A Model for Rural India

Organization: Trust for Village Self-Governance
Area of Focus: Comprehensive Rural Development
Location: Kuthambakkam, Chennai district, Tamil Nadu
Email: panchayat@yahoo.com
Website: www.modelvillageindia.org

Born and brought up in Kuthumbakam, a small village outside Chennai, Rangasamy Elango had always dreamed of the world beyond. After excelling in school he subsequently moved to Chennai to pursue a prestigious engineering degree, thus becoming the first person to leave the village for higher education. Soon after graduating, he found a comfortable government job in Chennai, where he married and settled down. Yet throughout his comfortable years in the city, the thought of his poverty-stricken village never left Elango’s mind. The decisive moment, Elango knew, came when the government introduced a new Panchayat scheme in 1996 to promote village self-governance. Though all around him thought he was crazy, he decided to quit his job, move back to the village and contest the elections. Since then, as Panchayat Leader, Elango has transformed the village. His unique income-generation, renewable energy and community projects have not only turned the life of his fellow villagers around, but the village has become a model for villages around the country.

When Elango first became Panchayat President, Kuthumbakkam village resembled most villages across India. The scenario: hand-to-mouth subsistence for many villagers, village highly divided on caste-lines, a large percentage of unemployed young workers, alcoholism and illicit activities, very little infrastructure (thatch huts, no paved roads, lack of running water and electricity) as well as a large degree of social discontent and violence.

Elango’s Vision as Panchayat Leader
a) To eliminate hunger and create a self-reliant, self-sustainable village economy in which all the able-bodied had employment opportunities and people developed pride and confidence in their skills and in the village.

b) To provide resources for locally-made products to be value-added to the highest possible degree within the village so that wealth generated stays with the villagers.

c) To provide a model for the development of the rest of rural India, by creating and demonstrating solutions in his own village.

Elango’s Work

Elango began by establishing infrastructure in the village. The first few years were spent in obtaining government funding, to pave roads, provide water and electricity. Elango also waged a difficult battle to obtain the confidence of the villagers and get them to abstain from illicit and violent activities. Once he had the attention and respect of the villagers, they were mobilized into providing manpower and material resources for the development of the village. Now, 7 years later, water, electricity, roads and drainage systems are in place.

My Visit to Village, December 16th 2004

My first stop in the village was the village primary school. Children nearly fell out of their seats to greet Elango, who has made it a point to address students and give them motivating talks as often as he can. The past few years has seen more and more children attending schools in the village. A government-funded lunch program is also in place. While driving through, the difference between the Panchayat roads and State roads (which cross through the city) was all-too apparent: state roads, supposedly ‘maintained’ by the State, were pothole-ridden, unpaved, and very difficult to navigate. In contrast, the Panchayat roads were all concrete and well-paved.

In contrast to most villages across India, all houses in the village were pucca instead of thatched. The emphasis placed on providing pucca housing structures not only makes for safer and reliable housing for villagers, but also has succeeded in building pride among villagers. They are now more motivated to keep their homes, and even areas outside their homes, clean and well-maintained. Each house also had an enclosed outdoor toilet with an attached bathing area. This has revolutionized sanitation as previously, all villagers used the open fields. Elango has also implemented a government-supported housing scheme to reduce caste barriers. This project provides a system of twin-housing to homeless villagers. We visited one such compound in which an upper-caste Hindu family lived peacefully immediately next door to a dalit (‘untouchable’ caste). Each housing unit was well-equipped which incentivized villagers to participate in this scheme.

We then visited an area with a body of water which Elango is attempting to transform into a park. He is employing villagers to help clean up the area, plant trees and level the land. This is a new project and will probably take a few years.

Elango then took us to a newly-established Community Center, which was a spacious, open hall. It was equipped with a stage, dining hall and a few living areas for visitors. The purpose behind this area was to provide a forum for cultural and leisure activities for the villagers. Such a community space is mostly uncommon in Indian villages. What was most astounding about this center was the fact that it was constructed using only locally-procured, eco-friendly building materials. The structure was made of unburnt brick. Elango engineered the casting, villagers created the bricks from the local earth. They were chosen to be unburnt so as to save fuel. The building was designed by the villlage people (though they had to struggle with the government to allow their design).

We next went to the Technology Resource Center, which was inaugurated on December 14^th 2004. These are the grounds on which Elango’s ground-breaking ideas are incubated. One of the spaces serves as the Panchayat Academy. The recently-launched Academy was started in order to disseminate the lessons from this village to other motivated village leaders. Another space holds a variety of equipment: groundnut dehusking equipment (manually powered); urad dal splitting/dehusking unit (using very little electricity); a steam-powered milk-pasteurizer; 2 oil-generating machines. Not only is each device eco-friendly and labor-intensive (thus utilizing the abundance of labor), but also the ‘waste’ generated will be used in another form. For example, the residue of the oil machines combined with the residue from the dal-dehuskers will be used as cattle feed. He plans to utilize the groundnut husks to produce cakes which can be sold and used as fuel.

The last structure is the site of a ‘laboratory’ where much of the inventing is taking place. In order to save electricity, Elango has fashioned street-lights and domestic-lighting systems, utilizing Philips energy-saving bulbs, which save about 70% of the energy of conventional lights. The casing and material for these bulbs are all locally produced. He hopes to be able to sell these commercially soon. Elango is also creating a manual energy-generating device, which can provide employment as well as reduce energy-consumption. He has also mobilized Women’s Self-Help groups and other villagers to produce jute bags and high-quality herbal soaps, both of which are ideal export material. We saw a large number of these bags which will be exported to Switzerland to be used as wine-bottle bags.

Elango’s Need

a) Funding: Because he is building these potential income-generating activites from the ground-up, Elango is constantly seeking funding. He spends a great deal of time writing proposals, and building an extensive network of people both in India and abroad. The most pressing need of the hour is a metal pressing unit for which he has been able to obtain partial funding but needs to raise the remainder urgently.

b) Volunteers can help in any development activites: from fundraising, to publicity, to strategizing, or helping with developing specific projects.