It's celebration time across the Subcontinent again. Puthandu or Chitrai Thirunal - Tamil New Year marks the movement of the sun into the moon sign/rasi of Aries in Hindu astrology. It is marked by celebrations such as Mesha Sankranti, Tamil, Bengali, Odia and Sinhala New Year, Vishu in Keralam, Baishakhi in Punjab, Bihu in Assam as well as Buddhist New Year/Songkran celebrations across Southeast Asia and Yunnan in China - the Water Festival. This is a time where we all hope for peace and prosperity as always in these troubled times.
In this time of family, friends and shared celebrations I thought I'd share some successful CSR & government projects that have empowered and trained women farmers as well as rural and tribal communities and brought prosperity to previously arid and drought-dulled rural regions of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra as well as poverty alleviation programmes of the Keralam government that tackled the unpaid labour burden of women and women farmers and uplifted hundreds of thousands and eliminated poverty.
Tata Capital's watershed restoration and other rural community development initiatives in Maharashtra as well as Thiruvanamala district of Tamil Nadu has benefitted many women and women farmers as shared on World Water Day on the Sunshine Millennium Facebook page.
I have mentioned in this blog the successful intervention of the Srinivasan Services Trust (SST) the CSR wing of the Tamil Nadu based MNC TVS that has done great work in 4 states more than 15 years ago and many more places now since. A pioneer of sorts in CSR in Tamil Nadu especially in their empowerment of women and women farmers as well as tribal and community development made a huge impact in providing decent work and economic growth SDG8 to Thiruvanamalai district of Tamil Nadu among others.
To quote Ms. Krithika Ram, my Master's classmate's project submitted in December 2011 for the National Institute for Rural Development's Post Graduate Diploma in Sustainable Rural Development on Corporates and Rural Development.
SST's Vision statement reads- “To be catalysts in creating self-reliant villages by deploying the skills and resources of local governments, development agencies and the private sector to fulfill this vision.”
The Mission statement of SST reads-”To facilitate the process of sustainable development in rural India in key areas such as economic opportunities, quality education and health care, the creation and maintenance of infrastructure and environmental and cultural conservation, through active participation of national and state governments in partnership with local communities.
holistic approach aimed at making people self-reliant through active involvement of local communities. The Namakku Naame Thittam/Village Self-Sufficiency scheme in partnership with the local community, Rural Development Department and the Trust is maiden initiative leading towards sustainable community development.The livelihoods of the members [NOW] consist of food processing; animal husbandry; silk weaving; flower decoration; and banana fiber making. The SHGs dedicate this achievement of theirs to SST which has been taking care of their training and has been helping them get loans from banks.
The soil-sakhis have reached 2,394 farmers across nine drought-prone talukas of the five districts of Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur and Pune. As per a study conducted about the programme, their intervention has led to a total reduction of 988.37 tonnes CO2e (Carbon Dioxide Equivalent) emission.
Meanwhile Farmers for Forests headed by Kruthika Ravishanker with investments from across the globe (SDG17 Partnerships for Progress and SDG13 Climate Action) is quietly transforming lives of farmers and boosting the carbon sequestration of the region by planting fruit trees which also boost incomes and reduce hunger and poverty in the formerly suicide prone belt of drought hit regions of Western India - Maharashtra especially.
