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If you were to plan a trip across Maharashtra, visiting & understanding social upliftment / reform work done by people / organizations, which would be the places / people you would visit? I intend to plot these on a Google map < http://j.mp/MhSocialMap > & evaluate the feasibility, value & cost of such a non-profit trip. The participants would travel across Maharashtra & spend a day or so at each place. The key requirement is that there should be people at each project who have driven the thing and can share their learning, insights & experience. I have added the well-known ones 1) Hemalkasa (Amte) 2) Anandwan (Amte) 3) Ralegan Siddhi (Hazare) 4) Dr. Bang (Gadchiroli) 5) Muktangan (Awachat) Suggestions please. Also would be good if you could comment on whether such a trip would interest you. Thanks, Harshad
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Harshad, There are a number of ways to address this question - geographically and issue wise depending on the area of interest.. I will try go regionally.. and touch some of the spots where there have been interesting experiences & experiments leaving you to do the classification and plotting :-) Here goes.. Mumbai PRATHAM (for its experiments on early education. most of the work is with the municipal schools in Mumbai) North Konkan (Thane and Raigad) Shramajeevi Sanghatana & Vidhayak Sansad (Vasai, Thane for their work on tribal rights) Shoshit jan Andolan (Raigad) for tribal land rights and more recently the fight against SEZ land grabbing South Konkan (Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg) Matrumandir at Devrukh - communityhealth, agriculture and watershed. Western Maharashtra Appropriate Rural Technology Institute, Pune - self explanatory Vanchit Vikas - pune - children and women Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR), Ahmednagar - self explanatory Shramajeevi janata sahhayyak Mandal, Satara - land&water rights, economic development etc Yerala Projects Society, Sangli - ecomonic development, housing, agriculture, knowledge Community Rural health project - Jamkhed, Ahmednagar - self explanatory Hivre Bazaar, Ahmednagar - this is a village not an agency.. Slightly different approach from Anna Hazare. Marathwada Manavi Hakka Abhiyaan - Telgaon, Beed - caste Based human rights Marathwada Sheti Sahayyak Mandal Aurangabad / Jalna - agriculture Institute of health management, Pachod, Aurangabad Vidarbha Amhi Amchya Arogyasaathi - Kurkheda, Gadachiroli Shramik Elgar, Gadachiroli - tribal & labour rights Leka Mendha, Gadachiroli - tribal rights (this is not an organisation but a village) Chetana Vikas, Wardha - agriculture, education Khadesh VACHAN - Nasik, Health and land rights Hope this is useful.. There are a few others.. Just a suggestion - Most of these organisations, especially ones you have already identified, get a lot of visitors. I am all for people visiting such areas but feel that the purpose of the visit should not be restricted to 'tourism'. Always preferable that the visitor have a clear idea of what to take away AND what to contribute... Makarand Thanks a lot Makarand. The purpose is to learn from the experience. I am not sure if we can put down any definite takeaways, but just the visit & the experience should provide participants a better understanding of society & their role in it. From my experience I think that I come out more enriched from every interaction with a social reformer / change agent, even though I might not actually do anything in particular. But yes, your point is valid, it definitely cannot be looked upon as tourism. Will explore the various orgs you have mentioned.
(03 Jan '11, 05:36)
Harshad Oak
BTW should I look at the listed organizations as recommendations based on your personal knowledge / interaction? Now reading http://makarandimpressions.wordpress.com/about/:)
(03 Jan '11, 05:39)
Harshad Oak
yes harshad... You may take them as recommendations.. I have myself visited and had interactions with the founders / workers in ALL these organisations (in some cases the interactions have been sustained over many years)..
(03 Jan '11, 06:08)
Makarand 1
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Hivre Gao or Hivre Bazaar, located in Ahmednagar taluka, is a great example & case study for social upliftment, Women upliftment, Alcohol Eridication and 100% poverty eradication from the village. Just to give you a background, this was a village with 100% poverty level & people addicted to alcohol etc. and was truly a backward place with zero development 10 years ago. This all changed and Hivre gao has now won the title of 'Adarsha Goa' in Maharashtra and they also have managed to create a brand known as Hivre Bazaar where they sell all the yearly produce there. It would also be of interest to meet the Man who was a major contributor to this change, Popatrao Pawar, who is an mcom himself, he was also a national cricket player. But he decided to give-up his cricket career & a very good job in the bank and returned to his village and became the 'sarpanch' of this village. Link I found on google regarding this story: http://www.rainwaterharvesting.org/rural/Hirve.htm Thanks. BTW Popatrao Pawar was on Great Bhet on IBN Lokmat yday. The video shld be up on http://ibnlokmat.tv/ soon
(03 Jan '11, 09:01)
Harshad Oak
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I have been to all the places you have mentioned and apart from work done by Prakash Amte, not much has impressed me. I suggest talking to people from Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram. VKA is often neglected in news/media as it is a RSS supported organization. But kind of work these guys are doing in remote tribal areas across Maharashtra is very useful. I will suggest visiting Peth/Surgana/Kalwan where VKA is active and works with tribes for education, healthcare and social rights. In eastern maharashtra, Gadchiroli, it is a bit dangerous there, but if you know people, should not be a problem. Wardha - Sevagram ashram and its staff do lot of work in wardha and near by districts and is good place to go and actually work there. Wardha is extremely low cost living and I suggest you to spend a month or so there. I have few contacts in Zilla Parishad there, who will be more than happy to help you out. Thanks Sushrut. Have hrd of the good work done by Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram.
(03 Jan '11, 08:44)
Harshad Oak
Sushrut, can you clarify whether "places you have mentioned" in your answer refers to places Harshad has mentioned, or places Makarand has mentioned? Please update your answer accordingly. Thanks.
(06 Jan '11, 02:58)
Navin Kabra ♦♦
Sorry for delay - but places I referred were the ones mentioned by Harshad.
(07 Jan '11, 14:08)
sushrut
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Harshad - Check with Jyana Prabhodini (School and Trust). |
Would certainly be interested in such a trip. Forgot to that mention in my answer below.
Have now plotted most recommended projects on the map http://j.mp/MhSocialMap . Thanks. In a couple of cases haven't marked, as the organization is active across many districts in Maharashtra so need to consult.
Any other suggestions are welcome.
Any thoughts on dates, logistics, who should / should not participate...? I guess the weather would also be an important factor to consider.