A teacher who is ‘Bhagwan’ for his students.

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Bhagwan, government school, love and admiration, Principal, teachers, transfer, Velliagaram

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”- William Arthur Ward

Nowadays the position of teachers in society is being undermined. There are several reasons for this state of affairs. Most of the teachers join the profession as a last resort. They are neither knowledgeable nor dedicated to teaching, and the students do not respect them. In the midst of this, a teacher from Chennai has created history. He is just 28 years old and teaches English to students of classes VI to X at the Government High School Velliagaram. True to his name Mr. Bhagawan, he has become next to God for his students.

A regular transfer order under which Mr. Bhagwan was transferred from this school to another one, caused commotion in the school. This being a government school, teachers have been transferred in the past, but nothing of this kind happened. The teacher who had come to relieve him joined, and Mr. Bhagwan was leaving the school after completing all the formalities. A group of students gathered at the school gate and tried to stop him from going. They hugged him and started crying. More students joined, and they began protesting against the transfer. Such a demonstration of love and admiration for a teacher was unheard of in the past.

Not only that, when the children told their parents, they also came and requested the Principal not to relieve Mr. Bhagwan, and take up a case with the Department of Education to cancel his transfer. During his four years in the school, he became a favorite of the students. He was much more than a teacher-a brother, a friend, a guide and a well wisher. He devoted extra time to those students who were weak in English without any fees. He made the teaching interesting, so the students would enjoy learning English. He was accessible to the students even after school hours. His teaching extended beyond the syllabus. He discussed topics of General Awareness, guided them on how to prepare for the competitive exams and always helped them to solve their problems. They developed so much faith in him that they even discussed their personal issues with him.

The Parents Teacher Association also approached the local MP P M Narashimhan to use his good offices to get the transfer canceled. Principal Aarvind is full of praise for Mr. Bhagwan, as he proudly proclaims him to be the best teacher. After the students and their parents pleaded with him to retain their favorite teacher, he submitted a request to the Education Department to defer his transfer, if possible. He added that Mr. Bhagwan has been going out of the way to help students in all possible ways.

Meanwhile, the Education Department maintained that transfers are a regular feature of the system. However, they granted an extension of ten days, because of the situation created by the protest of the students. They also plan to discuss the issue with the students and their parents to find an amicable solution to the problem. An emotional Mr. Bhagwan said”the students even took the keys to my scooter and dragged me back to the class. In addition to earning my salary, I have earned the love and respect of my students which is my biggest reward.”His hometown is ten kilometers away, and he had opted for this posting through teacher’s transfer counseling.This rare experience has filled his heart with joy and inspired him to work with increased zeal and dedication. May his tribe increase.

 

 

 

 

 

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An auto rickshaw driver becomes a pilot

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”

-Henry Ford

Son of a security guard, he, used to be a delivery boy in his school days. He switched between delivering and school to support the dwindling finances of his family. He then bought an auto in the hope that he would earn enough to get ends meet. He used to say “my life depends on three wheels and one day I will see the world on three wheels” He chased his dream and realized it. The lad who used to drive an auto rickshaw on the roads of Nagpur four years back is now a commercial pilot!

Meet Mr Shrikant Pantawane who is not just any ordinary man. From driving a three-wheeled auto rickshaw to flying an aircraft – which also ironically is three-wheeled. The turning point of his life came when he had gone to Nagpur airport to deliver some items. He heard the screeching sound of the landing of an aircraft, and saw some handsome men in smart uniforms coming out. Curious to know about them, he went to the nearby tea stall and enquired from some people standing there, who seemed to be educated. They told him that they were pilots who fly the plane. Wanting to know more, he probed “how does one become a pilot? “But the reply dampened his spirits. Neither had he had the education nor the money to prepare himself to become a pilot. But the small voice within him made his determination firm and he said to himself “I will become a pilot one day”.

He learnt that after passing Class XII there is an examination to qualify for a government scholarship to meet the expenditure of pilot training. It is the pilot scholarship program run by aviation regulator DGCA or the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. He started preparing for the examination by putting his heart and soul into it.Driving his auto during the day and studying late into the night became his daily routine.

He stretched himself and qualified for the scholarship in 2011.Consequently he got admission in Chimes Aviation Academy Sagar (MP).New challenges cropped up during the training. Not only was he weak in English but couldn’t afford to buy books or even get them zeroxed. Instead of losing heart, he started studying in the library till 2 am every single night. His efforts bore fruits. He was ranked highest in the assessment marks. He completed the course in two years, but luck did not favour him. In spite of passing the examination with flying colours, a slump in aviation market kept him at bay. To support himself and his family, he joined as an executive in a Nagpur based company. But he never lost hope. The burning desire to become a pilot didn’t let him rest in peace. He qualified for the scholarship once again in 2013.This time he got admission in Central Training Establishment Hyderabad. On successful completion of the training he was picked up by IndiGo Airlines. He is now a copilot and is really on top of the world, as he has realized his long cherished dream.

The only thing Shrikant Pantawane had initially was an iron will. With the power of determination and a little sprinkling of destiny, he managed to achieve what he had only dreamt of as a child. The inspirational story of this auto-driver just shows that if you have a dream coupled with determination, the destiny gives you wings to fly high. IndiGo, shared on micro-blogging site Twitter, an excerpt of Mr Pantawane’s exceptional story which features in their in-house magazine for the month.

What a way to reward a Principal!

“Those who educate children well are more to be honoured than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well. “

-Aristotle

The teacher’s day celebrations on September 05, 2014 brought tidings of overwhelming joy for fifty-five-year-old Bhagirath Singh Mahicha, and the teachers of Government Senior secondary school Dhandhan in Sikar district, of Rajasthan. With his modest school headmaster’s job, Mahicha could not even afford to buy a cycle all his life. When his former students and villagers in Dhandhan in Sikar district, handed him the keys to a white Alto car, he was dizzy with joy.

State governments over the years may have failed to improve educational standards in Rajasthan, but local villagers in Sikar district have set a new precedent through their community initiative. People in Fatehpur village not only hired private teachers for the village school also but honoured the school Principal by gifting him a  brand new Maruti car for taking new initiatives for the school. Going a step ahead, the villagers will also bear the cost of petrol and maintenance of the car for the next three years. About twenty other teachers have also been honored with silver medals.

The sincere efforts of the Principal and teachers have borne fruit by improving the standard of education in the village school, and producing 100 percent pass results. “The school principal was transferred to our village about three years back. In 2011 there were around 300 children in the school and today there are about 1,100 children studying here. With meagre infrastructure and facilities, Mahicha and his team have taken various initiatives and managed to work against all odds. None of the students failed this year,” said Jagdish Sharma, the village sarpanch.

The indifferent attitude of state government towards the village school has been a major worry for villagers and school administration in the past. School Principal Mahicha motivated the villagers to come forward and take joint initiatives to improve the standard of teaching. “Despite repeated requests, the state government failed to fulfill the shortage of teachers in our school. Eventually the villagers hired six private teachers for the school, who are being paid from a fund created by the monthly donations from the villagers,” said Sharma. The satisfied villagers said the government school at Fatehpur today is no less than any private school in terms of infrastructure and resources. Local transporters in village are giving free pick and drop facility to the kids.

Mahicha is a regular school teacher, who rose the ranks from a Grade III faculty to Principal ship, over a period of 20 years, amidst routine transfers and sundry odds of neglected government schools. But he chose to make a difference by putting his heart and soul in his job. In 1984, he joined Dhandhan government secondary school as a Grade III faculty and taught History and Geography until 1993 when he was promoted to the post of headmaster. In 1997 when the school was converted into a senior secondary rank effecting a principal’s post, he was transferred to a nearby secondary school in Jandwa (Churu). In 2000 that school too was upgraded to senior secondary level and Mahicha was again on his way out, this time to nearby Mainasara village in Churu.

In 2004, Mahicha was posted as elementary education officer in Fatehpur Sikar Block. It was in 2009 that Mahicha returned to Dhandhan yet again, this time promoted to the post of a principal. It was a homecoming of sorts. “This is where I had started my career as a teacher with as many as 225 students then in 1984. When I returned in 2009, the number had increased to 442 but the number of teachers and the facilities remained the same,” said Mahicha.

Mahicha confronted the problem of shortage of teachers head on. He refused to stick to the school working hours. “It was not possible for such few teachers to give adequate attention to all the students in the regular school hours. So we worked out special summer classes during the summer vacations and also extra classes late into the night. I must say that the teachers did not grudge the additional work nor did the students,” Mahicha said. While only the weaker students were drawn in for the extra classes initially, the brighter lot voluntarily joined them. “The results are clear for all to see,” beams Mahicha. “The pass percentage in the school has risen remarkably. This year in Science the pass percentage was 98.70 percent while in Arts it was 96 percent. It has remained above 90 percent over the past five years, showing a steady rise. The overall quality of performance too has improved as the number of students securing first division marks has increased,” he added.

At a time when the state’s pass percentage in science is 80 percent and in humanities is around 75 percent, Mahicha’s school has come up as an island of quality education. The school now has students not only from Dhandhan village but also neighbouring districts such as Churu, Jhunjhunu and Nagaur. Local Sarpanch Jagdish Prasad Sharma said, “Students and parents from neighbouring districts have heard about the school’s performance and outstanding academic environment and have come in large numbers to enroll. The locals run a trust, ‘Dhandhan Development Trust Shakti Mandir ‘that actively supports the school Principal’s initiatives. Sharma added that the school also runs a hostel with 30 rooms housing 160 students who have come from neighboring districts.

In an effort to provide better facilities, the school is provided free water supply and the electricity bills are also paid by the Trust. Who would not support such an industrious principal? Even as Mahicha is overwhelmed with all the support, he grapples with a skewed teacher-student ratio. “It must be noted that while the number of students have risen from 442 in 2009 to 1166 now, the number of teachers have remained the same. I think the government should sanction more posts of teachers here “he said.

“Students from this school have gone on to do well in their lives. Some are pursuing engineering, medicine, studying in bigger cities and even abroad. The Principal has worked selflessly for years here and never asked for anything for himself. So we called a meeting of the village elders and decided to gift him something. Two teachers volunteered to collect the donations from villagers. No villager was forced to contribute, but when at the end we counted the total amount, it stood at Rs. 6.50 lakhs,” said Sharma. “We decided to buy a brand new car for the Principal and also foot the fuel and maintenance bills for the next three years. The meritorious students of the school were also rewarded with silver medals weighing 40 grams each. The villagers are so inspired that one of them even volunteered to bear the expenses for the awards given to meritorious students next year already.”

Meanwhile Mahicha’s Alto that flaunts a sticker on its rear windshield announcing it as a gift from ‘All villagers and former students’, has no driver. “I do not know how to drive. So for now my students are driving me around and even refueling it. This is overwhelming,” he smiles.

Why is this Professor begging in a train?

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

― Nelson Mandela

As the train leaves Churchgate station, a deep voice announces in chaste Marathi, “Vidya daan sarva sreshtha daan aahe. (Donation towards education is the greatest donation.)” Standing amid the crush of commuters in the humid second-class compartment, a middle-aged man with a rucksack follows up his opening aphorism with a one-minute speech on how a small donation from commuters could help rescue the poor from the scourge of illiteracy. He proceeds to deliver the same speech in fluent English and Hindi and then extends his donation box.

Professor Sandeep Desai has been following this unusual routine of begging in trains. A marine engineer by profession and an MBA from a leading management institute, he has sailed the world with leading shipping companies and has had extensive experience in Marketing in MNCs. He later switched to teaching at the prestigious S P Jain Institute of Management and Research in Mumbai. Every morning, he boards a Churchgate-bound train from Goregaon and does the grueling commute back and forth between the two stations to collect donations for his half-constructed school at Nanar village in Ratnagiri district. “I do this for six hours daily,” says the Professor.

Desai’s social service began in 1997 when he quit his job and took up other assignments to fund Shloka, a free English-medium school for children from the Goregaon slums. He gathered the initial capital with his savings, and donations from well-wishers. He also generated funds from the numerous workshops he conducted on advertising, management and business communication. “We soon realised that the students were particularly weak in English and Maths, subjects they would need the most when they move on to higher studies,” says Professor Desai.”Even villages with a population of 3,500, 4,000 don’t have a school nearby. The Shloka Missionaries (Public Charitable Trust) that he started in 2001 along with his mother Sudha and a friend, Noorul Islam, runs four schools – including one in Mumbai – where free education is provided for the poor. It aims to build one school each year in rural India.

In 2005, the Shloka Trust set up a primary school for slum children in Iraniwadi, Goregaon, Mumbai. In the first year itself, the school had an impressive turnout of 285 students.  “After the first school, we began our second school at Ratnagiri for poor rural children, but the construction got delayed due to a shortage of funds,” he says. Professor Desai was in for a rude shock when he approached corporate houses for funds. “Most of them gave pathetic excuses. There was no place for extending help for such a cause in their minds”. In April 2008, armed with a donation box, he started approaching shopkeepers in Mumbai. “The amount we collected was not much, but the response was great,” he recalled. Emboldened by the success of this venture, he decided to take the next step. He started begging for funds on local trains — the lifeline of Mumbai which ferry millions of passengers every day. “The response has been great. I collect Rs 3000-Rs7000 a day,” says Desai.He used to collect a few hundred rupees when he started this initiative in 2009,but now people know him and donate more.

“In 2011, I was able to collect Rs 27 lakhs. It includes funds that I received through donations, cheques and also from Mumbai locals,” he says. The professor says it isn’t just about money—he actively looks for teaching volunteers as well. “So far 15 people have volunteered,” he says. “The volunteers are free to teach whatever subjects they want, but we insist that they teach for at least 10 hours a month.”

“I usually begin after noon and end by 6 pm. Commuters are usually reluctant to open their purse during peak hours,” he says. Initially he did feel awkward passing his hat around. “The first day I could not even make a speech till the train reached Andheri. But an inner voice told me that I was not begging for myself but for a greater cause that will change the lives of thousands of poor kids across Maharashtra,” he says. At times, some of the kinder passengers offer the professor refreshments — as he tirelessly repeats his well-rehearsed speech to garner funds. Since he is not allowed to enter the ladies’ compartment, a generous female passenger has offered to seek funds on his behalf there.

Desai accepts donations from Re 1 to Rs 1,000 with equal humility. “I go back and do my accounts till the last denomination and deposit the money in the bank account maintained by the trust,” he says. His contributors range from youngsters to senior citizens. “Once, two cops who got into the train to catch hold of some card-playing commuters heard my speech and donated some money. This school, when it comes up, will be a living testimony to the generosity of Mumbai commuters,” he concludes.

Actor Salman Khan was among the many people who came forward to lend a helping hand. The actor tweeted, “Prof Sandeep Desai ka jawab nahi. Kamaal karte ho yaar prof sahib,” The actor has not only donated money for the school but even tweeted the bank account number of the school so that his fans could contribute. “Salman called me up and he took my bank account details. He has told me that he will contribute,” Desai said, adding, “I have been inundated with calls and emails from across the world offering financial aid.”

But, according to Desai, he felt the “biggest” difference when he got into a train on a  Monday morning and was about to deliver his one-minute speech in Marathi, Hindi and English on how commuters could help rescue the poor from the scourge of illiteracy. “People recognised me immediately and began donating money even before I began my speech. The response has been overwhelming and I collected Rs 8,200 in just three hours,” Desai said. “I think I can now fulfill the dream of my mother who was a school teacher. She too wanted to start a school in her village,” he added.

In Mumbai, the school they run is housed in a slum rehabilitation building in Goregaon, and caters to children who come to the city from rural areas. Started in 2005, the English medium school provides free education, free books, and free uniforms to the children. After providing them basic education Desai tries to accommodate them in regular schools .The other schools run by the trust are in Omerkhed (Yavatmal dist.), Kankavli (Sindhudurg dist.), and Sipur and Naijahr (Udaipur district in Rajasthan). In June 2013, another school, has been opened in Ratnagiri.

The experience is not without its downside though. The reactions that he receives every day are not always positive. Professor Desai has faced suspicion, ridicule, skepticism and hostility from commuters who refuse to believe his story; he has been accused of collecting the money for his own pocket. That is why the professor now keeps all his documents — pertaining to the Trust, the schools run by it and the funds collected every day — in his rucksack. He also keeps a meticulous account of the amount of funds he collects every day on the trains, right down to the last coin. Desai has to bear with ridicules and the occasional snide remark of a commuter. Once a lawyer challenged his modus operandi of collecting money, held him by collars, and took him to police. He says there is a thin line between begging and soliciting contributions from total strangers for a noble cause. He says that he explains his charitable work to the commuters and gives them his card and then seeks donations. As the good word about his work started spreading, the railway staff and even the police don’t harass him now.

A carefree bachelor married to his social causes, Desai says he had decided early in life that he would not marry. He took care of his father who was afflicted with Alzheimer disease for ten years. He later lost his mother to cancer. He philosophizes that the lord inspires him to do social work and those who contribute to his work have a reason to do that. “I have to speak about my work today; hopefully a time will come when my work will speak for itself,” says Desai.

It pays to have a baby girl in this hospital

“A daughter is one of the most beautiful gifts this world has to give”

Laurel Atherton

He was born and brought up in a poor family. His father was a laborer at Market Yard and did not have money for his education. He did well in studies and supported it through government scholarships. Struggling against all odds he completed his BAMS and finally MD. This was no small achievement, but there is something else which made him larger than life. Moved by the increasing incidences of female feticide, and gender discrimination,   he kicked off a unique initiative on January 3, 2012, to waive off complete delivery charges if a girl child is born. The birth of a girl child is celebrated in this hospital by not only distributing sweets but also by treating the mother and the child for free.

It is my privilege to present before you, Dr Ganesh Rakh, MD, who runs the 24-bed multispecialty hospital located behind the Amanora Park Township in Pune.  Following the Beed female infanticide cases, he stopped charging fees to deliver a girl child. He explains why he decided to waive the Rs. 20,000 fees, that would usually be charged for a delivery. The Medicare Multi specialty Hospital in Hadapsar completed one year of this special service. The initiative was launched on the occasion of Savitribai Phule birth anniversary on January 3, 2012.Till 2013, the hospital has given free treatment to 135 women and their newborn girls.” I wanted to give back in some ways to society,” Rakh said.

Dr Ganesh Rakh

Usually,Rakh said, family members cry in the hospital after hearing the news of the birth of a baby girl. “Then they start arguing among themselves over the footing of the hospitalization and medicines bills. It was very painful. I decided to give it a full stop and decided to not charge any fees for the girl child’s birth in my hospital,” he said. For first three months,Rakh said, he bore the cost of anesthesia and fees of the doctors.Slowly,other doctors also joined him  and they too decided not to charge for the girl child’s deliveries in the hospital.Dr Iqbal Shaikh and Dr Anil Chavan are not charging anything for the past nine months, he said.

When asked how the finances of the hospitals have been affected following this decision, Dr Rakh said it is a multi-specialty hospital. They do not feel the pinch of these free treatments. About 22 deliveries take place in the hospital every month and half of them involve the girl child. I do not mind for not charging them. It gives me immense satisfaction. At the same time, it is shocking that doctors are equally responsible, along with the family members, for female foeticides.It cannot be done without the help of doctors, he said.

He started as a lone ranger about two years ago and today nearly 3,000 doctors from the interiors of Maharashtra are with him fighting social biases and prejudices against girl child. Maharashtra has a high incidence rate of female feticide and a dismal sex ratio. The arrest of the doctor couple in Beed blew the lid on the impunity with which doctors aided large scale female foeticide.Village heads, other medicos doing their bit to take Dr Ganesh Rakh’s initiative forward. However, this act of Rakh has now snowballed into a social movement of sorts, an effect that even he didn’t foresee. “After reading media reports about my work, I was contacted by nearly 17-18 gram panchayats and hundreds of doctors who have not only promised to stop sex determination tests and abortions but welcome girl children by motivating families,” said Rakh.

Arjun Buddhwant, sarpanch of Karadwadi village in Ahmednagar district, said, “We held special village meetings and invited Dr Rakh to talk about saving girl children. We also resolved to monitor pregnant women and report to the police if any villager indulges in female feticide. “In Solapur district, sarpanch Vinod Kekan of Vanjarwadi village in Karmala taluka has taken up cause since January 26, 2014. “We announced a prize of Rs10, 000 to any person who gives information or helps to stop female feticide.” I had seen the interview of Dr Rakh and got inspired by it. We decided if one man can do it, why not the entire village?” said Kekan.Besides, many doctors such as Dr Pravin Dungarvar, who runs Anand Hospital at Kunjirwadi in Haveli taluka, got inspired by Dr Rakh’s initiative.

“Though it is not possible for me to completely waive off the charges, I saw his work and decided to do my bit too. Hence, since the last few weeks, I have started charging half the amount of a normal bill if a girl child is born at the hospital,” Dr Dungarvar said.

Talking over the phone from Pune, Dr Rakh told that” female foeticide is rampant because regressive social norms are not only anti-women but are even anti-girl child. As a medical professional I have seen the torture that a mother undergoes when she comes to know that she has delivered a girl.” It was this mental trauma of the mother and the bias that a girl child faces even as she opens her eyes in the world, which made him take a decision to waive off all maternity fees if the child born was a female. “Over the years I have been noticing this demeaning and degenerate behavior. It is quite disturbing. Initially he received a luke-warm response from his gynecologists and pediatricians. “I told them the hospital will bear the expenses of neo-natal care, they were quite skeptical whether I would be able to run the hospital in such a manner,” he added.

But the impact of the emotional trauma of the about-to deliver woman was too deep on his psyche “The toughest job in a hospital is to convey the news of the death of a patient to their relatives. I found that to convey the news of the birth of a girl child was just as tough,” Dr Rakh said. “I used to see that when a baby boy was born, the family celebrated the moment and willingly paid the hospital bill. But unfortunately, when a girl was born, the relatives would walk off. They would make grim faces and not take proper care of the new-born baby and her mother. There were even fights among the family members about paying the hospital bill if a girl was born,” Dr Rakh remarked.

“Telling the relatives that a girl was born was like informing them of sad news. All this deeply pained me and I decided I will not charge for the deliveries of the girl child. After some time, my entire staff supported me by not taking their fees for this cause. This is my way of fighting the problem of female foeticide,” Dr Rakh stated. Even other doctors see it every day in maternity wards of hospitals. The tension on the pregnant woman for nine months is so severe and acute that you can actually see it in the fluctuations of her hemoglobin and blood pressure.”Dr Rakh’s silent efforts and persistence towards altruistic goals won over other doctors and soon they also decided to join hands with him. “After the word trickled out, my batch-mates and doctors working in districts like Beed, Ahmednagar, Solapur and other interiors wrote to me and said that they will stop carrying out procedures like indiscriminate sex-determination tests or unwarranted medical termination of pregnancy. And the numbers of doctors in this long haul is growing every day.”

Doctors like Ganesh Rakh are a rare breed; they are angels spreading happiness everywhere. No national or international award can be befitting enough for the great work he is doing. The day is not far off when people like Dr Rakh will be able to change the mind set of people, and make this world a better place to live in .May his tribe increase!

A doctor who charges Rs 2 from each patient !

“If you want to serve mankind, go and work among the poorest and most neglected,”

-Ruskin Bond

Dr Ravindra Koelhe, MD, who has been serving the tribals of Melghat, Maharashtra, for 24 years.His fee is Rs 2 for the first consultation and Rs 1 for the second. Not only is he a doctor and social worker, Dr Koelhe has also taken the government to court for having failed in its duty to protect the Korku tribals of the region. After completing his MBBS, from Nagpur University he worked in Melghat for a year-and-a-half only to realize that he needed more expertise to handle the problems of the tribals. So he went back to medical college for an MD in preventive and social medicine.

“I have now been here for 24 years. In those days there were two public health centres and no roads. Once a week, I used to walk 40 kms from Dharni to Bairagarh to reach my clinic. I used to see at least one tiger every month. Since the last three years I haven’t seen a single one,” he says remembering his early days as a young doctor. He is an ardent follower of Mahatma Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave.

He toured the rural areas of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and decided that Gadricholi in Maharashtra was the most backward amongst his travels and decided to work there. His mother discouraged him since it was a Naxalite affected area. She told him that Melghat was equally backward and that he should work here instead.Dr Koelhe has been in Melghat since then. It has been 24 years now.Melghat means the place where mountains meet. It lies on the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh border and is easily one of the most beautiful places in the country, its greenery only broken by the brightly coloured clothes of the Korku tribals who have made these mountains their home.

But the region’s beauty is overshadowed by its hostile terrain. Its infrastructure is deplorable. The roads are pathetic, the only way one can access its remote villages is in rugged four-wheel jeep.Melghat’s problems are far too many. There is no power for miles, new power lines are discouraged because this a designated tiger reserve. Though the tiger is rarely spotted here, the so-called presence of the tiger has contributed to the total neglect of this region. The poor tribals live off the land. They cultivate their small patch of fields on the incline of the mountains. There is no irrigation system and no wells because there is no power to pump the water.

In this wilderness, Dr Koelhe has stayed on to alleviate the misery of the tribals.He feels Melghat is a socio-economic problem, which needs to be dealt with holistically. “We as doctors can look after them when they fall sick, but there are other shortcomings that have to be addressed like education, skill enhancement and assured economic activity throughout the year. When I came here the infant mortality rate was close to 200 per 1,000 babies. Now it is 60. In Kerala it is 8 and in rural India 9. We have to bring it down to the national level. That is why I have filed public interest litigation in the Mumbai high court.” Discussing the case, he says, “We have filed our affidavits. Now the government has to reply. They don’t file a reply for months together. Who can do anything? We want to sit down and discuss the problem and solution, but they don’t want to sit with us. We cannot force them.”

Stressing on the need that it was important to improve the health of the tribals he feels the attitude of doctors assigned to the government’s public health centres has to change. “They have to learn to serve. They should not make the tribals feel they are doing them a favour.”Highlighting the problems of the area, he says farming depends on the rain and tribals are jobless with no avenues of income for eight months in a year. To add to that, there is no availability of food in Melghat from March to October. Milk is scarce and irrigation facilities are absent. Before 1978, tribals used to hunt and eat small animals like the rabbit to sustain them but after the region was declared as a tiger reserve, hunting became illegal. Since there are no veterinarians, the cattle owned by the tribals often die without the right medication. There are 20 artificial insemination centres but are all shut for want of vets.

The Melghat area shot into the national limelight last year because of infant deaths due to malnutrition, but Dr Koelhe said it was wrong to label them as ‘malnutrition deaths.’ “It is more like starvation,” he had said when I met him last year while reporting the infant deaths. “There is no availability of food here from March to October. The mother is therefore malnourished, and thus we have neo-natal deaths,” he explained. Milk is in short supply because the milk co-op closed down due to the competition between the Jersey and Indian cow. “The Jersey doesn’t get enough nutrition here and the Indian cow does not give milk here. The reason being, the cow does not get enough nutrition. Where does it have the energy to give milk?” he said.

The tribals are unable to rear poultry for their livelihood because the chicks often die within the first two days. “There is a vaccination that has to be given in the first 36 hours after birth, but how do we give it? Since the tribals are a scattered population, it is not possible. “The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the government’s programme to provide rural employment for 100 days, was started here, but was then halted. Moreover, workers who had worked under the NREGA had not been paid wages totaling Rs 3 million in the Chikaldhara taluka. Wages were also pending in Dharni.

Dharni has been declared a drought hit area. Many areas in Chikaldhara also face drought.”What we need is awareness. There are 400 schemes to look after the tribals from the womb to the grave, but the tribals don’t even know what these schemes are. And those who know are not interested in implementing them,” says Dr Koelhe resignedly. The tribals have to be provided with safe drinking water and need well stocked ration shops in every village. “The agricultural board is closed. It has to start again. Irrigation facilities to store water are needed and tribals have to be taught the use of fertilizers and pesticides. “The best thing the government has done here is to open more than 300 schools. In those days there were no teachers. The even better thing that the government did was to introduce Korku text books in 1985. Now primary education is in the Korku language. This has gone a long way in making the tribals literate and given them confidence to attend school.”

Instead of discussing what the government should do for the tribals, Dr Koelhe firmly believes that the tribals should be taught to be independent and demand what is theirs.”I run training classes here for batches of tribal youth. We tell them about their rights and the schemes available for them. We teach them to demand what is their right and tell then never to bribe,” he declares proudly. He also advises them to grow vegetables which are necessary for their nutrition.

“We are not here to duplicate the government’s work, but to supplement it. I tell all my patients to go to the public health center, and come to me only if they are not satisfied there. Even then after seeing them I always send them back to the PHC. I also call the PHC to explain the problem so that they can solve it.”The doctors at the PHC respect him and follow his advice. The cooperation of the medical faculty in this area makes life easier for the tribals who feel assured with Dr Koelhe around

A school dropout making bridges

 

“Determination gives you the resolve to keep going in spite of the roadblocks that lay before you.” –   Denis Waitley

He returned to his village Towa from Saudi Arabia during a summer job break in 2004. It was heavy monsoon and Kunwar river was overflowing in which 11 children died while trying to cross the river. The tragedy shook him. He requested the local politicians and the district administration to get a bridge constructed, as most of the schools and the madrasas are located on the other side of the river. Unfortunately his appeal fell on uninterested ears. Even the villagers didn’t support him. He decided to do the impossible: and determined to get a bridge made himself   He was so obsessed with the mission that he did not return to the Gulf.

Meet Mr Shakeel Ahmad a class V pass out and resident of Towa, who collected donations and supervised the entire construction   of the concrete bridge, which seems like a “knowledge bridge” for the nearly 800 students, who cross it daily for going to school. Preeti Yadav, a housewife of Lahideeh village, sends her five children over the bridge to different schools. She is not worried about their security.  “I feel comfortable now and send my youngest son and daughter also to school for their bright future.” Ahmad’s bridges have connected the residents of 50 villages in Saraimeer tehsil of Azamgarh district to nearby schools, madrasas and to Azamgarh town. Built over the Kunwar river, which submerges the area during the monsoons, the bridges have earned Ahmad the nickname of “Pull Babu” from the locals. Till recently, Saraimeer tehsil’s claim to “fame” was as the home of underworld don Abu Salem.

Shakeel Ahmad

Recalling the initial period of struggle Shakeel says, “I started roaming in the villages and Azamgarh city to raise funds. It was not an easy task. It was difficult to collect money from people. In the beginning they thought that I will cheat on them. I was out of home because I was collecting money. My family faced financial problems as I was jobless. My elder brother was the headman of the village, who thought that begging for money was a matter of shame. However I always felt the support of God at every step” Shakeel added.

“Initially, people were hesitant but later they started helping. Then I toured Delhi and Mumbai where most of the businessmen from Azamgarh reside. Most of them were generous and I managed to collect around Rs 65 lakhs .Notable among them were Haji Israr ul Haque –a business man from Gujarat, who donated generously. Besides him an engineer Mr Sanjay Shrivastava offered free services in the structural construction of the bridge. The construction started in 2002, but had to be stopped several times for want of money. The first bridge was completed in 2004.Encouraged by the response; I undertook the construction of four more bridges. The fourth bridge was completed in 2009, but there was no road to link it. It became finally operational in 2010. Towa, which has schools up to Class V only, has a population of 5,000, but the bridges connect around 100,000 people of over 50 villages in the area” said Shakeel.

“After the construction of the bridge the number of students has been increasing in schools, colleges and madrassas, on the other side of the Kunwar river in Saraimeer town, which has several educational and technical institutions and shopping areas. Younger children also take admission now .Earlier, it was very hard for them to attend the class timely, especially in the rainy season,” he said. There are two other pathways that lead to Saraimeer town but these are 20 km long and the road through the bridge is only two kilometers. Even public transportation is rare.

When asked, Neena Sharma, the district magistrate of Azamgarh said that they plan to use his services in their flood management efforts. “Right now, we are busy planning our disaster management activities after the Uttarakhand tragedy. We admire Shakeel’s effort and will also officially recognize him,” said Sharma.

The people of Azamgarh have only good words for Shakeel. “Shakeel did a marvelous job to facilitate education and he should be given some award,” Rightly so because many people think of giving something to society according to their capabilities, but there are some who have nothing, except big dreams .They follow their dreams passionately with a burning desire, and then nothing can stop them from making their dreams come true. He is not resting on his laurels “now I plan similar constructions of ten more bridges on other rivers in my area,” Shakeel added.