An Ideal Village

Enter this village and see how dreams are transformed into reality, how people go from a state of devastation to development and how determination and hard work culminates into something incredible.This village has been using water harvesting techniques for years and there are no open drains or muddy puddles. All the houses have soak pits and toilets. Whole village is adorned with trees like Pomegranate, Mango, Jack fruit, Guava, Indian Gooseberry (Awla), Black plum and medicinal plants like Indian Basil (Tulsi). Literacy is 100% and it is one of the most developed villages of the state.   

We are talking about Ravindra Nagar, an ideal village in Mohammadi tehsil (District Lakhimpur Khiri) in Uttar Pradesh. This village was inhabited on birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Thakur and hence named after him. This is the story of hardworking Bengali people who came here after going through the horrors of partition and endured further hardships for years. These people faced lack of basics, i.e. housing and food. Epidemics like Cholera, Diarrhea, Black fever were common in refugee camps. In the name of rehabilitation these families were dumped in the forest beside Gomti River.

Needless to say their torment continued for another 8 years. Local Swayamsewak and district head of village development Shri Tapan Kumar tells that they used to boil Jungle rice and ate it with fish for their meals. Then 50 years ago, Sangh started its Shakha here and paved the way for development and the people came out victorious when they transformed their village and their life.  First thing the villagers did with the help of Swayamsewaks was to make land suitable for farming. This was a tough task which required lots of efforts from both villagers and Swayamsewaks.

Ravindra Nagar (earlier known as Miyapur) was considered bastion of black magic and snake charmers and people were afraid to go there, but in spite of all odds, swayamsewaks were determined to do something good for the people and in the process first Shakha was conducted by Bhairavchandra Rai in 1969. Since then the Shakhas are regularly conducted for last 50 years. First school was started with the help of Swayamsewaks who donated land for the school. This school was later received a recognition from government.

Even today, enthusiasts like Sanjay Vishwas, Mallika Mandal, Milan and Shambhu, volunteers as teachers, helping to reach and help reaching 100% literacy rate. People are still rooted in traditions and plaster their homes with cow dung and mornings start with the horn of conch shell.Women of the village make bidis for employment but surprisingly, no one in the village smokes bidis. There are four self-help groups in the village which are giving training to the women for stitching, embroidery and thus pave way for employment.