Bhopal: Padial village, located in the remote areas of Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh, is renowned as the “adhikariyon ka gaon”– or village of administrators -– where every child wants to become a civil servant, an engineer, or a doctor. In this tribal-dominated village of over 5,000 people in the Malwa region, more than 100 individuals are working as administrative officers in various parts of India.
About 90% of the village’s population belongs to the Bhil tribe, an ethnic community residing in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar, Jhabua, and Western Nimar districts, as well as in Maharashtra’s Dhule and Jalgaon, and even Rajasthan. Bhils are an ethnic community who live in the states of central India, including Dhar, Jhabua, and West Nimar districts of Madhya Pradesh and Dhulia and Jalgaon in Maharashtra. They are also found in Rajasthan.
Going by the Madhya Pradesh government’s claims, the literacy rate of Padiyaal village is over 90 per cent. The government states that until two years ago, the number of administrative officers in the village was 70, which surpassed 100 in 2024. This includes judges of lower courts, Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, Indian Engineering Service (IES) officers, doctors, prosecution officers, forest officers, and more.
The quality of education and literacy rate in this Bhil-dominated village was underscored when four out of seven schoolchildren successfully qualified for the NEET exam, while three others passed the Joint Entrance Examination Mains exam this year.
There is also an average of one government employee from every house in this village that is a total of 300, the state government said in a statement, news agency IANS reported. It is stated that youth here started to compete since the time of Independence to appear in competitive examinations.
Manoj Dubey, who has long served as a Block Resource Center official and has witnessed the success stories of the village’s youth, mentioned that the village places a strong emphasis on education. He noted that schoolchildren are beginning to prepare for administrative services, technology, and other fields, including medicine and engineering. Smart classes run by retired persons from different administrative services have played a crucial role, he added.
“Over a dozen officers, who are the residents of Padiyaal village, have retired and are engaged in public service, like education and medicine. The youth currently studying are pursuing higher education inspired by elders,” Dubey told news agency IANS.
The young people here have become engineers and businessmen, settling well in countries like the United States and Malaysia. The village has a higher secondary school with 23 teachers educating 702 students.
Until, two years back, the number of administrative officers from this village were 70, which crossed 100 in 2024, according to the MP government. This includes lower court judges, Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Indian Engineering Services officers, medical officers, prosecution officers, forest officer doctors, etc.