Punsari is a village located in the state of
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
, India.
The village is located at about from the state capital,
Gandhinagar
Gandhinagar (, ) is the capital of the state of Gujarat in India. Gandhinagar is located approximately 23 km north of Ahmedabad, on the west central point of the Industrial corridor between Delhi, the political capital of India, and Mu ...
. Punsari is from Parvati Hills. Parvati Hills is the largest table top land of India. The village follows the
Panchayati raj
The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical menti ...
system. The village extent is about . The land in use of agriculture is . The main non farming activity is dairy in this village . The village has undergone a transformation under the panchayat. There has been use of new and advanced technology in education. This village has wi-fi connection for all people. Efforts have been made for the empowerment of women and increasing security in the village. Some of the facilities provided by the panchayat include local mineral water supply, sewer & drainage project, a healthcare centre, banking facilities and toll-free complaint reception service. Consequently, Punsari received the award of being the best Gram Panchayat in Gujarat.
The village's model has been appreciated by delegates from
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
and they are keen to replicate this in
Kenya
)
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n villages.
Demographics
The population of Punsari was 5500 as per
2011 census of India
The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...
which has increased to 5500 in
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
.
As of June 2012, the population is 6000.
Urbanization
![Waiting room at Punsari bus station - Punsari - Sabarkantha DSC002](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Waiting_room_at_Punsari_bus_station_-_Punsari_-_Sabarkantha_DSC002.jpg)
There is a 66 KV sub-station that supplies power to the village. The ''
Sarpanch
A sarpanch ( IAST: ''Sarpañch'' Hindi: ''सरपंच'') or Gram Pradhan or Mukhiya is a decision-maker, elected by the village-level constitutional body of local self-government called the Gram Sabha (village government) in India. The Sarp ...
'' aims at getting
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
connectivity in the entire village so that the villagers can use unlimited internet once they purchase the
modem
A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...
from the
panchayat
The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical ment ...
office.
The panchayat in this village has made efforts to provide the best possible facilities to students.
Air-conditioners and
CCTV
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...
cameras are installed in the primary schools. Apart from schools, 25 CCTVs are installed at prime junctions of the village so that the litterbugs can be spotted and punished.
[
]Mini-buses
A minibus, microbus, minicoach, or commuter (in Zimbabwe) is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, t ...
are used for transport purpose within the village. The panchayat has started a bus facility called the ''Atal Express'' for women which is used for the import of milk.
For communication purposes, 120 waterproof speakers have been installed, which are used by the ''Sarpanch'' to inform the people of new schemes and to make important announcements. The speakers are also used to play ''bhajans'', ''shlokas'', and slogans of Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
.
The total estimate for this development work was and the state and central governments provided support for the same. For his efforts, the ''Sarpanch'' Himanshu Narendrabhai Patel was awarded with the best Gram Sabha award at the third National Panchayati Raj Day held at New Delhi. In November 2011, he received the best Gram Panchayat award in Gujarat from the Chief Minister Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
. The Punsari Gram Panchayat has received the Rajiv Gandhi Best Gram Panchayat National Award for the Year-2012, conferred by the Academy of Grassroots Studies and Research of India (AGRASRI), Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh at a function held in New Delhi, from the Governor of Punjab Shri Shivraj V. Patil, on 20 August 2012.
Education system
There are five primary schools in Punsari. All the five schools have CCTV cameras placed to enable parents check their wards' performance without interrupting the lectures and also to keep a watch on the teachers. The school drop-out rate is zero in Punsari. The village was rated B+ during Ganotsav 2011 which is an annual education campaign run by the state government.
Water system
The panchayat has installed a reverse osmosis plant
A reverse osmosis plant is a manufacturing plant where the process of reverse osmosis takes place. Reverse osmosis is a common process to purify or desalinate contaminated water by forcing water through a membrane. Water produced by reverse osmo ...
in 2010 to ensure the supply of clean drinking water to the villagers. During weddings and other ceremonies, water tankers are arranged. Drinking water taps are available for all. The village also has a proper sanitation
Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems ...
and drainage
Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess of water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils is good enough to prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic conditio ...
system, which is completely underground.
References
External links
* {{Official website, http://www.punsarigrampanchayat.in
The Tale of Punsari
village of India । Punsari देश No.1 का आदर्श गांव पुंसरी
Villages in Sabarkantha district