For the past 28 years,
Karsanbhai Patel has been teaching the children of his village to swim. There is no swimming pool in the village, just a lake. The water is not very clean, and there are no changing rooms.
But this doesn't stop the children, nor their dedicated teacher. The swimming lessons continue even in winter when the water is chilly.
Sometimes Karsanbhai gets small donations from well-wishers, and he uses the money to buy swimming equipment for the children.
Despite the hardships, over 200 children from the village have participated at the state level and 45 have made it to the nationals.Something to ponder on- particularly in the present times, when, with each passing day, the morning newspaper is filled with more and more controversies regarding the Commonwealth Games.
Fifteen years ago, in Doogaron Ka Tala village in Rajasthan’s Barmer district, for every ten boys, only one girl went to school.
In 1995,
former sarpanch Kistura Ram called a meeting of village elders to discuss how to persuade the villagers to educate their daughters. They decided to issue a diktat making it compulsory for families to send their daughters to school.
Those who don’t fall in line risk not just a fine of Rs 1,000, but also excommunication from the village. Now, 15 years later, all girls in the village go to school. Some girls have gone on to study in Barmer city and have completed their under-graduate courses.
Several girls have excelled at sports, too, and participated in national-level kabaddi and kho kho championships.
Goes to show how beneficial decisions taken and implemented at local levels can make a great impact.
After the Nano comes an even more useful product from the Tatas for the real aam admi, including the really poor one who lives in India's villages where there is no electricity yet.
'Swach' is a water purifier that blends environment-friendly materials such as paddy husk ash with germ-fighting nanotechnology to make available potable water to India's poor. At Rs 749, it is a product that can
help millions avoid water-borne diseases that, in the absence of an effective health care system, will prove to be a life-saver for many.
Developed by engineers of five Tata companies and to be manufactured by Tata Chemicals, Swach has 14 patents running on it. With the cartridge that provides the cleaning material costing Rs 299, it will cost a family of five just Rs 30 a month.
The Tatas deserve the nation's appreciation and gratitude.
The tiny village of Wagharwadi, in Thane District, Maharashtra, has yet to get electricity. Until recently, the villagers had to use candles, kerosene lamps and torches fashioned out of sticks, after dusk.
Till a year ago, they thought that Rs, 1,600/- was too steep an amount to pay for a solar lamp.
Electronics entrepreneur Kumaar Thakkar made just one modification- the addition of a tiny plug to charge mobile phones- and suddenly the lamps were in great demand!
Solar lamp sales increased, and so did those of cellphones too.
Accidental fires, respiratory ailments, and other problems are becoming things of the past with the increased use of these lamps.
The villagers have recently discovered another use for the lamp- it is possible to plug a tiny six-volt television into the solar socket and view cricket matches!
