Roots and wings

Anjali Nauriyal

There is so much that retired Uttarakhadis can do for public good and the larger benefit of the people as they can put to use their rich experience to benefit their people in a variety of ways. An example in this regard is that of C.M. Bhandari, who has been an ambassador to Poland, Lithuania, the UAE, Combodia and the Consular General in Toronto, Canada. Once he retired in June 2009, he decided to rally together the folks in his native village Mawra near Ranikhet and together they are all endeavouring to overcome hurdles faced by their native village. This they are doing under the Mawra Gramvikas Sanstha (MAGRAS).

Bhandari observes that constant migration from Mawra has been destroying the fabric of the village just as the rest of Uttarakhand. "While the diaspora prospered all over the world, the villages suffered as there was nothing to bind them to their roots, especially employment opportunities. We at MAGRAS realised that in spite of all round losses, the hills retained some of their major strengths like natural beauty, pollution-free atmosphere, excellent climate, etc. We decided to use all this to our advantage through the diaspora that could sense opportunity here to pay back to the roots. We now have various developmental, agricultural and other plans at various stages of implementation. All of us got together, pooled in money and put in place a comprehensive integrated economic development plan, encompassing agriculture, horticulture, aromatic and herbal plants, poly house farming, rain water harvesting, river water storage mechanism, vocational education, women empowerment and above all rural tourism. In the coming years we hope we are able to create a sustainable village economy."

Interestingly, Mawra village has an entire clan tree that shows their close bonding. Bhandari continues, "Residents of the village have occupied high positions in various professions and have lived away from the village with the result that several houses were permanently locked for years, and the beautiful heritage houses started crumbling. This caused a loss of architectural heritage and allied irreparable cultural loss as well. To rectify this problem we began organising yearly week-long functions that required members of the entire village to congregate from where ever they were residing in the country or abroad. Finally, at the 2005 gathering the MAGRAS was formed to provide a formal administrative and legal base for the developmental and charitable activities."

Today, Bhandari proudly informs that with the help of donations from members MAGRAS has diversified into many activities. One of its success stories is that of providing water to the village in dry months. "We adopted the entire water shed area to solve the water scarcity. We built a 15,000 litre pucca tank and later another 1 lakh litre pucca tank which the villagers could share after judiciously storing the rain water. We are now encouraging the villagers to build their own tanks. Five have already done so and more are in pipeline," Bhandari informs. "Further we are continuously digging trenches on village terraced farmlands and diverting all rain water from roads and paths to the terraces. Our initial attempt has been 100 per cent successful in arresting all rain water and absorbing it for the subsoil ground water recharging."

Educationally too many plans have been put in place to benefit the youngsters. A study centre has been set up at Khirkhet Inter College where student related problems and requirements are addressed. Scholarships are granted to meritorious students. My Social Awareness Diary is a brilliant idea mooted by MAGRAS to sensitize the younger generations. "This diary is intended to create awareness in the youth and through them in the whole community and country to work for 'Zero Waste' policy and provide incentives to them to implement conservation measures starting with their homes, neighbourhoods, schools and society. The idea is to find an end-user for every waste product or a proper mechanism for its disposal," he gently quips. "This diary is being introduced in inter colleges by the chief minister. We are confident that this will soon become a national campaign of transforming our surroundings. This diary would be given to the students at a nominal cost (primarily to ensure misuse) from MAGRAS and the sponsors. It would promote creativity and students would be required to fill in original ideas of tackling local and social issues and become beacons of change and improvement in society," Bhandari proudly pronounces.

On the tourism front, old houses in the villages have been received on donation by MAGRAS and renovated for occupancy. "We are persuading residents to renovate their old houses and donate to the sanstha for management. For the past few years a constant stream of visitors has been visiting Mawra to look at the experiments by MAGRAS. These include many foreigners. They all cannot help applauding the efforts of the villagers in taking up measures to improve their own lot. MAGRAS is now submitting a detailed report to the government of Uttarakhand so that the government can augment its efforts further and then hopefully help other villages to replicate the experiment in self-help and improvement.

Bhandari who has authored several books on yog and spirituality delights in sharing his self-management techniques for healthy happy living. He has keen interest in correct upbringing of children, as also in the upliftment of the poorer sections of society. That is why he has decided to devote full time to village development programmes and to networking with many NGOs and professionals to get his lofty dreams realized. He is one among several other concerned Uttarakhandis who have come back to their villages to save them from annihilation.