Industrial part of the project

Since the project aims to create an integrated cluster of small industries, catering to each other to provide maximum synergy, the project is looking for collaborations and partnerships with existing industries around the world to implement local enterprises specialized in certain areas of production. As the potential labour force is uneducated and poor a labour intensive project is required. It has therefore been decided to start with a leathergoods project. In the first stage a leathergoods unit will be set up here with a small nucleus of trained persons and then persons from Sonokhar and nearby villages will be imparted basic experience. At the same time young entrpreneurs from the leather industry will be encouraged to set up their units alongside and avail of existing capital machinery thus reducing the need for a large amount of start up capital. Thereafter units in related fields will be encouraged to also set up See here for some fields: IndustrialElements

Global Micromarket Relations

If the proposed Village Cluster should be successful and competitive in comparison to existing industrial agglomerations, a key point is building up chanels of communication that allow for the identification and effective satisfaction of needs that manifest in quality rather than quantity. The main purpose of the whole structure is cooperation rather than competition, exchange of knowledge rather than industrial secrets, meaningful division of labour rather than overcapacities. We are looking for an IndustrialCommunicationSystem that really can serve this purpose.

As part of this effort Anil Chawla has already begun to inform his buyers in the EU, the UK and the US regarding his plans. The initial reaction has been encouraging.

Optimizing overall design

The village as a model for 21st Century living requires a lot of thoughtwork when it comes to optimal use and integration of local resources. For example, the generation of energy (use of abundant biomass)and infrastructure (sewage treatment, integration of village and industrial area) might be closely intertwined. Heating and cooling might be connected to solar energy and so might electricity generation. Local food supply and accomodation for workers and visitors could generate additional income for the village and the villagers. The character of the village should be preserved and enhanced, while achieving the above goals. This a challenge for DesignAndGovernance.

Some of the questions that immediately arise here are:-

a) Will the villagers trust us or merely regard us as indulging in one more case of capital holders trying to exploit them as has been the rule rather than the exception in the past.

b) Will we be able to convince the villagers to adopt the mind set required for maintaining quality and productivity so that the products made here can be saleable both from the quality and price point of view.

c) As the number of units in the are rise there will be far more income available in these villages. Will the villagers spend this new income in buying expensive consumer goods from outside the area and thus dissipate this income or will we be able to convince them to use a fair part of this additional income to create income and employment production/service facilities to enable circulation of the money in this area itself and thus create a multiplier effect.

The approach being adopted to deal with these concerns is to, as Bono says "GIVE PEOPLE THE FACTS, AND THEY'LL DO THE RIGHT THING".

Education and Research

+ We need a totally new approach to education, focussing on the optimization of the local life. We did not have this so far. This could fillin where there is now a great void. Its a Community Based Education System. ,br> + We build on a global teachers base and on blended learning with online classes and local learning groups, digesting the contents.
+ We focus on a strong connection between theory and practise, and on the improvement of every aspects of village life. Whereas the normal educatioon system educates people for specialized jobes they either dont get or tear out of their environment, this system is designed to give people a broad and deep quailification to improve their immediate environment, thus employment problems would not arise. Wider base of employment, flexible adaption of curricula to actual needs. The village itself is the university, and people learn so much that their learning can be applkied in other communities later. > EducationAndResearch

Establish personal relations

We want to declare Sonokhar a "Global Village" from the very beginning, which means create maximum awareness of the world around them for the village people. > GlobalVillageSonokhar