https://csim.in/conversations/ConversationsToday-October2014.pdf

Call it a bias of sorts, but the fact remains that poverty in an urban tapestry receives a great deal of attention. The rural poor are many a time, forgotten and ignored. That could simply be because of the greater amount of media focus on cities, when compared to villages. The same reason why academic disciplines like developmental studies, rural development and skill-development have become the need of the hour, in the continuing attempt to ensure holistic development of the country. It is here, that an NGO like the Bhagavatula Charitable Trust (BCT) comes in. The nearly four-decade-old trust has, for the greater part of its existence, made its mission synonymous with the progress of rural Vishakapatnam.

“When I’m asked ‘why villages’, I often ask, ‘why not?’” says Sri Ram Murty, Secretary, BCT, taking us through BCT’s journey since 1976. That was the year his father, Dr B V Parameswara Rao, founded the trust, paving the way for rural development of the rural hamlets around Vizag. Continuing his father’s mission, Sri Ram is today, secretary of BCT — a responsibility he has assumed only since 2009. “There are several challenges that our villages are faced with, today. A number of these challenges have to do with agriculture,” he says, speaking at length about how crucial awareness and education of proper agricultural practices are, in rural development. In fact, it is in this area that a large chunk of BCT’s work comes to the fore, as Sri Ram himself believes, that existing agricultural practices — existing subsidies included — are far from ideal. “A farmer isn’t aware of what kind of soil is suited to a certain kind of fertilizer. We tend to assume they know. But the fact still remains, that they don’t,” he says.

Speaking of BCT’s current mission towards better awareness in agricultural practices, Sri Ram says that subsidies in agriculture are also out of sync with what farmers really need. “There’s a large subsidy for urea, but nothing for Potash,” he explains, “Farmers tend to thus use more urea and less potash and that leads to the growth of tender leaves, which in turn become an ideal target for pests.” And scenarios like these are just one of many reasons why he believes agriculture today, requires a major makeover in the overall effort towards holistic rural development. However, it’s not merely agriculture that BCT has involved itself with. Healthcare, education and skill-development are three other areas of a four-pronged approach towards the accomplishment of BCT’s mission.

“A number of children in the villages hadn’t completed their education. The boys were made to work and the girls stopped going to school when they attained puberty,” Sri Ram explains. Changing this, required innovation. And innovation came in the form of BCT’s first-of-its-kind Residential Model High School. Through this system, children in villages were encouraged to continue education by way of non-conventional methods of academic instruction. All this, in the attempt to get over the passive blackboard-styled teaching, which slowly began giving way to interactive teaching, distribution of notes at the school and creation of subject-specific classrooms — teaching methodology that had not been heard of in villages.

Another area that BCT has made rapid strides in is women empowerment. A number of opportunities have been extended to women in villages, in employment-generating areas like screen printing, papad-making and animal husbandry, to name a few. In fact, Sri Ram believes that women empowerment alongside skill-development, agriculture and education continue to remain the key focus areas for BCT. However, he believes that agriculture and the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems in this field could be a potential game-changer. “Today, as far as agriculture is concerned, there’s a helpline for farmers to call in case they need help or assistance,” he explains, “But that’s just not enough.  The government has to be pro-active enough to reach out to these farmers, instead of expecting the farmers to reach out to them.” This, he feels can be achieved only through media that allows for awareness, education and communication to reach the farmer, and thereby help in the development of their trade. 

As far as the future is concerned, Sri Ram feels that BCT can achieve a whole lot more, but on a macro-level. “As we stand today, we are doing good work, but at a grass-root level. The challenge for tomorrow lies in getting all this on a macro level and a larger platform.” Perhaps in doing so, the trust itself will be able to finally achieve its vision of creating change in Vishakapatnam’s villages, in addition to bringing about holistic development in the quality of life within each of these villages. However, for now, a bottom-up approach keeps BCT’s work in good stead, even as its four-pronged approach to improving agriculture, education, women empowerment and skill-development could well make it a real agent of change.