NAME OF STUDENT: PRIYAMOL V S VILLAGE: INDPUR (HIMACHAL PRADESH) INTRODUCTION BRIEF OUTLINE

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1 NAME OF STUDENT: PRIYAMOL V S VILLAGE: INDPUR (HIMACHAL PRADESH) INTRODUCTION Indpur village is located in Indora Tehsil in Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh. There are 1200 families with a population of There are total 9 wards of which our focus area will be 6,7 and 8. Languages spoken are Hindi and Pahadi mixed with bit of Punjabi. Female to male ratio is approx. 950:1000. In the total population of Indpur 60% of the population are SC/ST (wards 6,7,8), 20% Brahmins (wards 2,3)and 20% rajputs and others(wards 4,5). Mangoes, oranges, litchi and guava are the main produce. These contribute a turnover of 1 crore annually for the whole village. BRIEF OUTLINE Day 1: 22 nd September, 2015 We met the village Sarpanch, Mr. Madan Lal Dheeman, who has held the position for the last five years.he is an ex military officer. He gave us a brief introduction of the village, the villagers, work, vegetation and some of the problems such as waste managements etc. faced by them. We were not able to meet the villagers as per our plan due to heavy rains. Day 2: 23rd September, 2015 We visited the government school, spoke with the faculties there. We also visited the anganvaadi and our respective wards 6, 7 and 8. Later that day we visited Indora. The purpose of the visit was to collect the market prices of vegetables, fruits and handicrafts. Day 3: 24th September, 2015 The waste management team along with our faculty guide and Mr. Kuldeep Sharma ( a senior villager) went to Block Develepment Office,Indora to meet the government authorities and discuss some issues and their plans regarding the major problems such as solid liquid waste management, sanitation and development of proper roads. But we couldn t meet them because of their busy schedules and meetings. We met the block coordinator Ms. Pooja who provided us some useful data regarding our concerned areas.

2 PROBLEM IDENTIFIED SANITATION Around 400 villagers do not have toilets at their home People are not aware of the health issues which are caused by using fields instead of toilets Government plans are not yet implemented in the village No funding is there for building toilets WASTE MANAGEMENT People don t have proper space for throwing their household waste. So they throw it at different places No municipal cooperation to look after People do not have any solution for their waste disposal No awareness about health issues due to improper waste management. Govt. has not allocated funds for this till now. GOVT. SCHEMES 90% of villagers have atleast one bank account Most of them are not aware of insurance, pension and other schemes like Adarsh Gram Yojana,Swach Bharat Mission. EDUCATION Govt. school has poor infrastructure, black boards are not in good condition and some classes are not having enough desk and benches for students There are no computer lab and sport facilities for students. Schools don t have sufficient teachers.in senior secondary they don t have main subject teachers like physics, English Out of 100 only 10 go to college. Majority these are females. Students are very poor in communication skills and personal growth even teachers are also not that much well trained AGRICULTURE Unequal distribution of land amongst villagers. 80% lands are owned by the wealthy families of the village. The major problem farmers face is the scarcity of water. They depend on rainfall. The Agricultural Department introduced bore wells for the farmers but this was

3 biased as those in immediate requirement of bore wells were ignored and those who already had access to water sources were given preference. No agricultural team or executives come for technical training. Therefore the farmers are not aware of new methods of farming and technological ways to improve it The crops that they manage to produce are frequently damaged by stray cows, boars and monkeys. They have not been able to find a solution to address these issues Farmers do not have access to government provided fertilizers and pesticides. These are in turn supplied by middle men who charge high prices for the same. They are not aware of the prices at which government supplies the fertilizers and pesticides The agricultural produce are not directly sold off to the market and are usually sold to middle men or merchants. These merchants take the goods at very low prices. Very few farmers venture to sell their produce to the market directly. Due to the above mentioned factors, farmers have very low return on investment. They have to spend huge amount of money for fertilizers, pesticides, labour, etc. and they do not get ROI due to the low cost at which they have to sell it at the market or to the middle men. Villagers seldom trust outsiders and they are not that co operative amongst themselves either. The past year farmers received scanty rainfall and this led to wide scale crop damages EMPLOYMENT 20% are unemployed. Some villagers are dependent on Govt. MNREGA scheme where they work for 100 days and earn Rs. 162/per day. Only few villagers are working in companies and rest are working as labour on construction site and some are working in farms of other people. Mostly are 8th pass and unskilled.

4 HANDICRAFTS Woman in village make shawls, some embroidery on clothes. However they are not getting right amount for their products because of the role of merchants. They don t have enough money and machines for mass production. They are also not aware about market where they can sell their product. COURSE LEARNING LILA was totally a new experience to meet,spend time and stay with villagers in their living style and to learn from them their ideas of living and life. Though they had different problems in the life they were there with us to ensure our comfort and coperated with us to complete our tatsks on time. They know better than any civilised person what athithi devo bhava really means. Meeting new people, understanding their culture and problems and trying hard to find ways by which we can contribute to the betterment of their lives is challenging and gave us a higher level of personal satisfaction. REFLECTION ON PERCEPTION OF THE VILLAGERS, THEIR LIFE AND THEIR LIVING CONDITION There was this fear of rejection inside me to the ideas put forward by us to their problems. I even expected some doors slamming against our face because of the bitter experiences they had to face from many NGO s and government agencies. These sources have hyped the expectations of the villagers to resolve a lot of issues faced by them but left helpless midway in the hope of being helped in the future. This has been a major reason for the villagers to lose trust on any outsider approaching to help them. In spite of a lot of sour experiences faced in the past, a part of them still live with a narrow ray of hope awaiting a helping hand to hold on too. This specific group of people helped us to gather a lot of information about the happenings of the village. I clearly felt that there is a gap between the different wards of the village. I observed extremes in living condition amongst the villagers. Initially the government had allotted a part of land for cultivation to all the villagers, but as time passed they sold their land to others for money and now work for wages.

5 Ladies of the village are very hard working and wish to develop their creative skills and personalize handicraft articles that have been thought to them by their lady folks. They have a close bond amongst themselves and aid one another in learning how to make a lot of articles like stitching, woollen clothing, gift articles, etc. It is observed that women of wards 6, 7, 8 are very enthusiastic and eager to increase the income of the family. When I had a conversation with them, I clearly understood that it s the ladies of the house who plan in improving the living of the family. The men earn a living on daily basis by doing agriculture in and around the village. Those who own land face a lot of difficulties in cultivation due to lack of water, electricity and improper knowledge about the various farming practices. Majority of the men make and consume illicit liquor post work timings and spend the rest of the time relaxing with other friends and folks. This actually suppresses their eagerness and focus to improve their family living.