TATA JAGRITI YATRA - Grassroots Innovation in Kuthambakkam

As the Tata Jagriti Yatra reached Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the excitement in the air only seemed to be mounting. Many yatris from urban areas who had never seen a proper village were going to see a village for the first time. Others hailing from rural areas also had much to look forward to in the Kuthambakkam Village, a model Indian village, where innovation is the key to the smallest and the biggest of achievements.

Kuthambakkam is no ordinary village. It is a village that was, until a few years ago, fraught with poverty, inflicted with violence against lower castes and women. Incredibly, today the village is transformed in every possible way. It has good basic infrastructure in place, and the villagers are now building an environment friendly local economy based on a cooperative model, producing their basic necessities within the village. The Gandhian philosophy of taking development to the villages finds renewed energy here. You can feel the change in the air and all around you, as you enter the humble settings of a brick structure, feeling more than warmly welcomed at the sight of a Rangoli work that reads, ‘Welcome to Samthumapuram’. Many warm, smiling faces greeted the yatris as they assembled in an open space to listen to the story of Elango, the man behind making Kuthambakkam what it is today.

Elango, a Chemical Engineering graduate, moved from his village to the city like any ambitious youngster. Post his graduation, he worked as a Scientist at the Central Electro Chemical Research Institute, but he always had the dream of joining Politics and bringing about development. He explains, “India has been following the five-year planning process since independence and still, change has not happened to the extent it should have. I felt that I should stay with my community and understand their problems. There was a thirst growing in my head to do something and that’s when I contemplated standing for the elections.” It was a time when Panchayati Raj was just being introduced by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. There was immense need for active leadership.

Ethical Dilemma

One of the major hurdles faced by Elango was the choice between his job and joining politics to contribute to his village community in a big way. Why was there any dilemma at all? He reasons, “To join politics, you should not be in the government. The second dilemma was how to convince my parents and wife, who wouldn’t agree to the decision of my quitting my job to go back to the villages.” When Elango thought of the bigger picture and how much he could do for the village communities, he deiced to go for it. He won the elections and was elected as the Sarpanch. Given the entrepreneurial bug in him and his need to do things differently, he often had a rough time with the government. However, the Chief Minister Karunanidhi supported him and even passed a scheme under which Rs. 1 crore would be granted to villages for implementing these development plans.

When Elango set out to implement the first building plans in his village, he was asked to go through the contractor route. He refused to listen and chose to take up the entire construction task. Anybody else would have sourced bricks from outside but Elango’s entrepreneurial instincts told him otherwise. He went ahead and produced millions of bricks in the village itself! “Not only did we produce bricks, but it also gave our people the right skills for such work. We saved a lot of money and whatever money was actually spent went back to our people. We made un-burnt bricks and also saved 30% concerete cost.”

Before Elango knew, the entire village was with him in this movement, it became a participatory movement, “It might have started as the plan of Elango but soon, it became the plan of people.” Due to his unusual ways, Elango was suspended from the post of Sarpanch. All he was doing was to produce efficiently, innovate, generate livelihood for people and so on. Did he feel like giving up, looking at how his work was treated? “There was a point when I got tired of it. It was then that my wife asked me to read the autobiography of Gandhi ji. She even underlined the parts she felt were most important for me. It taught me that when you’re honest to the core, and committed to the core, the path of dharma is most wonderful.” Such readings, once again inspired the man behind this model village.

A walk down the village roads is all you need to witness the change. From gas cylinders to Direct-to-home cable services, these village homes symbolized a rich quality of life. Children could be seen playing around and talking in loud, naughty voices. Just the existence of brick houses seems like an achievement. For Elango, what it meant was that the children could ‘open the doors and peek out to let the sunlight seep in’. What strikes one about this humble, straightforward man with strong, informed opinions on everything relevant, is his simple heart and a simple worldview. He offers the yatris his fatherly guidance and welcomes them to join him in his village. Till date, Elango has worked with many national committees on rural development and was recently awarded the “Ashoka Fellowship”. He is an entrepreneur, not in any conventional sense, but in a way that makes you want to just start with an inspiration, believing that nothing is impossible.

- Unnati Narang