What better place can students go to learn about service and sacrifice than the village in which tribal warrior and freedom fighter Alluri Sitarama Raju was buried?
Students of Andhra Loyola Institute of Engineering and Technology (ALIET) were shocked at the appalling conditions tribal people were living in at Krishna Devi Peta in Visakhapatnam Agency area.
The students were taken there as part of the institute's Empower – social consciousness programme held in association with the Loyola Integrated Tribal Development Society (LITDS).
The students spent one week in K.D. Peta, visiting several nearby tribal villages, studying their living conditions and various facilities they had.
Talking about the total lack of transport and communication in Devarapalli, college student K. Sravanthi said she was full of awe for a small girl child who walked over six km to K.D. Peta without any trouble.
“I asked the child if she found it difficult to walk such a long distance and the girl replied, no I have become used to it,” Ms. Sravanthi told other students. The observations of the 23 students who went to K.D.peta were shared with all other students of the institution through a power point presentation. The students who went to the tribal area were felicitated on the occasion.
Ms. Sravanthi was also struck by the lack of cell phones. “They told us there were no cellular towers in the Agency area for security reasons,” she said.
Other students explained about the efforts being made by the tribal people to cultivate crops. The condition of the schools and dispensaries were also shown to all students in the college through the power point presentation.
LITDS former director Amar Rao said through Empowerment the ALIET was trying to “humanise technology”. He said: “The students get empowered by spending time with the tribal people and the tribal people get empowered by spending time with the students”. The tribal people who live one day at a time “have no sense of saving, but they have a sense of sharing.” ALIETS director J. Thainese said that Empowerment programme was very important because the students learn through observation and practical experience the motto of the college “We make men and women for others”. Rector of Loyola Institutions A Stanley said that the programme was unique and no other engineering colleges had it.
Police Commissioner N. Madhusudhana Reddy felicitated the students who participated in the unique programme. He said every college should have such programmes.
