09/04/2026
A village still waiting for the last mile of development.
Despite significant progress in rural infrastructure across India, some remote habitations continue to face persistent last-mile challenges. Khirdwari village in Uttarakhand is one such example. Last week, our project manager, Vinod Koshti, visited the Raji community in Champawat and Udham Singh Nagar districts, one of India's most marginalised Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs). The village has limited road access, gaps in the electricity infrastructure; solar alternatives partially bridging the need.
For five years, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung South Asia, together with our partner Association for Rural Planning and Action (ARPAN), has been working alongside the Raji community, not as external experts, but as long-term collaborators.
Our shared effort focusses on:
- Community leadership: nurturing local voices to engage with institutions and articulate their priorities
- Civic education: enabling informed access to constitutional and forest rights
- Cultural continuity: supporting the preservation of indigenous identity, language, and knowledge systems
- Social engagement: building connections with wider networks of policy, solidarity, and justice
Experiences like Khirdwari underscore the importance of strengthening last-mile delivery, particularly in ecologically complex and remote areas. They also highlight the value of designing development approaches that are responsive to the lived realities and knowledge systems of indigenous communities.
India’s development journey has achieved important milestones. Ensuring that these gains reach communities like the Raji, in ways that are meaningful and context-sensitive, remains an ongoing and shared task.
