Along the Indo-Nepal border lies a small hamlet Hasuri Ausanpur, which falls in Domariyaganj tehsil of Uttar Pradesh’s impoverished Siddharthnagar district. The hamlet with a population of 1,227 people is all set to become the nation’s second most ‘carbon neutral panchayat’ after Jammu’s Palli Gram Panchayat.
Under the Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan (UBA) — a flagship programme of the Ministry of Education (MoE), GOI — the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (IIT-BHU) has adopted the village in order to make it the country’s second ‘carbon neutral panchayat’.
On April 24, 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a 500 KW solar power plant in Jammu’s Palli Gram Panchayat of its Samba district, making it the country’s first carbon neutral gram panchayat.
“Carbon neutral is a state of net zero carbon dioxide emissions. It can be done by putting the use of coal, oil, and gas to an extent that the emissions of carbon dioxide are reduced to a bare minimum. We are done with the survey part that largely includes the measures to be taken in order to neutralize the carbon emissions from the village,” a professor with IIT-BHU said.
Besides, the team that recently surveyed the village also carried out a detailed study estimating the village’s green cover and the total carbon emission from the village. A detailed project report (DPR) would be compiled after which appropriate measures would be taken in order to make the village a carbon neutral village.
VILLAGE HEAD’S GOAL
Project scientist Manavee Ajit Singh from IIT Delhi – the national coordinating institute for UBA – said that a proposal to adopt Hasuri Ausanpur came from the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj. She said an analysis will be done and technical support will be provided to make this gram panchayat carbon neutral.
Dileep Tripathi, the village head whose out of box thinking eventually led to the transformation, said, “I made the students aware about the Prime Minister’s resolve to combat air and water pollution. When PM Modi inaugurated a mega solar place and declared Palli as the first carbon neutral village, I was determined that our village too will attain the status of carbon neutral village.”
Since then, he said, he started working on the criteria to minimize the carbon emission. “Presently, around 14,000 trees including neem, peepal, sheesham and others have been planted on around six hectares of land that belongs to gram panchayat. Also, there are around 31 solar street lights and four solar irrigation pumps in the village. A solar power plant has been installed in the primary school and at the Panchayat Bhawan. All 148 houses have gas and electricity connections.”
However it was only after the Ministry of Panchayati Raj found the efforts made by the village head fruitful and in line with the carbon neutrality initiative, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj recommended the name of the village under the Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan. “Hasuri Ausanpur Gram Panchayat of Siddharthnagar district, UP is one such gram panchayat which has shown its inclination to work towards carbon neutrality initiative. The gram has already made good progress in this direction through its efforts in afforestation and renewal energy interventions. Accordingly, I request that the UBA may provide all possible support for conducting energy survey and preparations of local climate action plan on the lines of Palli Gram Panchayat of Jammu,” reads the proposal from the Ministry of Panchayat Raj, dated January 13, 2023.
INDIA’S FIRST VILLAGE TO HAVE RURAL SPACE LAB
However, it’s not the only thing that is unique in this remote village. Hasuri Ausanpur is also the nation’s first village to set up a rural space lab at a primary school.
Tripathi, the man behind setting up the rural space lab, said the story goes back to 2019. “I was watching a movie – Mission Mangal — in Lucknow. And it was then, the idea behind setting up our own lab came into my mind,” said Tripathi, a postgraduate in Ancient History.
Tripathi says that was the Eureka moment for him. Soon after, Tripathi approached Vyomika Space Pvt. Ltd, which has worked in the field of space education in North India in association with ISRO. “Students of the Hasuri Ausanpur were so aware about space that their knowledge left us all spellbound. This was something that was not expected form the students of a government school in one of the backward districts,” CEO Govind Yadav recalls.
The lab, set up by the experts from ISRO, was launched on November 14 (Children’s Day), 2022.
Of the total space, the two halls and a big verandah of the school have been converted into the lab, says headmaster Manoj Kumar. Kumar said at both the halls, the scale models of all the satellites, launched by ISRO since 1980 and those that will be launched till 2030, have been kept on display. “These include models of rockets and launchers such as the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), GSLV MK-III, Gaganyaan, RLV-TD,” said Kumar.
Another section of the hall has been dedicated to drones. “Here students are trained how to fly drones. In addition, students also learn how drones can be of use in agricultural work, be it monitoring fields, sprinkling of fertilizers or pesticides, etc. This would also help them in building their career in drone technology,” said Kumar. Besides, he also gave the entire credit to Tripathi stating that it was his vision that made it all possible.
‘DREAM WITH OPEN EYES’
Tripathi says it’s not just a village to him, but a baby that needs to be nurtured and pampered until it’s fully grown. “As the late APJ Abdul Kalam, former president of India has rightly said, I believe in seeing dreams with open eyes. And to make this village a smart village is my dream,” said Tripathi.
There was a time when Hasudi Ausanpur was listed in the NITI Aayog’s list of 112 most underdeveloped districts in the country in 2018, said Tripathi. But the spontaneous efforts of the 45-year-old Pradhan not only took the village out of the category, but also helped it win seven national and two state awards in the past few years.
Presently, the village is equipped with WiFi. Other than this, Tripathi, while highlighting the development work, said the village has a hi-tech panchayat building, equipped with a video-conferencing facility. CCTV cameras have been installed at 23 places besides public address systems. He said the streets are illuminated with 90 LED lamps powered by 45 solar panels. There is a facility of Reverse Osmosis (RO) water plant to provide pure drinking water to the villagers. Whereas, the outer walls of the houses have been painted pink, declaring it a Pink Village.
“We have also ensured a system of door-to-door garbage collection besides an agricultural machinery bank. And to combat the issue of air pollution caused by brick kilns in the village, an outdoor mass-level air purifier has been installed that can purify nine lakh cubic meters of air per day. All initiatives have been funded by the Panchayat Nidhi,” he added.
Other than these, the Upper Primary School is the only such institution with state-of-the-art facilities in all of UP, with all its classrooms air-conditioned. The digital lab is WiFi-enabled and teachers have biometric attendance. “I am happy that students now even think of becoming scientists, other than being a doctor or engineer,” he added.
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