Hivre Bazar is a village situated in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, India. The village is known as the richest village in India due to the high number of millionaires residing there. Actually, there are 305 families living in the village, of which 80 are millionaires. Additionally, 50 families earn more than Rs 10 lakh annually. The village has a total population of just over 1250. Interestingly, the main source of income for the villagers is agriculture. The village once suffered from poverty due to the severe drought in the 80s and 90s which forced the villagers to migrate to cities in search of livelihood. The situation was so bad that 90% of the families in the village were poor in 1990.
However, the people of Hivre Bazar came together and formed a committee called the Joint Forest Management Committee in 1990. Under this committee, they started digging wells and planting trees in the village through Shramdaan. They also banned the sowing of crops that required more water in the village. The result of their hard work and solidarity is that now there are more than 300 wells in the village. The ground water level has also risen to 30 feet due to the completion of the tube well.
All the families in the village earn their income from farming only, and they earn huge income every year by growing vegetables. The per capita income of Hivre Bazaar village is twice the average income of Rs 890 per month of the top 10 percent rural areas of the country. The average income of the village people has increased more than 20 times in the last 20 years. Poverty ended due to the unity of the people of Hivre village. Due to this, people stopped migrating towards cities. People who left the village have also returned now.
Sarpanch Popat Rao Pawar of Hivre Bazar village is counted among those few people in the country who have brought a positive change in their village. He has set 7 principles for the people of the village, and the rules and outline for the Panchayat here are prepared by the people of the village. People around Hivre Bazar village are also learning from him and doing new experiments in farming. Due to this, their income is also increasing.
The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, praised Hivre Bazar village in his 'Mann Ki Baat' program on 24 April 2020. He appreciated the villagers' sensitivity towards water and how they changed the cropping pattern to deal with the water problem. He also praised the village for banning the sowing of crops that require more water.
Hivre Bazar village is a perfect example of how people can come together to change their situation. The villagers' hard work and solidarity have changed the face of the village. Their success story inspires people to do something better and make their village self-sufficient.
