Away from existing practices and myths, organising Rural Conclave in Village Sholi of Himachal Pradesh and Launching of MISSION RIEV in IIRD Head office, Shimla has been an eye opening experience for every participant. Around 130 km away from Shimla city, conclave witnessed the participation of around 200 intellectuals from different walks of life from 30th September to 2nd October 2017 in a village illuminated by 350 solar street lights, part of initiative undertaken by IIRD, where inaugural ceremony was performed by octogenarian Shri Rami Nath ji, followed by Kavi Goshthi.
The ever shining Sholi village, known for its scenic beauty,experienced the city buzz with plethora of events for 3 days during the Rural Conclave besides playing host to the participants who looked forward to breathing fresh air and sleeping in tents in farm lands, duly equipped with water, sanitation and solar lights. The 3 days event comprising of 12 sessions; 84 speakers, carried out detailed deliberations’ on promoting Integrated Development along with outlining National Road Map for Rural empowerment. No such big event has so far been witnessed in the village environment on village development and this event titled ‘RIEV – Ruralising India – Empowering Villages” established the fact that the village development cannot be discussed in cities but in the village, itself. The local Pahari cuisines, natural spring water, warm hospitality of the villagers and simplicity of the village life made the event more charming &interesting.
As the over urbanisation is taking place haphazardly, creating excessive biotic pressure on the smaller geographies, the time has come to start looking back to our roots i.e., the village, which still need adequate attention to improve the quality of life, which is termed as Ruralising India by IIRD.
This is in fact a journey of reverse migration of people from cities back to villages and IIRD has very uniquely intervened in the area by bridging the gaps and creating massive livelihood opportunities at the village level by conceiving Mission RIEV (Ruralising India – Empowering Villages), which was officially launched by Shri Parthottam Bhai Rupala, MoS Agriculture, Farmer Welfare & Panchayati Raj at IIRD Head Office, Shimla on 30th September 2017 (1st day of Rural Conclave).
MISSION RIEV
Mission RIEV is based on the IIRD’s concept of “Strengthening Panchayats through economic independence and good governance” “Creating Wealth out of Nothing” through placement of 3 field ambassadors in Each Panchayat and 1 coordinator each at Block, District and State Level. The self- sustaining employment opportunity to around 10,000 local people in Himachal Pradesh to bridge the gaps of information, various necessary support services along with numerous entrepreneurial programs is positively affecting the locals who have shifted base in cities to meet these requirements.
Under this mission, all 3226 Gram Panchayats of Himachal Pradesh, 78 Blocks and 12 Districts have been covered by 10,000 local Field ambassadors to provide facilitation support to the villages on more than 150 services on government schemes and customised solutions on individual problems.Mission RIEV is being piloted in Himachal Pradesh and has enormous potential to go PAN India in next 6 – 12 months.
