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It is now widely recognised that higher economic growth is a necessary condition for reducing the poverty at a rapid rate. However, if higher growth is broad-based and in countries like India, if the growth is based on agricultural sector and within agricultural sector, if small and marginal farmers and those in dry land and backward areas also participate in the growth of the economy, the poverty can be reduced at a faster pace and inter-regional disparities in levels of living can also be brought down. The experience across the countries and within a country, across regions shows that the higher economic growth is capable of reducing poverty level if adequate attention is paid to the built up of the social capital. Though the welfare states have invariably put the building up of social capital viz:, education and health care on the top of their development programmes, the voluntary efforts of the community can explain, to a large extent, the observed differences in social capital across regions. Further, it has also been observed that the state sponsored voluntary efforts are less successful as compared to the voluntary efforts of the self-help groups of the people emerging from the communities themselves. There are several instances of such "voluntary efforts" which have proved to be very effective and strong catalytic in arousing the involvement of the communities in creating social infrastructure for improving the social capital base. In what follows, is a case of such voluntary efforts, which have been successful in building up of a strong social infrastructure in an extremely harsh climatic environment in arid areas of Rajasthan.
There is a Gandhi Bal Niketan Samiti (GBNS) at Ratangarh, which is registered as society under the Societies Registration Act of 1860. The IDS has associated GBNS in two important social assessment projects viz:, District Poverty Initiative Project (DPIP) and District Primary Education Project (DPEP). During the course of our association under DPIP and NGO workshop organised by IDSJ at Bikaner, I had occasions to interact with Shri Champa Lal
Upadhyay, founder member and honorary Secretary of GBNS. At the time of these interactions, I came to know that Shri
Upadhyay was also holding the portfolio of Vice-Chairman, Rajasthan Khadi and Gramodhyog Board and Chairman of the Service Selection Committee of the Board. When he told his involvement in several educational and social initiatives in the Churu district, I decided to visit his area of interventions and acquire a first hand knowledge of his social development campaign. The visit could materialise on February 5th and 6th, 1998, which was mutually convenient to both of us. I visited several of the educational institutions, and talked to the Heads and staff of these institutions. A list of institutes visited by me and some of my observations are as follows:
1. Gandhi Bal Niketan, Ratangarh
Founder Member and Honorary Secretary Shri C.L. Upadhyay and Ms. Nirmala Chhajalani, Head Mistress were present during my visit. The Institute has been recognised as Special Montessori School. It started functioning in
1959 and at present around 630 children are enrolled in the school. The school is an excellent example of low-cost high-quality education with Hindi as the medium of instruction. They have introduced quite a few innovations for improving the learning capabilitities of the children.
2. Government Shri Baid Industrial Training Institute, Ratangarh
Shri C.L. Upadhyay, who continues to be the Honorary Adviser/ Consultant, has been instrumental in mobilising donation for the Institute and its building later handing over it to the Government of Rajasthan for its running and maintenance. During my discussions with the Principal and other faculty, it came out that the Institute is facing resource crunch particularly in the form of maintenance and contingencies for raw material. It was suggested that the Institute should rise its own resources and reduce the dependence on government funding for operational and maintenance purposes.
3. Seth Shri Mohan Lal Jalan Government College, Ratangarh
The college, which started functioning in 1991, has strength of 340 students. Apart from visiting the library and physical facilities in the college, I had interesting discussions with Shri C.L.
Upadhyay and Principal, Vice-Principal and lecturers of the college on the issue of quality improvement and cost recovery in higher education.
4. Smt. Keshri Devi Lohia Girls College, Ratangarh
As regards this college, Shri C.L. Upadhyay has been instrumental in mobilising finances from Lohias for the new building, which is under construction.
A unique aspect of the voluntary action of Shri C.L.
Upadhyay is that through his patience and devotion to the social cause, he is able to persuade the industrial houses/families having their family roots in the local area to come forward and donate for the creation of social infrastructure in this area. Having mobilised the resources and commitment, he prefers to only oversee the implementation part. The effective implementation
is done by the donor either himself or a separate agency of the local. Shri
Upadhyay feels that this way, he is able to put his energies in new initiatives.
These a part, Shri Upadhyay has played a leading role in establishing and/or expanding the facilities/infrastructure for twelve other educational institutions at or around Ratangarh.
Recognising that apart from creating the educational infrastructure and strengthening the social capacity, improvement in the quality of life of the rural masses requires several other initiates, Shri C.L. Upadhyaya has played an important role in several other forms. Some of these are:
(i) He is a founder member of an important Khadi Institution of Bikaner district viz:, Khadi Gramodhyog Vikas Sansthan, Jhajju (Tehsil - Kolayat);
(ii) He has also helped in the development of Ratangarh branch of Rajasthan Khadi Sangh;
(iii) He has been a member of the Management Committee of the Ayurved Institute at Ratangarh which in 1973 was handed over to the government;
(iv) He has also helped in the establishment of Montessori Bal Shiksha Samiti, Rajaldesar;
(v) He continues to be the President of the Churu District Bal Shiksha Samiti;
(vi) He has been the President of Adarsh Nagar Mohalla Vikas Samiti, Ratangarh and was instrumental in donating a well constructed building of veterinary dispensary to the government;
(vii) He is coordinating the Balwadi and Tailoring Centre in the Harijan Basti of
Ratangarh.
Some much devotion and self-less service to the cause of social upliftment of the people of this area prompted me to know more about Shri C.L.
Upadhyay. It appeared that his devotion to social service was not incidental. Several factors social, family and his association with national social reformers - contributed to his emergence as social change agent.
Born in a small village named Mehrasar Upadhyan in tensile Sardar Sahar, he passed high school from Punjab University in first class with distinction in 1945. He sought admission in Rampuria Inter College at Bikaner, established Bikaner State Students Union and became the Student Member of Bikaner State Praja Parishad. Later he joined Doongar College, Bikaner and earned M.A. and L.L.B. degrees. During his college days, he held several portfolios, which reflects the leadership qualities, which he possessed even at that age. He
was President of the College Students Union (1950); Chairman of the Open Session of Bikaner State Students Union inaugurated by Vinobha Bhave (1948) and President of the Rajasthan State Students Union
(1951). These apart, he took active part in several public movements and social campaigns including allotment of canal land to landless persons of Churu District.
Till 1979, he also remained active in political activities but since 1980, considering his interest in social work, he distanced himself completely from his political affiliations.
It is his devotion to the cause of social upliftment of the people that he commands considerable respect from the people of this part of the country. He lives a simple life and derives considerable satisfaction from the self-less service for Independence from hunger, malnutrition, illiteracy and ill-health. I wish him many more years of dedicated service to the marginalised section of this part of Rajasthan. Many of our younger friends should take inspirations from the life of
Shri Champa Lal Upadhyay (श्री
चम्पालालजी
उपाध्याय).
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