The Fellowship program is under process. The nominations for fellowship have been invited and soon the applicaitons will be scrutinized. However, we would like to share a story of a village leader to our partners just to give a sense of what a village leader is and what makes these leaders special? We will keep you updated about the prgress. Thank You
The Gram Vikas Committees (GVC) or the village development committee of village Ushan has now been able to resolve local conflicts on its own. They even deposited the benefits earned from the fodder of the common pasture land into their GVK...
There was a small piece of common pastureland in village Ushan, which was lying barren and was being used for open grazing. Years ago the Panchayat (the Government local council of village) had built a fence around the land.
Later, a few influential people of the village broke the fence for their cattle’s grazing. Eventually the entire fence was broken all over. The village wanted to put the common pastureland for good use for everyone. People had to buy fodder from outside at expensive prices and so they wanted to restore their pastureland. In several village meetings the issue was discussed. The Gram Vikas Committee (GVC) decided to restore their pastureland with the support from Seva Mandir.
The task of restoration included building the fence (to check the open grazing), planting trees, growing grass but most importantly ‘dealing with the encroachments’. The GVC had several meeting with the influential families of the village. Most of these meetings proved futile and the village could not move ahead. However, the GVC did not give up and explained to these families the common benefit behind their initiative.
Finally when the village got success in removing the encroachments the work began with building the fence. Some local trees were planted and grass seeds were sown. The village has been able to harvest grass worth Rs. 700/- this year.
Suni who is the member of GVC, Ushan says- “It was very difficult to ask the encroachers to withdraw from the land. It took months to our GVC to persuade them to cooperate with us. Since the pastureland is so new the production of fodder has been limited this year. And so we have sold the grass and the money has been deposited to our Gram Vikas Kosh (Village Development Fund). The people are happy in the village. The influential families don’t bother us”.
In the last quarter from October to December 2007 we have been able to get over 1200 children completely immunized. Over 500 expecting mothers have also been immunized in over 600 immunization camps...
Sauli lives in village Badanga, Rajasthan in India:
Sauli lives with her husband Kamal Lal and two daughters in village Badanga. Kamal has migrated to Udaipur City (22 kms from his village) for wage-labor. Sauli stays at home to look after her daughters and works on her agriculture farm when needed.
Her elder daughter Pushpa is now three years old and Bharti is three months. In Seva Mandir-run Immunization Camps Bharti has received three shots so far. When the camp started Pushpa’s immunization was incomplete and so Pushpa was given rest of the shots at Seva Mandir-run Camps. Sauli is very happy to be able to get her daughters immunized because the Government health care facilities are quite far from her village.
Sauli says –“ I come to the Immunization Camps and all my other friends in the village also come to these camps for getting their children immunized. Earlier the Government Nurse used to come to our village. But she was very irregular and her visits were uncertain. I like Seva Mandir Camps. Because the camps are regular and are held close to our homes.”
