Ashoka University is a 25-acre campus in the Rajiv Gandhi Education City in Sonepat, Haryana. The Education City is home to other universities like World Design University, and SRM University. Even though it is in the National Capital Region of Delhi, it is surrounded by many small villages around it. A small village called Asawarpur is in the vicinity of the university. Ashoka depends on this village for many resources like labour, food, and materials. Thus, this article explores how Ashoka impacts Asawarpur.
A Source of Employment:
Many people from the nearby villages work on campus in various departments like construction, maintenance, housekeeping, security etc. Additionally, some are employed at the shops and food joints. Ashoka, thus, provides employment to almost all members of the families living in these villages.
Education Facilities for Children, Didis and Bhaiyyas:
Ashoka has clubs like Neev and Ruhi which aim to teach various things to the children, didis and bhaiyyas on campus. Neev also organizes fun activities for the children. Thus, the children learn new things from Ashokans, while also experiencing life on campus. Ruhi was created to teach basic English to the didis and bhaiyyas on campus. This provides them an opportunity to be able to communicate with students on campus who don’t speak Hindi.
These are some of the positive impacts that the university has had on the areas surrounding it. However, there are also some negative impacts:
The Land:
The land bought by the Ashoka founders belonged to some of the villagers. So they lost authority over their own land, although they are employed by the University, but they can never regain their authority over the land.
Urbanization of the villages:
Another major impact which Ashoka has had on the villages is the sudden urbanization of these areas. They had a different style of living and different norms which was altogether different from that of urban cities. However, Ashoka is an elite university, and most of its student body comes from metro cities. To accommodate them, the people from nearby villages have started to sell things needed by Ashoka students. This has caused an impact on the traditional village culture found in these places.
Thus, Ashoka has given many opportunities to the people around it, but has also snatched a few things from them. Still, we can hope that in time, it opens up more opportunities for the people around to explore campus, as well as for students to explore the village culture!
Edited by Rangoli Gupta
Photographs curated by Viraj Dhirenmalani