<p>After the historic Pink City of Jaipur making a mark for itself in architecture, tourism and planned development, now a small village in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan has <br />become the Pink Village. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Each house in the village has been coloured in pink and every resident is <br />engaged in some productive activity or gainful employment. Dharampura of <br />Sewar Panchayat Samiti, the new Pink Village which is dominated by Dalits, has earned the distinction of being the most literate and developed village in the <br />region. Every villager works and all children study, bearing out the pink colour as a symbol of success and prosperity.<br /><br />The transformation has been brought about during the last eight years when Dharampura was adopted by the Lupin Human Welfare and Research Foundation, which has been active in Bharatpur district for the last three decades. Proper guidance by experts in rural development and hard work by the villagers have paved the way for the village to traverse a new path of progress.<br /><br />Dharampura village has about 150 households. These families had negligible agricultural land and did not have any work to make ends meet when the organisation decided to adopt the village for its overall development.<br /><br />Focus on education<br /><br />The first task undertaken by the experts attached to the Lupin Foundation was providing guidance to villagers for better employment and education. The efforts have borne fruits as Dharampura has joined the select band of developed <br />villages where all civic amenities are available and villagers earn sufficient money to take care of their families.<br /><br />The literacy rate in Dharampura has increased from a mere 15 per cent to 70 per cent, while about 70 people in the village are employed in government and non-government organisations. About a dozen of the employed people are women.<br /><br />As there is awareness on importance of education, all families send their children, including girls, to schools. Since the village has only a primary school, children go toTatamad village to study in upper primary and secondary schools. Children attend colleges in Bharatpur, about 14 km from the village.<br /><br />Over two dozen boys and girls from Dharampura are now studying in government and private colleges in Bharatpur, while five have got admission in a engineering college. They dream of becoming engineers and technocrats. <br /><br />Dharampura, which was earlier known as the mazdooron ka gaon (labourers <br />village), is now painted in pink, indicating an improvement in the overall health of the village. <br /><br />Kalauram, a villager, says the foundation has brought about a radical change in the thinking of the people. Once an impoverished place, the people are now proud of their village. Children go to school, youth work and support their families. Everyone contributes to the overall welfare of the village.<br /><br />This unique colour has provided a distinction to the village and brought it on a par with the state capital, which also has pink colour for all buildings, shops and houses, especially in the walled city, established by the then Kachwaha Rajput ruler, Sawai Jai Singh.<br /><br />Nearly 50 per cent of the people are engaged in manual labour in cities like Bharatpur, Gurgaon and Faridabad. They take good care of their families back home and give education to their children. Good level of awareness among them has also led to their families taking advantage of various government schemes for their welfare. <br /><br />The foundation has established five self-help groups for women in the village and obtained loans worth Rs 16.50 lakh from the National Women’s Fund, SIDBI and other financial institutions. Women have utilised the loan assistance for starting various works like rearing buffaloes and goats, running small flour mills, tailoring and selling milk to make contribution to the family income. A Sewing Training Centre has also been opened for women in Dharampura. <br /><br />As many as 27 Indira Awaas (houses) have been constructed in the village <br />under the Chief Minister’s BPL Scheme, while four smokeless chulhaas have been established as a demonstration for environment-friendly cooking method.<br /><br />The village sanitation committee takes special care to maintain cleanliness and hygiene on public roads. Unemployed youth have been given vocational training and they have started their own motor winding, television repairing and electrical goods repairing shops in Bharatpur, Sewar and other towns.<br /><br />Three borewells had been sunk with the state government assistance to overcome shortage of drinking water. The foundation has raised cemented structures around the borewells to check wastage of water and spread of garbage. <br /><br />Villager Leela Devi says: “Earlier, we used to spend all our time in household activities like fetching water, collecting firewood etc. Now apart from looking <br />after the household we also earn to support the family in our own way.”<br /><br />Dharampura has emerged as a model village in the region and set an example for others, which are also working hard to come up to standards set by it. <br /><br /></p>
<p>After the historic Pink City of Jaipur making a mark for itself in architecture, tourism and planned development, now a small village in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan has <br />become the Pink Village. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Each house in the village has been coloured in pink and every resident is <br />engaged in some productive activity or gainful employment. Dharampura of <br />Sewar Panchayat Samiti, the new Pink Village which is dominated by Dalits, has earned the distinction of being the most literate and developed village in the <br />region. Every villager works and all children study, bearing out the pink colour as a symbol of success and prosperity.<br /><br />The transformation has been brought about during the last eight years when Dharampura was adopted by the Lupin Human Welfare and Research Foundation, which has been active in Bharatpur district for the last three decades. Proper guidance by experts in rural development and hard work by the villagers have paved the way for the village to traverse a new path of progress.<br /><br />Dharampura village has about 150 households. These families had negligible agricultural land and did not have any work to make ends meet when the organisation decided to adopt the village for its overall development.<br /><br />Focus on education<br /><br />The first task undertaken by the experts attached to the Lupin Foundation was providing guidance to villagers for better employment and education. The efforts have borne fruits as Dharampura has joined the select band of developed <br />villages where all civic amenities are available and villagers earn sufficient money to take care of their families.<br /><br />The literacy rate in Dharampura has increased from a mere 15 per cent to 70 per cent, while about 70 people in the village are employed in government and non-government organisations. About a dozen of the employed people are women.<br /><br />As there is awareness on importance of education, all families send their children, including girls, to schools. Since the village has only a primary school, children go toTatamad village to study in upper primary and secondary schools. Children attend colleges in Bharatpur, about 14 km from the village.<br /><br />Over two dozen boys and girls from Dharampura are now studying in government and private colleges in Bharatpur, while five have got admission in a engineering college. They dream of becoming engineers and technocrats. <br /><br />Dharampura, which was earlier known as the mazdooron ka gaon (labourers <br />village), is now painted in pink, indicating an improvement in the overall health of the village. <br /><br />Kalauram, a villager, says the foundation has brought about a radical change in the thinking of the people. Once an impoverished place, the people are now proud of their village. Children go to school, youth work and support their families. Everyone contributes to the overall welfare of the village.<br /><br />This unique colour has provided a distinction to the village and brought it on a par with the state capital, which also has pink colour for all buildings, shops and houses, especially in the walled city, established by the then Kachwaha Rajput ruler, Sawai Jai Singh.<br /><br />Nearly 50 per cent of the people are engaged in manual labour in cities like Bharatpur, Gurgaon and Faridabad. They take good care of their families back home and give education to their children. Good level of awareness among them has also led to their families taking advantage of various government schemes for their welfare. <br /><br />The foundation has established five self-help groups for women in the village and obtained loans worth Rs 16.50 lakh from the National Women’s Fund, SIDBI and other financial institutions. Women have utilised the loan assistance for starting various works like rearing buffaloes and goats, running small flour mills, tailoring and selling milk to make contribution to the family income. A Sewing Training Centre has also been opened for women in Dharampura. <br /><br />As many as 27 Indira Awaas (houses) have been constructed in the village <br />under the Chief Minister’s BPL Scheme, while four smokeless chulhaas have been established as a demonstration for environment-friendly cooking method.<br /><br />The village sanitation committee takes special care to maintain cleanliness and hygiene on public roads. Unemployed youth have been given vocational training and they have started their own motor winding, television repairing and electrical goods repairing shops in Bharatpur, Sewar and other towns.<br /><br />Three borewells had been sunk with the state government assistance to overcome shortage of drinking water. The foundation has raised cemented structures around the borewells to check wastage of water and spread of garbage. <br /><br />Villager Leela Devi says: “Earlier, we used to spend all our time in household activities like fetching water, collecting firewood etc. Now apart from looking <br />after the household we also earn to support the family in our own way.”<br /><br />Dharampura has emerged as a model village in the region and set an example for others, which are also working hard to come up to standards set by it. <br /><br /></p>
