Category: Reporting on SamajShilpi (Architechts of Society) program
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Association for India's Development (AID)

Organization: Rejuvenate Movement (RIM) Program being carried out by Seva Mandir

Visit made by: Vineet

Date: Jul 2-3 2005. .

Seva Mandir currently has six Samaj Shilpis in Rajasthan.  They work in six panchayats (close to 19 villages) in Mavli block in district.  I visited Mavli for 2 days and had detailed conversations with 5 of 6 Samaj Shilpis.

The basic concept of RIM is not a new one.  The idea is to select one individual from a village and have him or her play the role of an “activist” in the villages which form the panchayat that his/her village falls under.  In short, the Samaj Shilpis bring awareness of rights amongst people; keep a check on corruption and develop an understanding of development needs in the villages.

Over two days I visited several of the villages that the six Samaj Shilpis work in and spoke to villagers, a Sarpanch and the Samaj Shilpis.  Here, I am writing on the work that each of the Samaj Shilpis have done and my overall impressions.

Seva Mandir keep very good track of government schemes that are applicable to the villages.  Mithun constantly communicates these schemes (such as schemes for the handicapped, women, etc.) to the Samaj Shilpis.

Bhanwar Singh realizes that the government has machinery but it the job of the villagers to make sure that it functions.  He realizes that they cannot do much with the government infrastructure. He teamed up with the government polio team to make sure that their program is well implemented.  Health and eye camps were also organized in the villages by contacting various agencies.  The government nurse was not coming to the villages.  Bhanwar Singh educated the villagers on the importance of health care.  They now make sure that the nurse comes everyday and the panchayat has even provided space for her in the village during the day.  Bhanwar Singh also ensures that the resources that that government is providing to the nurse (such as medicines and other things) also reaches the villages. 

Bhanwar Singh also realizes that for him to continue to do development work in the village, the villagers have to trust him.  He admits that there is a lot of corruption in almost all government work but in areas where the Samaj Shilpis have started working, the corruption has decreased considerably. 

Other work he has done are:

Nathu Singh Kitawat

Himmat Singh Chouhan

Mithun Mukherjee (RIM Coordinator)

Mithun is a young (26) and enthusiastic individual.  He completed his MSW (Masters in Social Work) from and has been working with Seva Mandir for the past 4 years.  For the past 2 years, he has been the RIM co-coordinator.  I truly feel that he is responsible for creating the project as it stands today.  He knows the local language (Mewari) well.  He provides complete support to the Samaj Shilpis and he has a vision of how he wants to expand this work.  Mithun spend an average of 3-4 days per week in the villages. It is quite apparent that he is very knowledgeable about what is happening in the villages.

Actually, there is almost no support (financially or otherwise) that is being provided by RIM.  RIM was earlier providing his salary (Rs. 5,000 per month) but now RIM doesn’t have funds to support him so Seva Mandir is paying his salary. It seems that RIM is just a brand that is being used to define this project.  Moreover, the project is not entirely a Seva Mandir project either.  I can say that this project really belongs to Mithun Mukherjee (the RIM co-coordinator and employee of Seva Mandir), Mr. Manohar Singh Rathore (retired from Seva Mandir) and the six Samaj Shilpis.  This team is running the project very independently and very practically.

Manohar Singh Rathore (retd. from Seva Mandir)

I spent a night at Manohar Singh’s house in the village and had extensive conversations with him on various issues.  As Mithun says, Manohar Singh is really the force behind the Samaj Shilpis.  A native of Mavli (the block where all the Samaj Shilpis work), Manohar Singh worked in the development field with Seva Mandir for 20+ years.  He is very very knowledgeable on what needs to be done here and how it needs to be done.  One point I distinctly remember is that he says that some Samaj Shilpis think there role is to distribute things in the villages ( i.e. school dresses, water, health camps, etc).  He is working to guide them that their primary responsibility is to create awareness in the village, educate people on their rights and mobilize them to fight for their rights.  Everything else that they do is secondary.  He feels that only Bhanwar Singh Rathore has reached that sense of realization.  Others still have some way to go.  Therefore, he feels that the expansion of the Samaj Shilpi program has to occur slowly.

Another issue that we spoke about was how the farmers were being cheated by traders or merchants.  Farmers were selling grains and other items to the “mandi” for say, Rs 2 per kg.  That same item is being bought by some other farmer for his or her consumption at Rs. 10 per kg.  The middlemen ate everything in between.  Manohar Singh feels that this needs to be overcome.  However, he says that the villagers have had a sour experience with co-operatives in the past; therefore, they are not keen to start one.  However, something or the other has to be done about it.  In the longer term, the Samaj Shilpis need to be working on this issue.

I also had a short conversation with Neelima Khaitan, the head of Seva Mandir.  She is very happy with the work that Mithun and his team are doing.  The RIM project started with some hiccups (such as two coordinators leaving and one Samaj Shilpi leaving). Neelima feels that this project has begun to stabilize now.  She encouraged AID to visit regularly.

Overall Impressions

My overall impression of the project is very good and there is not enough I can write about this.  The people are doing fantastic work with little monetary or other support from anybody else.  Moreover, I believe that the Samaj Shilpis have the right attitude about doing developmental work.  All of them realize that their development lies in their own hands and it is up to them to enforce checks and balances in the government machinery and bring progress in the village.

Moreover, all of them are tremendously respected for the work that they do.  They believe it is not only their right but also their privilege to serve their people.

The total budget presently is 2.2 lakhs. 

Six Samaj Shilpis – Salary Rs. 2000 * 6 * 12months = 1,44,000

Mithun – Salary Rs. 5,000 * 12months = Rs. 60,000

Training  = Rs. 20,000

The AID funding presently is only Rs. 90,000.  I don’t think AID funding is doing justice to the work. If you see the above budget, you will realize that there is no overhead.  This is the benefit of having Seva Mandir as a nodal agency.  All costs for communications, travel, printing, stationery and other administrative costs are borne by Seva Mandir.  The remaining 1.3 lakhs of this project is also being provided by them.  I think that we have a real opportunity here to considerably expand the number of Samaj Shilpis by working with Seva Mandir.  How Seva Mandir really helps is that they have a very good understanding of the Government programs and schemes that are applicable to the rural areas.  The Samaj Shilpis basically make sure that these schemes are implemented effectively.  The vermicompost initiative is also a government scheme that Seva Mandir is carrying out.  The government is providing Rs. 50 for each cow dung pit that is dug by a villager.  The Samaj Shilpis have really gotten this thing going in the villages.  Moreover, Seva Mandir has very good relationships with other major charities, such as Mahavir International, in .  Because of this relationship several charities have made in-kind donations (uniforms, water tanks, blankets, etc.) to the villages that Samaj Shilpis work in.

I think AID should first start by supporting the entire project.  Being a former AID volunteer, I can say that I was really able to identify this project with AID’s philosophy.  The enthusiasm and spirit that Mithun and the Samaj Shilpis carry is truly infectious.  I think this small project can very well be the foundation for much bigger work (such as 50 or even 500 Samaj Shilpis) in the future in Rajasthan.