Contents

Introduction
Birth of Asha Ashram
Goals of Asha Ashram
Continuation of Dream
Innovative Building Technology
The Asha Ashram: Taking Roots
An Overview of Lalpur Village
The Beginning of Social Organisation of a Village
The Lalpur Experiment Faces its First Major Challenge
Political Intervention by Ashram

Pictures

Pictures from Lalpur Ashram

Introduction - ASHA ASHRAM, LALPUR, DIST. HARDOI, U.P.

Asha has set up a full-fledged centre called Asha Ashram for carrying out an experiment in education in the Lalpur village of Hardoi district, 60 km from Lucknow. The centre is playing an active role at the local level as well as in other activities of Asha at the larger level. It provides free education and health facilities to the villagers. Asha is developing its model of education based on a philosophy which essentially focuses on cultivation of values for a just human order and promotes skills which will help a person become self-reliant. To strengthen the right kind of values for happy and satisfying human relationships Asha is developing its own curriculum. The first book ‘Muskaan’ is being tried at out at various centres associated with Asha. The education programme of Asha gives enough opportunities to its students to develop their creative talents. Art and craft activities form an essential part of the education process. Local craft and artisans find a place of pride in Asha’s education programme. An artist from Shanti Niketan, West Bengal, Shyamali Khastagir last year organized an art and craft workshop at the Ashram for teachers of several Asha associated programmes. Asha provides health service to the villagers of the area based on a combination of homeopathy, naturopathy, ayurveda and allopathy. Presently, a Hyderabad based company, through an Asha supporter Sudhakar Reddy in Lucknow, has sponsored homeopathic medicines for this village for a year. The village remains untouched by electricity grid and Asha is developing alternative energy solutions. In April, 2001, a workshop on alternative energy with focus on improved traditional ‘chulhas’ was organized at the Ashram. A peddle operated battery charging and water lifting device have been developed by another dedicated Asha supporter and innovator Ashok Jain, who first got associated with the Ashram in putting together a ferrocement structure for it. Beekeeping has been taken up quite successfully at the Ashram. A number of villagers have got trained in this activity at the Asha Beekeeping Training centre at Kaithi, Varanasi and through practical experience at Lalpur.

Ashram is going to serve as a centre for promoting the idea of a meaningful education programme which will form the basis of a just human order as well as provide an environment where volunteers can come and learn. Various training programmes and camps will be organized from time to time to develop ideas as well as promote skills development programmes.

Raju Thapa is the permanent volunteer at Asha Ashram assisted now by a team of volunteers from the village, Prem, Sarvesh, Laxmi Narayan, Chandra Prakash, etc. In addition Mahesh, Parmita, Sandeep also involved with the activities of the Ashram.

Birth of Asha Ashram

An Asha Centre has been conceived by the Asha volunteers in Lucknow in the form of an ashram like set-up. It will be set-up on a piece of land between 5-10 acres and will be situated in a rural setting. About ten families will live here and will be responsible for running of the centre. The objective of the ashram will be to work for social change based on a philosophy of education which will aim to achieve two purposes:

(1) inculcate human values for a just human order, and
(2) impart skills which will help an individual become self-reliant when he/she grows up.

Children will be admitted at the primary school level and gradually enough facilities will be provided so that a student will be able to complete his/her full education (of 15 to 20 years) at the centre itself. Initially however, we'll begin with only a primary school. Children will not pay any tuition fees and the education system followed will not seek recognition of any government boards of education. Instead we will make efforts to have the people accept and recognize this alternative education system.

The education system followed will be quite different from the conventional one. It will attempt to fulfill the aspirations of people. The children will spend only about 1-1.5 hours inside the classroom learning reading, writing, arithmatics, sciences and social sciences, etc. The method employed in the education system will be activity based. Children will make art, craft, science models, toys from inexpensive locally available materials, learn music, spend time learning from traditional artisans in the area according to his/her interest. The children will also participate in the production processes which will be organized in the ashram, e.g., in beekeeping, vegetable growing, any village and cottage industries. There will be no employee in the Ashram and the entire chores will be taken care of by the inmates and the children.

For this education system Asha will produce its own text books, the first in the series has already been designed by Mahesh. Work on a book on health care for primary level is also in progress. A collection of songs which will be sung on different occasions by the children and inmates and a collection of stories is also being brought out by Asha for use in its education system. Hence a good documentation centre supported by a good library will also be part of the ashram.

The experiments for self-reliance will be an integral part of the education system. It has been decided to begin with beekeeping and vegetable cultivation activities. Vallabhacharya Pandey, a beekeeping expert from Kaithi, Varanasi will help set-up this activity. We will begin with 10 boxes. Activities which would be taken up next include nursery, fruit gardens, dairy, medicinal plants, food processing. Mahesh will continue to make chayawanprash for his self-reliance. Hence a number of herbs will be grown on the ashram premises right from the beginning.

Attempt will be made right from the very beginning to build an organic link with the communities living nearby. We would like Asha to grow more like a people's organization rather than as a NGO. This would mean involvement of local people in the decision making process of the ashram and its activities and generation of resources from the surrounding area. For example, even though no fees would be charged from the students donations in kind in the form of food grains, etc. from villagers would be collected to sustain the ashram activities. Sanjay Rai would like to work among the villages in the surrounding area and build organizations which would also serve as mass support for our activities. Eventually the ashram would become the centre for movement for social change.

The ashram would also play a role at the national/international level for consolidation of forces working for social change. Meetings would often be held with other groups, activists to chalk out the course of action for a coordinated movement. Here Asha will be interacting with groups working in areas other than education too. A national level meeting will be held very soon (as soon as the land is identified and some preliminary infrastructure is up) of social activists working at the grassroots level to determine what role this ashram would play in shaping up the socio-economic-political future of the country.

To sustain a movement in the area of alternative education training programmes would be held for teachers of other schools which will be working with us in other parts of the country. A chain of schools and centres outside the govt. network would be built in India which would offer an alternative to the people and will eventually become the vehicle for change.

The centre would also carry out experiments in other aspects of life to search for a meaningful and sustainable model of development. For example, in the area of energy we will ensure that our dependence on conventional electricity is reduced and we meet most of our energy needs from solar, bio alternatives. Shreekumar has agreed to undertake some organic farming activities on the premises. The construction on the premises would be low cost and in harmony with the local environment.

People involved in development of the idea so far: Dr. Ganesh Bagaria, Chandrashekhar, Rahul Pandey, Mahesh, Sanjay Rai, Sandeep, Arundhati Dhuru, Akshay

The likely ashram team: Mahesh, Sanjay Rai, Sandeep, Arundhati Dhuru, Shreekumar (part time), Shanmuga (part time)
 

Goals of Asha Ashram

The goal of the "Asha Ashram" is to work for social change. It plans to achieve this by

1. Developing a "pilot program" for a self-sustainaned, socially responsible community

2. Acting as a community center for various grass-roots activities, such as women's issues,initiatives for tackling unemployment

3. Establishing a school for children in the surrounding areas to provide alternative education that inculcates human values for a just human order and imparts skills for becoming self-reliant

4. Teaching cottage industries such as bee-keeping, etc., to the children and adults in the community

5. Networking with other organizations to share ideas and resources on development issues

6. Providing support (moral & funds) for other activities, such as, Global Peach March, etc.
 

CONTINUATION OF A DREAM

Surya Prakash Srivastava, who lives in Bharawan block of Hardoi District and is popularly known as Babaji in the area, went to attend a meeting of Gandhiji in 1932 when he was still a 17 year old youth in Lucknow. He had heard of a brave man whom even the British government used to fear. He had gone to the public meeting expecting to see the like of Shivaji or Maha Rana Pratap. The large number of police there confirmed his assumption. But when the loin cloth Gandhiji arrived on stage he couldn't believe himself. The truth dawned on him. Gandhi represented a moral force which was even more powerful than the brute force. That was the moment of transformation for Surya Prakash Srivastava. From then on he closely followed the life of Gandhiji until his death and once even went to Sewagram in Wardha to meet him. He fondly remembers being served the neem chatni by Kasturba which prepared by Gandhiji himself during a meal there.

Drawing inspiration from Gandhiji's advice that the educated should go to the villages he decided to give up his job as a Principal of a higher secondary school in Lucknow and move 60 km outside in a rural area in 1954. Today at the age of 84 years he lives on the premises of a girl's intermediate college that he himself set up. In fact his major contribution to the area has been that of setting up of 9-10 intermediate colleges in the area with contributions raised totally from local people. When he moved into the area 55 years back people were skeptical. He used to collect contributions in kind, like food grains, bamboo, etc., to create schools. Gradually with his dedication, perseverance and simplicity of life he won over the people and today he is the most respected citizen in the area. He lives a very simple Gandhian life in one small room of the college.

What would have been more appropriate than Babaji's presence at the site in Lalpur, close to Bharawan, when the foundations were being laid for the construction of a rural campus of Asha, in the mould of an ashram, which is going to be the centre of an experiment in education based primarily on the Gandhian ideology. Babaji is overwhelmed. His joys know no bound as he takes a look around the ashram site. Some people have arrived who could carry his dream forward.

He narrates how difficult it has been for him to carry out his work in the area. During the initial years even the teachers would protest the admission of Harijan students to his schools. The upper caste could not simply accept the fact that Harijan children were going to sit with their children in the same classroom. Once Babaji created a uproar when he asked a Mehtar for a glass of water. The Mehtar too couldn't believe that he was being asked to do a job meant only for the more privileged. When Babaji went on a 3 day fast once he got his fast broken by accepting juice from a Harijan. When he went out for collecting contributions people would ridicule him.

Things have changed since them but the caste system has definitely not been wiped out. In fact the roots are still strong. The Asha team has publicly announced its resolve to break the caste barriers and has made it a point to visit each of the about 40 Chamar and Arakh households of Lalpur to accept food there, still considered a taboo by the upper caste of the area.

INNOVATIVE BUILDING TECHNOLOGY

Ashok Kumar Jain, a B.Tech. and M.Tech. in Aerospace Engineering from IIT, Kanpur, was doing his Ph.D. when he was challenged by his father, himself an engineer and a faculty member at the Institute of Engineering and Rural Technology in Allahabad, about his ability to do real hands-on kind of engineering work. He realized the limitations of his engineering training from one of the most premier engineering colleges of the world and decided to give it all up to pick up real engineering skills from the field. The sense of urgency was such that Ashok K. Jain did not even care to remove his belongings from his hostel room at IIT. Thus an innovator was born.

Today Ashok K. Jain, the Aerospace engineer turned building expert runs his own establishment in Chinhat where he produces materials using ferro-cement technology. He can make ferro-cement frames which can be used as doors, windows, water tanks, boundary walls and even complete houses using a assembly of panels. He claims that he can produce virtually anything of any shape using this technology. Ferro-cement is essentially a coating of mortar, made of one portion cement and three portions of coarse sand (morang), on both sides of an iron mesh. So, by bending iron wires and covering them by a mesh any shape can be achieved. After the application of mortar on both sides of this mesh the structure is water cured.

Although initially, when he started experimenting with ferro-cement in the mid 70s, Ashok K. Jain had to struggle to make people accept his technology but slowly over years he has created a market for himself. He may not be doing roaring business but he can earn enough to carry on. His annual turnover is close to Rs. 10-12 lakhs. Not the one to be daunted by challenges he once produced a vibrating table for his specific requirement at about one seventh the cost of what a professional company from Mumbai was asking for.

But he is disappointed over the fact that other people have not picked up the technology. He sees in it a potential for employment generation. He regrets that youth is migrating to cities for petty jobs. If any of them cared to master his technology they could create a source of employment not only for themselves but for an entire team of masons and labourers right in the village of their residence. He has been willing and is still willing to train anybody who cares to show interest in his work. It is his heart felt desire that others should learn this techonolgy and propagate it.

Recently Ashok Jain has been providing his professional expertise to Asha to build its rural centre, an Ashram, in Hardoi district. A nice room of about 13 ft. by 21 ft. with verandah on two sides and a separate small toilet-bathroom complex is already up. The entire construction is of ferro-cement. The panels forming the walls, floor and ceiling are tied together by nuts and bolts. If required the entire construction can be dismantled and assembled together at another place, a major advantage of this technology. The entire construction does not any use any baked bricks and wood. According to a rough estimate by Ashok Jain, the ferro-cement technology on the whole uses about only half the energy as compared to conventional construction.

Jagdish, a mason who lives in Lalpur has picked up the technique of ferro-cement manufacturing process during the construction at the site of the Ashram. He was helping the trained staff of Ashok Jain in the installation of the structures here. He says that even if there may not be a cost advantage in this, people in the area have become curious about this new technology and some of them are going to try this out. It certainly looks very durable. He is quite confident that he too can produce the technology now. A carpenter from the neighbouring village has agreed to prepare artistic moulds for him. This is probably the beginning of the formation of a team which could help propagate this technology.

The Lalpur experiment in primary education has thus begun with an innovation in building technology to which the entire village is witness. As the experiment is going to evolve the villagers are going to rediscover every aspect of their life from housing to energy, agriculture to health and education to income generation. After all, education is nothing but a process of learning. And what better subjects are there to learn about than the ones that directly impinge your life.

THE ASHA ASHRAM : TAKING ROOTS

The first health camp was organized in village Lalpur, the site of Asha Ashram, in March with Professor Ramakant, a surgeon associated with Lucknow’s Medical College. There was a big turnout. More than 125 patients, some coming from neighbouring villages, got themselves examined. Water borne diseases and protein-vitamin deficiencies were the most common things observed. According to Dr. Ramakant if the villagers started using boiled water for drinking and introduced some green vegetables and things like raddish and ‘sahjan’ in their diet they would be cured of half of their problems. It is noteworthy that common diet of the villagers include only potatoes so far as vegetables is concerned. Worms, fungal, skin related and T.B. are other common diseases afflicting the villagers. The state of health of the village is quite poor and it is emerging as one of the priority areas of work for Asha.

Unfortunately, the villagers could not benefit from Dr. Ramakant’s visit. The medicines he had prescribed were either not available in the local markets or were too costly. Also, since the visit was made before harvesting, those villagers who were advised to go to Medical College for further treatment or surgery could not afford to go there. After this it became clear that the villagers could afford only homeopathic and ayurvedic medicines and whenever possible natural ways of treatment should be resorted to. The modern medicine system is simply beyond the reach of majority of Indians who live a life of poverty. A friend homeopathic doctor Kusum Singh, also C.M.O. at a Lucknow charitable hosiptal, decided to come along with us to the village to take a look and was so moved by the lack of health services there that she committed herself to come to this village second Sunday of every month. This is how we have been trying to fire-fight the health care problem in the village and until a health worker joins the team at the Ashram the situation is not going to improve significantly. Homeopathic medicines worth Rs. 800 have been bought and kept at the Ashram and they will take care of the village needs for some time to come.

A village committee has been formed. Ideally we are trying to ensure attendance of one member of each household in every meeting. However, the women who exhibited interest in the beginning have stopped coming to the meeting. It could also have to do with the fact the meetings are being held after it gets dark, when the men are back from their fields and work, a time when the women are probably busy preparing dinner or involved with post dinner clean up process. The only solution seems to be forming a separate group for women, preferably by a women activist. It is already planned to begin a self-help group for the women. The village committee has distributed some of the responsibilities, like calling the meeting whenever required, taking down the minutes, etc., among themselves.

The Ashram rented 2.5 acres (one hectare) of land for doing agriculture with the objective of starting production of food items to take care of the needs of the inmates. Since, to begin with help would have to be taken from the villagers in this activity, this was discussed in an open village meeting. It was agreed upon that the most underprivileged should be given this land on sharecropping arrangement. Two families were identified by the villagers collectively, one family which was working on this entire piece was land was also given a portion and another family was accommodated to help out the underprivileged families in case they needed help. One of the two underprivileged families just consists of a widow and her two little kids. The village committee also decided the location of hand-pump to be installed on the Ashram campus to suit their and general public’s convenience. Valuable advice on water management in a pond next to the Ashram land was also put forth by them.

A land dispute between two harijan families was brought to the notice of the Ashram with an expectation for intervention. The two sides were brought together, the matter was discussed and the two families were advised to bury their dispute. It was decided to divide the land in question, incidentally belonging to the gram sabha, to the agreement of both parties. The two families were also advised to withdraw their case from the court. Asha Ashram is making an attempt to solve the village disputes within the village itself without having to go to the police or the court, two extremely corrupt institutions which take advantage of people’s disputes and make money from both parties involved. Incidentally, the highest number of court cases in Indian courts pertain to land disputes, often between close relatives. It is not very uncommon in such cases for people to resort to violence, use lathis and firearms. In the dispute mentioned above also two years back, what started of as heated exchange between women of the two families became bloody in the end with one man’s skull opened by a lathi.

The Ashram construction work is in progress, slowed down because of the harvesting season and then rains. A platform which will ultimately take the shape of a mandap is coming up right in the middle of the plot. A bio-gas plant to be run both on gobar and human excreta is coming up behind the ferro-cement unit of laterines and bathroom in one corner of the Ashram premises.

The Ashram has also been approached by some people who have mortgaged their land to others or taken loans which they are not able to pay back and hence are forced to do bonded labour kind of work. It was expected that problems of this nature, which the landless people face in any part of the country were bound to come up. However, some general solution is being sought after which will take care of any such case of victimization. Creation of a revolving fund, which can be used by victim families by turns, or villagers coming together themselves to create a fund for this purpose, or having sympathetic slightly better-off villagers help out their not so fortunate brethrens, are some of the options being explored. This matter will be taken up soon in the village meeting so that a solution may be found collectively.

On 14th and 15th June the first teachers’ training programme was held at Lalpur. All teachers associated with Asha's education programmes in the Lucknow area assembled here, spent the two days together, learning, sharing, having fun. The objective of the training programme was to reinforce Asha’s philosophy of education, explore various ways of making the exercise of education an enjoyable experience for the children and do some evaluation and introspection. Most of the teachers found this training programme quite valuable. This was inspite the fact that the female teachers of urban background had to face the problem of having to do without a closed room toilet. The teachers suggested that they would like this training programme to become a regular feature of their work. Later on teachers from other Asha supported education programmes could also be invited here for interaction.

And finally, the villagers were involved in the campaign to protest against the government decision to ban common salt. It hurts these villagers more than the city people to pay a higher price for iodised salt. The villagers clearly voiced their sentiments against the big companies who were out to make unscrupulous profits at their expense. If the government was so concerned about their health why couldn’t it make the iodised salt available at the same rate or a marginally higher rate as compared with the common salt. Changa Lal went around enthusiastically and collected signatures and thumb impressions of the villagers on a signature campaign sheet asking the government to lift the ban on common salt. This sheet was submitted along with other sheets to the Prime Minister after a one-day fast cum demonstration progrmme in Lucknow on 24th of June.

AN OVERVIEW OF LALPUR VILLAGE

In September Asha volunteer Anil Sharma came to spend about ten days at the Asha Ashram in Lalpur village with the purpose of carrying out a comprehensive survey of the entire village. This was the first systematic study of the village.

There are 66 houses in the village with 81 families. 17 out of the 81 families are completely landless. Average land holding of a family is approximately one to 1.5 bighas of land. 22 families belong to the backward caste called Arakh and rest are Scheduled Castes. People are involved in agricultural work for five and a half to six months a year. In the remaining time they work as labourers in nearby areas or Lucknow. The minimum wage they get is Rs. 20-30 per day in addition to the mid-day meal. The official minimum wage of U.P. government is more than Rs. 45 a day. For about one and half months some villagers are also employed in sugarcane work. Some people also go to work in nearby brick kilns where they can earn Rs. 1400-1500 per month. Here they work and take rest alternately for two hours each. There is no collective migration pattern from the village.

Most of the houses in the village are made of mud. Some of them are really beautiful. The house of Reoti Ram is 300 years old and has got a strong ceiling which can possibly support another storey. There are mud staircases leading to roof top. There are four rooms constructed in the entire village, in brick as part of Indira Awas Yojana of the government and like all government schemes they had to pay a bribe to get its benefit. There is only one enterprising villager Sundar who has built a brick house for himself out of his own earning. The literacy rate of the village is quite poor. Most of the people do not know reading and writing, although a number of them can sign. It is a different matter that they may not even recognize their own signature. People in the age group 20 to 40 years have some literacy skills whereas the age group below 20 years is better off in this regard. However, even youth who have passed high school examination can hardly write a correct hindi sentence. The quality of education that they have received is quite lacking.

Most of the villagers get irrigation water from a government canal. They have to pay Rs. 30 per bigha or Rs. 40 per hour for water from private tube wells. Most of the people don't have bullocks. They get hired tractors to till their land. The entire village has about 10-15 cows and about 10 buffaloes. Execept for one or two people in the village nobody is under huge debt. Most of the people owe between Rs. 500 to 1000 to the money lenders. There is lot of uncertainity in share-cropping. One year they may get 10-20 bighas of land to cultivate and next year they may get only two bighas.

The villagers have identified health and education as their two priorities. They think that they should possess functional literacy skills so that they can carry out their day to day work. They are enthusiastic about the fact that now there is one place in the village, the Asha Ashram, where they can comfortably obtain a lot of educational information. They like the things which are told to them by various visitors of the ashram as well as its inmates. They want to overcome the petty politics which doesn't allow them to progress and feel the need for somebody showing them the way. They want to help each other and even get together in times of difficulty but they realize that unity among the villagers is lacking. The youth of the village, in the age group of 20-35 years, is quite enthusiastic and wants to do something meaningful.

In terms of gender equality the village fares slightly better than the general situation in north India. It is because both women and men have to work to support their families. Some women have left their husbands in situations where there was lack of compatibility. It has been seen in this village that when a couple does not get along well, they prefer to part ways rather than frequently quarrel.

The health situation of the village is pretty bad. There is an ailment in almost every family. Use of tobacco and opium are common practice. Women folk are not behind in this matter. The villagers were depending on quacks and local doctors, who have set up small shops in markets, so far for treament. The Ashram now arranges a visit to this village every third Sunday of the month of one homeopathic doctor, Kusum Singh. An Asha supporter, Sudhakar Reddy, who work for a Hyderabad based company Allen Homeo and Herbal Products Limited has been kind enough to request his company to sponsor medicines for this village for a year. Mahesh, Ashish and other Asha volunteers dispense medicines whenever needy villagers come to the Ashram. First aid facility if also available at the Ashram. Intervention of Ashram is also sought in serious matters, like when somebody takes poison or somebady has to be taken to Lucknow for advanced treatment. So, Asha is presently delivering the services of Health and Education free of cost to this village in a comprehensive sense.

The Ashram has become a public place in true sense. Enthusiastic children can always be seen there. The villagers prefer to spend their free time here. Most of the villagers are followers of Raidas and Kabir. Often there are singing sessions during evening meetings. There is no temple in the village. Neither do the villagers spend any time in ritual worshipping. Probably, in the struggle to ensure their basic suvival they do not have any time for this. Compared to the general situation in north India the village is relatively free of politicization. No dalit leader of significance has visited the village till now. There is not much interaction of the village with outside world, especially cities and the general knowledge of the villagers is quite poor.

Next Article: The Beginning of Social Organisation of a Village