Inspiring Story Of An IFS Officer Who Helped Jharkhand Villages Become Self-Reliant

In the Ara and Keram villages under Ormanjhi Block, located around 45 km from Jharkhand's capital Ranchi, an IFS officer took a unique step to teach the residents the importance of being self-reliant.

Source/The Indian Express

Siddharth Tripathi, IFS, posted as Commissioner (MGNREGA) three years ago, has helped transform two of the most economically and socially backward villages in the state and has helped them become self-reliant.

According to a The New Indian Express, Tripathy arrived in these villages three years ago to do some ¡°experiment¡±, for which the villagers were just not ready. He kept visiting the place and finally succeeded in persuading them.

¡°You don¡¯t need much money to develop a village. What you need is investing your time¡­ you need to unite and organise villagers and educate the people while giving due respect to their traditional knowledge and skills,¡± says Tripathi.

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With the help of Tripathi, the villagers created check dams on the streams using loose boulder structure. Through shramdaan by 180 villagers in Ara and Keram, for 75 days non-stop, 700 lbs check dams worth Rs 1.75 crore were built.

The villagers of Ara and Keram villages have done wonders through an indigenous formula of Loose Boulder Structure (LCB). It is nothing but to arrange boulders to stop the wayward and torrential flow of waterfalls from mountains and allow the percolation of water through the pores of the boulders towards a definite direction, leading to their agricultural fields.

The objective of putting up check dams on the stream was to increase the layer of groundwater so that hand pumps and wells did not go dry in summer

Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his second Mann ki Baat, after returning to power, made a special mention of the villages saying it a model for the country on efforts towards water conservation.

Source/HT

One of the major challenges for the officer and the villagers, was to strengthen the Gram Sabha and shun alcoholism to help save money. In three years, the average income of the villages has gone up by over five times.

According to Gopal Bedia, Gram Pradhan of Ara village, shramdaan (voluntary participation in development works) has played a key role in uniting the Gram Sabha. Till date, the villages have done shramdaan worth over Rs 32 lakh, he added.

"Tripathi sir told us to also organise 'Van Raksha Bandhan' (tying a sacred thread to trees, vowing to protect them). He motivated us to shun tobacco and alcohol and persuaded the villagers to put their money to better use," said Bedia.

Apart from all of this, every year on April 14, all the villagers come out to tie a Raksha sutra on the trees to affirm their protection.

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What Tripathi has managed to accomplish sounds like a miracle. His dedication, hard work and conviction to bring about constructive change, has transformed the lives of hundreds of villagers. This is the kind of initiative and leadership we need to emulate.