प्रश्न विकास का- A Dialogue on Rural Development! @ Bir, Himachal Pradesh.
Ashish Arora
प्रश्न विकास का- A DIALOGUE ON RURAL DEVELOPMENT!
April 26-30, 2017, Deer Park Institute, Bir Himachal Pradesh.
The present world is aggressively talking about development. Be it the social media, corporate board meetings, government panels, public forums or international dialogues, everywhere ‘Development’ has taken the center-stage, making people come up with innovative ideas, inclusive frameworks, diverse teams and multi-dimensional strategies to solve age-old as well as newly found problems. More and more people are now thinking beyond their individual selves to participate in the whole social process of solving human challenges across the world. There are now people who volunteer on weekends, and there are people who have dedicated their whole lives for the betterment. Though the transition is extraordinary, it also comes with its limitations if proper ‘preparation’ is not done before ‘action’.
The process of preparation requires us to ask a few basic questions:
- What do we mean by development? How exactly do we define it?
- Why do we need development? Is it essential to follow this path, or is it optional but we consider it essential
- If we need development, how do we decide the direction of development? For example, development may mean eating packaged machine-based food, and it may also mean eating self-grown home-made food.
- While we decide the direction of development, how do we consider our relationships with each other and with plant, animal and material world?
- Lastly, thinking beyond Roti, Kapda, Makaan, Bijli, Paani and other essentials, what are the intangible outcomes of development that may give meaning to our existence on this planet?
‘प्रश्न विकास का’ is a dialogue meticulously designed for asking all these questions one by one in rural context and for reflecting on them collectively, both while being in a circle and while being on-field talking to villagers about their life experiences. On one hand, the dialogues shall try to find new answers to its central questions, and on the other, the dialogue shall also try to re-evaluate the direction of development we have taken so far as a society. In the process, the dialogue shall consider ideas like ‘Localization’, ‘Self-reliance’, ‘Globalization’, ‘Industrialization’, ‘Governance’ while keeping in mind the modern tools such as ‘Technology’, ‘Education’, ‘Infrastructure’, ‘Tourism’, ‘Entrepreneurship’ etc.
The dialogue comes with a very participatory, experiential and simplistic approach. There would not be any experienced person or role model from rural development field to influence our thinking. We would all be on our own doing the unlearning, re-learning, forming theories and experiencing realities while being on-field. We will get our chances to explore the modern upcoming village of Bir and also spend time with villagers living in deep interiors of the Dhauladhar ranges of the Himalayas (Yes, we will trek to their villages to experience their life first-hand!). In the end, our intention would be to come up with our own understanding of how the villages should be ‘developed’ so as to maximize collective happiness and harmony.
WHO SHOULD COME?
Those who wish to work or who are already working for the development of the villages in India in any field such as Education, Livelihood, Health, Technology etc.
HOW WILL THE DIALOGUE HELP?
The dialogue shall help us to re-think about our working approach and look at the same from a fresh perspective. The dialogue aims to highlight our good practices and also the problems that may come up in future due to our present actions. In other words, the dialogue shall provide us an opportunity to re-evaluate our strategies and fix the loopholes, if any.
WHAT DOES A DIALOGUE MEAN?
A dialogue means that we shall have our discussions with an open mindset. There shall not be any conscious, or rather secretive, effort to lead the participants to some pre-defined conclusions. Anything may come up based upon our life experiences and on-field visits.
TIMELINE, BATCH SIZE AND VENUE
April 26-30, 2017
Minimum 10 - Maximum 20 Seats
Deer Park Institute, Bir, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh
FINANCIALS
Pay for accommodation and food. Rest Gift Economy to Sahaj Foundation. Explore this link for more information.
For more information, kindly explore the link here, write to Ashish Arora on sahajfoun...@gmail.com or call him on +91 98168 62327.