Sustainable development at villages in Kutch District: A case on VEERAYATAN TRUST, Kutch, Gujarat state

Author: Dr. Preeti Sharma, Prof. Priyanka Nigade

Category: Human Resource Management

Abstract:

This study is focused on the sustainable development at villages in Kutch district, Gujrat. The study is about the Veerayatan trust which is settled at Haripar, Jakhania and Rudrani in Kutch district during the earthquake in 2001. There were many other NGO’s who helped in this earthquake but they were only for short time. Realizing the need to re-establish education and to bring the children out of the suffering and pain Veerayatan trust come to a decision to settle down for the betterment of the villager. The study is conducted to know about the practices done by Veerayatan trust for the sustainable development, its impact of villagers and the satisfaction level if villagers.

This particular piece of research was conducted in 3 villages. From which there were 50 respondents of that villages. The survey was conducted with distributing the systematically designed questioner. Out of which 46 questioners were completely filled which was taken as the sample for the study. The secondary data was collected from the website of veerayatan, online journals, printed journals, books, websites etc.

It was found that the villagers were aware about the activity conducted by Veerayatan for the betterment of the village and villagers. For the sustainable development at kutch district apart from Haripar, Jakhania and Rudrani it targeted nearby villages like Mandvi, Mundra __ampersandsign Bhuj Veerayatan trust has taken major steps like developed Schools, Colleges in different faculty. Majority of the respondents were pleased with the activity conducted by the Veerayatan trust.

The villages which is been catered by Veerayatan were bad in condition and don’t even have the basic need like education, healthcare, employment etc. Now Veerayatan have developed School, Engineering, Pharmacy and Computer Application institutes. This villages even don’t have sufficient trees as it is located in the desert area in Kutch which is near to Rann of Kutch (white desert). Forest area near to this village is not having sufficient trees. This piece of research is to reveal various development plans of Veerayatan that will help village and villagers to be self-sufficient in it. For the sustainable development of the village number of activities are been taken place. The aim of Veerayatan is to improve living conditions of villagers by providing them with good education to their children, good living condition, socio economical living status, a good living environment. Veerayatan organized gramsabha to know the importance of education to people or parents of villages, Trees plantation under “Green India”, Swachhta abhiyan as a “clean India__doublequotosing

Keywords: Sustainable development, Social Responsibility, NGO, Kutch

Full Text:

Introduction: The sustainable development is all about taking care of environment, society, health etc. It must be seen that all needs of people must be fulfill in equal opportunity for present and future communities. People must live in its own limits for the betterment of the society and environment. Sustainable development plan for a village, is essentially a plan of action for the growth of rural area or areas which are lagging behind in economically backward generally due to very low level of literacy and education and heavy dependence on principal production like agriculture, animal husbandry etc, or it can be due to the natural calamity (earthquake, tsunami etc). A holistic method gives precedence for bringing approximately development in the socio-monetary situation or humans stricken by natural calamity of the weaker sections of the population. Definition “Sustainable development is the organizing principle for meeting human development goals while simultaneously sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services upon which the economy and society depend”. “Sustainable development can be defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations”. Background study: For sustainable development in the state of Gujrat, Kutch District Veerayatan a Jain trust has taken a lot of efforts. Veerayatan is developed on the principles of Jainism in India. Veerayatan was the first trust among the numerous to offer necessary assistance and remedy in the 2001 earthquake in Kutch Gujarat, the tsunami in 2004 and during the Surat floods in 2006. Basically the Veerayatan trust is from Bhihar since 1973. Acharya Shri Chandanaji evolved Veerayatan a Jain Trust,
with the benefits of Param Pujya Gurudev Shri Amar Muni ji Maharaj. This trust was run by means of crew of dedicated Sadhvis with the assist of Trustees, committee contributors, expert body of workers etc. The trust is working without any caste, religion or socio-economic status. It has its center national and international (Bihar, Kutch, Maharashtra and many other places in India and USA, UK, UAE, East Africa and Singapore). Veerayatan works in three places in Kutch region of Gujrat viz. Rudrani, Haripar and Jakhania. Veerayatan stands on the 3 pillars of Seva - carrier to humanity, Shiksha - schooling for all, and Sadhana - self-improvement; to inspire and empower lives. About Village: The study is done on three villages Haripar in Gadgada taluka, Jakhaniya in Mandvi taluka and Rudramata in bhuj taluka. The total population of three villages is near about 4002. All together there are 1936 female in the village, Total literacy rate is 2194, and Female literacy rate is 883. There are 77 ST category people __ampersandsign 285 SC category people. The local language in all villages is Guajarati. They are not even habituate of using technology. Objectives: ? To study the Veerayatan participation in sustainable development ? To study the satisfaction level of villagers ? To study the impact of activity conducted by Veerayatan for sustainable development Hypothesis: H1: There is sustainable development conducted by Veerayatan trust H0: There is no sustainable development conducted by Veerayatan trust H1: There is satisfaction level amongst the villagers H0: There is no satisfaction level amongst the villagers
H1: There is high impact of activity conducted for sustainable development H0: There is low impact of activity conducted for sustainable development Significance: The importance of the study is for the village and villagers as they will be awarded by the different activities of Veerayatan trust for the sustainable development. The trust is taking care of village affected by the natural calamity. This study will help the villagers to know about the benefits done for their development so that can be avail by them. Literature: Thill (2011) take a look at on model village and its sustainable natural aid control, village self-governance, current policies, participatory improvement, migration, social equity, abundance and actual democracy of Ralegan Siddhi, located in the drylands of Maharashtra. Anna Hazare, the renowned social activist has been the main leader behind the village. According to Srinivasa (1993) and Dhadave (1996) Numerous case research which discovered that no matter of a lot of diversities, a cohesion in core was existing in every village and network. Different segments in rural and urban societies had been jogging in a thread of social transformation in existing societies. The study conducted under REMA and recognized under VUP, the development activities are Surroundings and herbal resources control (water harvesting, manipulate soil erosion, tree planting and Save woodland, and land control) presenting jobs to useful resource poor and below-skilled rural people, rural infrastructure, higher housing for terrible humans, organized rural settlements. According to the study done by UNPEI on green villages, study says that technology should be introduced in to the villages for usage and awareness to be crested. For
Green village development it has to be seen that at list the village youth must have basic literacy. Research Methodology: Research Design: The study is descriptive and exploratory in nature. The approach of evaluation was both qualitative and quantitative. The information is Accrued from the secondary and primary sources. The primary data is collected through simple random method with the help of specially designed structured questioner. Sample design: Since the main objective of the study is to know the different sustainable development done, satisfaction level and its impact on villagers by Veerayatan trust for the betterment of the villagers. The universe of the study is population of 3 villages Haripar, Jakhania and Rudrani in Kutch district of Gujarat. The foremost informant turned into selected depending on the age, information approximately village and high participation inside the village activities. The primary data was collected from 3600 feedback from respondent by simple random method with the help of specially designed structured questioner. From which there were 50 respondents of that villages. The survey was conducted with distributing the systematically designed questioner. Out of which 46 questioners were completely filled which was taken as the sample for the study. Sources of Information: The primary survey was done to collect the information. The respondents of the research are villagers, employees, vendors, visitors, suppliers and students. Data have also been collected by observation and interview. The secondary data related to this study were collected from literature, journals, websites and official website. Data Analysis: Q. Gender of the Respondents

Researcher has conducted the research in kutch district. During the research it was taken care that the questioner was distributed equally to the male and female respondents but due to in-completely filled questioner the 4 of the questioner was rejected. The male respondents were 54 % and the female were 46%. Q. Age of Respondents

The resercher has taken care about the selection of respondent age. As the veerayatan trust activty has affeted to all the age group. Q. What are the different social activities done by the Veeryaytan Trust?

The study says veerayatan trust has planted trees, done rehabilitation, Clean India, conducted gramsabha, vocational classes, Digital India, career conselling and women empowerment. Q. Are you satisfied with the benefits provided by Veerayatan Trust

The respondents are highly satisfied and satisfied with the benefits provided by the verayatan trust. There are only 2% of villagers who are less satisfied with the benefits. Q. Do below activities help in the development of the village

The maximum of the respondents feel that the activity conducted help in the development of the villagers. Participatory Intervention and Convergence Mechanism for Sustainable Development: The villagers have seen lot of changes done by Veerayatan trust since 2001, when the trust entered during the earthquake of 2001. Since then the villagers received several benefits both individually and communally. Veerayatan trust Include an extensive range of Activities which encompass beginning and running Schools, faculties, Hospitals, free scientific camps and Vocational schooling for the Rural population. Veerayatan has done lot of hard work conducting Medical checkups, Eye surgeries, and Polio re-correction surgical procedures. It has also actively initiated emergency treatment packages in the results of herbal calamities like earthquakes, floods and tsunami. Veerayatan trust has developed Veerayatan Diagnostic Center, Mandvi, Kutch, Gujarat for the poor and needy villagers. It was evolved with the view that Kutch is the second one biggest district. Due to gradual economical improvement and in short of basic infrastructure the contemporary medical centers had been very confined. It is positioned in the small AIMS Hospital in Mandvi makes such offerings handy. Using the Veerayatan equipment, the health center clinical staff
presents the diagnostic tests and file at a discounted fee. Patients then arrange to get hold of suitable remedy. The Veerayatan Diagnostic Center presents endoscopy, dialysis machines, a CT scan, X-ray facilities and dental care for a completely minimum price. A massive population benefits from this carrier to improve health care. Veerayatan Vidyapeeth, Rudrani is a unique institute for hundreds of these children for whom training was an impossible dream. It is a primary education center which gives free training for the kids of families migrating from the border regions of Kutch after the 2001 earthquake. The veerayatan trust has developed 2 Elementary Schools and one Secondary school at Jakhania and Rudrani in Kutch District named as Elementary __ampersandsign Secondary Schools at Jakhania and Elementary School at Rudrani. School at Jakhania is on the Bhuj-Mandvi Road between Bhuj near the ancient old seaport of Mandvi. Veerayatan Vidyapeeth Elementary School at Rudrani ia located exterior of the city of Bhuj. The buildings of both Have all been architecturally designed and constructed to be earthquake resistant. Even although it__ampersandsign#39;s far positioned in the Rann (wasteland) of Kutch, a semi-arid location, the campus is vibrant and colorful with plants because of the vision of Acharya Shri Chandanaji. Schools provide uniform, books, stationery and education free of cost to serve the local community as it has been seen that many of the children are the first in their families to experience formal education. There are more than 800 children studying in school, since its inception, there has been a vast increase in the number of girls at the school as local people are recognizing the importance of education for girls and women. Student are from challenging backgrounds so the school provide with education in music, Physical Education, public speaking and debate as well as
train the students in good habits and values. Apart from school they have Veerayatan Institute of Pharmacy (B. Pharm, M. Pharm), Veerayatan Institute of Management and Computer Applications (BBA, BCA). Veerayatan recognized the increase capacity of this industry and set up an institute to provide talent training for capacity manpower. VIP is the primary college of pharmacy in Kutch that offers Undergraduate (B. Pharm) and Postgraduate (M. Pharm) Programs. It is one a number of the pinnacle 4 pharmacy colleges in Gujarat. Results __ampersandsign Discussion: Sustainable developments of veerayatan trust initiatives include quality healthcare, education, sanitation and mediums for inner development which improve the leaving standers of the villagers. As the veerayatan trust is since 2001 after the earthquake in kutch district. The trust is balanced on the inspiration of Shiksha (training for all), Seva (service to humanity), and Sadhana (selfimprovement). Veerayatan trust is registered under the Indian Societies Registration Act and the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA). There are lots of donations schemes where donors can donate the amount and that amount are used in different ways. The survey found out that everyone knows about the trust and its services for Kutch people. The trust takes care that every villager must be literate so that living standard is improved. Villagers and the employees fully participate in the activities conducted by veerayatan trust. The outcome of the development done is the uplifting from the natural calamity in the district, help in generating the income. Trust takes lot of efforts in generating the awareness about the education and its importance. The children of poor villagers are also been provided with the trust scholarship and medical facility. India is moving towards digitalization so they started with vocational training courses for the villagers by this
trust motivate people towards growth, through skill development. The trust main aim is all round progress and upliftment of villagers of kutch district through a sustainable way and development will be of people center. Trust take care of tree plantation under green India and Swachata abhiyan for clean India in an around kutch district so that villages will become Eco-friendly which will be good relation between people and nature which is required now a days. The kutch district will be sustainable model village by the planning done by the Veerayatan trust. Scope of future research: The research is done in villages near to Kutch district. The study its limited to Veerayatan trust. Researcher has recommended below topics for further research that can be carried out. Topics which are recommended for further study will help to explore left out study. This research can be done on Veerayatan trust located in Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, USA, UK, Nepal Kenya and Dubai. It can be studied on the comparison with other NGOs or trust in to same work. The study can be done on other affected area with natural calamity and different NGOs working for the same.

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