“Mein Apne Liye Nahin, Apno ke liye hoon
Apne Ve Hain Jo, Peedit Aur Upekshit Hain”
– Late Shri Nanaji Deshmukh
It was a refreshing morning on the banks of Mandakini River, discussing the numerous
projects on rural development started by Late Shri Nanaji Deshmukh at the Deendayal
Research Institute in Chitrakoot, while enjoying a sumptuous breakfast meal of parathas and
sabzi. The principles put forth by Nanaji Deshmukh on rural entrepreneurship and
sustainability are so comprehensive that they serve as torchlights for organisations and
individuals willing to work on rural development.
We started our tour from a small & beautiful village, Kutaha. The presiding couple (dampatti)
of the village, Mr Shukla detailed us on the numerous projects and initiatives. Cleanliness
being the characteristic feature of this village, and the roads and the drainage system designs
were accordingly maintained. While on our way, we asked an old lady on why she was
carefully pouring the waste water in the drainage gap that was provided instead of just
throwing it away. She replied by saying that their village has taken a vow for cleanliness and
it’s her duty to abide by the same. Her response was indeed heart-warming, to see such level
of sensitivity and consciousness about cleanliness amongst the elderly, this was something
beyond imagination. Another interesting incident happened at the village school where we
were interacting with the school kids, and amongst them was Annapoorna, an 11-year girl
who answered all the questions confidently, when almost everyone was feeling shy. Her
confidence was worth a sight!
Deendayal Research Institute has nicely maintained the Biofertilizer unit, Vermicompost
plant and Krishi Vigyan Kendra in the village. The dampatti has deployed rural youth preraks
in five sections like agriculture, healthcare, employment, etc. Deep Yagya is special
ceremony performed by the youth to offer their reverence for the elderly. This way, the
villages preserves their culture and traditions.
We then visited the holy shrine of Lord Shri Ramachandra, located near to the Gramoday
Vidyapeeth of DRI. It has beautiful paintings with quotations that depict the character and
persona of the Lord, the words are powerful even to this day. Nanaji Deshmukh is observed
to abide by the words of scriptures in creating his model of rural development.
In the interest of time, we had to limit our visit and Aarogydham was therefore the last place
for the day. The pristine centre of Aarogyadham has Gaushala, Rasashala, student hostel,
Guest house, Aahar sadan and Vanaaushadhi park. The ayurvedic treatment, medicines and
even the operations are offered completely free of cost in the Aarogyadhaam. Th gaushala
has different breeds of cows from various locations of India, these cows are being nicely
looked after by the people. There is a setup to utilise cow urine, and produce biofertilizer and
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vermicompost from the waste products. The Vanaaushadi park has nearly 350+ varities of
medicinal plants and herbs, with a unit to synthesize medicines from these plants.
It is really difficult to understand and analyse this whole village model, created under the
vision and guidance of Shri Nanaji Deshmukh in a single day. More such visits would indeed
be helpful in studying this comprehensively, so that this model can be replicated throughout
India.
PDF India would like to share some suggestions on the Deendayal research Institute