Employment with smart villages

India is trying to increase the number of jobs to people. My suggestion is if we drive our villages to become smart villages with all amenities like in cities, we surely will drive employment to villages and less IT or city dependent. More sustainable development is possible at village grass root levels

Everyone has a job to do, everyone has money, everyone can turn spiritual and inwards, more healthy and blissful communities are possible even in Kali Yug

Government schools that are like Private Schools

These days people are only sending to Private schools even though the tuition fees are high because of the quality of education and facilities in government schools.




But there are some model government schools that have maintained a very good standard of education and facilities and people are sending kids to that schools and have a high demand for admissions.




One such school is in a remote village in Tamilnadu and so are couple of other schools in each state.


But the number is a single digit only. Success of these schools should be inspirational enough for government to improve, but alas, it might not have the budget to equally implement it across the government schools.




But local panchayat and villages can definitely take into their hands and improve the facilities, English speaking kids and digitally connected to the world. This small step can improve the lives of the kids in the villages to be able to do a better farming, or as an entrepreneur or any other job. This directly increases the chances of employability of the next generation instead of becoming part of the unemployed youth




Each smart village, should ensure primary, high school and higher secondary schools have the standard of a good private school. Should have good teachers who teach fundamentals real well, good furniture, good restrooms, latest study material, digitally connected classes for students to explore the concepts further and innovate. Isn't it a small step towards a golden future for the coming generations?




We cannot let government come and improve everything, every village should take such initiatives, and use crowd funding, donations to improve the schools and attract good teachers. This increases the %s that the students get and also understand the basics well. This further increases the confidence of the students and their employability / entrepreneurship and well defined thought process which will make their life and people around much better




Smart villages or Smart cities is not just about the infrastructure but the smart methods employed in each and every aspect of day to day life and surge towards a better India




Below is the story of a teacher from a remote village in Tamilnadu, on how she has changed the lives of her class children:-
http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/04/21/this-govt-school-teacher-in-tamil-nadu-sold-off-her-jewellery-t_a_22048878/

Waste Management - separation of waste

Smart villages just like big cities need people in the villages to be educated on
separating waste from bio-degradable and non-degradable. Village needs to have
a separate unit, that takes charge of this. It should not be limited to distributing waste baskets alone.

We need regular timing of waste pickup like in US. People should be educated to segregate waste at home

Set of people will pick the trash.

Set of people will be on task to separate out as another step.

What can be converted to manure should be sent to a separate plant and the manure can
be used back either into backyard trees or into agricultural tracts of land as manure/compost

What can be recycled should be sold to such companies for plastic etc.

Both he above can generate a revenue stream for the village and do its
piece and show to rest of the villages on how we can do it

Just like in Sikkim where plastic bags are banned, this committee should encourage to use paper or cloth bags.

Instead of pep bottles, should encourage for glass bottles like Olden data, that can be recycled

Pep bottles if any should be used for air cooling like in one of my earlier posts

Clean smart village can get rid of mosquito related diseases and get a new employment and revenue stream and stay as a model to other villages

One of the villages has showed the path which others can follow
https://www.facebook.com/soumya.kandimalla.7/posts/10211649873576784

Build a library and community space in your smart village

Library is an important part of the growth of a smart village/town/city.

I am attaching a link to one of the way a large commercial space used by Walmart when abandoned has been renovated to house library, old books, reading spaces, internet kiosks, direct farmers fresh, freshly prepared local food.

When we have a space like this built through NRI funds or in remembrance of some elderly, we can utilize to build something similar.

It should have books, computers with internet access, reading tables, meeting place where old and young can come daily, fresh farmers produce where ladies/gents can walk in to buy fresh vegetables for the day, rent a book/video, meet with other community members, eat a dosa, drink sugarcane juice, and go home. Kids will not be addicted to a screen time, if there is a social place where they can go on their own, or with their mother/father/grand parents, and play with friends and as well as some reading done in library.

Library is important in opening once mind, especially kids and youth, in understanding the world and culture and can definitely take back something end of the day

http://realfarmacy.com/city-abandoned-walmart-absolutely-brilliant-youll-love/

Plant a trillion trees

We need to increase our green cover by 30% for us to live comfortably with good air and water.

Have been reading lot of wonderful success stories
where people have made an effort to plant trees and
grow forests. Cam across an article where a 9 year old
started on this journey and at the age of 19 was
leading initiatives across the world

Have also read where a couple has adopted to live with the nature
and didn't visit the doctor in those times

Living with the nature and contributing to rains, developing forests
 and helping reduce carbon print is a great way to
take up an initiative and run it

I guess we can start off at locating such lands and purchase from private owners and
talk with agriculture department on type of trees that
are good for that soul type is a first step towards planting trees

Also to ensure there is a way supply to the area either through
pipeline or borewells is the next step

We can start off this with relatively low investment and use
different sourcing ideas to put into implementation a potential
forest and eco friendly environment which you can later
turn into a vacation spot of a walk and talk with the nature when you
live with your friends and family

This can be an initiative where families can come and spend
time planting and nurturing the plants and see it grow amidst the nature

You can see your plants grow like your kids grow big

A walk in such beautiful nature is better than spending thousands
on a mall over the weekend worrying about spending on impulsive buyers

A walk down this path gives you to talk to people you love rather
than watching Facebook whatsapp internet or movie where screen time is a problem

Such a walk also helps parents bond with their kids away from gadgets

A sense of belongingness amongst the society in growing trees where
our ancestors and us would have cut down trees for agriculture or
our own housing and schools and offices

I really want to do this !!!

Capsicum Farming

A success story from capsicum farming by a former IT personnel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG5fPNK8h_U

A tree is worth $193,250

Society & Government responsibilities

Society & Government responsibilities

* Taking care of orphans - Orphanages
* Taking care of elderly - Old Age Homes
* Taking care of deaf, dumb, blind - Differently Abled School & hostels
* Taking care of school children at SC/ST hostels (stricter audit and vigilance, CCTV cameras, for controlling human trafficking)
* Taking care of farmer suicide families
* Taking care of Jawans families after loss of life
* Taking care of education of all youth - gurukul, government schools
* Taking care of education of girl child - ensure no dropouts, and education and livelihood trainings given to school girls
* Taking care of livelihood trainings given to school boys
* Taking care of skill development of SC/STs
* Life skill trainings, vocational course trainings, employment related trainings to youth while studying to make them employment/enterprenuer ready students
* Nutrition of all kids, especially the economically backward, to ensure health is taken care not to go to doctor
* Vaccination education to all
* Free health insurance to all and affordable health care to economically backward
* Health related cleaniless training, health care facilities available training, instead of native medication
* De-addiction centers locally to help people quit alcohol, smoking, gambling etc...
* Compulsory meditation and yoga sessions
* Education on genetically modified seeds, fertilizer farming, and encouraging natural, organic farming
* Elderly - Social security and medicare payments, pension system
* Toilets for each house
* Energy saving bulbs
* Solar power units at all location to get rid of fossil fuel consumption in this planet
* Internet to each home, to boost digital india revolution
* Own Pakka House for all families, even to economically backward families
* Free lunch at schools at government school
* Everyone insured for health in this country
* Every farmer to take Crop Insurance
* LPG subsidy to below poverty line families
* Minimum rate of veggies, fruits, grains, cotton, etc.. for farmers, to boost agriculture, reduce farmer suicide, boost economy
* Digital education through distance learning program
* English improvement sessions
* 100% literacy drive
* Health consultations remotely
* Ambulance services to all villages
* Encourage cultural related schools, trainings, events, education to retain culture
* Encourage communities to plant trees and take care
* Encourage swach bharat mission to educate people on cleaniless

Growing trees everywhere

Our Smart Villages and Smart cities should have trees growing everywhere, from roof tops, to pillars, to side walks, to barren lands, schools, hospitals, parks,  etc...

Here is an interesting way one of the countries are looking at using every available space to have trees and clean air around us and spread green awareness

Clean Water - stop dumping into rivers/lakes/oceans

Clean water is important not just for our drinking, or keeping surrounding free of breeding ground to mosquitoes, it is also important for the aqua life survival. Throwing of toxic waste, plastic, waste etc...carelessly harm the marine animals and they have a greater danger of becoming extinct because of the mindless acts of the society and industries.

We as a society, as smart villages, smart cities, should be cognizant of the waste we throw off.

Waste management experts needs to be involved for industrial waste management

Local  day to day waste management techniques need to be brought to each household

Develop a cheap version of turning daily food waste into fertilizer for your home garden.
https://www.zera.com/

Keep our water bodies crystal clear, develop parks around that, but ensure they dont dump chips packet and other plastic into the water bodies.

Cleaniless, Swach Bharat comes from here where we adults, kids alike, ensure the water bodies are saved and hence take care of the marine life living beneath

Planting Trees - Inspirational picture of kids watering

This is a powerful way of encouraging the next generation in planting of trees nearby villages/neighbourhoods.

Innovatively developed this mini water tank that kids can happily, go together and grow the trees and make them grow as they grow.

What better way of teaching them about trees, its importance and never to cut the trees but plant more trees.

Smart Village Success Stories: Planting Trees as part of CSR - how it changed life of a village

An excellent success story that shows how planting trees as a revolution can change the small village into prosperous village in Madagascar. It has been a village of 40 people which has grown to a people of 450 people with more work to do because of ecological changes due to planting of millions of trees
https://www.facebook.com/climatereality/videos/1156902591043050/

Another initiative where money gets funded by searches made online and they are planting trees in many countries and increasing the green cover as well as changing the ecology for better

http://ecosia.com 

Video about Ecosia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEBm9HbHvl0&feature=youtu.be?utm_source=ecosiayt&utm_medium=doodleEN&utm_term=video&utm_campaign=5Mtrees

Our state governments mission on planting trees is good, but I think we need the agriculture department do lot more.

Take areas with less green cover, do soil tests, suggest the plantations to be grown, people from the community/CSRs contribute to planting trees and also taking care of the maintenance of them.

The plantations should be profitable to take care of the maintenance on its own as well and add more revenue streams to the villages nearby

Water Conservation

Some of different ways of water conservation are as follows.

Conserving water and increasing the ground water levels, lead to changing the ecosystem, increasing agriculture, increasing the revenue and savings of the villagers and increasing the population around the areas where water is self-reliant and innovative means are used for water conservation

Links to Traditional Water Conservation Methods

• http://www.ecoideaz.com/expert-corner/water-conservation-methods-india
• http://www.thebetterindia.com/61757/traditional-water-conservation-systems-india/

Links to Innovative Water Conservation Methods

• http://www.ecoideaz.com/expert-corner/innovative-water-conservation
• http://www.biologydiscussion.com/articles/13-outstanding-water-conservation-methods/2435
• http://edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/water/conser.htm
• http://www.ecoindia.com/education/water-conservation.html
• http://bigpictureagriculture.blogspot.in/2015/10/thirty-five-water-conservation-methods_20.html

Rain Water Harvesting; Every school, government building and house have a percolation pit

Courtesy: Better India

Rain Water Harvesting / Water Conservation should start from our own home and rather the below story says from school. Educating the next generation on water conservation at school building itself.

Commendable job!

The District Water Management Agency (DWMA) of Warangal has launched a massive conservation drive in the district. It has decided to build at least one percolation pits in every school. These pits will help in harvesting the rain water.

Know more about this in a video here:

Architect helps Mango Growers in KarnatakaPercolation pits will be installed in schools as a part of the drive.

Empowering Girls in Villages

Courtesy:
http://www.thebetterindia.com/59796/nandini-tripura-district-administration/


Below story is a classic example where districts can empower girls and women in village towards development of the village. A classic example of what an IAS officer can do if they want to work on social causes like Beti Bachao Beti Padao schemes of Central Government

Nandini, an initiative aimed towards the empowerment of women and girls in Gomati district of Tripura, is helping in the successful implementation of the central government’s Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme in the region. Started by 2008-batch IAS officer Sonal Goel, Nandini is an umbrella project that encompasses the work of several district administration departments.

1. Setting up a crèche – the first of its kind:

2. A park dedicated to girls and their parents:
A local park, was revamped and over 120 trees have been planted by local residents in the names of their daughters, sisters, granddaughters, etc. 
The community itself has taken up the responsibility of taking care of the park.


3. Festivals with a purpose:
Planned to popularize the idea of women empowerment during the celebrations around the theme of saving the girl child and women empowerment.

4. Collective streamlining of projects:

The DM issued collective guidelines to all stakeholder departments like social welfare, health, education, police, judiciary, forest department, IT department etc., informing that they all should take up steps towards women empowerment.

5. The Health and Family Welfare department has started training ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activists) on how they can prevent domestic violence.

6. Making women self-dependent:
The department of social welfare in the district is involved in providing supplementary nutrition to 24,315 girls in the age group of six months to six years. The department has also set up 70 vocational training centres for making women self-dependant by teaching them tailoring skills.

7. Nandini Samman:

An award called Nandini Samman has been introduced in the district and has been adopted by every department to honour women and girls excelling in different fields. The education department awards female students who perform well; health department honours the ASHAs; social service department gives the award to anganwadi workers, etc.

Farmer Success Story: Jackfruit tree and its agri products

Courtesy:
http://www.thebetterindia.com/59942/james-joseph-jackfruit-365-superfood-india/


James Joseph says Jackfruit is Jack of all fruits. He wanted to make this undervalued and underrated seasonal fruit available for consumption 365 days a year.  On learning that 80% of the fruit is made up of water, he hit upon the idea of freeze-drying jackfruit. Freeze-drying reduced the weight of the fruit by 82%, cutting down the huge costs of transportation and storage. A 180-gm pack of freeze dried jackfruit can be stored at room temperature for 365 days and, when soaked in lukewarm water, yield one kg of jackfruit.

• Since the glycemic load (glucose level) in unripe jackfruit is almost half that of rice or wheat, the fruit makes a potent carbohydrate substitute for diabetics. 
• Jackfruit’s high potassium content helps lower elevated blood pressure 
• Its high anti-oxidant and flavonoid content protect against cancer. 
• Jackfruit also increases the human body’s capacity to absorb iron, making it extremely effective in preventing and curing anaemia. 
• Since jackfruit blends beautifully into most recipes, it can also change the way we look at health foods and gluten-free foods in particular.
• Interesting and unique jackfruit-infused recipes include galouti kabab, biryani, masala dosa, kathi roll, panna cotta, and payasam, all made from dehydrated jackfruit!

“I don’t even consider it a crop. It just grows. When other crops fail, you can always count on the jackfruit tree.” says Joseph

Farmer Success Stories: Mr. Umesh, hailing from Kalya village of Magadi taluk of Ramangara District, Karnataka

Please read the below site for a success story

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/generating-constant-income-imperative-for-successful-farming/article6549354.ece

Revenue Stream: Honey Bee Cultivation

Courtesy:
http://www.thebetterindia.com/65339/josephine-selvaraj-vibis-natural-bee-farm/

The Vibis Natural Bee Farm started with 10 hives

Not only did Josephine employed more than 50 tribal women from the hilly villages of Oddanchathram, Malaiyur, Ellapara and Sirumalain; she has also helped more than 300 women set up their own honey bee farms.

More than 20,000 individuals have also benefited from the free honeybee farming training initiated by Josephine under the National Honey Mission.

Her progressive efforts in honey bee farming have changed the lives of locals by improving their standard of living and by ensuring that their children have access to quality education.

Her objective is to make the sweet nectar available to each and every family for their daily consumption. She believes that honey helps boost immunity and purifies blood. Its medicinal value protects the body from major health problems like heart ailments and cancer.

Farmer Success Story: Natural Farming from barren land from villagers

Courtesy:
http://www.thebetterindia.com/66570/natural-farming-suneet-salvi-maharashtra/

“These are simple people. They grow one crop a year and either spend the rest of the time doing nothing or go to the city for menial jobs. My idea is to help them make farming sustainable and profitable. Right now, I am paying them for learning and working on our farm. In a year or so, they should be able to till their own land,” Suneet adds.

Read the article given above.

Lot of people would want to do something like this, but might be thinking of upfront cost on land. See how Suneet has progressed and did Collective Farming using natural farming techniques

Farmer Success Story: Vertical Farming and Israli farming techniques

Courtesy:
https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http://www.theweekendleader.com/Innovation/1837/fairy-farms.html

Vertical farming, drip irrigation, soil solarisation and the like were terms that mystified Deepak Khatker, a 40-year-old farmer, when he first visited the Indo-Israel Centre of Excellence for Vegetables here a couple of years ago.

Around three hectares are currently being used to cultivate vegetables using Israeli know-how. and is growing cherry tomatoes, seedless cucumbers, brinjals and coloured capsicums. The production is four to five times when compared with other farmers not using these technologies

Methods like vertical farming help save space on the ground by growing the crops vertically while drip irrigation saves almost 90 percent of water. These methods are revolutionary

Though the concept of "protective agriculture" is expensive as it requires greenhouses and poly-houses, government subsidies have ensured that interested farmers take the plunge.

We get 90 percent subsidy for installing a drip irrigation as well as automatic irrigation system, while for the poly-houses, we get 65 percent rebate from the government

About the centers that are propagating this

Situated 145 km from Haryana capital Chandigarh, the centre opened in January 2011 and is spread across six hectares. Built for Rs.6 crore (Rs 60 million) by the Indian government, it was set up following the signing of the Agriculture Cooperation Agreement between India and Israel in 2008.

Experts from Israel regularly visit the centre and organize free training sessions for farmers, teaching them "protective agriculture" to increase their crop yields while using fertiliser and water optimally. The experts also visit the farms if needed.

In addition, corporates and professionals are also taught ways to produce quality vegetable seedlings at a nominal fee.

"The idea is to transfer applied research and technologies to the farmers in various states across India. While Israel has already entered into agreement with seven state governments to set up these centres, the most successful model has been Haryana," said Israeli Embassy spokesman Ohad Horsandi.

At present there are 10 such Centres of Excellence with a special focus on mangoes, pomegranates and citrus fruits. By 2015, their number will increase to 28 as they also branch out to flowers, bee keeping and dairying.

According to S K Yadav, project manager of the Gharaunda centre, over 60 farmers, not only from Haryana but also from states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and even Tamil Nadu, visit the centre daily. Last year, over 16,000 farmers were trained at the centre.

Diverse technologies are demonstrated to the farmers so that they can choose the technology that suits them best and maximize their yield and profits,