Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970121064629.00a744f0@ilhawaii.net> Date: Tue, 21 Jan 1997 06:46:31 -1000 From: Jay Hanson <mailto:jhanson@ILHAWAII.NET> Subject: Fwd: Gandhi is Alive To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
I wrote:> It follows that a cooperative (non-exploitive) community can only
> be sustained under authoritarian government.
This is one kind of government that I had in mind. It sounds like a direct democracy under moral authority ("liquor has been banished").
They seem to have kicked the "exploitation" habit. I am going to have to learn more about them.
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Friends: Thought you may be interested in the following success story and a genuine model of development. Shall be glad to explain terms if so desired. Shall also be glad if you can pass it on to other like minded lists. Thanks. romesh
Gandhi is alive in Ralegaon Siddhi: Meet shri Anna Hazare
Ralegaon siddhi, about 85 kilometers from Pune, lies in the drought-prone area of Maharashtra, with rainfall of about 15 inches a year; for the last two years it was less than six inches. The total land of the village is about 2, 200 acres. Of this about 1, 700 acres is arable. The soil is of poor quality, the land undulating so that water runs off quickly. Twenty years ago only about 70 to 80 acres were irrigated through wells. The village was destitute : about a fifth of the families ate just once a day; half to two-thirds borrowed grain from other villages at a high cost. There was little work in the village. Men went outside to earn a pittance breaking stones; women suffered prostitution. Family after family was in debt. A major proportion of the land had been mortgaged to money-lenders. With no other source of income, people had taken to manufacturing liquor : there were 35 to 40 liquor stills. Drunkenness was common; and with it came feuds and crime, specially against women. The village had a temple around the samadhi of "Yadavbaba." It had broken down. The wood from it had been used as firewood in the liquor stills. After liquor, a good part of the meager earnings of these people went up in tobacco smoke; the sale of tobacco products was around 60,000 Rupees. A few village wells were still useable. These were major sources of disease and illnesses. 90 per cent of the families were stricken by abdominal ailments. Child mortality was high. It was to this village that Anna Hazare returned 17 years ago.
The temple was the first thing to be repaired. Today it is the hub of every activity of the village Anna Hazare himself lives in a little room to one side of this temple, and it was here that he conducted his fast. The temple, wood from which had been taken for firing the liquor stills, today houses a "Grain Bank." Any family in need can borrow grain from this Bank. It must repay it with a little "interest", for the village has decided that things obtained free are not valued. The "Bank" started with the growth of community spirit. The village resolved that every family which had surplus grain should contribute, and the assessment was done by the villagers themselves. There has not been one case of a family having "defaulted" on the "loan" for they all know that they are borrowing from themselves. The village is run by an elected all-woman panchayat and decisions are taken by the entire village sitting together in the Gram Sabha.
Water is systematically harvested today; by percolation tanks, by check dams, by wells being recharged.Of the 1700 odd acres of arable land, 1100 to 1200 acres are under irrigation. Today three crops are grown. The village now produces crops worth Rupees 50 to 60 lakhs.The results are what others would scarcely dream of. The village in which a fifth of the families got no more than one meal a day, now markets vegetables, grain, milk. While neighboring villages waits for the Government tanker to bring drinking water, Ralegaon has enough not just for everyone in the village but also for the hundreds who troop into the village every day to see the wonder which has been wrought there.
Today there is not one liquor still. In fact, liquor has been banished from the village. The people took a vow not to touch the stuff. Not a single shop in the village sells cigarettes, not even the bidi. In 1987 the entire village resolved to rid itself of tobacco and its addiction. They purchased all the tobacco and tobacco products in the village shops and burnt these at the Holi festival instead of the wood.
These achievements are only a tip. The very way of life and relationships within the village have been transformed beyond recognition. Twenty years ago, the village was riven by disputes, due to poverty and addictions. Today every family contributes voluntary labour of one adult every week. Almost everything new that one sees has been built and accomplished by community labour. Between 3 to 4 lakh trees have been planted. Families and individuals have adopted these and they look after them on their own. Community effort has lifted the poorest, specially Harijans. They were deep in debt. By community effort the productivity of their lands was raised, and the debts paid off. Does any one know of any fellow who shout in the name of dalits having done anything even remotely similar ? For the last 17 years the village has been marrying its boys and girls in community marriages. These are held every three or four months.Youth volunteers assist the parents in preparing estimates, in shopping, in making sure that no family is fleeced by demands for dowry etc. Parents contribute about Rs. 1300 to 1400 for the marriage and the meals etc. The village has bought items needed each time: shamiyanas, utensils, the loudspeakers. Couples of all castes and creeds are married together. There is no distinction. Each ceremony is kept to the simplest. The precise ritual to be followed is tailored to suit the traditions of each family.
Buildings worth over 35 lakhs have been constructed, including a school of 18 rooms, and a Yadavbaba Hostel which accommodates 150 students.What is taught has been overhauled. Those who get degrees, Anna Hazare says, leave our villages, those who acquire a specialization leave our country. And so instead of gearing up the students for a "degree-factory", the school is viewed as a Jeevan Shiksha Mandir - a temple that prepares them for life. Children get up at 5.30 every morning. They go for a run in a play-ground which the village has prepared. From 6 A.M. there is a physical training. A retired ex-serviceman takes their parade. The children have planted over 50,000 trees. They run a plant nursery, and prepare around a lakh of saplings every year for sale. Children from all over Maharashtra who have dropped out of schools are eligible. "The S.S.C. results of these students have been between 80 to 90 per cent," Anna Hazare reports, "and some students have secured as high as 82-85 per cent marks also. These students are good at school sports and bag a third of all the prizes in the tehsil level competitions." The village school has been rated at the top in regard to small savings in Ahmednagar district. A technical school is in the works.
It is not surprising that hundreds of people from all over the country come to see this development miracle. And all this has been achieved by two decades of dedication of shri Anna Hazare who came from a poor family in debt, took an early retirement from the army as a truck driver, inpsired by Swami Vivekananda's dictum,"The purpose of life is to serve others." while in a depression state, is following in Mahatma Gandhi's footsteps. He learnt from Gandhi ji to never preach without practice. To gain people's trust, one's conduct has to be beyond doubt. That is what Gita's sholak about shauchi is all about. One would think that serving others is obviously a "good" thing. Yet such social service involves helping people to get rid of their exploitation. This is most threatening to all officialdom, of the market and state, because both systems depend on such exploitation. After all, the government and the individuals are powerful becuase they represent the system while Hazare want to change it; no, uproot this existing order. The functionaries of the exploitive system - political leaders, bureaucrats, journalists, etc. - will find every possible means to stop them. Since shauchi is his strength, these functionaries try to dig, or manufacture, some dirt on him. This may now be in store for Shri Anna Hazare.
[Adapted from Arun Shourie's two columns:" The Living Treasure" and "Have you seen the deranged- abosrbed themselves?" romesh diwan]
Romesh Diwan, Professor of Economics Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180 mailto:diwanr@rpi.edu
Jay