Flooded with help from Bangalore, the villages are recovering

It is hard to imagine that 470 km from the country’s IT capital lies a place that is among the most backward districts of the country. The 2009 floods had wreaked havoc in villages in Raichur district, washing away their houses and belongings.

“When we visited the area first, the villages were in a bad condition. It was difficult for us to set foot here. People did not know what to do and from where to start. We made a conscious decision to choose the places that were worst affected. We had a fixed budget of $10 million and wanted to make best use of that,” said Aravind Sitaraman, president, inclusive growth, Cisco
Systems.

During this period, many companies volunteered to help villagers get back on track. “The government wanted us to build houses. We were fine with that, but wanted to do something in this area that will leapfrog this entire community into the next generation and be part of the global economy,” he said.

Keeping in mind this vision, Cisco launched Project Samudaya, a CSR initiative, two years ago. It built two schools, one healthcare centre, apart from the houses, only to realise that bigger challenges lay ahead.

“In India , there is one doctor for 1,700 citizens. According to WHO, the ideal ratio should be one doctor for 500 citizens. We realised this issue could not be solved organically. So we had to look at technology to solve the issue.”

Over the last two years, the project helped shape a transformed community in of Raichur, with inhabitants of five villages getting
access to remote supplementary education and daily healthcare facility in their PHCs, which have been connected to a Bangalore-based hospital.

‘Migration to city, a myth’
However, the problem does not end by just building hospitals, schools and houses.

“There are bigger issues. Contrary to popular perception, youngsters do not want to leave their parents back home and move to city. But for them to stay here, it is important to build industries in the villages. Also, if we want industries to flourish, people here need to have the adequate skill sets,” he said, adding that training will have to be virtualised as there are not many trainers in the country.

Cisco intends to impart training in various kinds of services such as hospitality and BPO. Raichur, which has yet not become a tourism hot spot can easily become a weekend getaway for Bangloreans if it is promoted well. However, the same has not been taken up by companies as there is no ecosystem to build any industry here.

Heaping praise on the government, Sitaraman said the state has provided great support to their endeavour. “It might be fashionable to criticise the government, but in our experience, it has been a phenomenal partner. Whenever we had issues, they would immediately come to our rescue and fix up the problem. The government gave us land, free power and infrastructure. They helped us negotiate with various vendors.”

The success of Project Samudaya has inspired Cisco to start similar initiatives in other cities and towns as well, but as a business model. For this, the company has kicked off a new group, called ‘Inclusive Growth’.

“CSR can take you till a certain level. But to sustain it, you need a business model where you have tie-ups with the government, NGOs and various other organisations.”