Tags:
Journalism of Courage
KASHIRAM Warghade does not live in a 8220;standard village8217;8217;. Actually, he doesn8217;t live in a village at all. Up on the hills surrounding Trimbakeshwar8217;s Pahine village, 30 km from Nashik, Warghade lives in a small hamlet. It has no access road so he parks his motorcycle at a friend8217;s house in the foothills and then walks home. And that is why he doesn8217;t live in a 8220;standard village8217;8217;.
The first tribal thakur to become a sabhapati in the region, Warghade dreams of living in a standard village, by the roadside, reaping benefits of living on the edge. 8220;It is really very simple,8217;8217; says the pragmatic tribal. 8220;You live near the highway, things reach you faster, whether it is government schemes or modern amenities. You live on a hillock and not much happens.8217;8217;
8220;For many years Warghade did a lot of social work in the community but never got any recognition for it,8217;8217; says gram sevak Arun Ahire, the man who recommended Warghade8217;s name for the award. 8220;He has continued to do so in his capacity as sabhapati and has reached out to many in this region. There could not have been a more deserving candidate for this award.8217;8217;
After defeating his nearest politically-backed rival by 800 votes, Warghade went about charting his priorities. 8220;I started by figuring out all the schemes we are entitled to. Then I figured out how to get them by applying for each one myself. After I had got my house in order, I set out to ensure everyone else also gets it.8217;8217;
ALL the while that he was frantically working on changing the face of the villages under him, the sabhapati of the Trimbak panchayat samiti was also spending a considerable time analysing the benefits of a standard village. For him, the road connecting Mumbai and Agra is probably the ultimate residential address. And if not a home bang on the highway, maybe one along the spanking new road connecting Trimbakeshwar with Vipasana haven Igatpuri.
Accordingly, roads and better connectivity featured high up on his list of things to do. The bumpy tracks between Rampada-Saralwadi and Dapore-Patilwadi slowly transformed into motorable roads, each linking remote hamlets with a better future.
Over a year after he took charge, the man on a mission has brought drinking water to homes in Kharoli, Taloga, Takeharsh, Dapore, Devgaon, Aswali and his own Pahine village. Community wells, drinking water schemes, low-cost housing have all reached communities that live up on the hills, isolated from ground realities a few km away.
But it hasn8217;t been easy for the fiery social worker. 8220;The minute you get a post, the entire dynamics of your existence change,8217;8217; he says smiling. 8220;In my office, there would always been a dozen people milling around and each time I would have to buy them tea. I spend a large part of the money I earn on chai and food. It seems like nothing, but is a big expense. And often people are not just satisfied with tea, they expect an entire meal.8217;8217;
But it is not just the huge 8220;entertainment expenditure8217;8217; that bothers him. The fact that more than developing the community, people come to him with individual problems upsets him.
8220;Nobody is very interested in planning for the entire village,8217;8217; he says. 8220;Instead, I get so many individual requests for jobs, schemes.8217;8217;
And so Warghade spends considerable time getting people cheap seeds, bullock carts, cycles, spices grinding machine for women and agricultural tools for farmers.
In doing all this, Warghade has learnt the ropes of administration well. He knows about all his rights, keeps abreast with all new schemes announced by the government, makes sure that his area gets its due. All the while, he focuses on the standard village he so often dreams of.
