Mhow (Madhya Pradesh): Bhagwatkhedi a small village in Mhow tehsil with just 102 houses is setting a new example of village development through sanskar, water conservation, self-reliance, cleanliness, electricity saving and organic farming.
About 80 representatives from 42 provinces of India came on Sunday to see the work being done by the Village Development Committee, Bhagwatkhedi in the village. During the discussion with the representatives from different provinces, the villagers said that in 1970, a committee was first formed by the name Tulsi Manas Mandal. This committee held regular meetings and started considering the problems of the village and their solutions.
There is also religion in the lives of the people. For 51 years, Ramayana and Sundar Kand are also being recited in the village. The special thing was that all the members included in this circle had studied only till the third or fourth grade. At present there are 40 to 45 members in this Mandal. Women's groups were also formed in the village, a certain amount was collected by the group from each member and it is used to help anyone in need. Seven check-dams were built in about one and a half kilometer river with the help of villagers and government administration under the “Khet ka pani khet me, Gaanv ka pani gaanv me'' scheme.
The check-dams store 9000 cubic metres of water and 600 hectares of land is irrigated through them. Each dam has been constructed at the cost of Rs 11 lakh per dam.
To remove the dirt and maintain cleanliness in the village, toilets were constructed in 100% of the households. Earlier, only 20 percent of the households had toilets. The work of saving electricity for each family of the village was also done by the Village Development Committee.
In the past, yellow light used to burn in the houses of the families living in the village. On request by the committee, people started using LED light by removing the yellow light. A Tulsi plant was given a place in every house of the village.
In view of the serious condition during Corona period, the villagers became alert. In the first wave of corona, goods were made available to the villagers from the market by some young people of the village. At the same time, in the second wave, the villagers managed to stop the second wave in the village by holding online meetings. Under this, along with testing of Covid in case of mild cold, cough, fever, kits of medicines were also given, so that even if the report came positive later, the corona infection would not have much effect on the patient. The effect of this was that there is not a single death due to corona in the village.
Impressed by these works, the ministers and officers of Madhya Pradesh had also visited the village and talked about displaying Bhagwatkhedi village as a model in the entire state. The delegation toured the entire village for more than four hours. Meals were also served to the delegates by each family of the village.
