There was a sense of disbelief among ministers and ambassadors from diverse nations when the chairperson of the 11th Info-Poverty World Conference held at the United Nations introduced the jeans-clad Chhavi Rajawat as head of a village in India.
For, from a distance one could easily mistake Rajawat, an articulate, computer-savvy woman, for a frontline model or at least a Bollywood actress. But she is sarpanch of Soda village, 60km from Jaipur, in backward Rajasthan and the changing face of growing dynamic rural India.
The 30-year-old Rajawat, India's youngest and the only MBA to become a village head - the position mostly occupied by elders, quit her senior management position with Bharti-Tele Ventures of Airtel Group to serve her beloved villagers as sarpanch.
Rajawat participated in a panel discussion at the two-day meet at the UN on March 24 and 25 on how civil society can implement its actions and spoke on the role of civil society in fighting poverty and promoting development.
It is necessary to re-think through various strategies of action that includes new technologies like e-services in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in an era where resources have become limited, she told the delegates of the international conference.
"If India continues to make progress at the same pace as it has for the past 65 years since independence, it just won't be good enough. We'll be failing people who dream about having water, electricity, toilets, schools and jobs. I am convinced we can do it differently and do it faster.
"In the past year alone, I and the villagers in Soda have brought about a radical change in the village purely through our own efforts. We have had no outside support - no NGO help, no public, nor private sector help," she said.
On achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Rajawat said she sought full support from outside agencies and the corporate world. "I thank United Nations office for Partnerships (UNOP) which had deputed its senior adviser in India Mr Babu Lal Jain to visit Soda and extend all support in the opening of the first bank in the village. That made all the difference."
"In three years I will transform my village. I don't want money. I want people and organisations to adoptprojects in my village as often projects fail owing to lack of a local connect and that is what I am here to provide by bridging that gap.
"I want the conference to help bring about faster change so that this generation can enjoy that kind of life that I - and you in this audience - take for granted," she said to thunderous cheers from the delegates.
After her session, Rajawat told Press Trust of India: "It (service to villagers) has been a journey to my roots. This was not pre-planned. I am paying my debt to the village where I grew up."
Prior to becoming sarpanch of Soda which has a population of 10,000 people who are predominantly dependant on agriculture, Rajawat was looking after 'Kailrugji, The Hotel' - a family-run hospitality business in Jaipur.
Rajawat, who rides a horse named Magic, conducts village meetings dressed in jeans and T-shirt in a state where women cover their face with a veil as part of the tradition. "It should change. There is so much one can do to break the barriers," she says.
"My business management degree is helping me take care of the village administration and infuse a fresh blood. I am not thinking this as a career but sort of social work," she says.
"... my focus is on bringing safe drinking water and increasing job opportunities in the village by involving NGOs," says Rajawat, who works seven days a week for the welfare of her village. "There is so much to be done."
Rajawat found to her dismay that the school system was bad beyond description. "Each school has only two or three teachers for a total of 400-500 students. I want to get a private college in the village and have identified 75 acres of land for construction. I am working with non-resident Rajasthanis and have urged them to come and start a college in my village."
Rajawat was also invited to the India Today Youth Summit 2010 and shared the platform with eminent persons such as Nandan Nilekani, Viswanathan Anand, Sachin Pilot, Sourav Ganguly, Katrina Kaif, Jaideep Sahni, Sanjeev Sanyal and Mukul Deora.
"I am just a village girl who has had an opportunity to study in some of the best institutions in the country and has only gone back home to work with and for her people. It's as simple as that. Don't run away from your roots because that is your foundation and the nation's foundation too. If you want to make a difference, you have got to start at the bottom. There is so much one can do," she says.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_indian-sarpanch-dazzles-at-un-meet_1524927
One on the most convincing pieces on happiness.
Khushwant Singh at his best. The rationale applied to each preference is absolutely top class. EIGHT CLUES TO HAPPINESS |
Having
lived a reasonably contented life, I was musing over what a person should
strive for to achieve happiness. I drew up a list of a few essentials which I
put forward for the readers' appraisal.
1. First and foremost is GOOD HEALTH. If you do not enjoy good health you can never be happy. Any
ailment, however trivial, will deduct from your happiness.
2. Second, A HEALTHY BANK BALANCE. It need not run into crores but should be enough to provide
for creature comforts and something to spare for recreation, like eating out,
going to the pictures, travelling or going on holidays on the hills or by the
sea. Shortage of money can be only demoralizing. Living on credit or
borrowing is demeaning and lowers one in one's own eyes.
3. Third, A HOME OF YOUR OWN. Rented premises
can never give you the snug feeling of a nest which is yours for keeps that a
home provides: if it has a garden space, all the better. Plant your own trees
and flowers, see them grow and blossom, cultivate a sense of kinship with
them.
4. Fourth, AN UNDERSTANDING COMPANION,
be it your spouse or a friend. If there are too many misunderstandings, they
will rob you of your peace of mind. It is better to be divorced than to
bicker all the time.
5. Fifth, LACK OF ENVY
towards those who have done better than you in life; risen higher, made more
money, or earned more fame. Envy can be very corroding; avoid comparing
yourself with others.
6. Sixth, DO NOT ALLOW OTHER PEOPLE to descend on you for gup-shup. By the time you get rid of
them, you will feel exhausted and poisoned by their gossip-mongering.
7. Seventh, CULTIVATE SOME HOBBIES which can bring you a sense of fulfilment, such as gardening,
reading, writing, painting, playing or listening to music. Going to clubs or
parties to get free drinks or to meet celebrities is criminal waste of
time.
8. Eighth, every morning and evening, devote 15 minutes to INTROSPECTION. In the morning, 10
minutes should be spent on stilling the mind and then five in listing things
you have to do that day. In the evening, five minutes to still the mind
again, and ten to go over what you had undertaken to do.
RICHNESS is not Earning More, Spending More Or
Saving More, but ...
"RICHNESS IS WHEN YOU NEED NO MORE"
Yesterday I was having some work done at the Maruti dealer. A woman came in and asked for a seven-hundred- ten. We all looked at each other, and the mechanic asked, "What is a seven-hundred- ten?" She replied, "You know, the little piece in the middle of the engine. I lost it and need a new one. It had always been there." The mechanic gave the woman a piece of paper and a pen and asked her to draw what the piece looked like. She drew a circle and in the middle of it wrote 710 !! He then took her over to another car which had the hood up and asked, "Is there a 710 on this car?" She pointed and said, "Of course, it's right there." Now go to the photo below to learn what a 710 is.......... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ![]() Women ? The mechanic fainted!! J |