“I ndia lives in its villages” – Mahatma Gandhi.

This famous observation made by the Father of the Nation many years ago, still holds true. Villagers are said to comprise the core of Indian society and also said to represent the ‘real India’.

It is thus with a vision of making the Indian villages realize their full potential on the democratic platform , that Ms. Manasi Kutwal , the Economic Graduate from Fergusson College of Pune walked into the rural parts of Madurai to make the villagers realize the true potential of rural democracy via the Panchayati Raj system.

As a part of her project Manasi is striving to revive the State Government mandated Standing Committees in Kambur Panchayat in Kottampatti block of Madurai to further democratize the institutional fabric there.

With the help of the Vayalagam Federation at Kottampatti, she is enabling the creation of Village Development Sangamam and Panchayat Development Sangamam as mandated by the Panchayat Development Program at DHAN.

Concurrently, with the help of the Panchayat Staff at the location she is spreading awareness about governance-related activities, the voting in the forthcoming State Legislative Assembly being one of them.

Manasi interacting with the villagers during Election Awareness

Till now, she along with her colleagues from DHAN’s Panchayat programme have conducted 3 focus group discussions in the hamlets of the Panchayat, had discussions with the Panchayat leaders about the issues that were narrated by the community and completed the profiling of the leaders.

“The enthusiasm exhibited by the community leaders has been my principle source of motivation, and it gives me hope that we will be able to kickstart the process to make Kambur Panchayat one of the Model Panchayats in the state”, she said with a hope and a smile.

In the coming months, with the support of the Federation staff, she is certain to complete the profiling of the hamlets and the major service institutions like schools, Anganwadis and the like, present in the village. The hope is that with greater involvement of the community in the development process, she and her team will be able to assure an increase in standard of living for all the people.

“The rural parts of Madurai have given me a host of memories and learning experiences in the past 6 months as a part of my SBI YFI Fellowship with DHAN Foundation”, she said beamingly.