A group of young people who work together, to bring development to their villages is not just a team but a group of individuals who always trust each other and have a common aim to bring holistic development of the rural community. And far away from city, in a quiet rural setting, there is one such group of youths in Debipur ADC Village under Santirbazar Sub-Division in South Tripura District has come forward to work together under the banner of “Dharmangkur Youth Society” with the theme “Our Village Uplift Programme”. The youths are mainly from the Chakma community who, otherwise, can be seen busy with their daily routine work around the villages. Since 2016, the society was affiliated to Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) under the Ministry of Youth & Sports Affairs, Government of India.
These youths mainly focus on agricultural work, skill development and training, developing enterprise, cultural development, education, healthcare and also work for improvement of livelihood for the community at large. Today, they have set an example of bettering and transforming rural livelihood in the respective area. Besides, they’ve also inspired other rural youths to come forward to write their own success stories.
“Earlier many villagers were plagued with various problems, now the fate has changed completely”, says Samarjit Chakma, a villager. “I am also very thankful to the Dharmangkur Youth Society for working tirelessly for the last five years to bring change in our village, he added.
Debashish Chakma, by profession a mechanical engineer, went onto to become an administrator of the society, says, “After I visited my ancestral village and the struggling lives of many villagers has pushed me to work harder for the society”.
“On our road to uplift rural lives and to create self-sustaining communities, to transform villagers’ lives we have tied up with various government agencies” says Rumali Chakma, cultural secretary of the group. The society has forged a partnership with various institutions and government departments like agriculture department, Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), animal resources development department, fisheries and health department to ensure that village folks have a firm sense of project ownership of various government schemes.
There are many schemes run by the state government to uplift rural lives but most of the schemes are not utilized properly due to lack of information. Now, the group is making sure that every villager is using all the government schemes properly and gets benefited.
Saran Chakma, a youth leader of the group says that they have achieved a lot and have more plans to expand their agricultural projects and educational projects with the help of the state government for the villagers under Debipur ADC Village.
The society has managed to take one lake on lease for fish farming from one of the villagers and has raised its own banana garden in 4 acre of land and also cultivates rice and vegetables like cabbage, pumpkin, chilies etc. on its own. The society also runs one rice mill for the villagers and provides power tiller machine to the framers which they have received from the agriculture and farmers’ welfare department.
Now the youths of the society are also planning to put their hands at rearing ducks and chickens and looking forward to assistance from the government. They have also sought assistance from the youth affairs and sports department for financial support for taking up development activities in the concerned field.
The Dharmangkur Youth Society is changing the lives of rural people through dedication and commitment. It is not just their initiative to facilitate various incentives and financial support from different authorities, but also their efforts to show the right direction by keeping the local community informed and motivated that set them apart from the lot. Their journey is not for short-term financial benefits but towards securing a sustainable community.
