This Village In Telangana Is Putting Cities To Shame With Its Standards Of Development

“The future of India lies in its villages.”

This decades-old quote by Mahatma Gandhi holds true in the modern-day India as well. According to the recent census of 2011, over 70% of the population of our nation still resides in the rural regions but sadly, government schemes and development plans fail to reach these remote parts of the country.

Which is why Gangadevipalli, a small village in the Warangal district of Telangana is a positive example by all means for the entire nation. PM Narendra Modi even mentioned the village for their good work in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ program last month, after IAS Officer Parameswaran Iyer visited the village along with UNICEF representatives to study the twin-pit technology used by them.

The village, with about 360 households and a population of 1400 has a lot to brag about. As the board at the ‘Gram Panchayat’ office reads, the village has a 100% literacy rate and toilets in every household, among other achievements.

For two continuous terms between 1995 to 2006, the village was run by an all-women panchayat.

The village has a notable infrastructure too. Cement-concrete lanes and bylanes, a functioning sewerage system, solar-powered streetlights and CCTVs at strategic locations, the village has it all. Pendli Malla Reddy, president of the village’s water committee says,

“We have Any Time Water (ATM) machine, which dispenses 20 litres of drinking water for just Re 1. If anybody wants more, they have to pay an extra Rs 4 for another 20 litres. The machine dispenses water with the swiping of a smart card.”

Gangadevipalli was conferred with the title of ‘India’s Best Panchayat’ in 2007.

Socio-economically too, the village is ahead of most others in India. Villagers adhere to a strict family planning system with each family having a maximum of two children and women join self-help groups to raise money and distribute loans among themselves.

The village inspired PM Modi to launch the ‘Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana’ in 2014 under which each MP has to convert one village in their constituency into a ‘model village’ under a given time period.

Koosam Rajamouli, former ‘Sarpanch’ of Gangadevipalli who is highly regarded for his contribution to the village’s development, says that it’s the local people who have turned things around for good in the village.

As it is evident from the story of this village, it takes the will and hard work of the locals for the development of any region. The government can make policies and issue funds, but for matters like sanitation, it is ultimately the people’s contribution that makes the difference. Let’s hope other rural and urban areas of our country take a leaf out of this village’s book and make India a literate, clean and self-sufficient nation in the near future.

Sources: Hindustan Times, The News Minute and The Week