The ‘MP Development Challenge’ in Kaliabor, Assam
Simran Rana, SPARC Associate to Hon’ble MP Gaurav Gogoi
Working for social impact was a goal that I hoped I would be able to achieve before I turned 30. Fortunately, it happened at 26. When I got the opportunity to work with Swaniti Initiative, an organization working towards making the government administration more robust, I jumped at it. Working for the past few
Golaghat district lies in Upper Assam, where 87% of the population lives in rural areas. Farming of paddy and tea are the main source of employment. Education levels are high but employment opportunities are few, with
He was so impressed with the model that Swaniti follows that he asked me to encourage college students in Golaghat district to select development challenges and give solutions that are practical and implementable. As a result, I have interacted with students from 15 government colleges in the district, and 22 teams have decided to take on the ‘MP Development Challenge’.
Students have chosen important development areas like the quality of primary education, impurities in the river water, problems faced by farmers and public health infrastructure, amongst various others. What is more, professors have decided to support their college teams and are helping them conduct interviews, design questionnaires and guide them with writing reports.
I have got a chance to understand the youth of Golaghat, learn what they aspire to become, and have been acquainted with their problems. Through the MP Development Challenge, the aim is to empower 132 participating students to become drivers of change. The process will not end with the students
The finale was held on 10th April 2017, where 8 selected teams presented their solutions to Mr. Gaurav Gogoi, the District Education Officer Dr. Larambhuja, Ms. Manisha Borkotoky an expert in education and skilling initiatives and Dr. Debjoit Boruah a professor in Agriculture.
Indira, Aditya, Sanjib
We were able to reduce the cost per bigha by 28%. The previous year, the total cost for producing 100 tonnes of rice across 20 bighas was Rs. 70,000 and with our intervention, we saved Rs. 20,000. We are now working on starting a
Data-driven Monitoring in Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh
Piyush Prakash, SPARC Associate to Hon'ble MP Anurag Thakur There exist several perceptions about how government officials work and how projects and grievances of citizens keep moving around from one department to another via files. Having gone through similar...
read moreUnderstanding Rural Development in Mahbubnagar, Telangana
Harshvardhan Sharma, SPARC Associate to Hon'ble MP A.P Jithender Reddy “India is not Calcutta and Bombay; India lives in her seven hundred thousand villages.” Mahatma Gandhi mentioned the above statement more than half a century ago. Even today, the statement holds...
read more