Report: Reducing mental distance between city and village

Village development is always a hot issue in majority of discussions, but the results on the ground are zero. Uttaranchal Utthan Parishad, in association with Parvartiya Lok Vikas Samiti and other like-minded organisations from Uttarakhand, organised a ‘Pravasi Panchayat’ in Delhi on May 3 to motivate the people of the State living in cities to join development activities in their respective villages. “All people of Uttarakhand living in any part of the country should visit their respective village for at least once a year and contribute in their development as per their capacity. The Uttaranchal Utthan Parishad acts as an umbrella organisation for motivating and bring such people together,” said RSS Uttarakhand Prant Pracharak Dr Harish Rautela.
Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh, RSS Akhil Bharatiya Gram Vikas Pramukh Dr Dineshji and former Chief Minister Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari as well the people of Uttarakhand holding top positions in various institutions were also present to extend support to the initiative. President of Himalaya Parivar Swami Yatindrananda Giri, RSS Pashchimi Uttar Pradesh Kshetra Pracharak Shri Alok Kumar, RSS Uttarakhand Prant Karyavah Shri Laxmiprasad Jaiswal and Delhi Prant Pracharak Shri Harish were also present. Shri Rajnath Singh applauded the initiative and said, “Wherever you work and whatever position you hold, you must not forget your birth place, and the village from which you belong.”
Dr Dinesh said Uttarakhand presents an ideal example for village development as many of the houses still do not have locks and there is no police station even up to 50,000 population. He said the people of Uttarakhand follow their ideals and values wherever they live for jobs. He stressed the need that the people of the cities who have association with any of the village must visit their village at least once a year to enjoy the village life and also to join hands in their development.

Swami Yatindrananda Giri said the immediate step that the government needs to take is to change the orientation of development process—from urban centric to village centric. He said the villagers also need fair prices of their products. Referring to high quality of agriculture produces in Uttarakhand he said if Himachal Pradesh can make progress on the strength of apples, why can’t Uttarakhand move on the basis of quality agriculture products?
Shri Alok Kumar said about one crore people of Uttarakhand live outside the State and this energy should be utilised for development of the villages. Delhi Prant Pracharak Shri Harish said majority of people living in the cities expect that the people of their respective villages should welcome them with high regard but majority of them never think what they have done for their villages. “This mental distance should get reduced from both the sides,” he said.
Some people doing exemplary work in village development were also honoured on the occasion. A young boy Ganesh Gyal who is a 12th standard student in Shri Mahadev Giri Sanskrit College, Haldwani, was specially felicitated on the occasion for planting about 11,000 saplings.                        -Pramod Kumar