RIs share experience of best practices

The participating institutes spoke on best practices implemented in their programmes. A few of the experiences shared at the convention:

Joy Daniel, Institute for Integrated Rural Development, Aurangabad: I learnt a few things in Ahmednagar where I was working with farmers. BT cotton is playing havoc with their lives. What is required now is self-sufficiency in crops. Seeds are produced by corporation. Seed storage is no more in the domain of the farmers. We are working with the farmers where they are making own fertilizers, selection and preservation of seeds. Over 4,000 farmers are practicingorganic methods of cultivation in Aurangabad. We are also training 4 to 5 women in composting manure and otheragricultural techniques. These are traditional methods. To market their produce we are holding Organic Bazars. Certification processes and methods are lopsided against the farmers, they favour only niche markets. Local certification should be evolved. Masonary is men’s domain. We are training women in masonary skills and they are working on par with men; not just as construction labourers but as skilled workers. Women are confident to build houses with a year’s of training.

Smt S N Fatima, Head, Institutional Programmes, Swami Vivekananda Institute for Leadership Development (Unit of Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement), Mysore: We are working for honing the skills of rural youth with vocational skills. We are making them aware of several health issues like HIV and AIDS. With our community development programme we are bringing a change in the parents’ perception on children’s education.

Prasad Das Gupta, Majhihira National Basic Educational Institution, Purulia, West Bengal: A student should be taught from his childhood. We took children right from the age of five and nurture them and give them Nai Talim education.

They become teachers after the basic education. Preparing teachers from the local resource gives us the best results. We are facing challenges in getting recognition for the primary education we provide. If NCRI can give recognition to institutions which are providing Nai Talim education, a lot can be achieved in rural areas.

Shri C Sitapati Rao, Institute of Resource Development and Social Management, AP: We found that to get 1 kg of rice, we are using 5,000 litres of water. Our mission is to optimise use of various water resources in a time period of 10 years. Work with our stake-holder, especially famers and promote farmer-centric approaches and rural development.

Shri John Shulman from National Law University, New Delhi: I was astonished the way television is having an impact on psyche of rural people. With such type of subtle messages, there is bound to be a conflict within the village and within the family. We are applying Gandhian philosophy for a conflict resolution in the villages and this is the best way to bring harmony in villages to undo the damage created by media..

Shri Sada Shiv Rao, Dhan Foundation, Tamil Nadu: We are running two institutions in Tamil Nadu promoting higher education among graduates with a two-year diploma course. We are providing a short-term course on research themes, natural resource management and theme bases. We have a one-year distance education programme in PR management and micro-planning in collaboration with IGNOU. We train children of SHGs women.

Shri Ramsubramaniam, Tribal Health Institute, Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu: We are providing skills to tribals in Sittlingi Valley, a remote village with very little accessibility. With our initiative we could reduce infant mortality to 20 per 1000 and no mothers dying in child birth till fifth year.

Dr Reghu Rama Das, Principal, Mitraniketan People’s College, Kerala: We have a unique college situated in Vellanad of Trivandram. Peoples’ College is based on Danish model of schooling. It is open for all. There’s no eligibility criteria to enter this college. We empower people. We are facing certification challenges.

Shri Ram Kumar, Suruchi Shikshana Vasahat Trust, Bardoli, Gujarat: Our’s is a technology-based organisation where we researched on the tools and implements used in the villages. With the technology we have, we improved 166 agricultural tools. All this is documented in vernacular language. We continuously train people in their areas of specialisation and make them rural resource persons.

Dr Sudhakar, Haritha Association for Learning from Environment, Palavancha, Khammam, AP: Played a video showing how technology can do wonders. A small contraption on a bicycle enables to grind idly dough for 50 people within a couple of minutes. Along with the conventional school curriculum we encourage children to get involved in various activities which will aid their learning process. One such example is that they cook food for the entire school on Teacher’s Day. We use bamboo to teach innovative methods of engineering to students. Innova-tion is not the prerogative of research institutes, it can come from schools in rural areas like ours.

Ms Archana Gojaime, People’s Institute of Rural Development, Latur, Maharashtra: With our efforts we are bringing back girl students into the education mode. We found that a number of girls who cross 18 years rarely get a chance to go for higher studies. Early marriage is one reason among several others. We are focused in arresting the dropout rate among girl students who have a tendency to discontinue higher studies.

Dr A S Chauhan, REWA, Madhya Pradesh: We promote modern arts, traditional cultivation, social forestry. We create awareness of new technology and promote more cultivation of medicinal plants and poor man’s grain ragi. With low-cost technology we extract milk from soyabean and process the milk to make paneer which has high nutritive value. This is good for diabetic patients and children. Women get employment opportunities in making pickles, fruit pulp making and preservation of the pulp.

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