Nit Raipur Leveraging Rural Development

By Author: Shreyansh Shrivastava
Total Articles: 13
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Around 70% of the Indian population lives in rural India. For the overall development, it is inevitable to focus on the growth of the rural section. Mahatma Gandhi during the period of freedom struggle had concentrated on the upliftment of the rural India and promoted the agenda of Swadeshi. After India had got Independence, the government had not much-paid attention towards the proper governing structure of the rural areas through which the development could be possible. It is only after the 73rd amendment act of 1992, part IXth was added to the Constitution entitled 'Panchayat'.

In the present era, the government realizes the value of developing the rural sector. Many rural centric government schemes are in the function like Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana, MGNREGA, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and the list goes on. Among all the schemes, there is a scheme called Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, which was launched by the Ministry of Human Resources, the government of India in the year 2014 intending to bring a transformational change in the rural development process by involving educational institutions.

Unnat ...
... Bharat Abhiyan:

The mission enables institutions of higher learning to work in tandem with the people of rural India in identifying development challenges and evolving feasible solutions for attaining a sustainable growth. The persistent inequality in education, health, and income which brings up the disparity in Human Development needs to be corrected. For this purpose, the educational institutes can prove to be a leveraging factor. The knowledge and ability to research they possess can be used to find the practical solutions to the maximum problems of the rural India.

Participation of Educational Institutions:

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi is the coordinating institute of the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan. Other institutes like National Institute of Technology (NIT), Raipur has extended hands in service to the development of the rural areas.

NIT Raipur contribution:

NIT Raipur has involved its students and faculty members in the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan. The participants have attended the meetings with rural administrative authorities and local people to understand the ground level problems and issues and to come up with the rational solutions for it.

The NIT Raipur participants have identified some areas to work on in the villages. Some of such zones are:
1) Improving Educational Standards
2) Village Sanitation
3) Improving Health
4) Drinking Water Supply
5) Irrigation
6) Affordable Housing
7) Agriculture and Allied Activities
8) Proper use of IT Applications
9) Energy, including renewable energy
10) Improving Technology of Handicrafts and Artisans

All the activities are monitored by the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan Cell of NIT Raipur. The UBA cell had selected the villages for which the development work need to be executed. The selected villages by UBA cell are:

1) Gomchi
2) Guma
3) Kara
4) Tendua
5) Bana

All the villages mentioned comes under Dharsiwa block of Raipur district in Chattisgarh. Our honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has said that If we have to build a nation, we should start from the villages. To realize the dream of development, it is indispensable to connect the higher educational institute to the villages.