Environmental & Economic Sustainability, Social Harmony and Social Transmutation : an example towards Self-rule/Swaraj

Vivek Umrao Glendenning
The Founder, CEO, and the Editor, Ground Report India
The Vice-Chancellor, The Gokul Social University
Co-Founder, The Gokul Social University

The Gokul Social University, GSU

A non-formal community university founded by Sanjay Sajjan Singh, Sanjeev Narayan Singh and Vivek Umrao in 2007, Gokul Social University, GSU, works for sustainable economy, peace, social harmony, and self-sufficiency. GSU's main campus covers an area of three acres. Toilets, a pond, trees, a cow shelter, a cow-dung based energy plant, a bore-well driven by renewable energy are all part of the main campus. In addition, there is a quadrangle for growing vegetables and farmland. Located on the link road in the rural area of Aurangabad district in Bihar. Also, the building serves as a non-formal school for children from poor farming families from the surrounding villages. To generate electricity and cook food on the GSU campus, cow dung and solar energy are being used. The campus is frequently visited by farmers and villagers from Aurangabad and its neighbouring districts.

Ramrekha River

It was around 70 years ago when the Ramrekha River, which had been running locally for hundreds of years, and was one of the main lifelines for the region, dried up. In 1952, after a series of droughts for a few years, local villagers began to request to the government that the government resolve the water draught issue. People's representatives have always promised to get votes before every election of the state assembly and national parliament, but even after passing decades after decades, there has never been any initiative on this. After some time, the groundwater in the region also dried up. As a result of this situation, this area had been experiencing severe drought for more than twenty years, until just one year ago.

The insurgency region

The development, even a preliminary one, has never been reached in the area. As a result of preterition for decades, a continuous drought and poverty, the local villagers started to engage in insurgency activities. As time passed, this very backward region with no connecting roads and no other civilian facilities, became profoundly affected by the activities of the insurgents. As far as administrative areas are concerned, they fall within the Gaya and Aurangabad districts in the state of Bihar. There are many government armed forces camps in the region due to the rebel activities in the region. In the area one could see the threatening notice boards put up by the different committees of insurgents.

The First step towards “the transmutation”

A delegation of farmers from the region visited the campus of Gokul Social University, GSU, in 2011. The farmers stated, even though they would like to be part of the cow and agriculture-based self-sustaining economy, how can they do so since their villages lack access to water? More than two decades have passed since they have been suffering from severe drought. Around seventy years ago, the Ramrekha river dried up. There was a strong feeling from the delegation that the GSU should support their efforts to raise political pressure on the government by using the mass strength of local areas.

The GSU suggested solutions for dealing with water issues and the drought by taking constructive approaches, rather than relying on government agencies for the solutions. It is likely that those farmers did not understand the concept of self-sustainability that day, therefore they left and did not return. Though they didn't contact, the GSU decided to move on.

Dialogues with one hundred thousands people of two hundred villages in four years

Gokul Social University, GSU, initiated the movement with preliminary discussions with local villagers. It took around four years, from the year 2011 to the end of the year 2014, to reach "the consensus” for building a rainwater harvesting RWH dam for the rejuvenation of the Ramrekha river. Also, for constructing a canal to connect villages to get water across the mountains. After the preliminary dialogues with villagers, the foot marches were started for determiner-dialogues to motivate also to get local people's support.

Over five hundred mass meetings were held in many villages in four years. Over the course of four years, the GSU team held dialogues with more than one hundred thousand people in two hundred villages in Gaya and Aurangabad districts. For over two years, the GSU led around twenty-five thousand people from over ten thousand families from forty villages in building the RWH dam, as well as the Ramrekha canal that passes through the mountains to irrigate the villages.

The hard path was chosen, unanimously

The easy path, By building the RWH dam beneath the mountain, no need to construct a canal that passes through the mountain for around two kilometers.

Input: Relative to building a canal through a mountain, there is much less physical labour, much less financial assets, much less mass involvement.

Output: Fewer catchment areas, less groundwater and surface water storage, no revitalization of the Ramrekha River, and insufficient water to irrigate many villages.

The hard path, Putting the RWH dam in the mountain's largest catchment area will make it necessary to construct a canal that will pass through around two kilometres of the mountain.

Input: endless effort, money, willpower, mass involvement, as well as patience and loyalty.

Output: Big catchment area, high groundwater storage, large surface water storage, revival of the Ramrekaha river, and large area available for irrigation.

As a result of the GSU's continuous dialogue, it has generated large momentum, deeper social bonds, and a far-sighted vision to resolve the water problem and improve the quality of life. The easy path was never considered, and the hard path was unanimously chosen.

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Constructing the Ramrekha canal, passing through the mountains by hand and with traditional tools

Thousands of financially weak, but very strong-willed, villagers took on the challenge of the big rocky mountain on the 31st of December 2014, the first day. Although it was almost impossible to dig heavy rocks by bare hands using spades, big hammers, and other traditional tools, they built the two kilometer long, twenty-two foot deep, seventeen foot wide Ramrekha canal. In the two kilometres of canal there is an open tunnel through the mountain for one and a half kilometres.

—Photo—