-Changemakers lighting the torch of change in the villages of UP

Lucknow, 26 October (Read). A quiet but powerful change is taking place in the villages of Uttar Pradesh. Local changemakers are taking leadership roles with confidence and turning everyday challenges into opportunities for development. From farming innovations to financial inclusion and health initiatives, they are proving that progress shines brightest when communities are empowered to lead themselves.

Women of Aligarh are converting garbage into gold. Garbage is being converted into gold in Bharatpur village of Tappal block of Aligarh. The credit for this goes to Tappal Samriddhi Mahila Farmer Producer Company Limited, which is a women-led Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) established in 2022. It has now united more than 1,000 women farmers. In just two years it has got the status of ‘Lighthouse FPO’.

At the center of this transformation is the bio-fertilizer unit built on panchayat land. When Neelam Devi decided to take this land on lease, it became a turning point for the women farmers of the town. Women collect everyday waste like cow dung, kitchen scraps, crop residues and convert it into organic fertilizer using new technology developed by IIT Kanpur. The result is that healthy soils are producing stronger and more crops at lower costs.

-Hundreds of women who started driving e-rickshaw became role models. 33-year-old Chanda Shukla of Mirzapur truly set an example of change ‘on the fly’. While the men in the family were generally the financial breadwinners, persistent problems made Chanda the main breadwinner of the family. In these uncertain times, she got inspiration from Pragya Devi, the first female e-rickshaw entrepreneur. Seeing Pragya in the driver’s seat, Chanda felt confident that she too could establish a new livelihood in this almost male-dominated field. With her husband’s encouragement and support from Development Alternatives, she took a loan, bought her first e-rickshaw and took driving and entrepreneurship training.

The path was not easy. Chanda partially covered her face because people were surprised to see a woman driver. His confidence increased with every journey. Soon she started carrying passengers and school children daily. She not only repaid her loan in two years, but is also saving regularly for her children’s education.

-Himanshu Yadav of Hardoi turned personal health scare into a community campaignHimanshu Yadav, a 25-year-old farmer from Hardoi’s Baghrai village, turned a personal health scare into a community campaign. After taking anti-filarial medicine, he developed fever, vomiting and rapid heartbeat. Due to the awareness of the already ongoing CHO-PSP Gram Sabhas, they understood this as a sign of the medicine’s effectiveness and got immediate treatment. Got better within a few hours.

After this Himanshu became a part of the filariasis eradication campaign. He along with Asha workers helped in giving medicines and allayed the fear of the villagers. Adopting the “Night Chaupal” method, he personally administered the medicine about 130 times and explained that the side effects meant the parasites were dying. Today their efforts have inspired more than 130 villagers, showing that awareness and courage can lead to collective action.

-Anita Devi, a 32-year-old graduate from Kisuni village of Amethi, who became a BC Sakhi in Amethi, provided support to thousands of villagers. A few years ago, she was a housewife, who was not getting the opportunity to contribute by staying at home after seeing her husband going to work in metro cities. The situation changed after hearing about the BC Sakhi program in the local block office in 2022. With her husband’s encouragement, Anita applied, took training and received a certificate from the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance. He received a grant amount of ₹75,000 from UPSRLM, which included a handheld banking device and an overdraft account. Anita officially became BC Sakhi in 2022.

The first month’s income was only ₹ 1,589, but Anita continued to work hard. She brought doorstep banking in the villages, which made savings and banking easier for families. Today he has directly included more than 1,100 villagers in the formal financial system. Her monthly commission averages ₹25,000 and her business with her husband has reached over ₹5 lakh. Anita now contributes 80% of the household income. Her children study in a private school and her husband runs an agricultural input shop in the local market. Now they are not dependent on migration for employment in cities.

(Read) / Brijanandan