Making of an ideal Indian village - Panavadi

In Pune, India there exists a unique organisation, Science and Technology Park (STP) whose mission is to blend science, technology, with human expertise and commitment to innovative and build a better world. In 2016 Dr. Rajendra Jagdale the head of STP received some troubling news.

Knowing the commitment and capabilities of Dr. Jagdale, an associate pleaded with him to help the people of his village where life had become unliveable and the future looked bleak. The village faced too many problems, the most serious being a lack of water, even drinking water.

Unable to ignore any call for assistance, Dr. Jagdale and a  small team from STP set off for Panavadi, near Saswad located just behind the famous Maratha forts of Vajragad and Purandar, just an hour drive from Pune city.

Nestled in a formerly beautiful valley, it had now turned dry and empty of all its youth and energy, Panavadi was struggling to survive without any water.  Drinking water was being supplied by government organised water tankers to keep the population  alive. 
What will people do by merely remaining alive, to live a life that seemed unworthy of living?

A brilliant scientist with a great heart, Dr. Jagdale, and his team studied the area and came up with an emergency plan while simultaneously drawing up a vision for the village. Not only to get Panavadi up and thriving, they would work with blending the skills, knowledge and experience of  various individual, groups and experts with the skills, knowledge and needs of the local population to make it an Ideal village. 

They would endeavour to demonstrate that a community committed to prosperity and well being could do so with minimal demands on government resources and funds.

An ideal village could mean different things to each individual. An ideal village could be defined as one which  meets the United Nations Sustainable development goals.

The first thing was to ensure supply of adequate water for drinking but to restore agriculture and cattle rearing. 

A survey revealed that the valley had good rainfall, but all the water simply flowed away. Many decades ago, the village had a large check dam, but it had silted over and now incapable of  storing any water. 

A local contractor offered his construction machinery at no cost provided STP would arrange the diesel fuel. Some friends of Panvadi, Sakal Social Foundation with generous support of philanthropist Mr. Pratap Pawar and support from District administration  pitched in and provided resources and the funds for the diesel. 

Existing government program for road building was expedited so access to Panavadi became easier. 

Water is life.
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Paddy and cultivation of other crops began in earnest. Cattle rearing is picking up and the village now produces and sells 900 litres of milk each day.

Now the village is witnessing a reverse migration. The village has begun to flourish as the youth return, to make a life and a living in the village, looking after their children and aged parents and tend to their farms and their cattle.

The population has crept back to 700 and is estimated to reach 1000 by end of next year.

Simultaneously STP has improved homes by providing smoke free forced draft wood and biomass pallet based cooking stoves, to reduce a leading cause of health  problems afflicting women and children. Solar lamps provide illumination and ultrafiltration water treatment units ensure clean drinking water. Community cattle sheds are being established and  the local schools are being modernised, 

On October 2nd of this year a Gram Sabha  was held and the villagers voted for and pledged their support and commitment for a total transformation. 
This includes 
* The redesign and redevelopment of the village, residential areas, amenities and roads. 
* Become completely organic and practice chemical free farming. 
* Make the village self sufficient in energy
* Productively manage all their own waste.  
* Set up their own bazar, 
* Set up and operate an appropriate village industrial park, 
* Develop agro tourism, aqua recreation, adventure and nature study centres.
* Enhance the quality of education

Currently 38 individuals in the village have a standard of living considered below the poverty line. A notable pledge was made, to raise the standard of living of  these fellow villagers within next one year.  

There is a misconception that rural, means poor, dirty and backward. If we go about it the right way, villages can be centres of high economic prosperity, while offering a good quality of life to residents and visitors. 

Economic prosperity is best when local talent is developed to harness local resources to create products and services to efficiently meet the needs of markets. Naturally agriculture is key but plans have been drawn up to introduce energy production, manufacturing and services to achieve progress and prosperity.

Efforts are afoot to achieve the goals of enhancing the income levels of villagers by providing avenues other than agriculture. These include organic cultivation and supply of vegetables and fruits to nearby towns and Pune city. Orchards to rejuvenate the hill slopes and preserve further erosion of top soil. Assembly and testing of electronic products etc.

A new initiative of Eco tourism is being led by a volunteer Arvind Patole, (contact no: 91-940 496 5611) will start in December 2019.  
Nature lovers can visit Panavadi and enjoy nature walks trek, observe and study the diverse and rich population of birds and animals, and to experience the beauty of a pristine valley reborn. 
Visitors get to enjoy simple typical healthy, tasty and hygienic Maharashtrian village food. Its an opportunity to connect with and soak in the beauty of nature. Mountain cycling and boating are being introduced early next year. 

Here are some of the major objectives set out for achievement at Panavadi to transform it into an ideal village

At the pace of progress, its only a matter of a short time that one will see Panavadi become a role model of rural development. An example of how various stakeholders in society using their intelligence, knowledge and skills working together with beneficiaries, can transform our world in an economically, environmentally, socially and culturally sustainable way.

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Committed to a better world, I serve as a volunteer for this project and a contact point for many initiatives.
If you wish to know more, participate in or contribute resources, your time, skills, knowledge, experience, donate or contribute in any manner please contact me. 
Email :   Gurvinder Singh 
Mobile: +91 - 957 951 0353 for WhatsApp & SMS communication.

The best things in life, are free.

Hello Mr. Hornbill 

Our home overlooks a designated forest, but over the years it had been neglected and abused and greatly denuded. It was a very sad state of affairs.

Then concerned people and groups began to work together. Over past decade there has been a very good effort by citizen groups, environmentalists and the government forest department

When people collaborate and sincerely work together towards a goal, results have to come. 

Surprisingly, when we share our labours and energies for achieving something better, fatigue rarely occurs. Purpose fills our mind and body with inexplicable joy  and a kinship with others. 

In pursuit of comforts, we modern beings live in cocoons, mostly disconnected from nature. Is it any wonder that to just spot a Hornbill perched at the edge of our balcony, it should cause the heart to skip a beat? 

The inexplicable joyful emotion and the contemplation that follows can be a spiritual experience, that is not easy to describe.

The growth in the forest and green cover has had many benefits, for us residents and visitors to the vicinity they, 

• There is much less dust in the air and in our homes.
• The air feels fresher and more rejuvenating. The climate has become better, the weather cooler, even in summer. One rarely needs to turn on the air conditioning even in summer. Saving energy and money.
• Where there is respect and worship for nature no policing and enforcement is necessary. People have almost completely stopped throwing garbage onto the forest land so the environment looks and feels healthier. 
• The ground water levels have risen. The bore wells that we had drilled in our our housing society as a standby to overcome water shortages in summer now rarely run dry. 
• The noise levels are much lower as the forest absorbs noise and vibrations. 
• When we are respectful and welcoming, guests will flock to our home and enrich our lives. Butterflies and bees are more common. Sparrows, Mynas, Peacocks, Sunbirds, Parrots, Robins, along with many Squirrels are regular visitors all year long.
• The ambience, the chirping of birds and the fluttering of butterflies makes one feel in harmony with existence.

Its true, the best things in life are free.

The forest behind our home BEFORE  conservation efforts

The forest behind our home AFTER conservation efforts

The forest behind our home AFTER conservation efforts

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Thanks to my friend: Arvind Patole  for providing the image of the Great Indian Hornbill

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Oh Lord! Please give us rain

It is now known that at the centre of every raindrop is an impurity, a particle of dust, soot, clay etc. It is impossible for rainfall to take place from pure water.

Naturally occurring particles in the sky help trigger rainfall. Sometimes particles have to be introduced artificially into clouds to cause rainfall. This is called Cloud Seeding 

There are several ways seeding is carried out. Modern techniques involve introduction of various types of materials particle matter into the clouds using ground based particle generators, rockets, artillery shells or dropping from aircraft.

Now accepted as an effective way across the world, to modify weather and help stimulate rainfall and snowfall. Materials used vary but include, dry ice (solid carbon dioxide), sea salt, silver and potassium iodide etc. 

Ridiculed by modern science and frowned upon by many as witchcraft, until recently cloud seeding has been carried out successfully for thousands of years across the world. 


One of the practices used in India even nowadays, is called a Havan*.

It took a wise scientist, my teacher and friend Dr. Rajendra Jagdale to connect the dots between science and tradition and explained why people performed Havans.

Indians, Chinese, European, native Americans, all had similar practices. A fire, fed by combustible materials charged with materials that generated, soot etc, chanting, prayers and sometimes dancing (Rain-dance).

The reason is now not far to understand that a Havan often worked is, because the fires fed by wood, ghee and other combustible materials threw up particles of soot and dust into the sky. These particles would often ascend thousands of metres into the atmosphere and into clouds causing them to form raindrops and bring rain down.


Many people who do not understand the mechanics, just perform a havan for rainfall at anytime and usually indoors and are often disappointed. The wise men are successful because they studied the sky, wind etc. and then chose the right time to seed the clouds by the havan to help trigger rainfall.

I too like other 'scientific minds' and the 'educated', scoffed at ancient rituals and traditions,  calling them mere mumbo-jumbo, and silly superstitions worthy only of a laugh. 

Everyday I  learn about many ancient wisdom and traditional practices, I now feel humbled and also foolish for keeping a closed or prejudiced mind.

Just because we do not understand something does not mean it is untrue or irrelevant.

Maybe you too should stop laughing.

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*Havan, is a Vedic tradition and is also called Homa or Yajna or Agnihotri
There is some controversy of excessive use of cloud seeding, leading to use or misuse of this and other weather modification systems.

Dr. Raja Marathe, a highly reputed scientist has set up his own low cost rain seeding project in Nanded, Maharashtra, India with good success. Click here for more information:

God everywhere. God in all things. - Chief Seattle

In 1855 President Franklin Pierce of the United States made a “request” to Chief Seathl of the Suwamish Tribe of American Indians (who lived in what is now the State of Washington) to “sell” his land to the government. In reply, Chief Seathl sent the following letter to the President: 

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The great chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. The great chief also sends us words of friendship and goodwill. This is kind of him, since we know that he has little need of our friendship in return. But we will consider your offer, for we know that if we do not do so, the white man may come with guns and take our land.

How can you buy or sell the sky—the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. Yet we do not own the freshness of the air or the sparkle of the water. How can you buy them from us?

Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore,every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. 

The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind only a desert. The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the red man. But perhaps it is because the red man is a savage and does not understand. 

If I decide to accept, I will make one condition. The white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers. What is man without beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of the spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to man.One thing we know which the white man may one day discover: Our God is the same God. You may think that you own Him as you wish to own our land. But you cannot. He is the God of men. And His compassion is equal for the red man and the white. 

This earth is precious to Him. And to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator. The whites, too, shall pass—perhaps sooner than other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. When the buffaloes are all slaughtered, the wild horses all tamed, the sacred corner of the forest heavy with the scent of men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wives, where is the thicket ? Where is the eagle? And what is it to say goodbye to the shift and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of dying.

There is no quiet place in the white man’s cities. No place to hear the leaves of spring or the rustle of insect wings. But perhaps because I am a savage and do not understand—the clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lovely cry of the whippoorwill or the argument of the frogs around a pond at night? The Red Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind itself cleansed by the midday rain, or scented with a pine. The air is precious to the red man, for all things share the same breath—the beasts, the trees, the man. The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes. Like a man dying for many days, he is numb to the smell.

We might understand if we know what the white man dreams, what hopes he describes to his children on long winter nights, what visions he burns into their minds, so that they will wish for tomorrow. But we are savages. 

The white man’s dreams are hidden from us. And because they are hidden, we will go on our own way. If we agree, it will be to secure our reservation you have promised. There perhaps we may live out our brief days as we wish. When the last red man has vanished from the earth, and the memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, these shores and forests will still hold the spirits of my people, for they love this earth as the newborn loves its mother’s heartbeat. 

If we sell you our land, love it as we loved it, care for it as we have cared for it, hold in your mind the memory of the land, as it is when you take it, and with all your strength, with all your might, and with all your heart,preserve it for your children, and love it as God loves us all. One thing we know—your God is the same God. The earth is precious to Him. Even the white man cannot be exempt from the common destiny.

              Chief Seattle

(Letter released by the United States Government as part of the Bicentenary celebrations).

                                                                                                    ____________________________________

The only known photograph of Chief Seattle, in 1864 (c. 1780 - June 7, 1866). Chief Seattle (anglicised name) was a Suquamish Chief, also known as Si'ahl, Sealth, Seathle,  or See-ahth. Seattle in Washington was named after him.

"Native American isn't blood. It is what is in the heart. The love for the land, the respect for it, those who inhabit it, and the respect and acknowledgement of the spirits and elders. That is what it is to be Indian."

- White Feather, Navajo Medicine Man



"We are all one Tribe,  the Human Tribe... "