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Public Partnership: The Secret of Success 165

to the partnership. Previous governments were distant, but
we are making efforts to reduce the distance between
government and public. Public should run the government,
government should be run through the inputs of the public
and the government should work for the public. We are
constantly trying to bring this situation and we are seeing results
because of it.

A huge revolution for irrigation has taken place in
Saurashtra. Most villages had large or small rivers flowing
through them, but the water would flow away during monsoons.
Through public partnerships, we have created awareness that
has resulted in 1,22,660 check-dams and 1,71,400 ponds have
been constructed upto February 2007. This has been possible
only due to public partnership. In the past, 100 kgs of
groundnuts would yield around 28-32 kgs of oil. The
construction of check-dams has led to a bumper crop of
groundnuts which has yielded 52 kilos oil from 100 kilos of
groundnuts. This record breaking production can be attributed
to the new irrigation methods such as check-dams. It is a living
example of the miracles that can be achieved by public
partnership.

We would also like to harness this power for the education
of the girl child. There is no expenditure required to be incurred.
Girls who have passed their seventh standard can collect used
textbooks, cover them afresh and pass them on to the needy
girls. This will take care of education of poor girls without any
expenditure. The government is not even required to be in the
picture. Only some girls need to take initiative to collect books
and give them to younger ones. Those who have finished the
first standard should give their used books with new covers to
younger ones. This will ensure that the younger children get
books and there is optimum utilization of books. Countries like
ours can work only with public partnership. People can study
without any expenditure. There is no issue of money, it is only
that some people take a lot of time to understand this concept.