I am indeed fascinated by some of the tales described in Touching Lives by Shri. S.K. Das which illustrate the humble victories of the SITE(Satellite Instructional Television Experiment) program of ISRO.
I could read only a few instances. Of that of the Bhils in Jhabua district in Madhya Pradesh.(The Mahua tree episode excited me. It is supposedly grown where a Brahmin, tiger, jackal and dog are burnt. When a Bhil consumes Mahua, he starts off like an enlightened Brahmin and ends up behaving like a dog). But then the Bhils have been greatly benefited by the SITE educational programs on agriculture, women’s empowerment and so on and so forth. It has improved their lot from being mere bandits who looted travellers on the road from Indore to Ahmedabad, to understanding the concepts of the civilised world. Of the farmers in Koraput in Odisha who practise Podu cultivation(shifting cultivation): They burn a piece of land cultivate it, reap the harvest and go the next piece of land burn it and reap the benefit. Sounds worse than American Culture!(I beg your pardon, the pun is unintended). But the SITE experiments have brought about a significant shift in their attitudes. Then I trailed off to the land of Thyagraja, Tiruvayar, where Village Resource Centres are created for telemedicine, tele-education, training facilities, developmental education and weather information. No wonder Shri. Abdul Kalam, wanted to spread the idea across India through his book ‘Ignited Minds’.
There are so many more adventures in Jhabua itself, in god’s own country i.e. Kerala, in interior Karnataka(Chamarajanagar), from Sunderbans to Chamoli in Garhwal, with the fishermen of Lakshadweep. I request you to read on.(I mean the book ofcourse).