Connecting Rural India has been my flagship mission in India to map roads on Google Maps. Since April 1, 2021, I have completed four seasons of it. I must say that I got to know more about rural India only because of my love for this mission and the challenges I faced while travelling to map roads. You must be familiar with the fact that I used to travel to different areas of India to map the roads. Why so? I noticed that being physically present increases the chances of roads getting approved in that area. I chose a predominantly rural area and began driving to areas where roads were visible in the satellite image but not in the default one (the one we use for driving), and all four seasons were concentrated on creating and eliminating roads.
If you’re following me on Google Maps, you must have noticed something unusual, right? This year, I decided to do something different. I have been uploading pictures and videos of places like “Gram Panchayat”, “Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra,” and similar government offices in rural areas.
What inspired me to think about this?
Indigenous people need to travel hundreds of kilometres to reach the nearest government offices, and the hassle of finding the panchayat office (rural government offices) is tiresome for them. For a very long time, I was wondering what I could do to help rural people in a unique way. Initially, I only planned to add photos of rural government offices, but slowly I started adding more things like uploading videos, adding roads, removing spam, etc.
Stats:
- Duration - May 28, 2023 to June 03,2023
- Region - Rajasthan (Part of Western India)
- Panchayats Covered - 42 among 6 tehsils of Sirohi District
- Places Added - 10
- Places Edited(Published) - 90
Name - 49
Open - 3
Remove - 25
Duplicate - 1
Category - 11
Location - 1
- Roads Added(Published) - 5
- Roads Edited/Removed - 4
- Photos - 77
- Videos - 14
- Distance travelled - 304.24 miles (489.63 kilometres) Approximately.
My favourite campaign will always be “Connecting Rural India.” I adore seeing people become motivated and embark on personal road-mapping adventures. I appreciate the invitation to host the Connecting Rural India #BardChallenge earlier this month from @jayasimha78 and @Denise_Barlock . I should also thank my mother, Sukla Mitra, who encouraged and assisted me in organising the coverage of this season, particularly during the hot and dry months of May and June.
I wasn’t feeling well, so I couldn’t give the updates earlier. I appreciate all of your wonderful support, everyone. Please keep encouraging me so that in 2024 I can keep going and come up with something new.
Happy Guiding.
Anshuk.
