It Takes A Child To Raise A Village!
And you are the child that can raise the quality of life in a village. There are millions of people out there spending countless hours playing games like SimCity and Civilization. If even a fraction of them would get off the computer and try to do something meaningful in real life instead, it can really change things. Almost everybody would agree that he would like the world to be a better place, but they feel there is very little they can do to help. It is not just about paucity of resources – after all, if people do have the time and money to play SimCity, they can channel the same enthusiasm into improving the lives of real people. So, why don’t they? I think people are intimidated by the uncertainties, lack of rules, and unmanageable complexity of real life. However challenging games are they are bound by rules, thus providing a haven from the method-less madness of real life. And I believe that the single biggest reason why people do not do something that they do consider worthwhile is that they feel they will not be able to make a difference. The perceived futility of quixotic tilting at the windmills of politics, corruption, vested interests, and public apathy, naturally leads to cynical self-disbelief.
If we can come up with a model which would allow an individual or a group or a corporation to make a difference, I am sure they would feel sufficiently motivated to do their utmost. In a typical scenario, I see a person, born and brought up in a poor little village, who has made it in life and is earning big bucks in a big metro or abroad. He is concerned about the lack of resources and the poor quality of life in his village and even sends regular contributions to his extended family back home or to the mosque there. He would like to do more, but does not know what more he can do to help other than to just send more money. We need to come up with a fishing net instead of just more fish. It is much better to empower the people of the village and have them take care of their own problems with a little push start. The key items in improving life would be health, education, and economy. While it is certainly possible to donate for improving health and education, it is probably better to just kick-start the economy and use the resources from that for tackling health, education and other social issues. Only a self-sustaining model would have any chance for long-term success. The best thing for the sponsor would be to ‘adopt the village’, and working with a co-ordinator and a group of concerned and competent people in the village, come up with a plan that would improve the economy there. One way would be to set up a major plant like cement, sugar, auto ancillary, etc. Another way is to promote a specialized cottage or handicraft industry like silk, handloom, toys, brassware, woodworking, etc. Or they can apply the Amul model to food processing, fish farming, beekeeping, etc. Or, if at all possible, they could push the envelope and specialize in a service sector. India has a long tradition of villages specializing in producing a labour-intensive handicraft product, but these industries have generally faded with the advent of mass produced imported substitutes. But with a bit of tweaking, the original model can still be a successful template.
One reason to pick villages for this is to help balance the phenomenal urban economic development of recent times. Software Development, Information Technology, Call Centres, Bio-Technology, and more are rapidly converting India into an economic powerhouse, but beneath the veneer of rising per capita incomes, and ostentation affluence, the chasm between the urban haves and the rural have-nots is ever widening. This leads to a mass influx of rural labour to the cities and all sorts of resultant problems – economical, social, cultural, ecological, etc. Operation Flood and the Green Revolution, among others, have made significant contributions to rural development, but much more needs to be done to attempt parity with the galloping urban growth. The establishment needs to make a genuine attempt to achieve a stable, balanced growth across all sections of the society – economic, geographical, cultural, and social – and utilise all its resources optimally, in order to have a peaceful and prosperous India.
The ‘Raise A Village’ organization would need to perform three key (though catalytic) functions – find sponsors and raise funds, provide technical and business expertise for various projects, and liaise with various levels of government for the necessary clearances and possible benefits and subsidies – in addition to assembling and co-ordinating the village team. It would be up to the village itself to do the real work, but the sponsor would be able to provide funds, expertise, influence, export markets, or whatever it takes to keep the project going. Pick your village – they are going fast!
And you are the child that can raise the quality of life in a village. There are millions of people out there spending countless hours playing games like SimCity and Civilization. If even a fraction of them would get off the computer and try to do something meaningful in real life instead, it can really change things. Almost everybody would agree that he would like the world to be a better place, but they feel there is very little they can do to help. It is not just about paucity of resources – after all, if people do have the time and money to play SimCity, they can channel the same enthusiasm into improving the lives of real people. So, why don’t they? I think people are intimidated by the uncertainties, lack of rules, and unmanageable complexity of real life. However challenging games are they are bound by rules, thus providing a haven from the method-less madness of real life. And I believe that the single biggest reason why people do not do something that they do consider worthwhile is that they feel they will not be able to make a difference. The perceived futility of quixotic tilting at the windmills of politics, corruption, vested interests, and public apathy, naturally leads to cynical self-disbelief.
If we can come up with a model which would allow an individual or a group or a corporation to make a difference, I am sure they would feel sufficiently motivated to do their utmost. In a typical scenario, I see a person, born and brought up in a poor little village, who has made it in life and is earning big bucks in a big metro or abroad. He is concerned about the lack of resources and the poor quality of life in his village and even sends regular contributions to his extended family back home or to the mosque there. He would like to do more, but does not know what more he can do to help other than to just send more money. We need to come up with a fishing net instead of just more fish. It is much better to empower the people of the village and have them take care of their own problems with a little push start. The key items in improving life would be health, education, and economy. While it is certainly possible to donate for improving health and education, it is probably better to just kick-start the economy and use the resources from that for tackling health, education and other social issues. Only a self-sustaining model would have any chance for long-term success. The best thing for the sponsor would be to ‘adopt the village’, and working with a co-ordinator and a group of concerned and competent people in the village, come up with a plan that would improve the economy there. One way would be to set up a major plant like cement, sugar, auto ancillary, etc. Another way is to promote a specialized cottage or handicraft industry like silk, handloom, toys, brassware, woodworking, etc. Or they can apply the Amul model to food processing, fish farming, beekeeping, etc. Or, if at all possible, they could push the envelope and specialize in a service sector. India has a long tradition of villages specializing in producing a labour-intensive handicraft product, but these industries have generally faded with the advent of mass produced imported substitutes. But with a bit of tweaking, the original model can still be a successful template.
One reason to pick villages for this is to help balance the phenomenal urban economic development of recent times. Software Development, Information Technology, Call Centres, Bio-Technology, and more are rapidly converting India into an economic powerhouse, but beneath the veneer of rising per capita incomes, and ostentation affluence, the chasm between the urban haves and the rural have-nots is ever widening. This leads to a mass influx of rural labour to the cities and all sorts of resultant problems – economical, social, cultural, ecological, etc. Operation Flood and the Green Revolution, among others, have made significant contributions to rural development, but much more needs to be done to attempt parity with the galloping urban growth. The establishment needs to make a genuine attempt to achieve a stable, balanced growth across all sections of the society – economic, geographical, cultural, and social – and utilise all its resources optimally, in order to have a peaceful and prosperous India.
The ‘Raise A Village’ organization would need to perform three key (though catalytic) functions – find sponsors and raise funds, provide technical and business expertise for various projects, and liaise with various levels of government for the necessary clearances and possible benefits and subsidies – in addition to assembling and co-ordinating the village team. It would be up to the village itself to do the real work, but the sponsor would be able to provide funds, expertise, influence, export markets, or whatever it takes to keep the project going. Pick your village – they are going fast!
posted by Riaz at 3:37 PM
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