Ever heard of a village transforming its course through community participation and engagement? Proto village, in Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh, located in India’s second driest and drought-prone district, changed its fate and turned itself into a green lush area through community-driven effort.
The village’s website of Proto village claims itself as a role-model community being built for the villagers, by the villagers. The villagers have taken upon themselves to build a resilient, ecologically sustainable, socially cohesive, and economically viable community.
Proto village is doing all this by generating its own electricity using wind and solar power, harvests rain to conserve water which is supplied to each home through a solar-powered pump. Members of this village grow their own food organically, as much as possible.
A former engineer, Kalyan Akkipedi, who quit his job to build this model village, led the community initiative. This village was his attempt to create the prototype of a rural community that enjoys autonomy regarding its basic needs through ecologically sustainable ways. A community in which all living forms, including humans, have enough to live, in dignity. With his incredible efforts, the entire village has come together to build self-sustainable models.
On December 22, 2019 Earth Day Network India announced Proto village as a Star village. The village was awarded the same at the musical concert, by Earth Day Network Ambassador, Ricky Kej. An artist for the Earth, Ricky Kej enthralled over 3,000 villagers with his songs and message for the environment. Earth Day Network also announced a trophy for the school that had prepared the best green models.
Our Earth will remain deeply indebted to people of Proto village and Kalyan, who are true environmental stewards.