Recently, a 23-year old man from Rajasthan’s village brought his bride from Madhya Pradesh and everyone rejoiced because it was after 22 years that Rajghat has witnessed a marriage. Rajghat is a small village located 5 kms away from Dholpur district that has hardly welcomed any new bride since 1996 because of the lack of basic amenities.
Rajghat
Situated on the banks of Chambal River, the village has a limited population of just 300-350 people. Apart from the absence of roads and pipelines, the place has just one government primary school that is attended by very few kids. Besides, until recently, the condition was so bad that people had to drink the polluted water from Chambal River.
Plight of Rajghat
From water to electricity and even basic infrastructure or medical aid, there is a lack of all kinds of facilities in the village that prevented people to marry off their daughters in Rajghat. However, due to the efforts of a medical student named Ashwani Parashar from SMS Medical College Jaipur, the place has seen some positive and much-needed development.
Ashwani Parashar with kids of Rajghat (Courtesy: the Better Indian)
Contributions made by Ashwani
The medical student Ashwani Parashar is a native of Dholpur who came to know about the condition when he came for a visit as part of a social initiative of Sarthak Diwali. He decided to step up and bring a change to the system. He not only brought the matter to the attention of the administration but also started social media campaign #SaveRajghat.
Due to his efforts, the village has seen some major development in the last three years. With the help of crowdfunding projects, community toilets have been constructed, a kuchcha Road access road has been built, solar lamps have been installed and reverse osmosis water filters have been installed.
Rajghat is Hopeful
The groom’s father Darshan Lal said that he is very happy and the entire village is rejoicing that my son has got married. Apart from Pawan, there are many other young boys and girls of marriageable age and now the villagers are hopeful that as the place is being developed gradually, more marriages will take place.
