Rural Immersion Program 28th Nov - 30th Nov 2019

Wadule near Ralegan Siddhi

School of Economics

Anusha Datta Suchitra Kodlekere Agasti Ambetkar Jai Ram Thappa

Jasmine Mehta Rohan Koparde Sheril Thomas Muskan Kabra

Laukik Gandhi Muskan Kashyap Tanvi Murumkar Zoha Patel

Laksh Jain Palasha Patil Manasi Nagpal Muffaddal Hamid

SaiHarshita

Lokunde

Aryan Pachpute Samiksha Joshi Mrugank Belsare

Tejas Shetty Paridhi Singhania Shweta Kartik Gauree Reynukkdas

Ankit Rajak Gayatri M Chinmay Chimgave Kush Bhomawat

Radhika Jain Atharva Deshmukh Radha Yadav Manika Sehgal

Shivani Kale Manaswi Kele Aalokshi Awade Arya Jadhav

Sumedh Ranjane Pranav Wankhede Ananya Singh Rutik Kherone

Stuti Kabra Eesha Pendse Archit Dutta Palak Sethia

Tejas Yeotekar Sarang Joglekar Rishabh Jhamtani Aesha Panchal

Bhavya Singh Vibhu

Vikramaditya

Nishita Bhattad Disha Aher

Vidhi Oswal Sarthak Agarwal Rutuja Dagade Shubh Agarwal

Tanay Agarwal Sheetal Sharma Raj Reet Sahil Agarwal

Nikita Gupta

Sr No. Contents Page No.

1 About MIT-WPU 2

2 About School of Economics 2

3 Introduction 3

4 Day One 3

5 Day Two 4

6 Day three 5

7 Concluding remarks 6

About MIT-WPU

MIT-World Peace University (MIT-WPU) is known to be among the top education

institutions in India since the establishment of the MIT Group of Institutes in 1983.

The Vision of MIT-WPU is to be a leading University of Excellence, promoting the “Culture

of Peace” through Value-based “Universal Education System”, with a firm belief that “Union

of Science and Religion / Spirituality alone will bring peace to mankind”

About School of Economics

MIT-WPU School of Economics is dedicated to the task of creating ethical, spirited and

committed economic leaders & professionals for the country from the grassroots and from all

walks of life. Its aim is to expose students to wider horizon of economic knowledge and its

application infusing in them a sense of national pride, values and empathy for common

people.

INTRODUCTION

The rural immersion program conducted by MIT-WPU is a boon for all students who are

cemented into the routine elementary and smooth urban life. It is an opportunity to connect and

be associated with the intricate and demanding life in the rural parts of our nation.

This year’s rural immersion program for School of Economics was organized on the 28th, 29th

and 30th of November at Ralegan Siddhi which is located in Ahmednagar District at a distance

of 87 km from Pune city. Ralegan Siddhi is the first Adarsh Gaon of India. It is most widely

known for the establishment of complete water recycling and reusing system, development in

the prevention of soil erosion and adoption of renewable sources of energy.

A total of 61 students from F.Y. BSc. Economics participated in the program organized and

administered by faculty of economics. The students were accompanied by Prof. Kaustubh

Saurkar and Prof. Ajita Pandit who similar to the classroom acted as mentors during the entire

expedition along with the assistance of Mr. Prasad Kaijkar.

The program was an amazing and extraordinary experience for the students.

Day 1

The first day commenced with the departure of students from MIT and arrival at Ralegan Siddhi

in the late afternoon. The students first visited the Padmavati temple which is an assembly point

for the villagers of Ralegan Siddhi every 2nd October on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. It is

celebrated as the birthday of the village.

Next, the students visited the museum dedicated to Kisan Baburao Hazare better known as

Anna Hazare who is the man behind the revitalization and modernization of Ralegan Siddhi.

The visit to the museum provided a fresh perspective on the life of Anna Hazare and his journey

through life from the Army to becoming one of the most well renowned social activists of all

time. The students also received a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet and interact with Anna

Hazare.

Learning Outcomes:

Students learned about the strategy and vision of anti-corruption museum.

By the way of paying visit to Temple students learned about peculiarities of festivals

and community life of the village.

Visit to school presented a stupendous example of the revamp required in education to assist

not only academically weak students but all the students. The school admits only the students

who lag in their academics. The school presents a stupendous example of the revamp required

in education to assist not only academically weak students but all of the students.

Learning Outcomes: Role of society and environment specific factors has been highlighted

through the school.

This school also has a media centre wherein students were shown a Documentary on Ralegan

siddhis economy Pre and Post activities initiated by Shri. Hazareji. The students of MIT and

volunteering faculty were taught about the origin and progress of Ralegan Siddhi from a

deserted village to India’s first “Adarsh Gaon”. Students were acquainted with their initiative

for Ban on tobacco, alcohol, cigarette since 2001 in Ralegan siddhi .This helped them to

maintain their health and boost their productivity as well as active participation at work

.Digging of Bore wells is also banned since 2014 in the village in order to facilitate groundwater

recharge and its effective utilisation. They learnt about the transformation of Credit

cooperative society from unregulated informal structure to well defined and regulated structure.

This helped the farmers to avail easy credit and prevented them from shylocks.

Learning Outcomes: Optimum utilisation of resources with the help of Modern Technology,

Innovations and active community participation.

Day 2

The second day commenced with breakfast followed by conversations with the villagers. The

students were divided into 3 groups and worked in the fields of onions, chillies and lemons

respectively under the guidance of the faculty members and interacted with the farmers and

labourers about their problems and work.

Glimpses of three batches of students working at farms.

Learning outcomes: Team-Work, minimalistic approach of life, farming methods and

practices.

Later in the second day the students travelled to Ralegan-Siddhi to interact with Anna Hazareji.

He briefed the students regarding the struggles he faced while developing Ralegan-Siddhi to

an Adarsh Gaon (Ideal Village) and how he devoted himself completely towards the

development of the village. He informed the students about the relentless efforts he put in for

water conservation and also brought to their notice the environmental hazards faced due to

urbanization.

Learning outcomes: Importance of water-A scarce resource and its effective utilisation,

Active labour force participation, Out of the box thinking and innovation by youth.

Guidance & Blessing from Hon. Anna Hazare ji

DAY 3

Ground Water Recharge

On the third day the students visited Sant Yadav Ground Water Recharge Scheme where they

cognized the importance of water conservation. The students were given information on the

strategy adopted that was checking the run-off water by contour bunding and constructing

check-dams so as to hold the water within the watershed area. Water conservation Model was

developed by these villagers with Vision of Shri Hazare .This model is now being adopted by

Government of Sweden in some villages having similar climatic and geographical conditions

like Ralegansiddhi.

Learning outcomes: Minimum resources, maximum water generation via community co-

operation.

Prof. Kaustubh Saurkar felicitated Mr. Aware and handed him with a photo-frame of Saint

Dnyaseshwara , Pasay Dan and the Shawl as a token of gratitude on behalf of MIT-WPU.

Demographic dividend with Ralegan Siddhi with Greater percentage of Youth in the village

Irregular and scarce rainfall combined with Improper utilisation of water-A scarce resource

which led to drought prone conditions in Village Farmers at Ralegan Siddhi cultivate Bajra,

Jowar, Onions, Chillies: Red, Green. A few amongst them also cultivate paddy wheat and

lemons. Most of these crops are seasonal in nature. Hence farmers now take up poultry rearing,

selling milk, leasing lands and Making handicrafts as their subsidiary occupation to support the

family. Most of the farmers yield around 70k per month from their produce and rest of the

activities provide around 50k cumulatively per month to them. Earlier lands being infertile

could hardly provide 2% profit to these farmers up till 2000.Post 2000, due to initiatives taken

by Hazare Ji, this profit margin has increased substantially. These farmers were mostly Large

Scale Farmers or Marginal Farmers. No small scale farmers were seen. Also initially their land

holding pattern was single. This changed to dual holding pattern or leasing of lands during

1980-2005.Post 2005 Again land holding pattern has been single holding pattern. Migration

from this village to Semi Urban Or Unban areas nearby Like Pune,Wagholi etc were quite high.

Up till 2000, 50% of population had migrated to their urban counterparts for settlement. But

Now all such people are coming back to the village with their children staying here and

engaging into various activities along with farming and marching towards the goal of

sustainable development. Women have open access to all places in village including temples.

In fact, most of the women are collectively forming a Self Help Group and running micro credit

societies. Women have access to all educational facilities with no biases of Preaching

medium(English/Marathi) as earlier. Co-ed convent schools are established. Women can attend

gram Sabha’s and can be elected at various posts . All residents are getting subsidies for getting

Gas cylinders and they are availing it. But still they use Chula’s for large scale preparation of

food. Ban imposed on alcohol, tobacco, cigarette since2003.This has enhanced productivity of

farmers and the youth . Ban on digging bore-wells was also imposed since 2014.This helped to

restrict groundwater depletion.

Concluding remarks: Overall this immersion helped the students understand the harsh reality

of farmers lives. It helped them to understand how the farmers at Ralegan siddhi have overcome

this situation with collective efforts, innovation and skill development