For impoverished Chhattisgarh, which is also struggling to counter the red surge witnessed in tribal-dominated Bastar region, a ray of hope has, perhaps, come from an unlikely quarter, an adivasi youth who quit his lucrative job as manager in a leading private insurance company to give shape to his dream of transforming his native village.
Thirty-year-old Raghuraj Singh, a Gondi tribal, who contested the panchayat elections two years ago to become sarpanch of Siril village in Chhattisgarh’s Korba district, has brought a sea change to his area in the last two years, increasing significantly literacy rate among the local populace, comprising mostly tribals, and sanitary situation in the locality.
“I have set my priorities- to improve education and health in my village after I became sarpanch in 2010. I motivated villagers, particularly the elders, to join the literacy as well as total sanitation campaigns,” Mr Singh, a management graduate, told this newspaper on Tuesday.
Siril village with a population of about 2,600 has received Satyendra Mishra award for excellence in literacy.