Page:SELECTED ESSAYS of Dr. S. S. KALBAG.pdf/183

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makes and sells MechBull minitractor. He helped develop this at the Ashram and now he has commercialised it. This year he has sold 3 units worth nearly 2 lakhs, beside normal steel fabrications worth about a lakh per year. This education system has been found effective for Adivasi boys and girls and this year they form 13 out of 23 students in our Basic Rural Technology course. All of them pay normal fees and have no stipend, but have the opportunity of earning while learning. The network partners in this endeavour form a technology delivery channel. Because they have the facilities as also the training and experience in various fields such as Engineering, Energy-Environment, Agriculture-Animal Husbandry and Home and Health, and because they are also familiar with Computer Technology, new technology can be delivered through them and they can themselves develop as per their needs. Our Rural Lab Technology is now being operated through these in as many villages. The combined Community Services of these is over 2.2 lakhs in the last 7 months. We are building up a network to raise this to 5 lakhs per year. More NGOs are approaching us to join our network and we plan to increase the network to cover 25 NGOs by 2002. After fine tuning our software and training systems, the system should be ready for broadcast to hundreds after the year 2004. Has our mission succeeded? No. We have yet a long way to go. And it is a race against time. If we do not achieve a perceptible increase in the tempo of progress, we shall be overtaken by other corruptive, disruptive and violent forces, already visible in the country. Rural Development Through Education System 170