MJ Akbar’s Adarsh Gram: Crowning glory is a Jal Minar sans water

Alangkera appears to be a set prepared for a period film from the 1940s. Its pathways, mud houses, the school and other amenities do not betray that it is now 2019 or the fact that it is actually a ‘Model Village’ adopted by a Member of Parliament under Prime Minister Modi’s ‘Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana’.

Ironically, each Member of Parliament was to adopt three such villages between 2014 and 2019. And while the Prime Minister himself adopted as many as four villages in Varanasi and that was enough for funds to pour in from corporate bodies, PSUs and banks eager to spend under ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’, most other villages adopted by MPs have fared poorly. Alangkera is no exception.

Former Union Minister and Rajya Sabha MP MJ Akbar had adopted the village in 2015 under the ‘Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana’ (SAGY). The purpose of the yojana, as described, was to ensure these adopted villages to lead by example and inspire other Gram Panchayats in the areas of local development and governance.

The adoption, it was expected, would substantially improve the standard of living and quality of life of all sections of the population, improve basic amenities, give rise to livelihood opportunities, widen social mobilisation and reduce disparity.

On all of this Akbar’s village scores zilch. In fact, MJ Akbar has visited his ‘adopted village’ just once or maybe twice, say the villagers.

The five-kilometre road leading to the village is riddled with stones and it takes almost an hour to cover the distance. “Seeing is believing. Akbar sahib might have adopted the village, but nothing much has changed since then if you look around,” says Arun Singh, a Rajput, who is the de-facto elder of the village by virtue of the fact that he used to be a part of the Panchayat Samiti Sadasya. Now, his wife Poonam Singh is a member of the Panchayat.

There are around 50 Rajputs in the area and 350 Adivasis, all of whom vote collectively. “We have been asking for a road for more than 10 years. No one seems to listen. This year we decided ‘No road, no vote’. We are all small-time people, we can’t go to Ranchi or Delhi to fight for a road. The MP and the Panchayat should look into it. We have been protesting and as of now most of us will not go to vote unless a decision is taken on the road,” explains Poonam.

“The village falls under Khunti Lok Sabha constituency, which goes to polls on May 6. All of us in this area will meet to decide if we have to vote. I would like to vote, but the decision of the community holds. We have to live here with others and without this road our life has become miserable. We even collected ₹300 from every family by way of contribution to lay the road. The Panchayat must build this road, but they are also not interested. The Mukhiya has not allocated funds for the road,” contends Arun.

This time BJP has fielded former Chief Minister Arjun Munda as the candidate from the constituency. The sitting BJP MP is Kariya Munda, who allegedly did not visit the village even once, has been dropped. The Congress candidate for the constituency is Kali Charan Munda.

From Alangkera village, it is around 30 km to Gumla through Palkot and Bagma. There is another route to reach Gumla which is only 22 km, but no bridge is there yet to cross the river. “This latter route is easier, but we have to cross a farm and a river,” explains Mukesh.

“There is no supply water here. There is little groundwater In this area and though there are four wells, most have them have begun drying up. In two weeks, there will only be one well with water. It happens every year. Several of us tried to dig bore wells. We dug up to 500 ft, yet no water was found. MJ Akbar came and did the same,” points out Arun. Since Arun has the money, he has been able to lay a pipe from the well around 700 metres away to his house. But, the others are not so lucky.

“Akbar built a ‘Jal Minar’, which has not even functioned for a day. Just 50 meters away from the Jal Minar is a school where a bore well was dug where no water was found. Yet, the contractor dug a borewell for the ‘Jal Minar’ and made this tank. It was nothing but a plan to loot money. And now, it lies in a shambles,” explains Kishore Kispotta, a private teacher.

The closest medical support available to the villages is at Palkot, which is eight Kms away. Here too, one can only go for simple medical problems. “If there is anything serious, we have to go to Gumla. But, by the time we reach there travelling on this rocky road, the patient would prefer to die first,” quips Arun in all seriousness.

In Palkot people refer to Alangkera as a ‘dehati’ (backward) village and say that in such villages one must not have high expectations. “There are no proper schools. In the Panchayat there used to be 12 schools. One or two of them have merged. Of them, only three schools function properly,” says Arun, who sends his son to a private school in the nearby village.

In one of the two primary schools, there are only two teachers and in the next– the RC Mission primary school, there is only one teacher. In fact, all that MJ Akbar did is build boundary walls for the schools. The schools don’t even have benches and desks. The villagers were reluctant to even mention it. The quality of education has in fact worsened, says Narayan Singh, a resident.

“The entire area is dependent on rainfall for farming. There is a river nearby, but there is no lift irrigation to bring water here. So, the farming is also seasonal and we can’t make much money from it. So, what can we really live on,” asks Kispotta.

Toilets constructed under the Prime Minister’s pet project Swachh Bharat Mission are being used to store hay. The structure was built, but there was no water. “They are not clean, there is no water and the drainage system also hasn’t been constructed properly,” says Kispotta.

Ironically, the PM’s private secretary Rajeev Topno’s native village Mathim Tola also falls under this Panchayat.