Ralegan is the story of an oasis in the desert created by four decades of so-called development of rural India. What distinguishes Ralegan from similar isolated achievements is that the entire effort has emanated from within the village itself, utilizing only those governmental resources which are available to all villages. Ralegan has demonstrated the practicability of the truly Indian model of development envisaged by visionaries like Vivekananda and Gandhiji, where common people using common sense and commonly available resources can transform their village as well as their own lives without dependency on any outside dictation, advice or charity. It also reveals the ability of semi-literate and even illiterate village men and women to effectively utilize a variety of programmes and appropriate technologies if the knowledge is made available to them. There can be no better demonstration of Integrated Rural Development because people by their very nature cannot practice the departmentalized, hierarchical and uncoordinated approach which seems to be the hallmark of governmental agencies and their everproliferating bureaucracy.
The moral undercurrent that runs throughout the story of Ralegan is so alien to the "modern" concept of economics and development which is borrowed trom the West. Anna Hazare places the blame for the present state of rural India on the techno-bureaucratic-political approach whose chief interest lies in its own welfare. These technomanagerial models, often devised by those who are mentally, physically as well as culturally distanced if not alienated trom the rural reality, fail to appreciate the entirely different social and economic needs at the peoples' level. "Democratic decentralization", '"Community Participation", "Targetting", "Inter- and Intra-sectorial coordination" and "Integrated approach" are meaningless cliches which bear little relation to the reality at the village Ievel. It is the moral approach of Anna Hazare which appeals to our common people, and helps to release their latent energy and abilities. This also helps towards co-operative effort and ensures that the fruits of development are willingly shared, rather than being appropriated by a few, as happens in other models of development. Instead of creating the disparity, the increased wealth of this village has resulted in egalitarian distribution without the use of any sanctions or recourse to corrective or legal measures.
Despite inroads by the Westernized urban elite, the culture of the country, by and large, still remains that of a highly individualized and personalized nature. This is why most activities function best at the small interpersonal level. This is also the reason why the impersonal, large scale projects and programmes fail in our country. The centralized top-down distanced approach to development has also led to withholding knowledge of development programmes and their inputs from the village beneficiaries, with the inevitable corruption and nepotism which have negated our developmental efforts.
Panchayati Raj is our traditional system
which is meant to institutionalize development at the village level. Ralegan
Siddhi shows how the village can rejuvenate itself if the government, the
politicians and the private sector get off the peoples' backs. It is hoped
that the renewed interest in Panchayati Raj will help rejuvenate rural
India and the whole country.
While Ralegan has received much publicity
in the media, this is the first detailed study of the process by which
this village has developed, as also the economics of this mode of development.
The request for such a study was made personally by Dr. Manmohan Singh
when he was the Deputy Chairman of the Plannine Commission.
The Foundation for Research in Community
Health thanks Anna Hazare and all the residents of Ralegan
Siddhi for their unstinted co-operation
in this study.
This study could not have been possible without the designing and close supervision by Dr. Ramesh Awasthi, a senior member of the Foundation, who is a chemical engineer with a degree in economics and also Shri Dashrath K. Panmand a trained social worker who lived in Ralegan Siddhi for the entire duration of the study and who is now in the process of utilizing the experience in developing his own group of villages in the same Taluka.
The original edition of this hook was in
Marathi. It is hoped that this English versinn will reach a wider audience.