Social Entrepreneurship in Begusarai- A venture to

transform the rural landscape

A case study by:-

Partheshwar Kumar Dubey
MGNF_BEGUSARAI
partheshwar.dubey21-05@iimv.ac.in

Introduction:-

If you want to fuel the development of your region, then you ought to fuel the aspirations of
your demography. But the demography can aspire only if they are educated, healthy, skilled
& well-fed. Since our independence, governments in our socialist democracy have been
trying to lift people out of poverty. We have certainly improved the economic scenario for
millions owing to these efforts. But despite these interventions, Bihar remains a backward
state requiring some innovative approaches to remedy these issues. Foundations like Bill &
Melinda Gates, Tata Trusts etc., have tried to contribute to social development, and it has also
yielded some results. Although, for a state with a per capita income of ₹46000 where the
national average is ₹1,26,000, these efforts will never be enough as more than 30% of the
state’s population is still living below the poverty line.

Social entrepreneurship can be a real game-changer as it has been successful in yielding the
highest Human Development Indices in the Nordic region. What business entrepreneurs are
to the economy, social entrepreneurs are to social change, & we desperately need them to
transform our rural landscape. Whenever society is stuck or has an opportunity to seize a new
opportunity, it needs an entrepreneur to see the opportunity and then to turn that vision into a
realistic idea and then a reality and then, indeed, a new pattern all across society. We need
such entrepreneurial leadership at least as much in education, health and human rights as we
do in manufacturing & services. This is the work of social entrepreneurs.
Background:-

Dr. Raman Kumar Jha was a medical practitioner along with some of his high profile
colleagues who moved to the United States and the United Kingdom. Seeing him discontent
with the job, his colleagues motivated him to pursue his aspiration of social work. He got a
crude understanding of social entrepreneurship and became an active social worker providing
free health checkups and occasionally distributing medicine.

Driven by replicating the model of ‘SMART VILLAGE’ after seeing its effect in the Banda
district of Uttar Pradesh, he established Vishwamaya Charitable Trust (an ode to his
grandparents, he combined their name Vishwanath & Maya) in 2013. He worked relentlessly
using his experience of 15+ years of medicine combined with the same tenure of social work
to realise his dreams.

He was inspired by the interventions in some rural areas of the country. Therefore he
contacted Dr Heera Lal, an IAS officer responsible for implementing the ‘Smart Village’
program in the Banda district. He mentored Dr Jha on how to proceed with the initiative. Dr
Jha opted for a village in his own block to adopt upon instructions as he was very familiar
with all the concerned factors.

With more than half of the population belonging to marginalised communities and the village
deprived of any school or healthcare facility, Simhana village was selected for the
inauguration of the initiative in Begusarai. When the project began nine years ago, there was
one intermediate graduate in the village. He was physically disabled & he could not find a
job. Dr Jha’s trust in collaboration with the ‘Lets Inspire’ foundation of IAS Vikash Vaibhav
designed a village manifesto elaborating their roadmap to transform the rural landscape.

The village manifesto detailed 25 points for the model village, which would be the focal
areas. The model was based on social participation without raising capital. These points
include sanitation, education, medicine, livelihood, electricity, clean water, employment,
communication system, science, organic products, self-reliant controversy-free village,
accounts, biodata of all villagers, information, population, FPO, non-residential villager
support, malnutrition, tree plantation, sports, arts, culture development, women
empowerment, talent recognition, identification of roadblocks to development & providing
solutions & awareness & implementation of different government schemes. They decided to
celebrate a village foundation day every year to keep track of their progress on these
parameters & reinvigorate their commitment to the rural transformation.

Required Interventions:-

Apart from crowdfunding, contributions from distinguished individuals & pouring his own
money into the venture, Dr Jha required some monetary support for new infrastructure. He
prepared a detailed proposal to present to government agencies, private entities and PSUs to
secure funds & develop the village with the help of the PPP (public private partnership)
model. Some of the key ideas from the proposal are as follows:-

They planned to acquire 10 Acres(approx.) of land and make the following amenities
available under one umbrella

 Hospital:-
 A small hospital wherein two General physicians (one on alternate days) and 3 staff
nurses (ANMs can be engaged) and a couple of ward boys/housekeeping can be made
available to attend to patients of the earmarked areas.
 General Physicians can be from the local Govt. hospital or a private practitioner
(MDs) who can be paid as remuneration.
 Two ambulances should be made available to address the emergency situations.
 Open a medical shop for Generic Medicines to make the medicines available to
citizens at lower and affordable prices.

 Hospital for Animal:-

 A small hospital for animal is to be set up, managed by two specialized doctors &
paramedic staffs.
 These Doctors can be from the block or certified private doctors (who can be paid
remuneration).

 Electricity:-
 Utilize the Solar energy. Solar Panel can be fitted along the roads/Dams/Ponds
etc. Villagers can be sensitized to use the solar panel on their rooftop and use it for
their own electricity consumption.
 Sensitize villagers on using the LED bulb to save electricity.
 Information Resource Centre:-
 An excellent information centre is to be set up which will work as the pivotal part
of the information broadcast among villagers.
 Villagers are to be sensitized about their rights w.r.t the various Govt. schemes, all
happenings around the world, latest commodity prices(LED display), usage &
availability of fertilisers/seeds/ Pesticides etc.
 Educated youths can be trained on the basics of internet and help villagers on
many utility aspects of internet viz. online reservation in train, Online bill
payment, online payments of LICs, Online/mobile banking etc.
 Educate villagers (old + millennials) on the usage of internet on mobile to make
them self-reliant.
 Develop Application Software so that villagers can raise service request for their
daily routine work like plumber/carpenter/fitter/Soil Testing/ Crop Selling etc. and
track status.
 For each Citizen Services, youth of the village will be trained and shared the daily
job sheet for their daily work.

 Kisan Mitra Centre(KMC):-

 Set up a soil testing laboratory free for BPL farmers and @ nominal cost to APL
farmers.
 Educated youths of the village can be trained at some agriculture college as a part
of skill development programme and can be engaged in the laboratory for soil
testing.
 Trainees from Agriculture College should be engaged to work with farmers. This
symbiotic relation will help farmers as well as trainees.
 Engage full-time agriculture specialists to advise farmers on the usage of
fertilisers/pesticides/ seeds etc. These specialists are expected to work as “Kisan
Mitra” to help them cultivate better.
 Weekly classes are to be organized for the farmers to sensitise them on the best
cultivation methodology.
 Felicitate the best farmers through special awards under various categories viz.
Commercial plant, Crop, Vegetable, Fruits etc. These farmers in turn should be
 engaged as catalyst to sensitize/ motivate/inspire other co-farmers to cultivate
scientifically and increase production.

 Police Station:-
 Set up a small police station to keep an eye on the law and order situation of the
whole village along with the Smart Village.

 Gas Agency:-
 Open a cooking gas agency inside the Smart Village for citizens.

 Sales/Storage Channel through the FCI:-

 Set up a kiosk of the Food Corporation of India, to whom the farmers can sell
their products crops etc. directly and earn money without the help of brokers.
 This entire sales cycle is to be managed through software so that the money can be
directly credited to the farmer’s account without any broker.
 Local villagers holding the BPL cards can be distributed the entitled allotment
w.r.t grain etc. from the kiosk of the Smart Village itself. Local dealers can be
brought under the purview of the Smart Village for better governance and
transparency.

 Bank & ATM:-

 Set up a branch of nationalized bank (preferably SBI) which offers
transparent/hassle free Kisan Friendly products like KCC, cattle loan etc.

 Safe/Clean drinking water:-

 Identify few strategic locations within the area and set-up a RO water plant.

 Availability of expensive but useful farming machines for common usage by farmers:-
 A pool of machines like Solar Pump Set Harvester, Land leveller, Crop sowing
machine can be purchased and kept for common usage by the farmers on “Use &
Pay Model”.
Implications of the Initiatives:-

 Education:-
From having a single student who had passed the intermediate exam in 2013, Simhana
village now has more than 100 graduates. The trust had established a school named
Sugam Shiksha Kendra which currently has 235 students enrolled who get free & quality
education. The first intermediate graduate, Manoj Sada, also works as a teacher here. The
trust enrolled him to pursue higher education as well.
The students also participate in cleanliness drives and awareness campaigns for the
government schemes that help expand the reach of projects and promote hygiene. Women
empowerment gets a considerable boost when the trust organises gender sensitivity
campaigns. Apart from the academic curriculum, students are also provided free
computer education.
 Health:-
Dr Jha invites several of his colleagues for free health checkups in the district. He
organizes a free health camp every month. Free medicine is distributed by securing
sample medicines that doctors get from companies. Children affected by polio have
gotten artificial legs, tricycles have been distributed among physically disabled people &
construction of a hospital is in progress. Rehabilitation of several drug-addicted children
has also been an exemplary achievement. Cleanliness & sanitation has gradually been
included in the habits of the people due to intense awareness campaigns.
 Agriculture:-
Chemical fertilisers have taken a significant toll on the quality of soil in the district. Dr
Jha invites agricultural scientists for awareness programs. People have started opting for
vermicomposting in the village. Some have taken up this as an opportunity to be an
entrepreneur under the guidance of scientists. To secure a fair price for crops, farmers
have also formed FPOs, and awareness of government schemes has enabled them to be
beneficiaries of these schemes.
 Employment & Livelihood:-
The livelihood drive has found a brand ambassador in Ram Lagan, who, despite being
90% disabled, carves excellent toys out of clay and works in his field. The trust has taken
up the onus to provide medical care to him, but he inspires the community to persevere.
Besides agro-entrepreneurship, the village youth are motivated to take up vocational
education, and the trust in co-ordination with some private corporations finds
 employment opportunities for them. Trades like plumbing & electrician are in massive
demand as the youth trained in these trades get employment opportunities in the district
itself.
 Talent Recognition:-
Due to the patronage of influential people, organisations like SUPER-30 of Anand sir
organise talent hunts for students to secure scholarships to prepare for prestigious exams
like IIT & NEET. Apart from that foundation day of the village is celebrated every year
where contributions to human development and efforts are recognised, rewarded &
celebrated. The trust also invites talent scouts for students engaged in sports.
 Art, Culture & Tradition:-
Several efforts have been made to revive and save the art & culture of the region. Painters
who are exploited by intermediaries and get low prices for their work have been provided
with the platform of the exhibition to secure fair prices. Some of the art & craft has also
gained exposure through the help of e-commerce. The trust has advocated training
programs for youth in the different training institutes to save the tradition & art like
Madhubani painting and motivate the next generation to carry the baton.

 Information Repository:-
Dr Jha views public information about villagers as the most empowering weapon at their
disposal to tackle the plethora of issues faced. Digitisation has indeed been thwarted due
to the pandemic, but the efforts have again increased post-pandemic.

Successful Interventions (in pics and videos):-

 RAMLAGAN is a biopic of an ordinary person, who despite being challenged by extreme

circumstances, not only physical and mental but also economical as well as societal,
became an inspiration for an entire neighborhood through his artistry of toy making using
clay and waste materials.
https://youtu.be/G26iOW7hSlE
Recommendations:-

 Thorough documentation of the initiatives would make it easier to replicate in other

regions.
 The initiatives have been impeded due to a lack of funds, and several projects have been
delayed. Securing funds with a sustainable flow and creating a value proposition through
initiatives that could attract other entrepreneurs to invest must be of utmost priority.
 Lone wolf attitude can be detrimental to the whole initiative. Involving stakeholders in
the decision-making process and creating a board of management for project oversight is
of paramount importance.
 Government support is also not sufficient. Raising awareness about government
initiatives is not enough, as awareness alone cannot ensure that the people are actually
benefitting from the schemes. An infrastructure to mobilise and counsel people through
the whole process is also necessary.

Way forward:-

Although the model has some lacunas, the biggest is securing funds for the development
activities. Due to driven individuals like Dr Jha securing funds from colleagues, pouring his
own money, and patronage from ex-bureaucrats, politicians & artists, the initiatives have
sustained. But the industry can only be sustainable if it has a consolidated fixed source of
funds. The trust has collaborated with the ICICI Foundation. People are also engaged in talks
to secure CSR funds from the IOCL to expand the reach from Begusarai to neighbouring
Samastipur, Khagaria and Madhubani districts.

Dr Jha is working with the villages to form cooperative entrepreneurship ventures, and some
of its profits will be invested in this initiative to expand its reach.

Social entrepreneurship would be instrumental in transforming the country's rural landscape

and bridging the rising inequality. We need entrepreneurs like Dr Jha who monetise people’s
gratitude as their currency and aspire to get richer & richer, not only satisfying their hunger
but also satiating society’s needs.