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Villagers residing at one of the remotest places of the country came into the threshold of global connectivity. Seemingly the most unusual and magic-like happening, villagers, whose mainstay of life is agriculture, have given up the use of fuel wood for cooking paving way to LPG. The village with a population of about 2,500 also embarked on generator during power cut. Besides the most glaring phenomenon manifested by the villagers is their increasing interest in the community knowledge center. Such an encouraging tale revolves around Maichhara in the South district of Tripura. The credit for this enthusiastic development goes to the PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) programme, visualized by President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. The country’s first ever PURA project at Maichhara village under South Tripura district was launched by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) to give a fillip to the concept of knowledge-powered rural development. Within a month of its launch the Maichhara cluster comprising five adjacent villages have been provided with urban facilities like low-cost power and knowledge connectivity. Under the ONGC PURA project four important structural units - Bijli Ghar (Electricity generation room), Randhan Seva (Kitchen facility), Samaj Shivir (Social camp) and Gyan Kendra (Information center) were launched with modern facilities. The project envisages supplying power to the selected five villages under its fold using natural gas. The project also includes building village roads, health care facilities and vocational training institutes.
The PURA plan was conceived by the President Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam with the objective to fulfill the concept of knowledge society and help make India a developed nation by 2020. “Knowledge society leading to knowledge super power can prosper and survive only in the environment of economic and internal security” said Dr. Kalam. He further emphasized that the PURA components such as physical connectivity by providing roads, electronic connectivity by providing reliable communication network and knowledge connectivity by establishing professional institution and vocational training centers, would have to be integrated properly. It will then lead to economic connectivity and prosperity. During the last three years he spelt out the ultimate need of execution of PURA in different platforms. The President reminded scientists, social scientists, economists and business and commerce icons that 26 crore people in India lived below the poverty line and emphasized that the nation has to lift them up. He said, “today GDP growth rate is about six per cent; it has to be lifted up to 10 per cent and be sustained for several year”. The PURA plan had been conceived with this aim in mind. The Government has taken up this ambitious programme to be implemented, throughout the country. With the PURA programme aiming at integrated development of six lakh villages in the country by 2020 through 50,000 development centers, the government has identified 5000 villages for such integrated development in the next five years. The ONGC, which spends 0.75 per cent of its net profit has planned to execute the PURA programme from its Corporate Social Responsibility fund. It has decided to implement PURA programme in roughly 50 villages in the oil and gas bearing areas of Tripura, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan. It has also floated a trust to execute PURA programmes in collaboration with the NABARD, the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Wartsila and Thermax India.
In addition to the current facilities incorporated to the Maichhara – PURA Project ONGC has proposed to deliver more facilities in phased manner to the people under the fold of this cluster.
Various facilities are coming up under the Maichhara-PURA cluster. These are: (a) Bijli Ghar (Power House) for providing economic connectivity to the villages. Presently, the power requirement of the villagers is met by Tripura State Electricity Board (TSEB). The ONGC would now provide additional power for lighting, e-connectivity, irrigation, water supply and agro-industry through generators running on condensate from its gas fields; (b)Samaj Sivir, (Community Centre) for physical and knowledge connectivity. The multi-utility structure incorporated with a hall built will be used for the purpose of holding community functions and training programme pertinent to Rural Development activities; a Gyan Kendra (School Library) to impart knowledge and electronic connectivities. Presently, ONGC has provided a library with a initial collection of 318 books and a reading room. For this purpose, a two-room house has been built; (c) Randhan Seva (Community Kitchen) is a unique proposition as the villagers are being encouraged to use the common facility for reasons of economics and better quality of life for women and children thereby putting an end to the need of collecting fuel wood. ONGC has provided two domestic connections along with kitchen appliances to the Maichhara PURA cluster.
The ONGC has proposed to add more facilities such as health care services, agro-industrial development and market linkages in next phase of execution of the PURA programme. It has also planned to sponsor health care schemes and organizing medical camps. To facilitate value-addition to local agriculture produce it would provide tools like micro-power plans and impart training to the villagers. Acknowledging that the economic and knowledge connectivity when exploited to full will lead to better understanding of the market potential and will help create direct linkages to urban markets minimising the role of intermediator, ONGC PURA is committed to act as an enabler for bringing this knowledge and economic connectivity to villagers.
Significantly, while executing this project, ONGC is encouraging local people in association with the local Panchayat body so as to ensure their active participation in the project. This would, off course add to the momentum of the PURA conception in a more effective manner and go a long way to ensure development of the rural areas.
**Assistant Information Officer, PIB, Agartala
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