IIM-A delegation visits Punsari model village

A delegation from IIM-Ahmedabad led by Team Amaethon organized a visit to Punsari, a model village located in the Sabarkantha district of Gujarat, about 90 km from Ahmedabad on August 9. The agenda of the visit was to observe and study the model of development that has been recognized globally for its effectiveness and to pay a fitting tribute to the late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, a proponent of providing urban amenities in rural areas.

The thirty member strong delegation, consisting of MBA students, doctoral scholars and professors, learnt of the efforts of the young incumbent Sarpanch of the village, Himanshu Patel. In the last nine years, through his knowledge and exercise of a combination of whopping 80 Government Schemes, Patel has managed to put together a self-sustained village.

New-age village

With 1200 households and a population of 6000, Punsari houses 5 schools. During the meeting, an official proudly said, “What is remarkable about the population, among a host of other brilliant features, is that it boasts of a zero-dropout rate in schools.” He also added that the classrooms were all air-conditioned and equipped with projectors and computer laboratories to teach MS Excel, Word, to use the internet and other basics to use a computer.

Punsari also boasts of a Skill Development Centre which offers vocational training in mechanics, tailoring and basic computers. In addition, there is also a mobile library which has a sizeable collection of Gujarati and English literature. The library has scheduled stops within various locations in Punsari.

With their interest piqued, the IIM-A delegation asked the sarpanch questions regarding the infrastructural strengths of Punsari. The discussion brought out the achievements of the village, such as the road network, drainage system, streetlights (some of which are powered by solar panels), and public dustbins.

There is a door-to-door waste collection system in place as well, which is dumped in a landfill a few kilometers away from the village. There were 16 CCTV monitors in the office, which volunteers said were installed to enforce discipline among the residents and were successful..

Amenities

Interestingly, Punsari is WiFi-enabled with roughly 220 households availing the facility to keep abreast with the latest farming trends, mandi prices, and for social media. According to the villagers, internet availability brings them one step closer to being in touch with the outside world. The village also has a Public Health Centre which is staffed with a doctor and 4 nurses. Medicines are provided free of cost by virtue of Government subsidies and a private hospital, Anjali Hospital, is located 7 kilometers away.

Punsari is probably one of the very few villages that boasts of an RO plant that supplies safe drinking water.

Locals explained that the prime sources of income was farming of cotton, wheat and potato, as well as milk banks under Sabar Dairy Cooperative Society, supplemented by the 80 utilized Government Schemes. One of the residents expressed his happiness with the annual returns by saying, “Profits go as high as 70% during a good crop season, with a minimum of 50%”. The village thrives on house taxes collected by the Panchayat.

Sense of ownership and responsibility

Mr. Pinaaki Aggarwal, Coordinator of Amaethon 2016 and a final year MBA student at IIM Ahmedabad, credits the sense of ownership in the people for the Punsari miracle. “What we observed was truly remarkable. The greatest achievement of the village is the fact that this development has taken place only by smart and effective use of government schemes. The village people take pride in their village and the sense of ownership and responsibility in them is what drives them to keep raising the bar.” On whether such a model is replicable across the country, Aggarwal said, “The problems and context of every place is different. However, what Punsari clearly demonstrates that if the government can come up with developmental schemes that are futuristic, plug the leakages in the system effectively, these schemes alone can be used to transform systems. In fact, Punsari is guiding a number of villages through its own examples in becoming self-sustained.”

Towards the end of the day, the IIM-A delegation met and interacted with students in the village. Team Amaethon distributed 40 copies of Wings of Fire in Gujarati to children as well.

Continuing with the pre-Amaethon activities, the next plan for the team is to organize a mega Swachchh Bharat drive in Ahmedabad on October 2, on the first anniversary of the launch of this campaign. Amaethon is the annual International Food, Agribusiness & Rural Management Summit hosted by IIM Ahmedabad. The next edition of the event is in January 2016 and the theme is ‘Entrepreneurship and Innovation.’