Tilonia – A Dream Village

Background

Tilonia is a village,100 kms from Jaipur,in Rajasthan. Mr.BunkerRoy, came to Tilonia in 1972 and founded the “BarefootCollege”. Barefoot’s sole mission is “Empowering so called uneducated people who are 6th to 9th grade school passouts, especially women, with highly technical skill sets to enable them to achieve a dignified and sustainable means of livelihood.”

 

We share with you the Tilonia Story through its achievements, in no order of preference.

(i) Solar Mamas

Solar Mamas, is a 6-month program for grandmothers between the age group of 45 to 50 years. 2700
Women from 96 countries have come over the years to participate in the program. During our visit, 38
Mamas’ from 13 countries, were undergoing training. The participants are trained to make Solar powered
objects like Solar Lamp, Solar torch, Solar powered cooker, Solar water heater etc. The participants are
familiarised with a toolkit over a month, illustrative diagrams and sign language are some of the tools
used to overcome language barriers since the participants are from across the globe.

Interestingly, majority of the women trained through this program-

  • Have left their families for the first time in their life
  • Do not understand English or the local language at Tilonia,
  • Have rarely travelled outside the rural areas from the countries where they belong
  • Have to live for 6 months mostly on vegetarian food which they have never done in their lives

Yet, these women persist and each one of them have gone back to their countries to provide electricity to
between 10 to 150 villages

Alumni are running night schools across India and several countries in Africa, Asia and South America
providing multiplier effect as knowledge gets passed on by word of mouth.
We believe this project besides ensuring self-sufficiency in electricity, is playing a critical role to prevent
climate change.

 

(ii) Health, Hygiene & Nutrition

Tilonia has developed its in-house capability in pathological tests, dentistry, food and nutrition, family
planning and reproductive health, immunizations, mid-wifery and HIV prevention. It has smartly combined
traditional healing practices with modern science and technology

Achievements in Health, Hygiene & Nutrition

  • Training of 2 ladies by Italian Dentists for a span of 6 months. These ladies run a small dental clinic to
    conduct dental procedures in Tilonia village equipped with modern infrastructure.
  • Polio inflicted 50-year-old person has been trained in Homeopathy medicine. Barefoot has set up
    machinery for him to provide curative and preventive treatment.
  • Women in the village manufacture sterilised Sanitary Napkins which are sold at Rs2.50 (4 cents) per pad.

(iii) Education

Barefoot has set up its own school “Shiksha Niketan School” where 17 Teachers teach 450 Students from
Kindergarten to 8th Grade. Nominal fees of Rs 100 (US$1.5) per child per month is charged.

Inculcating INNOVATION through Schools facilities such as:

  • Science lab – Using innovative ways to develop Solar Galaxy models with Clay pots, Functions of lungs
    and diaphragm using empty bulbs and balloons. The science lab tools have been developed by the
    science teacher Mr.Durga Singh Ji. Interestingly, Mr. Durga Singh Ji proficiency in science has been
    achieved despite his formal education till 9th grade. Additionally, we met a US educated engineer who
    was volunteering under Mr.Durga Singh Ji so that she could learn innovations being undertaken at the
    science lab.
  • Computer lab & Library – A 25 Computers lab with good wifi connectivity managed by Ms.Monica &
    Ms.Pushpa – 2 girls of the second generation. Both studied higher education at Jaipur and came back to
    settle at Tilonia with their parents.

(iv) Communication

In 2008, Tilonia launched its own Community Radio “90.4” used for communicating with more than 30
nearby villages. The barefoot architect, Mr.Bhawar Ji, has created a very cost effective Radio Studio with
the use of discarded egg carrying trays which insulate the studio from Sound and Heat.

Interestingly, Bhawar Ji was short listed for the global Aga khan Award for Architects despite him not being
formally educated as an architect. Bhawar Ji has constructed the entire Barefoot college structures at $2.5
per square feet cost of construction.

Barefoot has created a team of traditional musicians, puppeteers and storytellers for effective
communication with the external world. Barefoot uses the ancient Rajasthani art of “puppet making” to
stage entertaining, educational skits that teach villagers about their rights. These skits open the door for
discussions about socioeconomic issues such as caste, gender, labor, and women’s and children’s rights,
and also address community issues like water, sanitation, waste and environmental sustainability..

(v) Water

Combating Water Scarcity by inculcating water harvesting and addressing the quality of water with very
unique solutions.

(vi) Craft

Barefoot provides materials as well as training to rural artisans to produce clothing, accessories, furniture,
textiles, educational toys, leather goods, metalwork and handmade paper. Barefoot also assists in
marketing support and credit accessibility in India and Overseas. An online store has also been
created: www.tilonia.com.This provides an opportunity for rural craftspeople to earn an income while
sharing their cultural treasures in the global marketplace.

(vii) Barefoot Engineering Workshop

An in-house engineering workshop to promote self-sufficiency in engineering and design capability. More
importantly, it plays a very critical role in enabling local innovations.

Our Conclusion

It is inspiring to see these glorious developments happening in our country, not in our backyard,
rather “next to us”.

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GORMALONE July 11, 2018 0 Comments

Bansi Gir Gaushala

 Background

Gopal Sutaria, a businessman, started a dairy farm with 8 cows in 2006 at Ahmedabad. He did various experiments in good dairy practices using a mix of both traditional as well as modern techniques. Today, 12 years later, he has developed his own unique way, which has enabled him to grow his herd from 8 to 750 cattle after gifting 250 bulls in this period

 

 THE BGG Story

BGGs dairy farming is based on the use of traditional breeds of cattle. These breeds are unique to each region in India, such as the “GIR” breed for Gujarat. In addition to identifying the locally relevant breed of cattle, BGG has developed simple practices, which have raised its productivity sharply. A dairy farm’s success is determined by –

  1. Animal Genetics
  2. Cattle Feed
  3. Good farm practices and
  4. Premium pricing of products & by-products.

We will take you through few initiatives taken by BGG in each of these areas

(i) Animal Genetics
  • Cows of sub-breed of GIR, are divided into 18 dedicated zones, as a group.
  • Each of these 18 zones has an identified bull, the cows and the calves of these cows.
  • Parental data is maintained to avoid in-breeding amongst the herd as well as to selectively improve the genetic profile of the herd with the best sub-breeds
  • Natural breeding is preferred over artificial insemination(AI).
  • In BGG’s experience, natural breeding has enabled BGG to have longer fertility period of cows at 12 to 15 years versus 8 to 10 years in this region which has used AI.
  • Replacing in-house bulls with a better profile of bulls to ensure consistent upgrade of the herd’s genetic profile
  • BeQer genetics has led to above average yield of Milk as well as lower prevalence of diseases such as mastitis
(ii) Cattle Feed

In dairy farming, the cost of cattle feed tends to exceed 60% of the total cost. Here, BGG has through in-house

R&D, as well as the use of traditional sources of cattle feed, developed a grass, locally called “JINJWA”.

Key features of JINJWA are

  • Once the seed is sown, this grass can be used for 25 years plus without any additional investment.
  • It grows organically with the use of cow urine as pesticide and cow dung as fertiliser.
  • The grass is grown in the land attached to the farm to have zero transportation cost for feed.
(iii) Good Farm Practices
  • The cattle are free to graze at a time of their convenience since 24 hours food and water is a part of their zone
  • Calves are raised on their mother’s milk by reserving 50% of the Mother’s milk for the calf and the rest being used for commercial sales
(iv) Premium pricing of products & by-products
  • The major portion of milk is sold on the same day at more than 75% premium.
  • Unsold milk, especially during winter’s, is used to convert into Ghee. Ghee is sold at 500% premium.
  • Premium price led cash surplus is used for experimentation and innovation
  • Cow Urine and Cow dung are used to convert into herbal medicines as well as cosmetics.
  • BGG has seen outstanding results in the cure of cold, cough, asthma, snoring with its herbal medicines.
  • BGG is now starting trials on the cure of skin ailments with its herbal pastes using cow dung
  • Cosmetic soaps have also seen good acceptance at premium pricing

 

 Experiment in traditional education

In its quest for consistent improvement with experimentation, in 2013, BGG started constructing a “Gurukul”, a traditional school. Today, the school has 50 students with a waiting list of 500, who are keen to enroll, despite the school being under “experimental phase”.

  • Things unique to this school
  • No degrees or certificates provided to its students
  • Focus on complete mental, physical and spiritual development of the students
  • NO exams
  • Holistic learning through the focus on teaching farming, economics, Vedic mathematics, basics of ayurvedic science through “NAADI Shastra”Sanskrit,
  • Overall development with life skills such as martial arts for self-protection, personal and community hygiene.
  • Each fee-paying child supports a child, whose parents cannot afford the fees

We at Gormal One strongly believe that India needs “Job givers rather than Job seekers”. We believe that based on this Gurukul’s teachings, most of its students will tend to become Entrepreneurs.

 Our Conclusion

BGG is a very unique success story driven by curiosity, consistent improvement with experimentation & innovation. It has used proven traditional techniques to locally relevant surroundings. It demonstrates the path to scalable operations using its practices.

We are keenly tracking BGGs progress in all its initiatives in dairy, herbal medicines as well as education.

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GORMALONE June 9, 2018 0 Comments