This is a story of two men who are not well educated but who have left an indelible mark on their world. And they have changed the lives of thousands of workers.

This is a story of outstanding leadership, and we have to learn a lot from their lives. Management schools unfortunately discuss leadership of western industrialists and others, ignoring the gems they have in their backyard.

One of the big worries of working people is how to acquire a house of their own. Many people at the lowest rung of the organization cannot afford a house so they move to their native place after retirement. It is relatively easy to acquire house property there with their savings.

It was not uncommon for canteen or restaurant workers to stay at the workplace till the mid-eighties. This practice is not entirely done away with, it exists in small cities and towns. There are problems associated with such an arrangement which stem from trampling of labour rights. They can be forced to work a 12 hour shift regularly, for an instance. Living at the workplace leads to exploitation is obvious.

But even if you are living in your own place or a rented place the living conditions can be bad – especially for the poorly paid workers. They often stay in slums. Beedi workers fall in this category. And their number, around 70 thousand, pointed to the magnitude of the problem.

Adam Master realized this problem and the actions he took make a classic leadership case. He has created low-cost housing and given 40,000 homes to beedi workers. In Solapur he spoke to us, and I had also read a detailed account in his autobiography ‘Sangharshachi Mashaal Haati’ (Holding the Torch of Struggle’).

On my trip to Solapur, I visited beedi workers’ housing and here are my notes which you will find informative and interesting. I have clicked many photographs which I am posting here for your reference, and to give you a feel of what was (or is) on offer.

At the outset, not much is known about the low cost housing which Gangadharpant Kuchan created in 1984. Mr. Gangadharpant Kuchan was elected as MP from Solapur in 1980 and again in 1984. He constructed 1000 homes for beedi workers.

The carpet area of the homes was 250 sq ft with equal open space in front of the homes. Most of these houses are modified now or sold to create buildings.

Nevertheless, this pioneering work needs to be recognized. Today this area is a part of the city, and it is getting transformed in to bigger houses.

Then came the initiative of Adam master for which he is well known. Unlike Kuchan who was then a Congress MP, Adam Master was MLA from Communist Party – Marxist, so his job was more difficult for obvious reasons. He created Godavari (more popularly, Godutai) Parulekar Housing Scheme.

It was inaugurated on 1 September 2006 by the then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Reportedly more than 100,000 people attended the public meeting.

Godavari (popularly known as Godutai) Parulekar (14 August 1907 – 8 October 1996) was a freedom fighter, writer, and social activist. She was influenced by Marxist and Communist ideologies and spent her life fighting for the farmers and working class.  

“A typical house unit in the scheme is around 555 sq. ft (around 50 square meters), and the project is spread across 182 hectares, at Kumbhari, about 8 km from Solapur city. Each worker was able to buy a house for Rs. 20,000, a third of the total cost. Workers paid their share in instalments, and the funds for this purpose were drawn from their personal savings and their social security funds. The central government’s share for the scheme came from the Beedi Workers Welfare Fund, which consists of the tax collected on manufactured beedis.” (See Hindustan Times)  

This area is now brought under municipal control and thus gets the benefits of roads, schools etc.

Then Adam Master launched a more ambitious scheme of providing additional 30,000 homes!  He has described in detail his interactions with various political leaders. Suffice it to say briefly that he received encouraging response from Dr Man Mohan Singh, Devendra Fadanvis and Narendra Modi, and not much of help from other congress leaders. The entire ‘colony’ is named Ray Nagar, Ray standing for Rajiv Awas Yojana. This name was changed by the BJP Government, but all in Solapur call it Ray Nagar.

Let us first check what he has created. Here are photographs I have taken at the location. So, I am not writing commentary. We begin with the overall picture.

And this board explains the cost of a house ….

And here is the layout of the house which you get for Rs 40 Thousand and a loan of Rs 2.10 L.

This is a model house, and its Living room, Bedroom and Kitchen.

Bedroom- it is a well designed home.

And the kitchen

And this takes the cake – each house is marked on Google Map! I guess they are ahead of Mumbaikars!!

Adam Master has given 40,000 homes to beedi workers and those from other industries. Datta Iswalkar also gave thousands of homes to textile workers of Mumbai. Read about it here

Adam Master is educated up to 9^th standard. He recognized a social issue and worked to find a solution. You have to imagine how difficult it would be for a Communist leader to influence the Congress and BJP leaders to provide land and finance. Good leaders are great influencers! 

Low cost housing also reminds us of Datta Iswalkar whom I was fortunate to know well. Iswalkar had studied matriculation and was a clerk in a Textile Mill. He persuaded the Government to provide low cost housing to textile workers of Mumbai who had lost their jobs in the Textile strike of 1982. We have to remember that greedy Mill Owners were eager to sell their land to real estate developers and make tons of money. Persuading the Government which by then was favouring mill owners must have been a herculean task, particularly because it involved allotting land and constructing housing.

What drives these men who change the little world around them in a big way and leave an indelible mark on the city they lived in? And that too against all odds?

Maybe leadership experts will write case studies, debate and let us know. We just know that they were great influencers. That is what makes great leaders. Martin Luther King, Jr captured it well, ‘A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a moulder of consensus.’

Vivek S Patwardhan

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”