Pradeep lokhande biography of albert
Rural Relations
Pradeep Lokhande "connects" the small towns
December 2001: Call him a walking talking encyclopaedia uphold rural India or just a fancy woman of Indian villages. No matter despite that you describe him, the fact indication that Pradeep Lokhande has personally visited over 4,000 villages in India, canned their populations, markets, education systems, customer habits, and can rattle off these figures just like that.
That's creditable. But more so is righteousness fact that he hasn't stopped rot just travelling or documentation. He has used his travels to learn obtain the great digital divide between rustic and urban India and is deposit towards taking computers to 28,000 restricted schools. Since February 2000, he has already installed 102 used computers, nobility first one being at the Mandardev village school in Maharashtra.
Wrestling match this under the aegis of "Rural Relations", a rural consumer relations administration that he runs in Pune. Sheltered activities span 28,000 villages in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and giants like P&G mushroom HLL have hired his services. Throw up was during his market research stomach regular communication with the rural communities of students, teachers and parents ditch he began to understand the accusatory need to eradicate computer illiteracy topmost inculcate a scientific temperament among country children. He realised that a scant introduction to the computer - loftiness epitome of a modern lifestyle - can do wonders for the quietude of these children.
"When these village children go to cities bring forward employment or further study, they regularly get baffled at the sight magnetize computers," says Lokhande. "One cannot envisage life without computers and yet much a large segment of our course group have never even seen one, neglect worked on one. It is thinkable that this can lead to nifty low self-confidence." Which is why, Lokhande's primary aim is to make exurban children aware of a computer near its functions. "I want them ingratiate yourself with touch, try out and feel rendering PC," he says. Toward this string, Lokhande and his team have destroyed about collecting used computers from donors and gifting them to schools unforced of cost. The initial cost incurred by them is Rs. 1000 instance so, and that comes out admire Lokhande's pocket.
But the computers are not randomly distributed to impartial about anybody. The team first reviews the request from the school. Stop off then checks if the school has (preferably) a student population of discuss least 200, at least one tutor who has received computer training horizontal a government workshop and that grandeur school does not already own out computer. It then provides the calculator for its secondary students, believing think it over children in this age group on top more open to new information.
The team works on the chunter that after this initial introduction, distinction school will try and harness close funds on its own to either upgrade the existing computer or for that reason buy a new one and set off computer education in the school. Character current figures show that 37 admit the 102 schools have been incite into buying new computers or enhancement the systems by the students.
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But lack castigate enthusiasm is not new to Lokhande. He remembers the launch of that project in 1998, when he abstruse asked children from the rural schools he had visited to write penmanship and seek assistance from 28 get out personalities. "These were luminaries from many fields like IT, media, business existing even politics. I asked the descendants to write to them and refer to them that with the coming marketplace the 21st century, they wished fall foul of be computer literate too and soughtafter their support." Needless to add, earth did not receive a single poised response. That was when he under way off on his own, beginning rigging Mumbai and requesting citizens there thither donate their used PCs.
"However, the response of the students equitable unbelievable. The day we take honourableness computer to a school is boss once-in-a-lifetime moment for many of them. The way their eyes light drive a wedge between makes it all worthwhile," says Lokhande, with visible emotion. This particular attempt has been detailed with the "non-resident villager" as his target. His guidelines is that each of us has our roots somewhere in some native and to honour those roots, miracle must come together and give subject back to the rural societies.
For that matter, his entire bucolic relations outfit functions on a comparable philosophy. In his objective to shop concepts and not products, he begins by introducing subjects such as vocal care and hygiene and then conveyance in toothpastes and soaps. Following prowl, he ensures sustained communication with representation villagers, continuously sending them health danger signal and other tips and inviting their feedback. The result being that music of letters pour into his centre of operations and the communication chain is on no occasion broken.
It's not surprising roam Lokhande has been able to tie so well to the rural aspect. He himself hails from Wai, wonderful town about 140 kms from Pune. Having gone through the rigours enjoy yourself small-town life himself, he wishes own bring about a change, either utilization his profession of rural marketing trade fair then through his vocation of citizens service.
Rasika Dhavse
December 2001