On 10 Apr 08, I paid a visit to the Sathya Sai Institute of Agriculture & Biotechnology (SIAB), which is very near INS HAMLA, an Indian Navy Training Establishment, and is located in Aksa village, approximately 6 to 7 kms away from Malad, a suburb of Mumbai on the Western Railway route.
I had the privilege of traveling with Shri TVC Nair, an Industrialist/Organisational active worker/Director of the Institute, in his car, from Chembur (where I was staying) right up to the Institute, which was 70 kms and a 2 hour drive away. Geetha my sister in law and Latha my wife escorted me to a suitable meeting point near Chembur where Shri TVC Nair picked me up.Needless to say that the visit was extremely fruitful.
The Institute, the first of its kind in our country – set up on Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s (Swami’s) directions - is based on the principles of EDUCARE, MEDICARE, and SOCIO CARE and where an integrated training of the farmer is done. In fact it is an ideal location for the training of all progressive farmer youth of our villages in our country, involved in the Sathya Sai Village Integrated Programme (SSVIP).
The SIAB is being run by the Maharashtra Sathya Sai State Trust and trains a batch of 30 to 50 farmers at a time, for a period of 4 to 6 weeks, free of cost .The training programmes are conducted throughout the year except during the monsoon months of June – Aug 08.The training is conducted by eminent experts in the field of Agriculture/ Bio technology /Banks /NGOs/Micro Finance Institutions amongst others, in Hindi and Marathi, as per a set syllabus.
The Institute has all the latest machinery/gadgets /technology in the agricultural sector. It has its own air conditioned tissue culture laboratory; easy to construct economic mini food processing plants which can be used in our villages for creating simple processed foods. Spacious classrooms with adequate seating arrangements also exist. There are vast vacant stretches of land around the Institute which are used for practicals.
The classes are very practical oriented and tailor made to address the problems faced by the villagers in their areas of operations. They are also trained and encouraged to try the latest in agriculture farming methods and taught as to how to make their farming cost effective.
They are taught “value addition” to their agricultural products through simple methods of food processing with minimum sophistication and using natural resources available to them .Stress is on EDUCARE and not education alone. A typical training day begins with Omkaram and Nagarsankeertan followed by breakfast and then only the classes begin. Study circles on Swami’s teachings are conducted during evening hours
The Institute has its own kitchen/dining hall and a dormitory where more than 50 farmers can be accommodated .An active worker of our Organisation Shri Anantanarayan is the Warden and stays in the Institute itself.
Many of the youth from the villages who have been trained have given excellent feedback to the Institute about how they have progressed in life and how well they are doing in the agricultural/food processing sector. Although the Institute is not very large, it does show signs of becoming an independent Deemed Sathya Sai University of Agriculture and Biotechnology in the very near future, with Institutes in all the States of India ,with it its own unique value systems – a silent revolution is indeed on!!
Mahatma Gandhi often used to say that if India has to prosper India’s villages have to prosper.
Indeed in Swami’s own words Grama Seva is Rama Seva and Manava Seva is Madhava Seva - Service to Man is Service to God.
I had the privilege of traveling with Shri TVC Nair, an Industrialist/Organisational active worker/Director of the Institute, in his car, from Chembur (where I was staying) right up to the Institute, which was 70 kms and a 2 hour drive away. Geetha my sister in law and Latha my wife escorted me to a suitable meeting point near Chembur where Shri TVC Nair picked me up.Needless to say that the visit was extremely fruitful.
The Institute, the first of its kind in our country – set up on Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s (Swami’s) directions - is based on the principles of EDUCARE, MEDICARE, and SOCIO CARE and where an integrated training of the farmer is done. In fact it is an ideal location for the training of all progressive farmer youth of our villages in our country, involved in the Sathya Sai Village Integrated Programme (SSVIP).
The SIAB is being run by the Maharashtra Sathya Sai State Trust and trains a batch of 30 to 50 farmers at a time, for a period of 4 to 6 weeks, free of cost .The training programmes are conducted throughout the year except during the monsoon months of June – Aug 08.The training is conducted by eminent experts in the field of Agriculture/ Bio technology /Banks /NGOs/Micro Finance Institutions amongst others, in Hindi and Marathi, as per a set syllabus.
The Institute has all the latest machinery/gadgets /technology in the agricultural sector. It has its own air conditioned tissue culture laboratory; easy to construct economic mini food processing plants which can be used in our villages for creating simple processed foods. Spacious classrooms with adequate seating arrangements also exist. There are vast vacant stretches of land around the Institute which are used for practicals.
The classes are very practical oriented and tailor made to address the problems faced by the villagers in their areas of operations. They are also trained and encouraged to try the latest in agriculture farming methods and taught as to how to make their farming cost effective.
They are taught “value addition” to their agricultural products through simple methods of food processing with minimum sophistication and using natural resources available to them .Stress is on EDUCARE and not education alone. A typical training day begins with Omkaram and Nagarsankeertan followed by breakfast and then only the classes begin. Study circles on Swami’s teachings are conducted during evening hours
The Institute has its own kitchen/dining hall and a dormitory where more than 50 farmers can be accommodated .An active worker of our Organisation Shri Anantanarayan is the Warden and stays in the Institute itself.
Many of the youth from the villages who have been trained have given excellent feedback to the Institute about how they have progressed in life and how well they are doing in the agricultural/food processing sector. Although the Institute is not very large, it does show signs of becoming an independent Deemed Sathya Sai University of Agriculture and Biotechnology in the very near future, with Institutes in all the States of India ,with it its own unique value systems – a silent revolution is indeed on!!
Mahatma Gandhi often used to say that if India has to prosper India’s villages have to prosper.
Indeed in Swami’s own words Grama Seva is Rama Seva and Manava Seva is Madhava Seva - Service to Man is Service to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment