Introduction

I had the privilege of participating in a national seminar on “Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and the Role of Civil Services in National Unity” at Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), Bhopal, on 27 June 2025. As a panelist in the session titled “Governance and D [read more]

Submitted By: Yogesh Kumar | Date: 30-Jun-2025

The village of Gokhur Gram Panchayat in Panna district, Madhya Pradesh, with a voter base of about 2,100, stands as a testament to the potential of local governance in achieving economic development and social justice. With only one upper-caste family, the majority of the population comprises Yadavs an [read more]

Submitted By: Yogesh Kumar | Date: 17-Dec-2024

On November 26-27, 2024, I had the opportunity to facilitate a participatory planning exercise for the preparation of the Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) in Aamsi village and Gram Panchayat, located in Umarban block. The GPDP is an annual planning process undertaken by local governments to capture key needs a [read more]

Submitted By: Yogesh Kumar | Date: 29-Nov-2024

The commemoration of the 24th April as Panchayati Raj Divas, amid ongoing Parliamentary elections, prompts a reflection on Mahatma Gandhi's vision for post-independence India. Gandhi envisaged a democratically elected government anchored in the Gram Sabha (village republic) and local leaders (elected Panchayat a [read more]

Submitted By: Admin | Date: 13-May-2024

It was November 2022, when the pump motor that provided water to the entire village suddenly burnt out. Panic filled the air as the villagers realized that their access to water was about to become a major hurdle. They had water available, but without a working pump, it might as well have been out of reach. The drea [read more]

Submitted By: Ankita Akodiya | Date: 28-Jun-2023

Govind Mandal, a farmer from Udki village was pulling a rickshaw in Panna, a small city in MP leasing 5 acres of land 7 years back. Today, he is a proud cultivator earning around Rs 4 lakh annually by multi-cropping of wheat, rice, and moong along with seasonal vegetables using organic farming methods.

Gov [read more]

Submitted By: Ankita Akodiya | Date: 03-Jun-2023

While talking to farmers in the Salikheda village of Sehore, the team noticed a number of irrigation pipes in black hanging from the roof. Curious, Samarthan team member Narayan asked Gujmal Barela, "Where did you get these pipes from?" Gujmal told him that a few 63 MM pipes were handed o [read more]

Submitted By: Ankita Akodiya and Dr Narayan Parmar | Date: 21-Nov-2022

Madhya Pradesh Government presented a budget of Rs. 158713.04 crore[1] with a revenue surplus of Rs. 3509.81 crore (cr.). The fiscal deficit is estimated at Rs. 24913 cr. which is 3.49% of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). In the previous year the deficit was pegged at 2.99% maintaining the Fiscal Responsibility [read more]

Submitted By: admin | Date: 15-Mar-2017

Recently, social audits have been completed in around 75 Panchayats of Berasia block in mid-February. Barasia block is 40-50 km away from the capital city of Bhopal, yet it takes more than 2-3 hours on bad and dusty roads. That limits reach of the monitoring officials in villages. Moreover, Bhopal district is more or l [read more]

Submitted By: admin | Date: 15-Mar-2017

Social audit is conducted by the community for the development programmes meant to benefit them. It attempts to bring the guilty to account- it worked in village Panchayats of Nainpur block of Mandla district of MP. Last year, Khurai block of Seoni district also conducted social audits for all the Panchayats. This was [read more]

Submitted By: admin | Date: 15-Mar-2017

Samarthan organized a programme with the newly elected women representative of Sehore on Women’s day occasion. Some of the women who demonstrated exceptional leadership in promotion of sanitation were rewarded. It will be interesting to know them: Dhapu Bai belongs to scheduled caste social category. She won elect [read more]

Submitted By: admin | Date: 15-Mar-2017

Singrauli is one of the farthest and remote districts, close to the UP border, is a highly feudal and underdeveloped district of MP. It is well known for coal mines and thermal power production units. The district is a contrast of industrial development with extreme poverty. The district has predominantly tribal popula [read more]

Submitted By: admin | Date: 15-Mar-2017

FES-Foundation of Ecological Security- has been working in completely denuded common land in 49 villages of Agar district in MP over the last 30 years. There was a severe water shortage due to drought and massive felling of trees from the common forest. FES worked with the villagers to demonstrate ways of community man [read more]

Submitted By: admin | Date: 15-Mar-2017

Every year as part of the curriculum of Institute Of Rural Management Anand, the fresh batch is sent to various villages in different states of India for a month and a half. This program is conducted by associating with some of the renowned Organisations that have been working in the development sector for Rural India. [read more]

Submitted By: Anonymous | Date: 06-Dec-2017

Priya self-help group (SHG) was formed in 2014 by Anganwadi Worker in the village Baneya of Sitapur block under Surguja district. Though the SHG was created in papers, its members were not aware of their roles and responsibilities and no regular meetings were held by them. Samarthan workers paid visits to the house of [read more]

Submitted By: Anonymous | Date: 06-Dec-2017

'Swachh Bharat Mission(SBM) Awareness Campaign' one of the leading campaign in our country and we (students from IRMA) got a chance to go to the rural areas of Madhya Pradesh where Samarthan - Centre for Development Support is working as one of the leading organisation, mobilizing the communities on sev [read more]

Submitted By: Anonymous | Date: 10-Dec-2017