Building the Nation The Khanpur Gujjar Village Adoption Story
Inspired by the vision of our Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi who believes“ If we have to build the nation we have to start from the villages", the trust adopted Khanpur Gujjar village, a Muslim majority backward village to make into a model village. Khanpur Gujjar Village is a village near Gangoh town in Sahranpur district of Uttar Pradesh. The population of the village is about 6000 people with the majority belonging to the Muslim community. The village is lacking several basic amenities like clean water, electricity, health centers, schools besides suffering from misgovernance and illiteracy.
Our team of social workers, volunteers and doctors undertook a survey of the village. Our first task was to understand what were the needs and problems of the villagers and find solutions to them. We invited the people of the village to have dialogues (evening chaupals) with us in the largest madrasa in the village in which the people discussed the problems they faced in their daily lives. Many problems and their solutions were discussed in these meetings and discussions with the villagers. We found three most important issues in the village needing immediate attention, which were quality and availability of water; lack of educational facilities and lastly lack of basic sanitation and cleanliness in the village.
The first objective was to provide safe drinking water. There were only about 20 hand pumps in the village which were in working condition. There was a serious problem of drinking water sources. We analyzed water samples from these hand pumps which were found to have extremely high levels of iron and other harmful pollutants, which were linked to liver failure and skin problems in the village population.
We divided the village into different zones according to the population, daily needs and economic statuses of each family in the village. Each zone comprised of people who were poor, marginalized and had trouble in access to getting safe drinking water. We placed a hand pump proven for its use and reliability in each of these zones. We installed a total of 10 hand pumps in the village. Each hand pump now serves approximately 50 households and provides them with fresh, clean and safe drinking water.
Our first project to provide safe and easy access to clean drinking water in the village was therefore a great success.