Published on Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 16:30, Updated on Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 18:22 in Nation » India section
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Now to our special series about ordinary people doing extraordinary work, our Real Hero today is Elango Rangaswamy.
He's managed to bring out his entire village from caste and ignorance into education and self-sufficiency.
It's a lesson learned early. Fight caste discrimination with education. At a village school in Koothambakkam, a predominantly Dalit village, young boys and girls are getting a chance at their future and helping them realise their dream is Rangaswamy Elango, an IITian, a mechanical engineer and Koothambakkam's most beloved Sarpanch.
The first technical graduate from Kuthambakkam, Elango was picked up from the campus in 1982 by Oil India. But Elango quit his job and resumed links with his roots.
Elango says, “I thought of making use of this and find a solution to my villages' problems.”
Elango stood for the Panchayat elections and won.
He feels that the the Panchayat is the right tool for making real development.
Apart from encouraging education, Elango developed small scale industries that make kerosene stoves, energy conserving lamps, first aid kits, all in Kuthambakkam.
In the year 200, the Panchayat constructed this Samatuvapuram or township of equality in a village with strong caste divisions, stand 50 twin houses, with one Dalit and one non-Dalit family each. Now, even fights are fought together.
It's this unity that has been Elango's biggest success. At the Gram Sabha, every question is answered, every complaint redressed, and every success shared.
Elango’s goal is to see a strong self reliant villages from which would emerge a stronger India.
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