2. What is village ?
๏ต No direct definition by Government.
๏ต By eliminating urban areas which are defined on
basis of population.
๏ต India has around 6,00,000 villages
3. Ramachandrapuram
๏ต Ramachandrapuram is a small village with 471
households in Karimnagar district in Telangana.
๏ต It has achieved remarkable transformation through
innovations in self-governance arrangements, and
participating planning and development.
๏ต The most interesting feature of this story of
transformation is the structural innovations and the
โVillage Governmentโ metaphor that carried the
process.
4. History
๏ต Low employment alternatives.
๏ต Low ground water level.
๏ต Low agriculture productivity due to lack of
irrigation.
๏ต High consumption of liquor.
๏ต Lack of basic infrastructure.
๏ต Poor health and education facilities.
5. Transformation
๏ต Eradication of the liquor production and sale.
Awareness against alcoholism by house-to-house
visits of village committee members.
๏ต The Sarpanch revived the village school and
developed better education as a part of the ICDS
project; Also initiated two Anganwadi centers.
๏ต โCabinet Systemโ Panchayat has all the elected
members constituting the โVillage Cabinetโ, with
each ward member acting as a โMinisterโโ.
๏ต โWater Systemโ Distributed from two water tanks.
๏ต 33/11 kVA substation for the village.
๏ต The Gram Panchayat encouraged people to build
soakage pits near the discharge points.
6. Major Impacts
๏ต The school was well-equipped to teach updated
courses.
๏ต The village got its own substation ensuring
uninterrupted power supply.
๏ต Piped water from the river is supplied to village,
avoiding the fluoride contaminated groundwater.
๏ต Increase in land under cultivation.
๏ต The village now has concrete roads, and is well
connected in all directions.
7. Major Impacts
๏ต Village has seen doubling of average income of a
household.
๏ต Frequently held Gram Sabhas are considered very
important in getting all villagers on board in
various developmental projects.
๏ต In first of its kind, all the residents of
Ramchandrapuram village have pledged to donate
their eyes after death.
8. Resource
๏ต This village now prides for being amongst the
Model Villages of India. There sources are also
arranged from annual turnover from all the
agricultural activities in Ramchandrapur which is
now worth over Rs. 3.5 crore.
๏ต There are 29 SHGs, 7 farmerโs groups and also a
thrift group each for men and women. They also
save through private savings.
๏ต The village has 1,490 registered voters with 1,750
insurance policies, and a total premium payout of
the village is between Rs. 30-40 lakhs. Individual
household savings also amounts to about Rs.40-50
lakh. Put together Rs. 1 crore is the collective
annual saving in this small village.
