Let’s get to know Dhanora, India’s first Smart Village

Clean and big roads, pucca homes, broad streets, big trees for shade, proper school for the children, waste management, properly demarcated properties, potable water, regular electricity, in short, a model place of residence. A decade ago, this was not the case for Dhanora village in Dholpur district of Rajasthan.

Fast forward to 2016, Dhanora village got a new life when the Eco Needs Foundation adopted the village and kickstarted the Smart Village project. Under this project, various efforts were made towards sustainable development including sanitation, proper housing, road reconstructions, access to solar power and clean drinking water, tree plantation, water conservation, among others.


For Dhanora, a small village of roughly 2000 residents, located about 248 km from Jaipur, this happened after a long period of neglect.

What is a smart village?A village becomes a 'Smart Village' when its development fulfils all the requirements under the five basic categories: Retrofitting, Redevelopment, Green fields, e-Pan (electronic planning), and Livelihood.

• The Eco Needs Foundation, with the help of the locals, and the state government of Rajasthan, made this a possibility for Dhanora village, starting first with improving the road conditions.

Because of the poor road condition (read ‘very small’) the village was almost unreachable and thus the neglect continued for a long time. Once the roads were fixed, the village had access to the rest of the country. With new roads came proper housing, redevelopment of community halls, recreational areas, and schools.



Under Greenfield projects, new areas in the village were developed for facilities like waste disposal, waste water management plants, tree plantation.

e-Pan brought the village closer to the rest of the world through internet connection, solar power that gave uninterrupted electricity to the village, schools with computers, and public libraries.


All this made it possible for Dhanora village to open itself to the rest of the country and the world. Now, if you were to visit this village to see how a model smart village looks like, you would have access to a community centre from where you can get all the information. Reaching the village is not an issue now, and there’d be all the basic amenities one needs to experience a destination.

1. How to reach Dhanora village?
   Dhanori is 248 km from Jaipur. Nearest train station is the nearest railway connection to Dhanora village.
2. Are there any big cities near Dhanora village?
   Mandalgarh , Bhilwara , Nimbahera and Rawatbhata are the nearest cities.
3. How to reach Dhanora by road?
   Nearest bus stations are New Bus Station in Jai Nagar Road, Begu Bus Stand in Begun, Nandwai Bus Stand in Nandwai, Barundani Chouraya Bus Stop in Barundani.