Dear Prof. Madan
Appreciate your mail.
While Tarun Bharat Sangh is very much there with headquarters at Village Bheekampura-Kishori, Tehsil Thanagachi, Distt. Alwar, Rajasthan but Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth has been unfortunately demolished by the government.
My close friend waterman and Magsaysay awardee Rajendra Singh has converted around 2,000 villages of Rajasthan from dark zones (no water) to white zones (plenty of water) by constructing over 10,000 water harvesting structures in a unique example of community involved development without any financial help from the government. Around eight years back, when he was 46 years, he thought that in his remaining life-time he can perhaps create another 10,000 water harvesting structures, which will not be enough for Rajasthan and India. Therefore, he decided to create more Rajendra Singhs by setting up a water university. He established Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth at Tizara in Alwar District of Rajasthan and built a campus. In Tizara also there was no water and therefore, he constructed around 200 water harvesting structures which resulted in water table rising up significantly. The local population which was able to do just one crop in a year, started doing three crops in a year. However, the state government issued licenses for 15 liquor factories in Tizara by taking huge bribes. Rajendra Singh protested against this decision since it would have lead to depletion of water resources which he had painstakingly built. The government did not like it and on 18th July 2006 when Rajendra Singh was away to the villages of Bundelkhand region and all his people were also away to the various water harvesting sites, in a conspiracy planned manner, a contingent of police arrived there with bulldozers and razed to the ground the entire campus. Rajendra Singh rang me up and was literally in tears that he belonged to UP but had thought of development of Rajasthan and this is what the government had done to him. Accompanied by Mr. Rajendra Singh, I visited the site with our students and was devastated to witness the havoc which the government created on the site using state force and public money.
So much for the government which is meant to facilitate and support the development but in reality is the biggest hindrance in the real development of our nation.
Thanks and best regards
Varun Arya
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At 00:01 03/09/2013, Madan Thangavelu wrote:
Thank you so much for sharing Ipsita Sarkar's story about the Aravali Institute of Management!
Connected with this inspirational story is another one worth sharing that of Tarun Jal Vidyapeeth - Tarun Bharat Sangh (http://www .tarunbharatsangh.org/about/abouttbs.htm).
All this at a time when MNC like Pepsi and Nestle are scheming hard to privatise water!
Alongside this runs the usual dark and desparate one. This story from the Centre for Research on Globalization
http://www .globalresearch.ca/the-privatisation-of-water-nestle-denies-that-water-is-a-fundamental-human-right/5332238
Nestle CEO: Water Is Not A Human Right, Should Be Privatized
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEFL8ElXHaU
http://www .theguardian.com/sustainable-business/nestle-peter-brabeck-attitude-water-change-stewardship
Nestlé chair Peter Brabeck (http://en .wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Brabeck-Letmathe)
Political views and criticism
Brabeck-Letmathe (credited as Peter Brabeck) appeared in the 2005 documentary We Feed the World, in an interview at the end of the film. He said that the idea of water as a basic human right was "extreme," and that he believed water should have value like any foodstuff. He also affirmed that Nestlé was part of the solution to world poverty by employing so many people. [4]
During his tenure as CEO, he jointly garnered a Black Planet Award in 2007, along with Liliane Bettencourt. The award is bestowed on individuals dedicated to the destruction of the planet. Brabeck and Bettencourt through Nestlé were accused of proliferating contaminated baby food, monopolising water resources, and tolerating child labor. [5]
There is something wrong with such thinking. What is good for MNCs might not be good for citizens and peoples of the world!
Could this be one of the issues of contemporary "dog-eats-dog" Management Education divorced from richer ancient and humane values?
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