A village called punsari

I was driving from Gandhinagar to Punsari, a small village tucked in the interiors of Gujarat because this village received worldwide recognition for governance. I wondered why I was doing this visit in the sweltering heat. As we drove down through the villages, I could appreciate the shades of green that Nature has to offer, from the dark green leaves of the enormous trees that formed avenues to the vast fresh green fields to the yellowish green grass weeds to the brown barren lands. Having taken the 5 a.m. flight from Mumbai and then hopped on to the waiting car to avoid the hot late morning drive, we looked for eating joints, but there were none. I had a long day at Ahmadabad, so we decided to drive without stopping by.

A huge welcome sign arch – Punsari Village Panchayat welcomes you – greets us. What strikes a visitor is the cleanliness of the village. Swatch Bharat Abhiyaan found a meaning there. I could see a city in a village. The village was equipped with an automatic water purification plant, supplying pure drinking water to every household. A reverse Osmosis system ensured water all day long. The village had free wi-fi, and there were four primary schools running to full capacity with a zero drop-out rate. The local police station had no cases of theft, cheating, or ill-treatment registered in the past five years. The Sarpanch attended to all the disputed matters once a week. A system of registering complaints using a toll-free number was in place, and the complaints were attended to by evening. The responsibility of the complainant is to send a thank-you message. The primary health care centre had two doctors on duty – a general physician and a gynaecologist.

I met the young Sarpanch of Punsari, Himanshu Patel, to know how he brought about such a change. One could see development. The villagers, too, were proud of their Sarpanch. They insisted that I watch his interview on the BBC. It is amazing that a man born and bred in a village could educate the people of the village in the use of technology. What is amazing is that technology is used by the villagers to bring positive changes in growth. Himanshu Patel proudly claims that his village offers “the amenities of a city but the spirit of a village”. “I want people to return to the village and earn their livelihood. Why should they go to cities?”

Every home in the village had a toilet inside the house, dustbins at every junction,  four primary schools which are cleaned by the students themselves, street lights and a drainage system. The entire village had CCTV cameras installed at strategic points. What was unique was the public address system, which covered the entire village with the help of about 140 loudspeakers installed. The Sarpanch addressed the people every morning over the public address system.

It is surprising that none of the villages in India have tried to adopt a few good practices from this model village. I came back inspired because of that ‘one not-so-educated man’ who has made an indelible mark in India by the way of development. His hard work, immense energy and dedication have made it possible to ‘educate’ the illiterates, bringing about a magical difference. I wish that our higher Education focuses on CSR as a part of their course so that our youth (which comprises of 1/5th of our population) will commit to excel and experience the true meaning of Education.