PM's village as smart village: Images and realities

The BJP’s defeat in the Zilla Panchayat elections in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh has been a major jolt to the party. Much against the party’s hopes, of the 48 seats in Varanasi, the BJP-supported candidates lost 40, including the much hyped village of Jayapur.

The loss for the BJP, even after its apparently visible development efforts in Jayapur, triggers questions on the projected success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s model of development.

In my view, the notion of developing a reference model village as proposed by Modi in Jayapur is a selective idea of development that creates a cascading impact. The ripple effect of such selections are felt both intra-village as well as in neighbouring villages.

Though direct impact of development is felt by the privileged villagers of the selected village, those that remain deprived may feel marginalised and jealous. Thus, this model of development generated jealousy and enmity amongst different caste groups. The suggested model prescribes for a ‘development for all’ idea but when it enters into a caste-divided village, it produces multiple experiences which I am narrating here.

The very glimpse of this village presents a picture of an affluent village laced with all amenities, but to its roots, the means of livelihood are still remote and limited. Therefore, while the lacy development efforts did have positive impact on the villagers, they soon faded away under pressures of livelihood sustenance that rem-ained unanswered by the BJP in power.

The village, Jayapur, appearing to be an oasis in a parched desert, is situated 28 km away from the Allahabad-Varanasi highway and the Varanasi Cantonment railway station in the Rohaniya assembly segment and about 7 km from the Rajatalab railway station. It is situated at the border of the Varanasi-Mirzapur districts.

Jayapur is surrounded by Arajiline, Kashi Vidyapeeth, and Pahari tahsils. Mounted on the entrance gate of the village is a huge poster of Narendra Modi along with other BJP politicians welcoming all.

The prime minister adopted this village on November 7, 2014, under the Sansad Adarsh Gran Yojana (MP’s Model Village Scheme) from his Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi to develop it as an ideal model village. Incidentally, the village had been adopted by the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) under its “ideal village scheme” in 2002.

Right near this entrance gate is the newly built, well-furnished bus stop sponsored by the Department of Posts flaunting steel benches waiting for the state transport corporation buses. The prime minister, with his selective adoption, has given a special VIP recognition to this village and its residents.

Headed by a woman pradhan, Durgawati Devi, this village, with a total population of 4,200, has a mix of Patels, Bhumihars, Brahmins, Musahar, Yadavs, Bania, Kumhar and Dalits. Literacy rate here is 76.36 per cent (among men, 89.12 per cent; among women, 61.27 per cent).

The majority population of this village is dependent upon agriculture. With their total population of 3,205, women outnumber men by a large margin. The village has an ideal kanya vidyalaya and an anganwadi kendra, all connected to metalled roads.

However, within this village, there are eight families of Gaud community that seemed to be living in an appalling condition. Lamenting his luck, one Narayan Gaud (45) said, “So far, we have not received any benefit, who knows we may get it or not in future. Not only the pradhan, no one listens to us.” Pointing to a nearby functional water tap, he said, “Now we get potable water from this tap. We have a road but no livelihood.”

Finally, we reached the Musahar basti of Jayapur. Named as ‘Atal Nagar’ after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, we entered the colossal entrance gate to the basti. With newly painted planned buildings, decorated pots and planted trees, this basti showed no resemblance to any typical village of UP.

No proper roads

But why are there no proper connecting roads, we asked Jeetu. Jeetu promptly answered, “We have to come through Ahir basti and at times, they block this route.” Intrigued by his answer, we asked the young child, “Why are you not going to school”? He innocently replied, “The school is in Jayapur. It is very far off”.

Even after all this pomp, the children of Musahar basti fail to feel one with Jayapur village. They are excluded from the schools and anganwadis situated there. Social exclusion is apparent to the extent that they are excluded even from the ‘mini anganwadi’ functioning in the close-by Ahir basti.

In the midst all this show that at least ensures temporary solace and pride being a part of Jayapur, the issue of social exclusion and deprivation of basic amenities like education based on caste puts a question mark on the durability of this happiness.

With these questions in our mind, we again reached the bus stop flaunting the shiny metal chairs. At a distance, perched on a raised platform under the tree, I spotted an elderly couple. The old lady called me from a distance. When I approached her, she painfully enquired, “Have you got medicines for me?”

I asked the old man accompanying her, “Do the health centres of this village not provide medicines?” The old man answered me very innocently, “We do not get these benefits.” When I asked him again to which community he belonged, he replied, ‘Ravidas’ (dalit). For long after, my mind remained haunted by the question, “Does development have a caste?”

(The writer, a professor at the School of Social of Social Science, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, conducted a study of Jayapur)