Lokshakti Samajsevi Sanstha

Outcome

The initiative taken up by the residents of Shantinagar had some very specific outcome for them. Some of them are:

The waiting for water is over now: More than the drinking water the initiative has brought many more sustainable benefits to the community. The collective efforts have increased their strength and have made them confident to take up any development issue in future. They have come to realise that unity is strength. Their drudgery of going to other village and waiting there for hours to fetch drinking water has been overcome.

People now are confident and want to get other government programmes for them: This particular experience for Shantinagar community is first of its kind and has generated aspiration amongst them about various flagship programmes of the government. As a result of this particular initiative, the officials and elected PRI members have become more alert about the collective action of the community. They have now learned the art of doing advocacy and putting pressure on the system to respond.

The baton has started inspiring many other villages: This particular action has inspired the community in nearby villages also. One incidence has already occurred in Dogargaon village, where people collectively submitted written demand at the Gram Panchayat, Janpad Panchayat and PHE department and got one new tube well installed and also got two defunct tube wells repaired. It is expected, this is going to be emulated in other villages too.