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When the going is not good in life, do something which is very creative.

For me it is Data..

Back at Bandhavgarh, where I was given the responsibility to create an alternative livelihood for the villagers of the fringe area that falls in the buffer zone of the Tiger Reserve; , so that the locales did not have to depend on the forest for their food,

I had to give them new ways of farming.

In the kitchen garden concept where we chose Chili to be the dominant crop, sort of a cash crop, we had to chose a variety that continued for more than 1 year, although normally it is a 9 month crop.

The plants went on for about 2.5 years too.

In the next attempt, we tried another variety, and had a nursery, from where villagers had to buy 50 plants each, at the most.

Since they had to buy, it was done to create the sense to handle the crop with care, the villagers resisted the idea of buying; as it happens always during the initial stages of implementation.

In one of the villages, out of the 34 households 6 did not buy the idea. Simultaneous to Chili we had introduced Drip irrigation processes and that was another resistance too, as some of them woven the story that Drip irrigation killed the Chili; in actuality the soil treatment was necessary before the Chili transplantation which was later discovered.

So it was a two fold challenge for me as the Project Manager.

To do the soil treatment with the chili being already planted; and to establish Chili as the most profitable alternative as of then.

When you introduce something new, always assume that 10% of them will resist, and being the opinion leaders; they will influence others wrongly.

I had a projection file.

I had projected data based on the base year at 10% increment rate, for the next 3 years. So at 2.5 years, I had almost the right calculation for those 6 households which resisted the idea of Chili.

I called Suresh dada, one of those 6 households, in a meeting, and without telling him the amount of income he has at that moment, I told him that he always carries Rs. 6k plus of loan every year; and at that point of time he had Rs. 6975 of debt.

I told him that if he agrees for 50 plants of Chili (He had a kitchen to accommodate 1000 plants at his backyard); then his debt in 6 months will reduce to around Rs. 3k and he stands to erase the entire amount of debt by next year.

He was surprised how I knew the amount, and I was telling him from my laptop. And in any case, I was asking him to take just 50 plants, he kind of gave in, and accepted to my idea.

And I countered the soil treatment with planting a Bitter Gourd plant along with Chili after treating it with the 5 leaves concoction (that is a story for another day)..

Both the things happened in the same village. While Chili nursery was 10 kms away in another village.

It took a month for all the 6 households to come round; while in the meantime I kept on working on the data, adding all the new income sources they had added... and it was almost the amount they had in loan.

Please note that none of them knew the exact amount of debt they were in; but it was just an estimation they carried in their head. In any case, Rs. 6k was a huge amount and they had, according to themselves a huge amount..

But I also had planned Suresh Dada's daughter's marriage expenses to have been covered with Chili provided he does about another 100 plants..

I showed him a calculation.

Fast forward, his daughter, who was my animator, got married within 5 months and also he started building a roadside house in another plot of his..

I call that as data miracle. And a counter to the challenges of my life then..

That was about a decade back. I have retained the love for data into this assignment as well; where I am able to support with the strategic travel plans of my colleagues to be effective in time..

#resourcefulinfluencing #resourcefulness #evathon #growthon #hackathontask #leadingwithsangeeta @evaessence #evamagnificence #evasignificance #leadershipgrowth #everexpandingsangeeta #syncdesigners