Project Undertaken

The villages in India are home to 830 million people, comprising 70% of India’s population. This reveals the vast human capital of India residing in villages. The importance of this resource is further strengthened by the fact that India is an agrarian economy. India’s villages also house exceptional resources in terms of tangible and intangible property such as traditional knowledge, handicrafts, handlooms etc.

Rural India didn’t received its due attention in the years following independence. However the beginning of this millennium has been substantial change on this front. In the past few years, the government has laid special emphasis on the development of the rural areas alongside urban development and industrial growth. The inclusion of villages in the development process will have multifold impact such as inclusive development, increase in farmer’s welfare and income, support to secondary industries etc. The governmental efforts are bearing results but there exists a mismatch between the schemes and their intended outreach. The project Gramoday bears in mind this fundamental concern which needs immediate attention to bridge the gap between governmental schemes and the target audience. AGAM as an organisation is involved primarily in facilitating an increase in the outreach of governmental schemes to the marginalised.

The project Gramoday is one of the tools to foster this end. Gramoday project uses a bottom-up approach, whereby the children are the agents of change. We have established Gram Shiksha and Suchna Kendra (GSSK)  for the purpose of educating the children. The GSSKs serves as a centre of transformation assisting in providing of quality education in subjects such as English, Mathematics, and Computer Science through technological intervention to necessitous children.

Each such Kendra is being assisted by a Gram Mitra who is the first person of contact. The Gram Mitra not only educate the students enrolled with the centre but also involved in administrative tasks such as assessing the needs of the Kendra , identifying the needs of students, celebrating special days related to Environment, Governance, Independence Day etc., organising events (where and if necessary) for the parents of the students etc.

Anti-Corruption Day celebration at Babhniyawan village

Painting Competition on the occasion of Environment day

One of the crucial element of the Gramoday project is technological intervention in the field of Good Governance. This is being used foremostly in maintaining transparency in the structure and functioning of the Gramoday project followed by imparting digital literacy to the students and other interested stakeholders at our Computer Center.

Further, we organise awareness camps on regular basis not only to make them aware of their citizenry rights but also to inform them about social welfare schemes sponsored by State and Central Government.

We also organise health camps in villages on regular basis with an aim not just to provide health services but to create an environment where the whole community gets sensitized about health issues.

Recently, we also took few other initiatives one of them being to educate the local farmers about organic farming and its benefits which has gained popularity among the community, the other being  women empowerment program stressing upon  training on operating sewing machines, embroidery, arts, and designing skills as well as tailoring  that can assist in their livelihood.

Currently, Gramodaya project is being implemented in two villages namely Babhniyawan and Darjipurwan in Bahraich district in UP and we are persistently looking to serve other villages across India under the project.