The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shri Digvijay Singh inaugurated TARAgram, an appropriate technology village established by Development Alternatives next to the Baveri river near Orchha. On this occasion, he announced his government’s approval for a mini industrial Training Institute at TARAgram. He spoke about Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of village republics in India in which self-reliance and employment opportunities are foremost. There are six lakh villages in India with sever unemployment problems. Unemployed village youth want to leave home and go to the cities. To stop this, we will have to create employment opportunities are possible only If we establish institutions like TARAgram, train villagers and provide sustainable livelihoods in rural areas. Shri Singh described how besharam, a local biomass, is being used in TARAgram to generate electricity. He said that lack of electricity is the biggest problem in India. The government does not have the budget to set up power plants for the thousands of megawatts required. In such a situation, with low investment we can generate more electricity and a person can earn upto Rs. 150/- a day supplying biomass. Shri Singh said that the government wanted to create employment opportunities in rural areas through rural industrialization and the government would spend as much of its budget on this as required. The main problem in Bundelkhand is unemployment. Workers migrate from here to Punjab and Haryana for employment. Therefore the rural areas of Bundelkhand have to be made self-reliant. The way in which TARAgram has trained young men and women form nearby Orchha in handmade paper and building material is a meaningful initiative. The Chief Minister announced that Indira Awas houses for the tribals of this area would be built with these building materials and new techniques. On this occasion, the Chief Minister announced that the yearly lease rent for TARAgram land of Rupees Two and a half lakh would be waived and made a token one rupee per year. He said that the check dam made by Development Alternatives here cost only one and a half lakh rupees, whereas if the same check dam was built by government agencies, it would have cost five lakh rupees. This is why villagers should now form such institutions themselves and carry out development work at their level. He said that for the success of Panchayati Raj the Gram Pradham (village head) will have to be accountable to the Gram Sabha (village community). Democracy is the power that people have. Warning Gram Pradhan’s indulging in corrupt activities, he said that in view of events taking place in Delhi they must correct themselves because now even the biggest of persons would not be spared. Shri Singh said that Tikamgarh is the most backward district in health services and the mortality rate is also very high. Improvements for this will be made at the state government level. He gave an assurance to make Orchha, which is under SADA, a Nagar Panchayat. Regarding the government taking over Orchha Sanskrit College he said that it was not the policy of the government to take over private institutions. Therefore, the college would be given a grant. Before the Chief Minister’s speech, the head of Development Alternatives – Jhansi, AVM (Retd.) Sahni read out a progress report of TARAGram’s activities, the President, Dr. Ashok Khosla described Development Alternative’s mission, and the training co-ordinator Geeta Vaidyanathan presented a handmade paper stationery set made at TARAgram to the Chief Minister. Others present at the function were Shri Nand Kumar Patel and Smt. Uma Yadav, MLAs, Revenue Minister Shri Yadavendra Singh, ex-Minister Shri Akhand Yadav, Shri Brajendra Singh Rathor, MLA and District Congress President Shri Ram Ratan Chaturvedi. Courtesy: Dainik Bhaskar, Jhansi. |
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