This is in response to Chandra's blog.
Here are my answers and thoughts. The questions are his, answers are mine. I might have missed out on certain realities that are particular to the Indian scenario since I have not lived in my country for over a decade now. I have tried to answer them from what I have seen, heard and listened to when I make my visits there.
1) How to precisely know the needs of the village in present day context?
Ans: You could get someone to make a survey of the families within the village, find out what they think is the need. It could surprise you, for all you know, it may not be technology/education they are worried about.
2) How to design a center to the satisfaction of one and all without any inadequacy or redundancy?
Ans : This is a tough one. No matter how good a plan and how good an intention, there will always be at least 50% of the people who are dissatisfied with what is done.
3) How to involve the village folk into this event and make them part and parcel of this project from concept stage, so that they will feel the ownership of the project ultimately.I want every villager to feel that it is their project?
Ans: Ask them to find a representative they trust. To feel ownership they will have to be involved in the building, maintenance, the programs that would help them and using this facility in a way that is constructive.
4) How to take enough care to keep away local politics, cast and religion factors away and make it as universal love and care center?
Ans: I feel this is an unrealistic question. No matter what you do, there will always be a hierarchy in running the whole project. Someone will be the head, and where there are more than 5 people involved, there is always politics. To a degree this can be solved if you bring in people who share the same goal and vision of the future, which again is rare to find. The other thing is for any of this to take place you will have to go through the same bureaucratic procedures that involve the government machinery, which means you will have politicians, politics, caste/religious wars etc. involved. What you can do is keep your aim in clear focus, concentrate on making it universal, caring and loving. Leave the rest to time as long as you have your Intent Clear, things will happen according to Intent.
5) How to make it sustainable and ever growing in long run?
Ans : It will require some good planning. Diverse activities, each connected with the other so that there is money coming in and being used while building the productivity of the people involve. If you have enough land, use part of it for subsistence farming. Have room in the Community building for artisans to work on local handicrafts so that the money that comes in will help them.
In His thoughts Chandra said- 4) There are hundreds and hundreds of welfare programmes announced by both State and Federal govts, which most of the village folks are not even aware of. The politicians and the bureaucrats in charge for those programmes are least interested in moving to villages to explain to the village folk and implement them with the participation of village folks. The main focus of the Community Center should be to keep an eye on all the programmes relevant to the village and mobilize the Govt machinery.
My comment - The fourth question in your questions and this thought 4. are in conflict. If you want to use the Govt machinery then there will be politics involved in every working.
All the points you have made in defining the resource center and its benefits are valid. Nothing works without the people's involvement in it or if it does not make practical sense. What you will need is a group of very honest, dedicated, educated, altruistic, visionaries and practical minded people taking over this project to see it to a productively running enterprise.
Now to my points within my idea/dream of a resource centre, it might seem like I am already in the details, but do bear with me. Everything I write here is in addition to all that you have already said in your objectives and benefits for the center. Like Rainy, I do think it should be a bridge between the ones who walked before us and the ones who will walk further than us. It should be a place for learning old things, new things and the things that bridge the old and the new. It should be a place where honour resides. The kind of honour that makes its home in each individual when there is pride in a work well done. I have always believed that the future and prosperity of any Nation hinges on those who grow food and those that know how to distribute that food to all. If we look back in history, all progress with respect to civilization started with food production that meets everyone's needs within the community. So there is a need to respect what our Elders know, take their knowledge and experience and use it where it will fit within the present scenario. For this I would encourage the learning of native languages/literature/history, local arts, ecologically safe ways of farming that worked(before the advent of pesticide/fertilizer/gene modifications in growing food for the families), paying particular attention to subsistence farming(so that there wont be instances like the Farmer's committing suicide because of debt) while being in the business of food production.
Literacy is important, but not more important than learning to think critically/properly for themselves. Literacy does open doors to information but if a person doesn't know how to process the information available then literacy is like making noise on a grand piano. Things like Hygiene, family planning, the health hazards from nicotine, opium and alcohol addictions, the cultural hazards of child marriages, female infanticide and domestic abuse should become a priority within adult education. Someway has to be worked out to keep our farmers and their Families in the farming practices. If all the Young generations within the Farming communities leave the villages for the cities, in a few generations there will be no one with real knowledge about farming.
Having a good/authentic source of information, this means that there has to be someone who is going to constantly do the "finding relevant information and checking its veracity/authenticity" that is of use to the villagers and the newer generation.
Use new technology but also remember that New technology is very heavily dependent on electricity and petroleum products. Both are scarce in the Indian context so when you build the building make room for using renewable or recycle-able ones. Solar energy (the roof of the building can be used as a solar grid system storing electricity for all needs within the building). Biogas is another option, this way we have recycled material for use instead of making the earth a dumpster. Incorporate a method for rainwater harvesting within the building so that water for things like watering the garden or if they have fields can be done without extra need for water resources.
Maintenance, Maintenance, Maintenance- from my experience of learning/reading/listening about having community resource/education centers within the villages is that after a few years there is no one using them either because the younger generation have moved out or because no one is enthusiastic enough to guide the programs, too much politics, the elite have taken over etc.. etc.. So put in place a plan for maintenance of the building, the programs and its economic implications.
These are what I can think of right now. I am going to be reading the comments on your blog to find out what others think.
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