Who is Reaping the Benefits of India’s High Economic Growth?

Oxfam India-HDFC Bank’s Holistic Rural Development Programme (HRDP) is working in 15 village of three blocks of Nalanda district. One part of the project works on improving schools; as part of the project it has renovated schools and developed smart class installing smart boards and computer labs in 10 schools.

For the communities development to be sustainable and with a deeper lasting impact, it is also essential to facilitate linkages with government schemes. One such initiative was the instalment of drip irrigation systems in 10 villages in the Hilsa block. Drip irrigation helps ensure optimum crop growth. In 2022, Oxfam India chose 10 farmers—with land and keen to experiment with drip irrigation—and installed 0.4 hectare drip irrigation systems in their fields so they could be eventually be linked to the  Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana Scheme.

In March 2021, Babita Devi constructed the vermicompost pit. She first started using it in her own field and later started selling it to fellow farmers in the village. She received the vermicomposting training throughout Project Utthan, an Oxfam India-HDFC Bank initiative.

Indu Devi was provided with INR 15000. She used the money to re-launch her tailoring business. She purchased a new sewing machine along with raw materials. She named her shop “Divanshi Tailors”.  All this has led to mass promotion. Customers from her village as well as from nearby villages started reaching out to Indu Devi.