Current Affairs
  • SDG 14 is ‘Life Below Water :Plastic pollution. Increasing levels of debris in the world’s oceans are having a major environmental and economic impact. Marine debris impacts biodiversity through entanglement or ingestion
  • SDG 14 is ‘Life Below Water :Coastal waters are deteriorating due to pollution and eutrophication. Without concerted efforts, coastal eutrophication is expected to increase in 20 percent of large marine ecosystems by 2050.
  • SDG 14 is Life Below Water :Ocean acidification has increased significantly in recent decades. Open Ocean sites show current levels of acidity have increased by 26 per cent since the start of the Industrial Revolution.
  • SDG 14 is Life Below Water :Oceans absorb about 30 per cent of carbon dioxide produced by humans, buffering the impacts of global warming.
  • SDG 14 is Life Below Water :Oceans provide key natural resources including food, medicines, biofuels and other products. They help with the breakdown and removal of waste and pollution, and their coastal ecosystems act as buf

 Believe You Can And You're Halfway There 

 
Date of Publish - Wednesday, 20th June 2018

Our elders say that future of this nation is in the hands of youth. If youth are determined they can achieve anything. The youth of this village proved that this is possible. Determination of the youth in this village lead to development. The youth of Silarpally village in Nagar Kurnool District proved that justice stands. The population of this village is around 700-800 among which there are 550 registered voters. With a sole motto of ‘Our village, Our development by ourselves’ in the year 2007 an organisation named Tagore Yuvajana Sangam was formed with 36 members under the leadership of C.H. Satish Kumar. They couldn’t see injustice happening in front of their eyes. They thought justice should be served to everyone. This one small noble thought changed the future of the whole village. Standing unitedly with a motto to serve the society and develop the nation, they stand as an inspiration to the world.

Since 2010 Council for Green Revolution (GCR) started guiding and facilitating the mission of the organization. The organization with the help of GCR successfully planted 7,000 plants in the village. Today they have their own mineral water plant, library, dairy and poultry farm. They dream to sell vegetables with their self-tag. They dream to become another Gangadevipally, the most developed village in Telangana.

In 2012 CGR facilitated the youth of the village with Bharat Nirman Volunteer Training. The training boosted the spirit of the youth in the village. A vision unfolded in the minds of the youth. The development in the village is a stride towards becoming a sustainable green village.

To institutionalize the development process in the village the youth organization formed various committees. They are

  1. Environment Protection Committee
  2. Temples Development Committee
  3. ISL Management Committee
  4. Alcohol Prohibition Committee
  5. Amma Drinking Water Committee
  6. Village Development Committee
  7. Farming Committee
  8. School Committee

 

FOCUSED AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT:

Environment:

With the support and handholding of GCR the youth organization took up different environmental initiatives in the village and successfully planted 7000 plants of different species. Every house has at least 15 to 20 plants. The plantation programme includes homestead planting, avenue planting, a plantation along streets and farm field plantation by farmers. To conserve the biodiversity in the village, old trees are adopted and protected by the villagers. Awareness on energy conservation was taken up and about 80% houses now installed CFL Lamps. The villagers were also sensitized on the reduction of plastic usage and solid waste management.

 “He who plants a tree plants a hope”

The plants display the names of those who planted and nursed them. They also bear green slogans. The youth organization in the village conducts plantation programmes every year on Environment Day, Independence Day, Republic Day and on other days of national importance with the support of Council for Green Revolution. This year in the month of July the youth of the village planted nearly 4,720 plants along the base of the lift canal which was recently built.

“Plant a tree, so that next generation can get air for free”

Organic farming:

Every farmer in the village is motivated to do organic farming. Farmers of this village have interacted with Eklavya Foundation which educated them about sustainable agriculture. Awareness camps were conducted in the village followed by an exposure visit to Adharana Trust in Ananthapur district and Deccan Development society in Zaheerabad, Medak district. Subsequently cultivation of organic cotton, maize initiated in small extent in the village. Few farmers in the village who have already implemented organic farming are really very happy with the outcome. They told that regular farming needs more investment and everything is connected with money but there is no profit even after so much of investment, whereas organic farming is cheap but it requires more self-effort and hard work to be invested by the farmer and the profits are really high.

“Fruits of hard work are always sweet”

Village Library:

Youth association in the village has established a library in the year 2010. The library has many books. Every villager gets an opportunity to read the newspaper because of the library. Every person in the village is aware of the development schemes implemented by the government and the funds allocated. They discuss them in the library. The villagers fight for the implementation of schemes properly. There are times when the villagers have used right to information to find out the way the funds were used.

Toilet for every house:

Under the Nirmal Bharath Abhiyan scheme around 200, Individual Sanitary Latrines were constructed in the village. Today village is open defecation free. Every house in the village has a toilet.

Amma drinking water plant:

To eliminate the fluorine water problem in the village, an RO plant was installed in the year 2015, which is providing clean and safe drinking water to the villagers today for a minimal charge of Rs.3 for 20 litres.

“Water is life, and clean water means health”

Self Employment and Empowerment:

The village youth were given training in the National Institute of Rural Development in various self-employment professions like soap making, jewellery making, poultry framing etc. The trainees were also introduced with all the ongoing welfare and development schemes by state and central government. Following the training, the youth created a massive awareness among villagers about all the useful programmes available. Villagers also say that educated youth help them a lot in creating awareness about technology and development.

The youth organization facilitated the provision of gas, ration card, pensions, zero bank accounts etc. The youth of this village are very motivated. They prefer to work for the development of the village. A great example is Akhil, a 16 years old boy who is studying his intermediate 1st year in a college nearby the village works in the mineral water plant before and after college hours and earns an income Rs 1500/- which is given from the village saving as a token of appreciation.

Water conservation:

The villagers have dug a rainwater harvesting pit to store rainwater during the monsoon season for the purpose of using it during periods of water scarcity in the village. Villagers use drip irrigation method to water the crops.

Cattle:

GCR gave 8 cows to the village and the calves which were born later were circulated among the villagers. This process continues. Villagers use cow dung and toilet to make manure and use it as an organic fertilizer in the field.

Education:

The children in the village are encouraged to go to school. The village has a primary school which has 50 students. After primary education, the children go to a nearby town kalwakurthy for their higher education which is just 2km away from the village. Vandematram foundation facilitated the children going to higher education with cycles at a subsidized prize of Rs-1000/- and also Balasamskara Kendras in the village for providing personality development. The children in the village daily water the plants around their surroundings. They are also taught about the importance of planting trees and protecting the environment.

“Every child should have an opportunity to receive a quality education.”

 “The difference between the ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra”

Within a small period of time, this village could achieve a lot. The villagers were sad that they don’t have any support from the government. When we interacted with the village development committee they told that they still have few problems like open drainage system, no government transportation though they have C.C roads and no community hall for meetings. They said that they are working towards overcoming all these problems. The village has to still improve in terms of oneness. There is unity among few but not many. I understand that change cannot happen overnight but everyone has to be included in the development process only then their dream to become a model village will come true. The village has really done a great job in protecting the environment and deserves the tag “Green Village” Silarpally village also received the Green Village Award on Earth Day 22nd April 2017 from GCR. Developing villages like Silarpally need encouragement and support from all of us to become a developed village like Gangadevipally. We also told them few ideas which can be implemented in the village. We told them that the struggle they are in today is developing the strength they need for tomorrow. We asked them to work for the cause but not for applause.

Author :
Sriharshitha Reddy Chada
 

Videos

 

Videos

 

Videos

 

@ignitingmindsmagazine

 
NewsQ4

@IgnitingMindsin

 

Stay Connected

Top Stories

Videos

 

Businesses

Upcoming Events