This is my own experience of a 2-day camp in a remote village of Maharashtra named Nidhal. We, a team of 32 people with the help of the GRA IIT Bombay camped in Nidhal to experience and analyze the development model of the village. Nidhal gram panchayat won multiple awards such as “cleanest village of Maharashtra”, first prize for “soil and water conservation”, and “Nirmal gram Puraskar” from the president of India. In this article, I will take you through the journey of the village and its development model.
Nidhal
Nidhal is a village located in Khatav tahsil of the Satara district of Maharashtra. The village is 40 km away from the headquarter of district Satara. As per the latest statistics, the total population of the village is 3596 and the geographical area of the village is 2009.48 hectares. The literacy rate of the village is 72.30 per cent.
The gram panchayat of Nidhal is constituted by Nidhal village along with 8 hamlets of Nidhal. Geographically the village is situated beside a spur, national highway 548c. One side of the village is a hilly area and on the other side is a forest reserve. Nidhal village comes under the shadow region of the western ghat. So, the village records a very little amount of rainfall. That leads to water scarcity in the village.
In 1983 Nidhal was so poorly managed that the village was facing a scarcity of drinking water, there was not a proper school, and there were no opportunities for employment. Villagers were forced to migrate toward Satara, Pune, and Mumbai. But in the last span of 40 years the village changes drastically. Now we can say Nidhal is a model of a modern village. All the necessities are easily available in the village. The village has enough water for a whole year to drink and farms also. Lots of employment opportunities are also available. The prosperity of the village increases manifold.
GRA, IIT Bombay
GRA (Group for Rural Activity) is a team of voluntary students of IIT Bombay. The team aims to provide opportunities to explore the rural part of India. The team organized a camp quarterly in a remote part of India with different themes. GRA also works with NGOs, organizes talks by prominent social workers, and distributes books and other stuff.
Ex-IAS Shri Chandrakant Dalvi
Chandrakant Dalvi sir is a heroic figure in the development work of Nidhal village. Chandrakant Dalvi was born and brought up in the village. He had his basic education in the village then he went to Pune for higher education. In 1983 he joined Maharashtra public service commission as deputy collector.
In 1995 he gets nominated to the Indian administrative service (IAS). He was a key member in the development of Nidhal. He created a Sangathan with his friends and other villagers named “Nokarwarg Ani Vyavasayik Gramvikas Sangathan”. Similarly, he also created many such communities and guided the villagers to work toward a better future.
Development Model of Nidhal
Nidhal shows us that, the Indian government, state government, and local government collectively have enough schemes to transfer a backward village to a self-sufficient and self-dependent village. We just need a self-motivated and well-guided community with the right intention.
The basic development model of the village is to identify the common problem of the village, find the government scheme that can be used to solve the problem, and then with sufficient plan apply for the scheme. Then follow up the process till it is implemented. Yes, indeed, this is not as straightforward as it sounds. But you need a group of people that are ready to work for themselves and resilient in any situation. Village develops a watershed project to conserve water in the area with the help of government and private bodies.
The village has a modern gram panchayat office with a closed room meeting room, Bhavnagar, projector, internet facilities, and other modern facilities. The village has a multipurpose garden, gym facilities, cooperative bank, modern Aanganwari school, primary and secondary school, Karyakari Shakari Seva society, primary health center, Mahila Vaughan, and many more facilities.
Conclusion
In my experience, Nidhal is a model of a modern village. As we should not develop cities only and villages are left behind. We need to develop villages such that villages must have all the necessities with modern facilities. Just imagine if we have all the modern facilities with clean air and birds chirping then why do we need to migrate toward cities? We can hope that Nidhal will lead us to develop more such developed villages in other parts of India.
Written by Sarfaraz Equbal
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