VILLAGE OVER VIEW on GAMEKELA:-

Village stay is one of the essential parts during DAship in PRADAN.

The reason behind the stay is to know, think, observe & understand the
village environment. Without staying in a particular village, we can’t
evaluate or express or give any comments on that village. To know about
the facilities or problems, over all details, the villager, theirs culture,
customs; we have to be a part of the village. After the village stay, we
have a brief idea & information about the village.

The village where I have completed my village stay for 15 days is

Gamekela. This village is come under the village panchayat Gamekela &
no other villages are under this Panchayat. The distance between the
Gamekela & the nearest tahasil Lailunga is around 7 K.M. which is a part
of Raigarh, a dist. of CG. The whole village is surrounded by the rice fields.

The population of the village is about 1200 & most of the villagers
are belongs to either SC or ST caste. Very less nos. of people is belongs to
OBC or general caste. The total population are belongs to approx. 300
families. The surname of people is like: Painkra, Sidar, Bhagat, Uraon,
Chauhan, Rawat, Gand, etc.

The standard of living of people belongs to Gamekela is not so good

as compared to other village. The reasons are: unavailability/shortage of
basic facilities (i.e. health, education and drinking water), etc. The
students of Gamekela are depends on either school belongs to another
panchayat Pakargaon or Lailunga.

The main profession of the village is cultivation. As the villagers are

not so literate; that’s why they choose cultivation as their primary
profession. Another reason is land which is also an important resource of
the village. Mainly rice, dal, different kind of vegetables are cultivated in
this village.

This village has 4 colonies which are divided on the basis of kind of
people or caste of people. Among all those colonies, 2 are situated in the
middle of the village. Before enter the village, we can find another colony
on the entrance road of the village whereas the last colony is situated
extremely outside. During rainy season or heavy rain, there is no
communication between the 4th colony & the rest of the village as
unavailability of such good road.

There are 2 Aanganwadi center in the village to look after the

children of the villager during the ladies member of the family are going

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to the field. Here the Didis are taking care of the children & busy them in
studying or playing some game.

The panchayat office of the village is situated in the middle of the

village where all the necessary actions/judgments are taken by the
Sarpanch for the development or sake of people. All the villagers are
bound to attend the meeting during any decision taken by the Sarpanch.

The whole village is depend on 6 bore wells, 5 ponds & a few nos. of
wells for water for every purpose (including drinking, sanitation, bathing,
etc). For which different types of health problem are occurred in the
village. Unhygienic drinking water is the major cause of fever, lever
problem, and dehydration. There is no medical facility in the village by
which the villagers suffer a lot.

The villagers are not so educated but they are now

conscious/couscous about the infectiveness of education. So, they are
now tried to educate their children; since there is no education facility in
their village. They are sending their children to other places like Lailunga
or Raigarh for higher study. This is indicating that, the villagers now
understand the value of education, current technology. But they don’t
have sufficient information about any current activity.

So many policies are adopted by the Govt. to develop the village &
the villagers. Hence, the govt. inaugurates a no. of act for village. Such
as, NREGA, NRHM, etc. But due to lack of information about the right &
right to information; they can’t avail the facilities.

The villagers now understand that to maximize the benefits in

cultivation; it’s necessary to apply the new technologies. In Gamekela, 80
nos. of farmers have applied a latest & effective technology for their rice
cultivation (i.e. SRI) & by which they have got a net 200% profit. They also
try to utilize their unwanted field to cultivate different vegetables with
new technology.

The electricity is another major problem for the village.

Unavailability of sufficient light supply, continuous power cut, and low
voltage is the problem occurred in the village. Roads of the village are not
in a good condition.

The village & its people are facing so many problems in their day-to-
day life; still there is a good relationship between the villagers. All of them
celebrate all kind of festivals without thinking that the festival belongs to
which caste. They help each others during good & bad time, which proves
that whatever be the condition the unity of the village is always takes the
1st priority.
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 This is the over view about the village “Gamekela”, where I have
stay for 15 days during the village stay.

The woman who gives a deep impact on

me during my village stay:-
During the village stay at Gamekela, I have met so many people in
the village & try to know about the village. During these 15 days stay, a
different kind of relationship is made between me & the villagers. During
this short time period, I have met a woman who gives a deep impact on
me.

She is Mrs. Damkanwr Bai, the wife of Mr. Ganeshram Painkra.

Her behavior, attitude, simplicity, hard working nature, leadership power
can change my way of thinking about the village woman. Her age is
around 50 & educational qualification is only class 5. Again, she is not in a
good financial condition.

There are so many other women present in the village who are
more educated than her. But due to her daily life & nature; she got a
special identification among the other women.

She is not so educated but can understand the value of education.

For which, she is trying her level best to give the basic & advanced
education to their children without thinking about the financial condition.

Every day she wakes up in the early morning & goes to the wadi to
take care of it. After spending 2 hours, she came to home & gives food to
the cows. After that, she prepares the Tiffin for all the family members &
she also takes some Tiffin. Then she goes the field with some meal to
either harvesting the corps or prepare the field for next cultivation. Then
she backs to home in the afternoon. Then she attends the SHG meeting
done by the ladies once in a week. In the evening, she again prepares the
dinner for the whole family & after competition of meal; she goes to the
bad in the late night.

She is so simple & not argues unnecessarily with anyone in the

village. Simultaneously, she is the leader of a SHG. She politely tries to
manage all type of problems among the group members.

During my village stay time, without knowing me she is allow me to

stay in her home. She helps me a lot to know about the village & all the
villagers.

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 She is the perfect example of combination of cultural & modern
thinking. In one side, she has not forgotten her culture, customs; & in
other side, she has convinced her family to adopt the new technology to
maximize the profit from the land.

Information about 3 families on different

aspects:-
In the 10th day of the stay, I have finally identified the 3
families i.e. poor, not so poor & relatively well off on the basis of
resource, financial background.

Ghasiram Chauhan & family:-

This family is one of the poorest in the village. This family
needs the 3 basic components (i.e. food, house & cloth). They don’t
have own home to live & it’s difficult for them to manage their 2
time meals. They don’t have own field to cultivation. So, they hire
others field to cultivate & distribute the whole earning with the land
lord at a ratio of 50-50.

Cultivation is the only source of income for this family. But still
they try to earn more; so that they can afford 2 time meal for the
whole year. Their relationship & behavior with the villagers are
good. As they are so poor, it is very difficult avail the health facility.
But Ghansi Bhaiya sends his children to the nearest school to take
good education. Due to lack of information, they don’t have the
proper information about the facilities of B.P.L (below poverty line).

They celebrate all the festival like: holi, diwali, nuakhai, puss
puni, rath yatra & dusehara, etc. with the villagers. They always
help the other villager in bad time. They always try to build their
own house. He also seeks help of the Panchayat to build the house.

The whole family is so hard working & laborious. They have

good contacts with other family in the village.

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Ganeshram Painkra & family:-
This family is not so poor in the village. The whole family
consists of 5 members can afford the basic component & also save
some for future purpose. They have own home to live. They have
own field to cultivation of total 6 acres. So, they easily cultivate rice,
dal in the field & different vegetables in the unwanted field by apply
the Wadi program.

Cultivation is the only source of income for this family. But still
they try to earn more; so that they can save some for future
purpose. Their relationship & behavior with the villagers are good.
As they are not so poor, they can avail the health facility. Ganesh
Bhaiya sends his children to the college at Lailunga to take good &
higher education. They are avail the job card by NREGA, rasan card
& other accommodation which are declared by the govt. for BPL
people.

They celebrate all the festival like: holi, diwali, nuakhai, puss
puni, rath yatra & dusehara, etc. with the villagers. They always
help the other villager in bad time. Ganesh Bhaiya & Bhabi always
try to give an educated & healthy life to their children. They have
sent their 3rd son to Raigarh for higher studies & 2nd son to Lailunga
for computer course. They are so helpful to others.

The whole family is so hard working & laborious. They have

good contacts with other family in the village. As they are belongs to
SC; they always try to do something by which their family get
benefits.

From last 1 year, they are working with PRADAN to develop

their standard of living & get profit from their unwanted fields by
accommodate the Wadi program. They understand that to develop

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their life & get more profit from cultivation; they have to apply the
new techniques.

Gobardhan Singh Sidar & family:-

This family is one of the well off in the village. The whole
family consists of 6 members can afford the basic component & also
save some for future purpose. They have own home to live. They
have own field to cultivation of more than 100 acres. So, they easily
cultivate rice, dal in the field & different vegetables in the unwanted
field by apply the Wadi program. Also, Bhaiya have given some land
to the panchayat for development work as he was the former
Sarpanch of the village for last 10 years.

Cultivation is the only source of income for this family. They

have much more field to cultivation. From where they got a heavy
profit by which they easily save a good amount for future. Their
relationship & behavior with the villagers are good & they helps the
villagers financially also. As they are well off, they can avail the
health facility easily. Sidar Bhaiya sends his children to the college
at Lailunga to take good & higher education. As they are belongs to
SC; still they don’t want a BPL card as he has a lot of land.

They celebrate all the festival like: holi, diwali, nuakhai, puss
puni, rath yatra & dusehara, etc. with the villagers. They always
help the other villager in bad time. Sidar Bhaiya & Bhabi always try
to give an educated & healthy life to their children. They have 4
sons & all of them are educated, helpful. They help Bhaiya in
cultivation.

The whole family is so hard working & laborious. They have

good contacts with other family in the village. Their standard of

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living is so high as compared to other villagers. They avail motor
cycles.

From last 1 year, they are working with PRADAN to develop

their unwanted fields by accommodate the Wadi program. They
understand that to develop their life & get more profit from
cultivation; they have to apply the new techniques.

From the above information; we can easily evaluate that the

villagers are tried their level best to develop the present condition of
the village & also their own living standard.

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