Margao: RSS ideologue Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya’s philosophy of Integral humanism, which envisions self-reliant villages free of poverty and social discrimination, is set to guide a new rural development initiative in Goa, modelled on the Deendayal Research Institute’s (DRI) Chitrakoot project.This was announced by Abhay Mahajan, senior RSS pracharak and national organising secretary of DRI Chitrakoot, at a press conference in Panaji.Mahajan traced the model’s roots to Nanaji Deshmukh, who took forward Upadhyaya’s unfinished philosophical work after the latter’s mysterious death near Mughalsarai station in 1968. After a distinguished political career — including a landmark election win from Gonda in Uttar Pradesh and a ministerial berth he declined — Nanaji turned to rural reconstruction, first digging over 25,000 borewells to solve drinking water shortages in the Gonda-Balrampur region.In 1990, at the invitation of a Chitrakoot ashram seer, Nanaji shifted his focus to Chitrakoot on the MP-UP border, establishing the world’s first Gramodaya Rural University and launching a project to make villages within a 50km radius self-reliant through community participation rather than govt dependence.Mahajan said the Chitrakoot model — which has since received ISO certification for being measurable, sustainable and replicable — has been adopted by over 1,000 voluntary organisations across 17-18 states. Its core goals, he said, are villages free of poverty, unemployment, illness, illiteracy, and disputes.Asked whether the initiative implied criticism of Goa govt’s development record, Mahajan clarified that development cannot happen only through govt and that society’s participation was essential.He said no concrete plan for Goa exists yet; a technical team would first conduct surveys and hold discussions with local stakeholders, who would then be taken to Chitrakoot to study the model before implementation begins here.Mahajan credited a local DRI functionary who has worked in Chitrakoot for over two decades, with initiating the Goa outreach.
