This Spanish
town is in trouble; Their council coffers are empty and burdened with a
debt of $ 1 million. Spain is going through a very bad debt crisis.
The civic work routines are now taken by volunteers donating their labor to perform regular maintenance works.
In India,
thousands of kilometers away from Spain, donating one's own labor (as
against hiring help) was a common practice half a century ago.
There is a name for this noble activity: Shrama Daan, sharing of community work.
Gandhiji spread
this ideal of community service in Indian villages during the time when
national economy was ruined by the British Colonialism. The practice
dwindled after independence and has almost disappeared now.
At
Sevabharathi, Tamilnadu, the ideals of Gandhiji are kept alive. Here
people are involved in the upkeep and development of their neighbourhood
through the Shrama Daan scheme.
The people,
mainly youth and students, are encouraged to come together and engage in
physical work for the upkeep of their locality.
Maintenance
projects like cleaning temples, renovating temple tanks and village
ponds, and cleaning streets, storm-water drains, playgrounds and schools
are taken up under the Shrama Daan scheme.
Roads to interior villages are are laid through Shrama Daan..
Socially and economically backward area are preferred locations for Shrama Daan activities.
