Leadership

Preface to the Smart Villages by the Honorable President of India, her Excellency, Ms. Droupadi Murmu

Recently, I became familiar with Professor Solomon Darwin’s work who is hailed as the “Father of Smart Villages”. The Smart Village Movement was birthed at UC Berkeley-Haas School of Business, following The Global Roundtable on Inclusive Innovation held at Rastrapati Bhavan hosted by President Shri Pranab Mukherji on Mar 12, 2016. I am glad to be connected to this movement as the President of India seated here where the seeds of this concept were sown.

It was here at Rashtrapati Bhavan, were Professor Darwin proposed the idea of the Smart Village Movement through a new approach called “Open Innovation” that originated at UC Berkeley. From what I hear, this new approach is transforming Silicon Valley. His definition of a Smart Village is not about building infrastructure but about building “People” by empowering them with digital tools and platforms where there is no learning curve that are affordable, accessible, available, and adaptable to their local environments. Tools like cell phones and digital platforms offer access to information, tools, resources, and knowledge to access global markets right from their own villages. He further argues, access to digital tools fosters their creativity to build their own livelihoods without middlemen, landlord and bankers that are the bottlenecks, for villagers to help themselves. Unlike many prevailing definitions of a smart village, UC Berkeley’s Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation has established a proprietary definition of a “Smart Village” where our movement was born.

“A community that is empowered with digital technology and open innovation platforms to access global markets” – Professor Solomon Darwin

Smart Village is thus more about building and empowering people. It’s about bringing rural people online and connecting them to the rest of the world’s ecosystems. Instead of heavy investments in physical infrastructure, Darwin strongly believes that investments in people and small investments in digital infrastructure will give birth to self-scaling and self-sustaining business models in Rebuilding India. For this reason, we need more smart villages sustainable organic growth powered by the entrepreneurial spirit of the people versus the inorganic growth powered by knowledge assets powered by the greed of large corporations.

Professor Darwin cites the success story of his uneducated grandmother that inspired him to start the Smart Village Movement. She established a global export/import business becoming the largest employer in her untouchable village during a time when there was no electricity, internet, cell phones, FedEx or emails. She networked with a local English missionary to access information, tools, and market linkages to conduct global trade from her remote untouchable village. She prospered despite the abuse as a child bride to a man who was 20 years her elder. Her story offers hope to many living in remote villages today, Darwin says.  

Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our nation said, “Urbanization in India is a slow but sure death for her villages and villagers”. Our Honorable Prime Minister understands the value of our villages and is in full agreement with the father of our nation. His recent statements clearly represent this sentiment:

“India’s strength lies in her villages. Our aim is to bridge the differences between rural and urban India. We want our villages to have all the facilities that are there in the cities.” — Narendra Modi

” If we were to build the nation we have to start from the villages.”  — Narendra Modi

Professor Darwin Points out that all great civilizations were birthed in villages on banks of rivers before there were cities:

Mesopotamia on the banks of Euphrates and Tigris; Egypt on the Nile, India on the Indus, and China on the Yellow. Ancient Cities were built on Riverbanks next to the farming communities; they were the organic growth and extension of those rural communities. Rivers are source of life that fueled economic growth. Only 2% of water on earth is fresh that flows through rivers giving birth to village communities where later the cities emerged through organic growth. Cities & villages were connected Relationally, Communally and Spiritually vs the impersonal Wireless Connections.

Villages were habitats for communities and spiritual centers. Here are some great cities the were birthed by village habitations: a) Babel “The Gate of heaven” – on the Euphrates; b) Jericho “The City of the Moon“– on  the Jordon; c) Benares – “The City of god” – on the Ganges; d) Babylon “The Gate of god” – on the Euphrates; e) Memphis “The Mansion of the soul” – on the Nile; f) Nineveh “The Habitation of god “-  on the Tigris; g) Thebes: “The City of god “- on the Nile; g) Rome “The Eternal City” – on the Tiber; h) Cairo “The Victorious city” – on the Nile; and i) Beijing “The City of Heaven & Earth” -on the Hai River.

Professor Darwin’s concepts and models for scalable and sustainable villages is a healthy direction for our nation’s way forward. Enjoy reading this book and contribute to the movement that empowers rural people.