Yes, Swaraj is Possible!

By Roopsi Narula

California based, Indian American, Maya Vishwakarma recently won the Best Creative Producer Award, 2016 for her documentary Swaraj Mumkin Hai, in the Festival of Globe Film Festival in San Francisco. What is it about this documentary that instantly strikes a chord with the viewers’ hearts?

Well, this must watch documentary is a story of Baghuvar, a tiny village in Madhya Pradesh, India. What is it about Baghuvar, which made it so compelling for Maya to bring forth this story for the world to watch and admire?

The documentary is a reaffirmation for any romantic, who ideally always believed in the notion of self-sufficiency of an empowered Indian village but had somewhere lost hope that such a self-sustained community can exist beyond the world of intellectual discourse.

The first look of Baghuvar in the documentary is that of beautiful green surroundings, which instantly has a soothing effect on the eyes. The viewer experiences the joy and nostalgia of seeing an Indian village. As the documentary progresses, one watches with awe the remarkable progress made by this village in raising the standard of living for its inhabitants, entirely by the efforts of the village community. The villagers have turned every difficulty into an opportunity to create a model village of Baghuvar.

The documentary shows with great details how the villagers have achieved Swaraj or self-rule. The village boasts of clean drinking water, a toilet in every house, well-functioning underground drainage system, rain water harvesting, eco-friendly waste management, infrastructure development and provision of education for the villagers. What is more refreshing is to know that in spite of all the good work being done by this village community, the villagers do not boast about their success or seek any media attention. For them, this is their way of life; of treasuring their village, viewing it as their prized possession, of preserving its rich heritage with a sense of community ownership and participative decision making.

The problems of the village are solved in community meetings, which are open to participation by all. Decisions are taken collectively. The village has a history of having never conducted elections and of choosing the members of Gram Panchayat unanimously! This cuts down the expense of polling and in turn, the village gets rewarded by the Government of India. The villagers volunteer to keep the village clean and to do minor repair work, which may be required from time to time. PDS shops in Baghuvar have ample stock, which is handed out fairly to those who have the ration cards. There have been no instances of adulteration in food items. Socially, Baghuvar has such progressive ideals that untouchability is considered a sin and even inter-caste marriages are solemnized with the collective blessings of the village community!

By the time you finish watching this documentary, a viewer gets to experience the joy and satisfaction of knowing that the dream of Swaraj is actually a reality somewhere in a distant village of India. The documentary satiates the idealism of a Swaraj-enthusiast and reaffirms their faith in the tremendous potential of self-sustained and self-empowered communities. Yes, Swaraj is indeed possible!

Roopsi is a Swaraj-enthusiast and a digital marketing professional based in New Jersey. She can be reached at roopcnarula@gmail.com