Field Report and Insights,
November 23, 2023.
Context
The Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) was launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) in November 2014, and guidelines were provided for educational institutes in August 2015 to initiate developmental work under UBA in consultation with the district administration.
IIT Gandhinagar is a nodal for 50 other colleges in and around Gandhinagar that have adopted five villages each under the UBA initiative. This was done to aid in the proper planning of development activities. Field research was conducted in these villages, and a meeting was held with the Gandhinagar District Collector to inform officers of the scope of IIT Gandhinagar's participation in village cluster upliftment.
Figure 1 : Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan Poster
Figure 2: From Regional Workshop for Participating Institutes on "Preparing Village Development Plan" held at IIT Gandhinagar on 7 December 2019.
The Social Action and Policy (SAP) Lab at IIT Gandhinagar is a collaborative research lab set up in partnership with UNICEF Gujarat. It employs ‘behavioural insights’ for societal advancements. SAP Lab conducted a field day at Lavarpur village, situated in the Gandhinagar district. The SAP Lab team presents a synthesis of interesting observations from the field day, providing a comprehensive overview of community-level interactions between the community members and the level of engagement with the local body or the Gram Panchayat.
Demographics
Lavarpur village, located 12 km from Gandhinagar, serves as both district and sub-district headquarters and is also a gram panchayat, according to statistics presented in 2009. Lavarpur village has a population of 2,384 people. The village covers 431.1 hectares and has a literacy rate of 81.17%, with 86.98% males and 74.98% females being literate. The village has about 503 houses, as per 2011 Census report.
Lavarpur Gram Panchayat is a rural local body in Gandhinagar Panchayat Samiti and part of the Gandhinagar Zila Parishad, encompassing eight wards, and four schools within the jurisdiction of Gram Panchayat Gandhinagar.
The majority of the population is Hindu. Around 80 per cent of the population is Patel. Other castes including Gajjar, Vanakars, Prajapati, Chauhan, and the Muslims are found in limited numbers.
Insights
The team visited Lavarpur and planned to meet the Sarpanch or the head of the village at the Panchayat Office. Though the Sarpanch was unavailable, an unexpected encounter and conversation with a chemistry teacher from Swaminarayan Gurukul gave us insights into the demographics of the village and the level of community engagement from their perspective.
Surrounding the Gram Panchayat Office, the recently constructed school supported by private investors and the 'chauraha' in front of the office served as communal meeting spaces only during festivals. Residents from neighbouring villages including Firojpur gathered here during the festivals.
The presence of an SBI bank, a dairy cooperative and entirely constructed ‘pakka’ houses near the office reflected certain aspects of development. Yet, the under-constructed houses with people residing near the river, the stagnant and untreated sewage system and a lack of proper waste disposal and collection points highlighted existing challenges and neglect in infrastructure maintenance.
There is a severe gap in meeting the demands for basic infrastructure, even with programs such as the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) in place.
There were lodging facilities for school children, specifically boys ranging from 1st to 12th standard from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The dilapidated state of the building and the lack of proper lodging facilities are, due to the absence of government-aided funding.
“The funds are currently being managed through the personal savings of the manager/owner and informally through their connections with people working with the government”
Given that there are adequate, available spaces and opportunities for community-building initiatives, the residents do not seem to use them.
"Community-based sports and library initiatives in schools only captured widespread interest among youngsters. A significant portion of people do not use the community library space near the school as many have smartphones. Older men would often gather and chew tobacco on Sunday mornings"
Additionally, the absence of a tea shop in the village posed a challenge as it eliminated a potential space for placing local magazines or newspapers, limiting opportunities for community engagement through such mediums.
The persistence of social hierarchy in the village is making it harder for people to get involved in daily activities and feel a sense of community.
Shedding light on the internal dynamics of the village; revealed a respondent, that the village is divided into different "societies" within the community, often composed of 20-30 members from the same family. Despite interacting seldom with people "outside their society", major festivities, such as Navaratri, drew them together near the Panchayat office.
The prominence of the Patels is evident, but interactions with residents from other castes, such as the Thakurs or the Vanakars, are notably absent.
Even though the team was unable to gather insights from the members of the local body, we think it is essential that the local body participate in community-building activities as well as possess the capacity to influence change.
Solutions
Approachability: Make the local body more approachable to the needs of the community.
Funding and Outreach initiatives: Increase the effectiveness of the existing schemes and increase government funding.
Supportive Environments: Create supportive environments sensitive to the needs of diverse populations and boost community interaction and engagement to day to day-to-day activities.
Awareness Activities: Curate activity-based community-building exercises to create awareness of sociocultural impediments, including their own fixed attitudes and biases.
Recommendations
Geared towards social and behavioural change, the Lab proposes implementing small-scale community-building initiatives as the first step to initiate dialogues amongst the community members.
Nukkad Natak/Comic exhibition/storytelling on social issues in Gujarati: Professional or community-based performers can stage short plays addressing socio-cultural issues and community development, while a comic exhibition or graphic narratives can visually depict these issues. Additionally, storytelling sessions can be organised to convey essential messages effectively.
Flea market: Organize a flea market in community spaces where local artisans, producers and villagers could interact and showcase their products. Simultaneously, invite the IITGN community to participate in this interaction.
Facilitate local magazines, newspapers, comic books and children's textbooks to encourage reading habits in a space shared by the community. Identifying local kirana or grocery stores and displaying the reading materials in the local language would significantly lead people to form reading habits.
We believe these initiatives could support a change in attitudes and prejudices by exemplifying a passionate approach to grassroots policy. The many strategies provide multidimensional community involvement, establish venues for interaction, and promote inclusion and awareness.
Conclusion
Through bringing life to these projects, SAP Lab hopes to comprehend sociocultural issues and address them, promoting constructive social change at the local level. By means of these creative endeavours, the Lab hopes to foster consciousness, diversity, and long-lasting Social and Behavioural Change in the neighbourhood.
References
Gram Panchayat (ग्राम पंचायत): LAVARPUR (લવારપુર ). (n.d.). Local Government Bodies of India. https://localbodydata.com/gram-panchayat-lavarpur-158462
Lavarpur Village in Gandhinagar, Gujarat | villageinfo. in. (n.d.). Indian Village Directory. https://villageinfo.in/gujarat/gandhinagar/gandhinagar/lavarpur.html
Lavarpur Village Population - Gandhinagar - Gandhinagar, Gujarat. (n.d.). Population Census 2011. https://www.census2011.co.in/data/village/511273-lavarpur-gujarat.html
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