Transforming ‘Swades’: Bringing positive change in the lives of rural communities in Maharashtra

In the 2004 movie Swades, Mohan Bhargava played by Shahrukh Khan leaves his NASA job in the US to lead transformation in rural India. I recently had my ‘little’ Swades moment when I witnessed real changes taking place in the lives of poor and downtrodden sections of the society in rural Maharashtra. I witnessed how one idea, one thought can bring people together and uplift the condition of entire communities. The zeal of one man, or one couple in this case, can drive hundreds to unite and change the course of rivers, literally.

A young tribal woman is in-charge of the solar-power driven water supply facility, another young man is helping villagers to register and get vaccinated against Covid-19, a young child is taking care of the library in village school, a bicycle mechanic is doing organic farming and a girl in her teens is leading kids her age in bringing social change. These are some of the examples of the grassroot changes done by Swades Foundation of Ronnie Screwvala and Zarina Screwvala.

It is easy to say that rural women, tribals and other backward sections of the society should get educated and do things that fashionable philanthropists love to talk about but what about the basics? What is it that keeps them away from education, away from basic needs. We all know water to be our lifeline but in these far flanged areas you actually get to witness that. Just fetching few buckets of water consumes half of their day and making sure that they get easy access to clean water can spell magic. Swades helped in ending this everyday tussle in their lives and suddenly they had time to learn, grow and transform their community. A simple assistance in helping them get easy access to clean water has turned their lives upside down.

Since 2013, Swades claims to have transformed the lives of villagers in 2700 communities/villages in Mahrashtra’s Raigad and Nashik districts. The Swades team told me that they work for the holistic development model and try to covers all aspects of the life of a person or a community. They work through a four-dimensional developmental strategy called ‘4E’: engage, empower, execute and exit. I prodded them about why exit when you have worked so much. The response was quick and compelling – ‘Our dream village is an empowered village and not a dependent village. We create and guide the Village Development Committees which can take over the empowerment work from us and work independently to transform their own lives.’

Swades’ model includes creating leadership groups in village which can take care of different development activities. These groups include Women’s self-help groups, Farmers’ groups, Producer associations, Water committees, School committees and Government Facilities. They work to provide every household with toilet and clean water; Every family with bank account, health insurance for economic and personal development; Every farmer with access to agri-markets through crop diversification, usage of new technology and agriculture-based livelihood programmes; Every child with education, computer literacy and career counselling; And every community with grassroot workers who are trained to provide preliminary medical assistance and maternal and child healthcare.

The good thing is that these have not been mere talks and have spelled actual change in the lives of real people. Swades claims that it has touched and impacted the lives of nearly 6 lakh people in around 1.3 lakh households. The smiles and happiness on the faces of the villagers I met bear the testimony to these claims.