Small investments, big transformations: Lessons from 24 villages in 30 days

By Bharat Dogra

I have been visiting villages in India regularly for several decades so that my writings on development, peace, and the environment can benefit from what I learn from local communities and activists. Despite all my reading and writing of books and scholarly papers, wherever I go I find that I still have so much to learn from villagers and grassroots workers.

Recently, I visited about 24 villages across three states—Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh—over the course of a month to study various development initiatives and hold group discussions with community members. While I have written separate reports on these visits that have already been published, I am writing this piece to record some strong impressions of the overall situation.

I was deeply impressed by how small, well-planned investments directed toward neglected and poorest communities can make a significant contribution to reducing distress at relatively low cost. In Jogipura village of Karauli district, for example, an investment of just sixteen lakh rupees (less than 20,000 US dollars) in water conservation transformed both the immediate and long-term prospects of the entire medium-sized village, with benefits extending to two neighboring villages as well.

I compared this with the money a friend had recently spent on buying a typical middle-class flat in Delhi—five times more than the cost of this water project. I saw several such examples where modest, participatory investments greatly reduced distress and deprivation. Clearly, more funds and donations should be directed toward such initiatives.

Unfortunately, I also witnessed how huge sums are often wasted on poorly planned or even harmful projects. This has been a matter of great concern and distress for me. If we could ensure that more funds are allocated to carefully selected, beneficial works while avoiding wasteful expenditures, it would greatly help in reducing suffering.

After returning from these villages, I keep remembering the people I met who were experiencing severe hardship. There was Jhumli Bai, an elderly woman in a village of Udaipur district who lives alone and wanders from house to house hoping someone will give her food. There was Naru Lal in a neighboring village, suffering from mining dust-related ailments in old age without receiving any help. And there was an eighty-year-old woman with steadily diminishing vision who still goes daily to graze goats in the hills. Surely, there should be regular arrangements to support such people in distress, particularly the elderly and those living with disabilities.

At the same time, I also remember those who are engaged in brave struggles to overcome difficult circumstances. Kenti Bai, a fragile and physically weak woman from Karauli district, responded to reduced family income following her husband’s illness by cultivating a rocky piece of land. Today, it is a flourishing garden of vegetables, fruits, and grains.

Then there is activist Bhanvar Chauhan of Udaipur district, who suffered 32 fractures in a recent accident yet found the strength to return to work in remote villages where his presence is needed.

These experiences highlight another important learning: our villages are home to hardworking people with immense practical wisdom and strong aspirations for development. Their efforts can bring remarkable improvements to rural life. What is less recognized is that much of this sustainable village development can also contribute significantly to climate adaptation and mitigation.

We must therefore create enabling conditions and policies that allow this potential to be realized in the form of durable improvements for villages and their people. Such policies should prioritize justice, peace, and environmental protection.

The immense development potential of our villages can be best realized through unity and cooperation within communities—based on equality of all people and the complete rejection of discrimination on the basis of caste, religion, gender, or any other identity.

---

The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include When the Two Streams Met, Man over Machine, Navjeevan, A Day in 2071, and India’s Quest for Sustainable Farming and Healthy Food

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Stands 'exposed': Cavalier attitude towards rushed construction of Char Dham project

By Bharat Dogra* The nation heaved a big sigh of relief when the 41 workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel (Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand) were finally rescued on November 28 after a 17-day rescue effort. All those involved in the rescue effort deserve a big thanks of the entire country. The government deserves appreciation for providing all-round support.

'Restructuring' Sahitya Akademi: Is the ‘Gujarat model’ reaching Delhi?

By Prakash N. Shah* A fortnight and a few days have slipped past that grim event. It was as if the wedding preparations were complete and the groom’s face was about to be unveiled behind the ceremonial tinsel. At 3 PM on December 18, a press conference was poised to announce the Sahitya Akademi Awards .

The war on junk food: Why India must adopt global warning labels

By Jag Jivan The global health landscape is witnessing a decisive shift toward aggressive regulation of the food industry, a movement highlighted by two significant policy developments shared by Dr. Arun Gupta of the Nutrition Advocacy for Public Interest (NAPi).

The illusion of nuclear abundance: Why NTPC’s expansion demands public scrutiny

By Shankar Sharma* The recent news that NTPC is scouting 30 potential sites across India for a massive nuclear power expansion should be a wake-up call for every citizen. While the state-owned utility frames this as a bold stride toward a 100,000 MW nuclear capacity by 2047, a cold look at India’s nuclear saga over the last few decades suggests this ambition may be more illusory than achievable. More importantly, it carries implications that could fundamentally alter the safety, environment, and economic health of our communities.

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

Search This Blog