tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-170405232011-12-02T11:38:14.878-08:00This is a true chronicle of the events in my life- my experiences with the real India that lives in thousands of its villages, the proverbial struggle between the good and the evil that goes on this very moment in my soul... This blog is me, thinking aloud. It is a mirror in which I see who I am, in reality. Not just me, in this blog, you too can see who you are, just try earnestly!Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.comBlogger221100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-2210782309490304582011-08-30T05:54:00.000-07:002011-08-30T05:57:04.506-07:00

"Villagers should move to cities for their livelihood and crowd them. Since the government has not been able to provide good living conditions, basic amenities and livelihood opportunities in villages, it's just that these people try their luck in cities, while over crowding them and making the bureaucrats and politicians realize what is happening in the villages." -these thoughts occurred to

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-73507652743120269662008-11-05T20:48:00.000-08:002008-11-05T20:58:38.121-08:00

Five Myths!My career with NGOs spanned for five year and I learnt a lot during those. Some of the myths about underprivileged of India that I would like to negate are discussed in the following lines.Myth #1- India is a poor countryIt is not. Contrary to the belief, we are not a poor country, but there is a lot of skew ness in the distribution of wealth. This imbalance is not a result of a “

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-90538708488641474762008-08-28T23:17:00.002-07:002008-08-29T00:03:02.331-07:00

It was a rainy night in October 2002- and I was returning from village Chaapu (some 16 kilometers from Sironj, where I lived during my stint with PRADAN). I had gone to Chappu to try for the revival of a Women Self Help Group constituted of very poor women of Gond Tribe. I had a very bad time in convincing them to come for the meeting and was only partially successful. It was late already about

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-91113994915927889122008-08-28T23:17:00.001-07:002008-08-28T23:22:17.755-07:00

It was the rain season of 2003- my friend Madhukar had completed the construction of an earthen dam in Village Madagan with lots of trouble. The dam was some 80 meters long and was constructed at a very suitable site, but deemed unfit earlier because of the rocks in the place. It took almost a year, more than 5000 man hours, a bulldozer and finally an earth excavator to build the dam which would

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-25506293504954193992007-10-25T11:06:00.001-07:002007-10-25T11:09:45.221-07:00

Completing 4 years of my sojourn in the development sector almost six years after passing through the lofty IIFM gate (the water tank) for the first time, I am reflecting about how the journey has been so far and what lies ahead for me… or rather, for us. Always keen to work for the development sector since my graduation days, I joined the 13th Batch of IIFM in June 2000. Experiencing the course

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-1165422546623065652006-12-06T08:22:00.000-08:002006-12-06T08:29:06.640-08:00

While the green revolution has considerably reduced the importance of grains like sorghum and maize in the Indian agriculture, the poor farmers still treat Jowar (Sorghum) as their mother- for the simple reason that it feeds the farmers with least resources- inferior soil, less rains and no or insufficient resources for fertilizers.(Photo: Courtsy www.ativabio.com)Before the Green Revolution (a

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-1157962968830987502006-09-11T01:13:00.000-07:002006-09-11T01:27:06.856-07:00

Tractors- do they really mean development?Many of us consider tractors as a general symbol of development in rural India regardless of the profile of the family owning it. Probably tractors as symbols of development have been borrowed from the western societies but having spent sometime at the grassroots, I beg to differ. First of all, the cost of purchasing a tractor is very high even for a well

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-1153388202288553902006-07-20T02:26:00.000-07:002007-05-09T19:07:54.478-07:00

Here is a mail that I wrote to members of IIFM Alumni (at yahoo groups) in September 2005 after Katrina struck some parts of US and horrifying images from New Orleans filled our living rooms through various News Channels. Although this incidence was one of human suffering and tragedy, some sections of Indian Society tried to use this opportunity to draw comparisons between India and US; trying to

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-1151068845549215322006-06-23T06:15:00.000-07:002006-06-23T06:20:45.566-07:00

How I landed up in Delhi In June 2004, I left PRADAN with a heavy heart. A part of my mind asking me to stay where I had spent some of the best days in my life, working with some most poor, yet the coolest people, and I lived a part of their life on a daily basis. I am going to discuss this separately, as many readers of my blog send me mails asking why I left PRADAN when I loved it so much.

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-1145627957862123112006-04-21T06:38:00.000-07:002006-04-21T07:04:23.950-07:00

I wonder how many of us would have heard that joke about a urban crook who is into printing counterfeit (naqli) notes and once, by mistake, prints notes of 60 instead of 50. They are about 10 wads of them, and this guy doesn't know what to do next. So he decided to do what many have done, to take a villager for ride. He reaches a village and finds a person smoking bidi under a tree.Our urban

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-1145623913545850662006-04-21T05:45:00.000-07:002006-04-21T06:06:50.216-07:00

Mindset of a poorVisiting a village in most of the rural India is like visiting another world. Beyond the flamboyant metro culture of big cars and bigger houses, ever growing lust for consumer goods that drags you into a meaningless rat-race of more, more and more for I, me, myself, there lies another India where people live in a here and now situation (not because of the famed duo of Dipankar

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-1143608378234206432006-03-28T20:59:00.000-08:002006-03-28T20:59:38.243-08:00

Success! Gangaram Kushwaha, Chairman of SCPCL, PRADAN Sironj's seed enterprise with farmers on the Offtrack column of India Today, April 3, 2006. Congratulations to PRADAN and the farmers it is working with in Sironj!  

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-1141981516091501232006-03-10T01:05:00.000-08:002006-03-10T01:17:37.923-08:00

The PRADAN team who keep the Tiranga flying high by working tirelessly for the upliftment of the Poor, even at the cost of letting go the easy life of the cities. Three Cheers to you, Guys!

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-1141981411862521012006-03-10T01:03:00.000-08:002006-03-10T01:03:32.396-08:00

My patrons at Kankerkhedi- Arjun, his parents, wife and kids, brother and cousin 

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-1141980498983190382006-03-10T00:48:00.000-08:002006-03-10T00:48:18.990-08:00

Madhukar with a Banjara Woman in front of her 'shed for the goats' supported by PRADAN, which doubles as her home now. Goats live in, humans live in the varandah! 

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-1141980325414743342006-03-10T00:45:00.000-08:002006-03-10T00:45:25.420-08:00

Madhukar on the dam which he and Shabana, helped to be constructed in Bajara Village of Madagan. Look at the water stored in the background. Madhukar says he can leave the taps of the bathroom on, as he has already compensated for whatever water he would waste in his life! 

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-1141980156760976712006-03-10T00:42:00.000-08:002006-03-10T00:42:36.766-08:00

Myself With Farmers in Kankerkhedi in the fields where we were supporting them in Soyabean and Wheat cultivation, digging wells and constructing earthen bunds 

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-1141979982116035402006-03-10T00:39:00.000-08:002006-03-10T00:39:42.153-08:00

Myself with villagers in Kankerkhedi, Raghubar Singh's Dalaan 

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-1140614072832083612006-02-22T05:10:00.000-08:002006-02-22T05:22:31.853-08:00

The Action BeginsSoon after my village stay, I went for the real action in the grassroots. PRADAN in Sironj is Working for implementation of World Bank Aided Madhya Pradesh District Poverty Initiatives Project (MPDPIP). In Sironj block, this project is to be implemented in 46 villages and the total outlay is about 12 crores for 5 years (starting from 2000 onwards).Before I joined PRADAN I always

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-1132057755718059162005-11-15T04:22:00.000-08:002005-11-15T04:29:15.733-08:00

My First Village StayStaying in a village immediately after joining PRADAN is a litmus test as well as an acclimatization drill for the newcomers. I was taken to a village called Chaapu, which was a pre-dominantly Gond Tribe Village, about 15 kilometers from Sironj. Not long ago, about 15 years ago, this village was totally encircled by a dense forest and people made it appoint to get back

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-1129804794801253172005-10-20T03:30:00.000-07:002005-10-20T03:39:54.810-07:00

How it all got startedIt was a dusty day of April 2002 when I started off from Bhopal for Sironj in Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh, where I had been recruited by PRADAN (A Delhi based National NGO working for upliftment of Poor in 7 states of India) to work as an Executive. I had just passed out from IIFM, Bhopal after completing my PGDFM from there in March. It was on day minus one of the

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040523.post-1129719666307561482005-10-19T03:50:00.000-07:002005-10-19T04:48:52.656-07:00

Sironj- A small townHmmm…starting from where I had left in my previous post (My days in PRADAN-1), I must discuss the town Sironj. Well, it is a small town, which was earlier a part of the Tonk State during the pre independence era. District Sironj was a part of Rajasthan State after independence. It was one of the strangest districts of independent India, as it was a part of Rajasthan, yet it

Prashant Mishrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01828544203175836505noreply@blogger.com5