What happens when rural development is designed around water, soil, and dignity — instead of profit and extraction? In this episode of Proutcast, we speak with Pradeep Sharma, former Planning & Policy Advisor to the Government of Chhattisgarh, whose life journey bridges tribal village life, environmental activism, corporate agriculture, spiritual inquiry, and state-level policy design. Born in a remote tribal region of central India, Pradeep’s early life exposed him to deep inequalities between industrial “development” and rural realities. After training as an engineer at IIT and working in the petroleum sector, he made a decisive break — turning instead toward environmental justice movements, grassroots agriculture, Ayurveda, and long-term village-based organising.From 2019–2024, Pradeep brought these lived experiences into government, where he helped design and implement Narwa–Garuwa–Ghurwa–Badi (NGGB) — an integrated rural development model focused on water systems, livestock, soil regeneration, and nutrition. Under his guidance, NGGB later evolved into Rural Industrial Parks (RIPA), enabling villages to move from raw production to local enterprises, skills, and value-added livelihoods. In this wide-ranging conversation, we explore: • Why large dams and industrial farming fail rural communities — and how reviving small rivers (Narwa) transformed water security • How cattle were reimagined from an economic “burden” into a regenerative asset through Gothans and compost systems (Garuwa & Ghurwa) • Why nutrition and backyard gardens (Badi) are foundational to real development• The idea of Kisan–Kaarigar–Kalakaar — farmer, artisan, and artist — as a holistic model of human fulfilment• How women became central economic actors in village economies• The transition from NGGB to Rural Industrial Parks (RIPA) and what a post-growth rural economy can look like • What it takes to adapt these models across cultures, regions, and countries This episode offers a rare, grounded look at large-scale rural transformation built from the bottom up, rooted in ecology, dignity, culture, and practical systems — with lessons relevant far beyond India. To learn more about this work: Email: seva.service@gmail.com Website: Centre of Science for Villages If you’re interested in rural regeneration, ecological economics, cooperative development, or systems-level alternatives to extractive growth, this conversation is for you. Listen to ProutCast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proutistuni Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/proutcast/id1845807777 Learn about PROUT (Progressive Utilization Theory): https://prout.info/ Connect with us:Instagram: @theproutcast X: https://x.com/ProutCast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/proutcast Email: proutcast@prout-global.org
