When governance without parties, like JP wanted, becomes a reality

My Deendayal Research Institution (DRI) has tried to make a difference in some 80 villages around Chitrakoot through the principles of integral humanism, Gandhism, socialism and Sarvodayavad. We keep reinforcing the point that an individual or an industrialists’ prosperity should not be based on the exploitation of the common people. Instead we try and foster cooperation and empathy among people. The villagers have unanimously decided that nobody should work for his personal prosperity but work for the prosperity of the entire village, so that no one in the village remains without the benefits of development.

For instance, the epidemic of litigation is rampant in rural India. Harmonious life has become impossible anywhere in the villages. Party politics also spreads divisiveness in society for electoral gains. Non-cooperation and enmity among the villagers is the root cause of misery of rural people. The villagers swayed by the arguments of the DRI started withdrawing their cases from the courts and settling their disputes amongst themselves.

I believe the costly allopathic system of medicine is not really relevant to the vast majority of our rural population, specially as it is not even accessible to them. At Arogyadham, the healthcare centre of DRI in Chitrakoot, we are evolving a system of gaining long life and health through the use of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy. For improving the rural health, Arogyadham has prepared a kit of 33 herbal medicines made from locally available herbs. Our educational goal is to ensure that the new generation does not becomes self-centred. The real education of human being is to endow them with human insight. Only then will the new generation think in terms of the welfare of social as a whole and not narrow selfish ends. This essential aspect is not possible by confining the students to only classroom education.

Mankind may live in either rural or urban areas; agricultural or industrial countries, but we are all totally dependent on the natural resources. Along with agriculture, all sorts of cottage industries based on available natural resources can be developed in the villages. Through this process, both unemployment and poverty can be eradicated. DRI has practiced this concept of total revolution successfully in 80 villages of Chitrakoot area. By 2010, it will cover 500 villages around Chitrakoot. It has arranged self-employment training for men and women of these villages in Chitrakoot through Udyamita Vidyapeeth.

Several thousand villages of our country, including the Chitrakoot area, are suffering from the shortage of drinking water. DRI convinced the villagers that where the problem of water was concerned, they would have to help themselves. If they depend on the government, they will never get water. The villagers understood this reality, as it was their experience of more than 50 years of independent India. The collective efforts of the villagers harnessed the rainwater into well designed ponds prepared by themselves.

In this way, not only was the problem of drinking water solved, but irrigation of agricultural land was made possible. Earlier, in this area only one Kharif crop was possible because of the vagaries of the rains. Today, farmers have created irrigation facilities for themselves and harvest a Rabi crop as well. As a result, the annual income of every farmer has doubled. Poverty has been uprooted from these 80 villages with the villagers comprehending that working together is the only key to achieve prosperity for all of them.

In our country, where 80 per cent of farmers have uneconomic land holdings, rural people are over burdened with debts. Even after 58 years of Independence, no Government has tried to solve this major problem of our rural population. The result is many farmers in different parts of our country are compelled to commit suicide. DRI has successfully carried out experiments converting uneconomic land holdings into economic ones in the poor farmers’ small holdings in the Majhgawan area of Satna district. Farmers who possess only 2 to 2.5 acres of land, can live happily as they are able to save at least rupees five to six thousand annually after meeting all their family expenses.

My vision of empowerment for India is that the experiment of Chitrak oot be replicated all over the country. I am particularly happy to express my views on this subject, on which I feel very strongly, in The Indian Express. Because the founder of The Indian Express Ramnath Goenka along with Ramdhari Dinkar were the only two men who were really convinced by JP’s dreams. No politician, except Chandra Shekhar to some extent, genuinely believed that JP’s philosophy could be translated into practice.