we do remember that we owe it to them.
Lastly as I feel the nostalgia of those village days, I remember this quote by Mahatma Gandhi " India's way is not Europe's; India is not Calcutta or Bombay. India lives in her seven hundred thousand villages".
The next day in the morning the train stopped at a station. When it stood there for like an hour or so, we decided to get down and find out. The moment we stepped down and read the name of the place, we pondered over the possibilities of all this being a conspiracy. It was Kakori railway station. When you are at such places of historic relevance, you tend to get these visuals of what happened here. And then these visuals shake you up real nice. Respect to all the revolutionaries of the freedom struggle. As our train crawled forward, we finally reached Rae Bareli junction around noon. At the station the local administration was there to receive us and they perhaps brought all the govt. vehicles of the district for our convenience.
As we moved across the city there were many wine shops which were captioned as "घनघोर महा ठंडी वियर " for crying out loud. Amusing. Soon after our lunch we were off to the DM's office for a briefing session which fortunately was also attended by all other functionaries of the district. It was perhaps also a monthly review meeting and we did get to learn few things. In his address, the DM gave a special mention to the KTP community and jokingly stated that it is for them that the others get to peace out. Amusing again. Post that all the subgroups started for their respective guest houses where they were supposed to stay for the rest of the visit.
Finally the other morning we started for our village Sohwal. Now the agenda for the first day was to meet all the stakeholders, do a transact walk through the entire village and to observe and analyze the basic statistics available about the village. Talking of the first impressions, as we moved into the narrow and dusty streets into the villages, it was all very dry, fewer people and malnutrition across ages. Children playing in the dust or rather left unattended alongside the road was common. They were probably wearing the school uniform which they collected on the only day they went to the school. As the procession of government vehicles passed by, they looked upon us. Perhaps with hope, perhaps a deja vu. They have seen this a million times. People come, people talk, people go. Nothing changes for them.
First stop, the Pradhan's residence. In fact, you cannot call that a residence. A palace of sorts when you compare it to the rest of the households throughout the village. Neatly dressed in white, he had a larger than life persona. But bigger than that was the gold chain that he was showing off. We were welcomed with numerous sweets and other delicacies. Everything so symbolic that within an instant we understood the political dynamics of the village panchayat. All the village functionaries were there and so were some of the block administration people as if this was the so called secretariat. After a quick briefing we started the transact walk exploring the resources and housing patterns throughout the village, the schools, the ponds, the dry fields, the lost faces and those very many condescending eyes. The better half of the day was spent understanding the village so that we could do some relevant work.
In the coming days we used many PLA techniques like Timeline Exercise, Problem Preference, Venn Diagram etc to analyze the issues pertaining to the villagers. Many pressing things came up which are alarming to the uninitiated. One of the things that shocked me to the core was the problem of drinking water. The only source for drinking water was the hand pump but the water it was dispensing was clearly yellowish which we got tested from the block JE and it was indeed extremely toxic as the fluoride levels were very high. You could actually see the effects especially in the children. Most of them had yellow teeth, brown hair and stunted growth. Many other people had issues with the underdevelopment of bones. They were not aware of this problem and had no knowledge of how to filter the water.
Secondly, in spite of having some toilets, the entire village indulged in open defecation. They felt that the amount which was provided by the govt to make the toilet was not sufficient and hence most people were hesitant as they had no money. Also, the issue of water unavailability made the whole idea of toilets redundant. Most of the villagers were using these toilets as changing room or as a place to store things. In the Swacha Bharat campaign that we conducted, we majorly focused on spreading awareness about open defecation. We targeted all the schools as it is easy to make the children understand. We organized a poster making competition and screened various educative films on cleanliness and hygiene by the UNICEF. It's such a joy to be among the children. Pure hearts.
Talking of schools, there is a major problem with the large number of vacancies for the posts of teacher. Also, the uneven deployment of teachers is also an issue. Somewhere we found 7 teachers and somewhere a single one was managing the entire school. Moreover, since the School Management committees (SMCs) are non functional mostly everywhere, the responsibility of Midday Meal, construction activities and maintenance comes upon the teachers. As a result they loose half of their teaching time which is a really unfortunate situation. In spite of having good teachers, the students cannot benefit because of the additional administrative responsibilities thrown upon them. Plus, the funds under various heads are not revised regularly which further multiplies the problems for the teachers.
Thirdly, no heed has been given to the issue of irrigation. It has been years since the canals have dried up and still there is no substitute for that. People are so destitute that almost no one has a pump. And even for those who have, the electricity plays hide and seek with them and seldom is there. Those having access to pumps and generators are even doing contract farming hinting that it's only the lack of resources which is stopping our farmers from reaping benefits and hence most of them end up doing subsistence farming. The per capital land share shows a dismal figure of around 1-2 bigha. Hardly enough for subsistence agriculture. Such scarcities even prevent them from doing Animal husbandry and other allied avenues thus resulting in large levels of unemployment.
All the people we came across were very simple and genuine. They were happy for the fact that at least someone is there to listen to their problems. But at times, it was difficult to listen to them. Especially knowing the fact that we can only listen and not do much about it. And they also knew this. It was like making fancy tables and charts from the miseries they face in life. I don't know what people mean when they ask me "Did you enjoy the village visit? Did you have fun?" How can one "enjoy" a village. Did you not see the extreme levels of poverty? Did you not see the fluoride contaminated water running down their veins? Did you not see the grief? Did you not see the frustration?
Yes, it was perhaps the most relevant part of the Foundation Course. The opportunity to understand them and their issues was unique and more such exposure visits should be conceptualized. At the end, we had a debriefing session with the DM where we presented the problems of the villages and our analysis. I hope some changes are made based on the suggestions. And I also hope that when we go to the field, we do remember what we saw in the villages, we do remember the administrative apathy they face and we do remember that we owe it to them.
Lastly as I feel the nostalgia of those village days, I remember this quote by Mahatma Gandhi " India's way is not Europe's; India is not Calcutta or Bombay. India lives in her seven hundred thousand villages".
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