Address at the Inauguration of the Centre for Rural Transformation

ADDRESS

I am indeed delighted to participate in the inauguration of the Centre for Rural Transformation of the Byrraju Satyanarayana Raju Foundation.

In various interactions with people from different walks of life and especially with children from the all the four corners of this vast country, I found that there are certain thoughts and concepts which invariably find their way into my speeches. These concepts relate to - i) the development of the rural areas of our country, ii) the birth of a knowledge based society and iii) on how to put our ideas into action. I will dwell upon these concepts one by one.

Rural development and the social and economic upliftment of our rural masses become the most important aspect of our country to become a developed nation, as 70% of our one billion population live in rural areas and more than 26% of them live below poverty line. When we keep these figures in our mind, our national priorities fall into place quite naturally. When we have 70% of our population staying in the rural areas, it is natural to presume that resources should be evenly distributed between urban and rural areas. We have also an increasing problem of migration to the urban areas.

Knowledge powered PURA (Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas)

Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) is another example for creating rural wealth and prosperity. The model envisages a habitat designed to improve the quality of life in rural places and makes special suggestions to remove urban congestion also. Naturally our most demanding urban problem is that of congestion removal and efficient supply of water and effective waste disposal in every locality are the paramount civic needs. There is a minimum size below which a habitat is not viable and not competitive with the existing congested city. At the same time, the existing congested city is not economical compared to a new town once a minimum size of expansion is crossed. As against a conventional city say, rectangular in shape and measuring approximately 10 km by 6 km, the model considers an annular ring-shaped town integrating minimum 8 to 10 villages of the same 60 km2 area. This model provides easy access to villages, saves transportation time and cuts costs substantially and is more convenient for general public. Knowledge powered rural development is an essential need for transforming India into a knowledge power and high bandwidth rural connectivity is the minimum requirement to take education, health care and economic activities to the rural areas. Knowledge society leading to knowledge super power can prosper and survive only in the environment of economic security and internal security. Physical connectivity by providing roads, electronic connectivity by providing reliable communication network and knowledge connectivity by establishing professional institutions and vocational training centers will have to be done in an integrated way so that economic connectivity will emanate. Such Model of establishing a circular connectivity among the rural village complexes will accelerate rural development process by empowerment.

It was therefore, very encouraging for me when I found that the Byrraju Foundation is setting up this Centre for Rural Transformation in which all these three ideas are going to converge. Firstly, I am happy to see that the Centre will target the common man from our rural areas and has accepted the task of preparing our rural communities for meeting the challenges of the knowledge economy. The basic concept that the rural people need to be trained and made aware of the challenges of the knowledge economy is truly praise-worthy. So far, we have not been fully addressing the needs for training and for preparing the rural masses for meeting the future challenges. By recognizing the need for preparing our rural communities for the emerging knowledge economy through ideas, information, innovation and technology is in itself appreciable. We must encourage our rural people to do creative thinking because as we are well aware, they have an enormous pool of traditional knowledge. If we were to marry their traditional knowledge with modern technology, the result will be a complete transformation of our rural areas and the upliftment of those very people who survive on less than a dollar a day.

The knowledge skills and the physical prowess which is available in our rural areas need to be synthesised in such a manner that people start thinking for themselves. Only thereafter, can they transform their thoughts into concrete action.

The Centre for Rural Transformation of the Byrraju Foundation is setting up three innovative centers - namely, the Solution Design Centre, the Mission Control Centre and the Centre for Community Learning and Leadership Development. The creation of an 'Info-structure', the provision of proto-type solutions to developmental issues and the emphasis on capacity building amongst our rural communities will surely help our rural beneficiaries in transforming their thoughts into constructive activities.

I am happy to see the various concepts and innovations which are being deployed by the Byrraju Foundation for the social, the economic and even the spiritual upliftment of the people of the rural areas. I am sure the Centre for Rural Transformation will form the core of their rural development activities in the years to come and will also be a role model for many such initiatives all over our country.

With these words I inaugurate the Centre for Rural Transformation which, I am sure, will start transforming the various thoughts of Byrraju Foundation into concrete actions.

My greetings and best wishes.