He studied in India and the United Kingdom, joined the United Nations, and traveled to over 60 countries, but finally decided that his roots were in Khotang. He returned to his native district to become a farmer.

Madan Rai, 58, realized in 2004 that development begins from the village. "My long experience taught me that a village can set a development model," Rai, an agriculturalist by profession, said.

Rai's passion for developing the village has to do with a childhood filled with hardship and hope alike.

Son of a British army serviceman, Rai was brought up in a largely illiterate family. "I don't know why, but my grandfather hated education and tried to cultivate the same hatred in us." But Rai developed early a longing for education. By age nine he had a burning desire to go to school.

"As my friends joined school I simply could not resist the longing and started to insist to my mother to send me to school," he said.

With the completion of schooling in his village, Rai came to Kathamndu and got himself admitted at Tri Chandra College, where he pursued science. "I think it was a turning point in my life and I haven't looked back ever since," Rai said. He later on went to India to study for a Bachelors in Agriculture Science.

After completing his degree he got an offer at the UN as an agricultural specialist.

" Since then I have traveled to more than 60 countries, where I taught villagers about agriculture." But that teaching, in turn, taught him something invaluable: "Nepal's hill districts contain baskets of money and should be harnessed some time in my life."

Soon he landed in Khotang. "Actually, Khotang holds a lot of potential for agricultural development because its soil is still virgin and is good for cabbage, cauliflower, green peas, radish, carrots and other produce like spices, ginger, turmeric," he said.

With projects forming in his mind, Rai first established the Nahima Agriculture Research Center, an agricultural farm at district headquarters Diktel, in 2004. "While establishing the center, I invested some Rs 10 million under the name of Khotang Development Forum," he said. Ever since it was established, the center has been providing agricultural training to farmers in the district.
"We trained 40 youths in the first batch of our program," he said, adding, "The youths subsequently started visiting remote villages, training farmers in how to grow various agro-products."

For Rai, an Ashoka Fellow for 2006, transportation, communication and electricity are crucial factors for a village to continue developing. Now based in Lalitpur, Rai shuttles between Khotang and Kathmandu, to lobby government authorities for transportation, communication and electricity in his district.

"We have provided electricity to 26 out of the 76 Village Development Committees (VDCs) in the district," he said, adding, "Electricity is fast picking up and we plan to provide electricity to all the VDCs in five years."

Rai and his team are encouraging people in the villages to go for solar energy, besides micro-hydro, to meet the growing demand for power.

Rai, who was also winner of the World Bank's "Let's do something now" program, has a plan to computerize the VDCs once electricity reaches every village. "That way, village youth will get acquainted with the world through the internet, and they won't go astray," he said.

He also conducts some personality development and other awareness programs in the district. "I think it's very much important to empower village people in order to develop a nation," he said, adding, "Many projects in villages fail to meet their targets due to lack of awareness among the people."


We need people like Madan Rai to run Nepal. This is one true example of extraordinary person whom we all should follow.
                          
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