SEDS: story of a green revival

ANANTAPUR: The once bald mountains and barren valleys in the five Mandals of Roddam, Penukonda, Chillamathur, Gorantla and Somandepalli in Anantapur district are now teeming with greenery and life. More than 20 years of sincere effort in the direction has paid rich dividends.

Dense forests have been raised and massive shade giving and fruit bearing trees developed into a canopy covering thousands of hectares in what were once forest lands devoid of greenery. As one traverses through the length and breadth of the five mandals adopted by Social, Education and Development Society (SEDS) in the Penukonda revenue division, it is unbelievable that such massive forestation work has been done by a low profile NGO founded by Rajan Joshuva from Kerala and Manil Jayasena Joshuva from Malaysia.

They both met in Anantapur district and by providence got married. Soon after their marriage, they settled in a remote village called Anandapuram in Penukonda mandal and by their hard work and sheer dedication they built a set-up which uplifted the underprivileged on the educational, social and environmental front.

“We faced stiff resistance and blind opposition to the forestation drive from the locals. They cut down the trees planted by us and offered no cooperation as we opposed tree felling by the locals; but our persistence, perseverance and patience paid off and ultimately they began to understand the seriousness of our cause,” said Rajan Joshuva, executive director of SEDS.

Environmental police

SEDS was not only able to successfully raise 2.2 million living trees in the five mandals, but were able to transform every villager into an environmental policeman. Today if any outsider came with any ulterior motive , the villagers act as policemen and drive them away, Mr. Joshuva remarked.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/20/stories/2010072053000200.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

In the service of poor women

Sri Sathya Sai Eswaramma Welfare Trust+

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Sri Sathya Sai Eswaramma Welfare Trust rendering yeoman service

Awareness on nutrition:Members of Eswaramma Women’s Trust at a cooking demonstration.

Anantapur: Sri Sathya Sai Eswaramma Welfare Trust, named after the mother of Sri Sathya Sai Baba and run as a sister concern of the Sathya Sai Trusts, is rendering yeomen services to the poor, needy and pregnant women in the rural Puttaparthy mandal. It is engaged in health education with particular reference to preventive aspects of all women-related ailments, hygiene, economic empowerment of women, nutritional support to mothers and children, pre-natal and post-natal support and also encouraging institutional deliveries among rural women.

The medical teams of the Trust visit villages in Puttaparthy, Bukkapatnam, Kothacheruvu, Nallamada and Gorantla mandals throughmobile health units and offer care and support to pregnant and post-natal women apart from immunising children in the age group of 0 to 5 years. The Eswaramma Trust conducts medical camps every month in 30 odd villages in five mandals.

Inspiration

Chetana, chairperson of the Eswaramma Trust, told The Hindu that her inspiration to serve the poor came from Sri Sathya Sai Baba and her mother Eswaramma who gave to the world a divine personality.

The Trust is also organising ‘cooking demonstrations’ in rural areas to educate women on cooking affordable and nutritious food.

The Trust had been donating cycles to poor students, water filters to families in Amagundapalem, Bukkapatnam and Karnatnagepalle mandals. It also supplies hygienic and nutritious food to the devotees and tourists through its stalls. It is also promoting tailoring among rural women and also extending training in production of children’s napkins and sanitary kits.

Ms. Chetana says that before the Trust launched its activities in 2005, women preferred to deliver babies only at home but due to their education more than 75 percent of women had opted for institutional deliveries resulting in zero mortality rate among them.

Women in villages adopted by the Trust had been trained and rehabilitated in running community kitchens, juice centres and protected drinking water schemes.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/21/stories/2010052158940200.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

Guntakal women lead in poverty-alleviation programme

Samaikya creates economic revolution channelising women power

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Objective of the programme is to strengthen SHGs, build the capacity of community organisers

About 2,000 self-help groups formed with more than 15,200 members living in 48 slums

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ANANTAPUR: Slum women in the Guntakal municipality are in the forefront of the poverty-alleviation programme being implemented by the Andhra Pradesh Urban Services for the Poor (APUSP) with the support of Andhra Pradesh Mahila Abhivruddi Society (APMAS). The APUSP has elected three towns in the State including Guntakal in Anantapur district, Gudivada in Krishna district and L.B.Nagar in Hyderabad. However, Guntakal women topped in their performance among the three Municipalities.

Objectives

About 2,000 self-help groups had been formed with more than 15,200 members living in 48 slums under the banner of Sthree Shakti Pattana Mahila Samaikya. The Samaikya has created an economic revolution by channelising women power for constructive purposes.

The objective of the programme is to strengthen the SHGs and build the capacity of community organisers, project officers, community resource persons and facilitate networking of SHGs.

The Samaikya was able to organise bank linkages to eligible self help groups by providing them loans which was utilised by the women to generate income, repay old debts and come out of the clutches of private money lenders. Besides they had even undertaken income generation activity like basket-weaving, running of provisional stores, vegetable marketing and other allied activities apart from investing the amount on education, health and house repairs.

Family budgets have been prepared for the members of nearly 1,000 self-help groups and their family monthly to effectively plan their economies.

The self-help groups stand as a solid rock behind every member and rises to the occasion in times of crisis. Food security has been provided to the members of the Samaikya by distributing rice to the members. The Samaikya had been launched in April 2006 and ever since had been growing as a vibrant women’s organisation.

Majority of the SHGs joined the Janasree Bheema Yojana. The Pattana Samakya namely ‘Sthree Shakthi Pattana Mahila Samakya’ has resolved and created risk fund from May 2007 onwards to the insured persons.

Under this if any of the insured person or her nominee dies immediately an amount of Rs.2,000 will be paid from the risk fund without waiting for claim settlements.

The Samaikya women are also actively involved in sanitation and garbage clearance with the cooperation of the Guntakal municipality.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/05/stories/2010050554940300.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

Budding scientists design combat device

The device gives an idea about the place under siege

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It was dedicated to Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan who was killed during 26/11

The system developed by the students can be used even by fire-fighters using fire-filters

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Anantapur: Students of information Technology (third year), Gates Institute of Technology under the leadership of P. Bharath have worked on an innovative project code named “Advanced communication and navigation system”. The students using their creative thinking and skills designed a Rover named SUK-26 in memory of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan who was killed in action during Mumbai attacks.

Other students who worked with Bharath included U. Bindu, K. Prajna, G. Ramesh Babu and G. Harish Kumar Reddy.

The students prepared a command control network called HKS command network. The system helps in studying the location and topography of the area. The commandos will get an idea of the location and the conditions inside the place under siege by the terrorists. The response time of the operation can be reduced to a maximum extent. This helps in saving the lives of people and policemen trapped in an alarming situation. The system developed by the students can be used even by fire-fighters using fire-filters.

Team leader Bharath told “The Hindu”, he and his colleagues were inspired to undertake designing of the engineering and surveillance technology after they studied the terrorist attacks in Mumbai and the vulnerability of people and security personnel under siege. The Research and Analysis Wing of India had warned of similar attacks by the terrorists and hence the students ventured to design the model.

Gates Institute chairman Thomas Reddy, MD G. Raghunath Reddy, correspondent V.K. Sudheer Reddy, V.K. Padmavathi, director, Dr. A. Ramesh, principal and D. Venkatesh, head of department helped the students in designing the model.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/01/stories/2010050159320200.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

NGOs chip in to make engg. students employable

Anantapur: About 500,000 students graduate from 750 engineering colleges in the State every year and only 20 per cent of them are employable by corporate and multi-national companies. The remaining have been finding it difficult to market themselves for lack of proficiency in English language, self-confidence and job skills.

The Ashwamedha Charitable Trust (ACT) and another NGO called Talent Sprint have jointly launched a training programme to help weak students in academics, job skills and personality development, N.T. Choudhury, chairman of Ashwamedha Charitable Trust said in a press release.

A meeting of the two NGOs was held recently at the local SK University to select students for the training and also to give appointment letters to the students trained by them and employed by corporate IT companies.

Talent Sprint chairman J.A. Choudhury said that the 500 selected students would be trained at Hyderabad. The training programme was being totally sponsored by the Ashwamedha Trust. So far the ACT had sponsored educational and job training of about 10,000 students belonging to economically weaker sections in the State.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/29/stories/2010042951740200.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

Major boost for rural sports

Anantapur, India: District Sports Officer C. Lakshminarayana Reddy on Thursday said that rural sports were being given a major boost by encouraging rural sportsmanship among children and youth by the Centre and State. He said that 108 panchayats had been identified under the first phase of Panchayat Youth Sports Aur Khel Scheme.

Under the second phase 88 panchayats have been identified for implementation of the scheme.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/23/stories/2010042350970200.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

A step towards creating an AIDS-free society

Around 1,600 sex workers from five mandals are part of anti-AIDS campaign in Anantapur

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With the help of CFAR and CERA, they have formed a group

The group prevents minors from entering into the trade and counsels new entrants

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Anantapur, India: The group of 1,600 odd sex workers formed by the Centre For Rural Action (CERA) and sponsored by the Centre For Advocacy and Research (CFAR) in five mandals in the district had graduated into an assertive community now, fighting for their rights and tackling HIV/AIDS effectively.

Gone are the days when sex workers operated with a guilt conscience in a fearful environment under threat of police harassment, pressure of physical violence by men, poor health conditions and risk of AIDS virus looming large over their frail lives.

The story of the sex workers before 2004 was one of harassment, rejection, living in seclusion, poor health, insecurity and living as objects of pity but after the CFAR and the CERA stepped into the scene, the sex workers came together as a community, organised themselves into a responsible band of educators by joining the bandwagon of the Anti-AIDS campaign.

Important issues

While leaving moral issues to the individuals who are part of the game, the community got organised under the guidance of the advocacy group to attend to issues of vital importance including health of sex worker, future of their children, educating the police on the real issues of their life and practicing “safe sex” and making it mandatory for men to use condoms.

In 2004 only 15 per cent of male customers coming to them were using condoms while the vast majority were disinclined to use condoms but today 95 per cent of clients were using condoms, says Sudha Rani, the programme officer of CEFAR during an informal chat with “The Hindu”.

Awareness

The sex workers were first educated and motivated on the pros and cons of practicing unsafe sex. Exclusive medical clinics were opened for them in the five mandals of Kalluru, Tadipatri,, Garladinne, Peddavaduguru and Anantapur . Free medicines for HIV and even for veneral diseases were being given. A doctor to cure their problems and to educate about health problems without embarrassment and inhibitions were extended to the sex workers, be it male or female sex workers or transgenders . Holding of community meetings, discussing problems and representing the same with the concerned agencies at the highest-level and interacting with the station officers at the police station-level were in vogue since 2004.

Sex workers fully convinced of their social responsibility educated their clients and almost made sex conditional to put a halt to the spread of HIV/AIDS virus. Due to community approach violence, police harassment and other related problems had been minimised, says Naga Lakshmi, an outreach worker.

She says that minor girls were being prevented from entering into sex business and even new entrants were being counselled on the far reaching consequences of living the life of a sex worker. Rama Lakshmi, president of Jhansi Lakshmi community-based organisation said that the campaign against AIDS by sex workers themselves has paid rich dividends and today only 195 of the 1,600 odd sex workers were victims of the AIDS virus.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/04/stories/2010030453540300.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu