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The Waste Land: Making of Grass-roots Leaders
Often, the view from below is meant to be a corrective to the distortions and fallacies that the view from above perpetuates, even legitimises. No wonder, the well-packaged, government-sponsored statistics don’t even reveal half as much as do the inchoate voices from the ground. This book is a valuable addition to the growing corpus of the subaltern history, a stimulating study of how real development is possible only through effective community participation and perspectival change on part of the individuals who really matter. Documenting the lives and struggles of the grass-root leaders of Sewa Mandir, a Rajasthan-based NGO, this book pays a spirited tribute to the indomitable spirit of the common man and his irrepressible need for change and self-renewal. The mention of NGOs conjures up a very unflattering image in our mind, which often results from their tendency to work more for the empowerment of those who need it the least and less for those who need it the most. However, Sewa Mandir is a happy exception to this notorious rule. Commendable work done by this organisation over the past two decades is enough to convince even the most die-hard critics of NGOs that these, actually can make a difference to the lives of the poor and underprivileged, only if they want to. Among other things, Sewa Mandir has been engaged in the unenviable task of reclaiming the common village, pasture and forest land from the clutches of the powerful, politically sponsored land-grabbers, and then developing the same for boosting the local village economy. The first step was to mobilise the village community, the local panchayats and the Forest Department to liberate vast areas of this land, which had systematically been usurped, privatised or encroached upon. Later, ambitious plans were drawn up to start the development work or implement wastage development programmes so as to convert vast acres of desert land into green forests. Though simple in theory, this task really proved to be quite daunting in practice, as it involved challenges of a hugely complex nature. Sewa Mandir’s real resource was its manpower, its dedicated and committed volunteers, vanpals and van sahayaks, who worked for a wage as low as Rs 100 to Rs 300 a month, so as to realise the collective dream of transforming vast acres of desert into an oasis of hope and prosperity. Fighting endless battles on all fronts — personal, social, economic, political and religious — these volunteers invariably succeeded in ushering a mini revolution, which had a cascading effect on about 200 villages of the five blocks of Udaipur district. By implementing these policies they ultimately succeed. Nandita Roy has chronicled the lives of such faceless heroes with both passion and vigour. Not only has she painted some of the most memorable and vivid of the profiles in human courage and determination, but has also celebrated the cause of community development. The book is divided into two sections. In the first section, we mainly come across stories of individual valour and heroism such as those of Susheela Devi, Bhima Dhula, Jalum Chand and Narayan Lal Lakhara, while in the second, focus is upon collective groups that facilitated the process of social transformation. It’s in this context that the work of the Selu Committee, the Kasya Group and the Karnala Group, among others, needs to be reviewed and assessed. To her credit, Nandita has narrated these stories in delightfully engaging style, without in any way compromising on their inspirational value. These stories remind us, yet again, that real development is not possible until it turns into a mass movement, spearheaded by those whose lives it’s expected to impact or change. Are the bureaucrats and policy planners listening? |
Development
is a ‘naughty’ (or is it a knotty?) word. Its very mention has the
power to split our globe into two diametrically opposite worlds:
developed and developing. Apart from causing this horizontal divide, it
has the potential to engineer a vertical split, too. Much like, history,
development, could also be viewed from two mutually exclusive, self
contradictory ideological positions: viz, from above and from below.