User talk:Premraval010/sandbox/Global Parli

Global Parli is a mission of nation building through rural revival and empowerment of the villages of India. 15 contiguous villages forming a cluster have been selected in the drought-prone Parli tehsil in Beed district in Marathwada, Maharashtra.

The project aims to deliver a replicable model of 360-degree development. This mission simultaneously addresses the key challenges facing social and economic development, including: water security; agriculture; education; sanitation; leadership and community capacity building.

History
It was the summer of 2016. [Gandhi] had quit confrontational politics. However, the fire to change the country continued to burn within. Politics could not be the only way to impact the lives of people for the better. During this period, reports of a severe drought in Marathwada region of Maharashtra emerged. The situation was desperate, and it was in this crisis that the first seeds of Global Parli were sown. Beed district had among the highest suicide rates in the country and was the worst drought affected district in all of Marathwada. Within Beed, Parli taluka (106 villages) had just 1.72% irrigated area as opposed to a 40% Indian average.

Average monthly income of a family was around Rs 3500, and “people were living because they were not dead.” There was depression and a feeling of hopelessness. Dams were close to 0% storage and drinking water was scarce. Suicides and deaths due to malnutrition were a common occurrence. Most importantly, there were differences, strife, and inequality among the people – with politics and caste system being the major reasons.

Mayank Gandhi decided to work with a cluster of 15 villages in Parli in spite of not knowing the local language.

A deliberately and intelligently crafted rural development model had to be created - one that could understand the various nuances and layers of rural India, identify the gaps and shortcomings, and implement small interventions that would overcome the gaps.

It was decided to create this model called Global Parli with 15 villages in Parli. After the success of this model, the same would be replicated, scaled up, and institutionalized across the country. The working strategy for the transformation of Parli, and eventually the villages of India, had three phases:

1. Changing mindset of the people – replace hopelessness with motivation and action.
2. Make villages drought-proof by water harvesting and then transform lives by increasing social harmony and increasing incomes multiple times.
3. Take this model and replicate, scale-up and institutionalize with the help of policy makers.

Phase One - All Round Development
During the first phase of the intervention at Parli, the key focus was to win the confidence of the local community through focus on the following areas of social and economic development: Education - Increasing access, quality, vocational skilling, personal mentoring, sports, etc.; tackling Malnutrition among children. Healthcare - Infrastructure, quality, training, facilities, pursuing zero hunger. Livelihood - Empowering SHGs through acitivities such as - goat rearing, stitching, food products, poultry etc.; skill development and capacity building in relevant areas. Agriculture - productivity, equipment, inputs,fertilizers and crop protection, innovative marketing. Services- Access and capacity building around banking, marketing, trade. Social Reforms - Tackling alcoholism, tobacco, dowry. Clean Energy: Solar lamps, street lights, solar water pumps, and smokeless chulahs. Gram Swaraj - Strengthening Local Panchayati Institutions; Energizing youth and women for engagement in governance.

In this stage of interventions, at least 10,000 people's lives were impacted.

Phase Two - Water Harvesting
Water is the lifeline of rural India and the fountainhead of Global Parli's engagement activities. In 2017, Global Parli started with deepening and widening 10.2 kms of Paapnashi river and creating 54 rain water harvesting borewells. This work was done from contributions of the villagers and government schemes.

In 2018, these activities on water harvesting converted into a people’s movement. Entire villages came out with their tools and worked for eight hours a day for 45 days without any payments. The infectious energy dissolved differences of caste, income and politics. Young and new leadership emerged and the energy in the villages was perceptive.

Water tables were raised and drinking water dependence on rains reduced. Through watershed works development, 2.2 billion litres of surface water storage capacity was created for the next two decades, saving at least 8.8 billion rupees that would be spent on procuring water through water tankers. Among the watershed works carried out, the following increased the surface water storage capacity in the region: 37.5 Km of Deepening and Broadening of the Paapnashi River and its tributaries - 892 million litres 161 Farm Ponds - 686 million litres 5 KT Weir Dams - 450 million litres 26 CNB Dams - 78 million litres 60 Km of Bunds - 61 million litres 20.3 Km of WAT - 31.9 million litres 414 Soak Pits - 7.6 million litres 2.4 Km of Deep CCT - 5.7 million litres