UNHEARD STORIES: CASES OF INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT FROM INDIA

During past ten years India has witnessed phenomenal economic growth. In January 2024, India has become USD 4 trillion economy and currently ranked as the world’s fifth largest economy. However, no economic growth can be sustained for long unless the fruit of development reaches to all sections of the society. However, India still has to address some stark realities. The World Economic Forum’s “Inclusive Development Index” ranks India 62^nd out of the 74 emerging countries. Multidimensional poverty index (MPI) for India was 66 in 2021 and in human development index (HDI) India ranked 132 among 191 countries in 2023 and ranked 111 among 125 countries as per world hunger index in 20232. India still needs to address the growing disparities between rich and poor and lack of decent jobs creation for educated younger generation. India ranked 112 as per SDG ranking of 2023. Therefore, inclusive development has become paramount importance at the present juncture. The Union Budget 22-23 lays the foundations for “Amrit Kaal” and has made “Inclusive Development” the buzz word for next 25 years.  Honourable Prime Minister reiterated India’s commitment to inclusive development while inaugurating the VIKSHIT BHARAT@2047 on 12^th December 2023 which is the vision document for India to become USD 30 trillion economy by 2047.  The vision encompasses various aspects of development, including economic growth, social progress, environmental sustainability, and good governance.

During past some decades, several initiatives were taken by the government to uplift and empower the marginalized, weaker and oppressed people and communities of India. These initiatives consist of holistic development including housing, livelihood development, skill development, food security, health services, water, sanitation and entrepreneurship development. Likewise, umpteen number of non-governmental organisations and the CSR wings of industrial bodies have also worked strategically to ensure integrated and holistic development of underprivileged communities. This book includes sixteen case studies related to inclusive development implemented in various parts of rural India. The book is divided into three sections.   

The first section consists of seven chapters describing the story of inclusive development through natural resource management (NRM). The first chapter is the narration of Gram Swaraj Abhiyan of People Science Institute, Dehradun for improving the NRM in drought prone region of Bundelkhand and enhancing the economic conditions of the people. The second chapter analyses the impact of dug well promoted under MGNREGA, the flagship programme of government of India, in drought prone regions of Jharkhand in improving the agro-economic conditions of the beneficiaries. The third chapter deals with technological empowerment of community. The chapter narrates the process of training the village communities for using mapping of NRM for village resource planning and to use the same for developmental planning. The fourth chapter is about the silent but bold initiatives taken for economic empowerment of women through the product upgradation of Sal leaf product and government assisted women led group entrepreneurship. In the fifth chapter, story of Mahila Kisan  Swashaktiran Programme (MKSP) in south Jharkhand through women led organic farming movement and creation women headed new business for selling of organic produces. The sixth chapter describes the impact spring shed development in Himalayan region to strengthen water needs of the people living in mountain tacks. The seventh chapter enumerates the story of improvement of services for animal husbandry through pashu sakhi in Jharkhand. All these stories highlighted empowerment of weaker sections, underprivileged and people living in ecologically disadvantageous regions through economical, technological and socio-political interventions.  

The second section comprises five chapters on inclusive development stories of health, hygiene, water and sanitation. In chapter eight story of Aapni Yojna was depicted through the case studies. These stories highlighted how unheard voices of women were allowed to determine the dynamics of Aapni Yojna which ensured safe drinking water to thousands of villages in water starved Rajasthan. The ninth chapter discusses about the global partnerships to local innovation of community engagement for polio elimination in India. The tenth chapter focusses on sustainable livelihood and nutrition security for tribal farmers through the intervention of homestead gardening projects in Dungarpur which is a border district of Rajasthan. The eleventh chapter depicts the fascinating story of ASHA workers who are normally ordinary village women trained to facilitate health services to rural women. Finally, twelfth chapter delves into the strength of child feeding programme and how it helped in safeguarding child survival during COVID 19. 

The third section deliberates on the aspects of inclusive development through empowerment and capacity building of weaker sections. These chapters mainly focus on empowerment of adolescent girls, women and neglected communities. In chapter thirteen author recounts the struggle of empowering the adolescent girls and young women among various communities and depicts the success cases of girls and women. Chapter fourteen draws the attention to grim situations of women exploitation through victimisation. Chapter gives a narrative of governmental and nongovernmental efforts to safeguard the lives of victimised (termed as witch) women from the hands of the perpetrators. Chapter fifteen is the story of community empowerment through the WASH programme in the rural Rajasthan. In the last chapter, the story of women led producer company of Sawai Madhopur district of Rajasthan was described.  

The editors are immensely thankful to Dr. P. R. Sodani, President of IIHMR University, for his benevolent support and insightful guidance. Without his support and guidance this book would not have been able to see the light of the day.  The editors extend their thankfulness to all the authors for working against the time and writing the chapters with utmost commitment and dedication.  Mr. Ravi Bhardwaj deserves special thanks for designing the cover and many other layouts for the book. Special thanks to the publisher for bringing out the book within a very short time.