Invite to meet in Delhi or Mumbai
CONCLUDING TRIP TO INDIA AFTER SCRIPTING 2-3 SHORT FILMS OF 3-5 MINUTES... FOCUSING ON HOW TO EMPOWER RURAL INDIAN FARMERS AND ATTACK POVERTY IN VILLAGES AT ITS ROOTS... THROUGH LIFE-SKILLS & EDUCATING FARMERS, THEIR WIVES AND CHILDREN...
Since 24 February, we have eye-witnessed Rural India as an experience for most filmmakers, especially from New York. Our story is about one NRI - Dr. Surender M. Sehgal from Des Moines, Iowa, USA, who started "giving back" in 1999, working in partnership with the poorest of poor Mewat district farmers in Haryana... Not 100 kgm from the capital city of India.
Today, he and his team at the Institute of Rural Research & Development (IRRAD) in Gurgaon, Delhi, are working in camaraderie with the farmers who are growing better crops, with 3-4 harvest seasons, better fed and clothed women and children being educated in schools built, where teachers are hired within the village districts... where solar street lights are seen along the roads and small computer classes and TV are being offered to youngsters interested in entering the IT world.
Wherever we travelled through the villages, life is bustling with activity. There is "this will to learn... to understand... to growth as a community". If only this scene could be seen all over India, especially as the newly second-time-elected Government of India is showing an 8% financial growth in its economy.
It seems so unlike the gloomy economy recession in parts of North American and EU. With our massive 1.2 billion population, it's like the global recession has not yet touched the sub-continent of India.
At this stage, I plan to return to New York at the end of March 2010... with the film assignment completed... we will spread the word about the news of how and what the newly elected political parties is focusing to eradicate "poverty." We all know this is no easy task, as 70% of India's population lives below the poverty line and reside in hundreds and millions of rural villages across the country...
During this experience, I learned about the Mewat farmer's art of water manage-ment - where rainfall is only 43% of the national average and most of the ground water is saline and unsuitable for human consumption... useless or irrigation, damaging the soil and reducing crop yields and unhealthy for drinking.
It was the determined partnership and collaboration of Sehgal Family Foundation's concentrated on the Mewat district villages for the past 10 years, that I saw how the power of new information, life-skilled education where the farmers in the villages have seen for themselves the drastic changes... It took ten long years, and together - the Indian farmers have taken their destiny into their own hands having been empowered by their own successes in trial-and-error schemes - as they stand eye witnesses towards the incredible possibilities in farming for the future...
At first it was training on the basic needs like literacy, self-confidence and vocational life skills... with strong concentrating on livelihood advancement.
The two to three short films will focus on the gradual transformations taking place... and the direct invitation by the SFF/IRRAD experience to "spread the word" to the two to twenty million Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) living overseas to become involved. This is an open declaration towards a mammoth task... and just a drop in the ocean for Rural India...
So the films will be shown all over North and South America... reaching out to inviting NGOs, small businesses and corporate sponsors... those involved with corporate social responsibility... especially as there are millions of villages scattered across the land... The trump card to overcome this feat is - now the Government of India is putting Rural India and the eradication of poverty on its highest priority list, there is a great deal of work that needs to be done.
Presently, I am in Delhi until the 21st of March and then I am flying to Mumbai from the 22nd to 28th March and would welcome multimedia, filmmakers, producers, IT and other professionals to see how we can make a global difference...
While in India, let's communicate. I can be reach by cell 91 9971 695942 / email: . Share your ideas, personal experiences and major discussions and become "part of the change..." through involvement and encouragement..