‘Padayatra’ is nothing new for the 77-year-old K. Sitaram, commonly known as ‘Sitarama Swamiji’, for he has been on the roads for more than four years, travelling from Kanyakumari to the Himalayas. His walkathon is not aimed at any devotional cause, but to resurrect the rural economy, which has, for long, been central to India’s economic growth.
Hailing from Udupi, the saffron-clad Swami had embarked on a nationwide tour ‘Bharat Parikram Yatra’ in August 2012 to cover all the States, besides Nepal and Bhutan on foot.
In the return direction, he reached Tirupati on Thursday and visited scores of neighbouring villages on Friday, when he spoke to The Hindu about his mission to strengthen the rural economy.
His focus is on encouraging the craftsmen and professional artisans to continue their profession with zeal and not let the posterity look towards greener pastures.
“The carpenter, blacksmith, goldsmith, potter, barber, cattle rearer and weaver are the growth engines of the rural economy. Their migration to urban settlements in search of a livelihood has struck the villages hard. The lack of activity in the countryside made them look like haunted places,” Sitarama Swami said. Due to lack of commercial activity, the villages were losing sheen and unless the trend was reversed, the death of rural economy was imminent, he cautioned.
Sitarama Swami urges the youth to strive for the development of their village
