To stop migration of youths from villages, helping hand from babus

Nagpur: A year ago, a young couple from a remote Vidarbha village was struggling to make ends meet while trying to deal with the fading vision of their eight-year-old son. In November last year, the boy had already undergone one operation at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and was being shifted to a private hospital. The operation was courtesy a group of government officials who have gathered their resources and expertise to help the tribal people in rural Vidarbha.Under the aegis of ‘Shwaas Foundation’, the officials aim to engage youngsters from the area in gainful employment so that they don’t need to migrate to the cities.
“The idea is to help youngsters utilize the naturally available resources so that they are able to earn well in their villages itself. Since most of them are still engaged in agriculture, we have included a lot of agro-allied activities in our training,” said assistant PWD engineer Avinash Gulhane who is among the founder members of the group. He added that future activities planned for the youth aim to equip them in increasing income of their villages.
Initially, the villagers were a bit wary of the organization. But over time, the foundation’s members were able to earn the trust of the villagers, especially through medical camps and funding some medical procedures. Recently, the officials have taken things a notch higher by getting involved in the economy of the villages through various training activities. They added organizing short tours that can give the tourists a peep into and a taste of tribal life.
A couple of months ago, the organization built a training centre at Navegaon Khairi village in Parseoni. This centre will provide training in goat farming, indigenous cow development, dog breeding, goat farming and poultry. A network of youths from around 7-8 villages nearby has already agreed to participate in these activities.
Some officials from departments like agriculture and horticulture have also agreed to help in terms of acquainting the participants with the new techniques. “We plan to buy certain farming equipment to form a bank from where all farmers in the nearby villages can get on rent whatever they need,” said Milind Lad, additional director of Vanamati. He will be conducting demonstrations of various technologies that would help improve yield. I have several ideas for the villagers as per the government schemes, he added.
The villagers are enthusiastic about the changes envisoned by the officials. “We have spoken to the Shwaas team about several new ventures that we can take up. There are plans to collect fruits and vegetables grown in the villages, cut them, package them and deliver them directly to households in the city on order,” said 24-year-old Roshan Dunedar from Chargaon village.
A hotel management graduate, Dunedar returned to the village to look for opportunities. He is very excited about the prospect of the eco-tours where he would be helping with hospitality and catering.
This has also brought hope to people like Prem Chakbais (35), a potter from Navegaon. “The food and drinks for the tourists would be served in clay utensils, including kulhads. This is creating demand for my products,” he said, acknowledging that all villagers are excited about the prospects being discussed by volunteers of Shwaas.