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“My idea of Village Swaraj is that it is a complete republic, independent of its neighbors for its wants, and yet interdependent for many others in which dependence is a necessity”. - M K Gandhi.

It could be a movie, but it’s true. Born in Kuthambakkam in a well-to-do lower caste family, Rangasamy Elango describes himself as a rebellious youth who was committed helping his village escape the stranglehold of a caste-based society. Elango went on to graduate in chemical engineering and work in organizations like Madras Refineries and Oil India, but he was always drawn back to the village.

When the 73rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution revived Panchayati Raj – village government — Elango jumped into the fray. He campaigned for the post of Panchayat President at Kuthambakkam – a village of around 5,000 people less than 60km from Chennai.

Elango won the elections with a comfortable margin, thanks to overwhelming support from his own caste. But he wasted no time in winning over the higher castes. He gained credibility by cracking down on his own caste’s main source of livelihood, brewing illicit arrack (liquor). At the same time, he began searching for innovative ways to create new jobs, especially for the villages’ poor and landless.

He looked for problems that could be turned into opportunities. The village needed a new storm drain – estimated cost Rs. 420,000, following state tendering and contracting procedures.  Instead, Elango found inexpensive leftover materials from a local factory, employed his own villagers to provide the labor and completed the job for just Rs. 220,000. Instead of applauding him, the state’s bean-counting bureaucrats accused Elango of not following rules, and he was suspended from his position

Elango was despondent. His wife suggested he read Gandhi. Those pages of wisdom and generosity brought Elango renewed energy and focus. He recognized the integrity in following his Dharma, his duty. “I saw that the right thing to do was to carry on my work and face the challenges,” he says. Meanwhile, villagers and the local newspaper let it be known that they wanted more good government and fewer bureaucratic rules; they wanted Elango back.

The Chief Minister of the State heard and read about the case and, in classic Tamil movie style, called a Gram Sabha meeting; 2,000 villagers showed up to support Elango. He was soon re-instated.

Elango promptly proposed a bold social experiment – a housing colony for poor families from different castes. The Chief Minister was so excited by this program that he sanctioned Rs. 10 million for the construction of a colony of 100 houses in Kuthambakkam.

Elango used innovative building materials – mud bricks – that were low cost and eco-friendly. He also used local labor, providing employment to 200 families for a year. The villagers chipped in 10% of their wages for the cost. The experiment has been such a success – yes, the different castes are living happily side by side – that the colony has become a model for other districts in Tamil Nadu.

Elango has gone on to provide other alternative jobs to illicit brewing, including village self-help groups that are involved in contract manufacturing and food processing. He recently launched an e-learning center, and is intent on helping prepare the village’s unemployed teenage boys for the working world.

Perhaps best of all, Elango is borrowing a page from Gandhi by sharing his ideas and methods. He has set up a Panchayat Academy, and so far more than 100 villages have sent their Presidents for training. What can we contribute to the goals of enlightened village governance in terms of our time, energy and ideas?

Do come forward and share your own examples of such remarkable human beings – people who give us hope that we can create a much brighter future for all of us.

The New Constructs is an initiative to examine our beliefs and assumptions - about life and living - that we need to reinvent in order to create a more inclusive and sustainable world. It is an opportunity for each one of us to connect, collaborate and co-create the world that we will rebuild for posterity. Please feel free to comment. We look forward to your active participation. Join the discussion on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

“For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack”. - Rudyard Kipling

The old lion, a couple of lionesses and three playful cubs were just a few yards from our Jeep. The lion and the lionesses lazed in the sun, probably after a sumptuous meal of a zebra or wildebeest. The cubs strayed near a herd of wild buffalo, fifty yards away. Our guide told us that the buffalos had poor eyesight but if they caught the scent of the cubs they would kill them on the spot. We waited anxiously, hoping that the cubs would come to no harm.

A few tense moments later, we heard their mother calling out the cubs, ambling towards them. The cubs looked at her and made their way back – back to the strength of the pride.  All of us heaved a sigh of relief — realizing, however, that it was only a matter of time before one or more of the cubs would be killed, if not by a buffalo then probably by a rival lion. Barely one in ten cubs survives in the wild, our guide told us.

Our family had a wonderful safari in the national parks of East Africa over the holiday season. It was refreshing to go back to nature – almost unspoiled by human development and encroachment – and observe the natural order of life. The herbivores lived in complete harmony among themselves, disturbed once in a while by a hungry lion or cheetah.

Even among the carnivores, there was a generous sharing of the kill, not just among themselves but also scavengers like hyenas, jackals and vultures. It was amazing to see the zero-waste design of nature; scarcely a morsel of food was wasted. There was no greed, no hoarding and no wastage in the jungles. Is this not a great model for living in a connected age?

We had an opportunity to visit a Masai village – home to the native tribe of the region. The village had a headman, and the entire village was his family – his seven wives, their children and grandchildren. We were invited into their mud-walled huts, dark confined spaces that house each wife and her young children. The wealth of the Masais is their cattle, which they depend on for food – milk, blood and meat.

Most Masai have never eaten cereals. They rely on plants and herbs to treat their illnesses. The Masai men we met were all tall, lean and muscular. Nowadays many of the Masai children go to a nearby primary school, which is free, but few are able to afford higher education. The Masai men get married to women from nearby villages, paying a dowry of 10 heads of cattle for a good bride.

We got talking, separately, to two of the many sons of the headman. One of the sons had aspirations of following his dad as the headman. He was comfortable with the Masai way of living and was likely to follow the traditions. The other son sounded more militant. He felt that the Kenyan government was exploiting the Masai in order to take over and develop their traditional homelands. He felt the tribe was being forced to move off their longtime homelands within game parks and into settlements outside the parks. He felt that even this land eventually would be taken away by the government.

This second son, educated and fluent in English, said the Masai’s salvation would be to get more children educated so they can become professionals over the next couple of generations. With his secondary-school education, he knew he was handicapped in dealing with lawyers and government officials on his own. I thought he was probably more articulate and capable than many of the public officials – in Kenya, India, the US, anywhere in the world – but he was also probably correct that he would have a struggle against bureaucrats and bureaucracy.

This entire trip left me with a question. Here was a piece of the earth that was preserved in its pre-agrarian, pristine glory. Is there any way these people could gently transition to a new age without having to pass through the environment-wrecking industrial age? Does our current situation really represent progress over the natural beauty and simplicity of what’s there? Is human life on this planet strengthened and supported when a billion people are way ‘ahead’ of the pack and a billion people way ‘behind’?

What can we contribute to the goals of enlightened village governance? Please do share your own thoughts and ideas.

The New Constructs is an initiative to examine our beliefs and assumptions - about life and living - that we need to reinvent in order to create a more inclusive and sustainable world. It is an opportunity for each one of us to connect, collaborate and co-create the world that we will rebuild for posterity. Please feel free to comment. We look forward to your active participation. Join the discussion on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter