Any country’s progress is directly connected with rural development. Lasting rural transformation can be achieved only with a holistic approach, one that considers and integrates all aspects including economic, social and environmental. For any change to be sustainable,  it has to begin from within. In rural development programs run by The Art of Living, the emphasis is on empowering the local communities and making them the torch bearers of change. The ‘Youth Leadership Training Program’ (YLTP) gives youth the skills, motivation and abilities to initiate and lead service projects in their own villages and communities based on their needs. It is this combination of personal inner strength, as well as skills and leadership training that enables them on the journey of rural development.

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40,212 villages

reached

203,220 India rural youth

Trained through YLTP

165,000 free stress-relief workshops

Conducted benefiting more than 5,688,000 people

52,466 hygiene camps

Conducted, benefiting 78,69,900 people

27,427 medical camps

benefiting 577,400 people

3,819 homes

built, impacting the socio-economic conditions of families

15,000 toilets

built, improving the health of local villagers

1,199 bore-wells

built, offering a regular supply of water

904 bio-gas plants

built, offering alternate fuel solutions

55 model villages

Developed

65,000+ people

across 16,500 households benefit from solar light distribution

98 solar entrepreneurs

trained, providing clean energy to 4,000 rural families

• Assam: India’s largest solar battery charging station launched to power 287 houses on a remote island in Dibrugarh, Assam in December 2016. With women heading the implementation, the portable solution has been installed on a sandy island.
• Arunachal Pradesh: 33 homes light up in the remote regions
• Jammu & Kashmir: Two schools fully electrified after the 2014 floods
• Tamil Nadu: A remote tribal settlement of Kodamban Kombai in the Nilgiri forest was electrified for the first time
• Karnataka: Three remote villages on the border of Karnataka and Goa got electricity for the first time in their history
• Maharashtra: Solar lamps provide portable electricity to nomadic laborers who are migrants and travel from place to place