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PROGRESS REPORT FOR THE PERIOD
April 2002 to March 2003
The year began with stress
The District of Mysore faced severe drought situation during the kharif
season of 2002, with a total rainfall of 583.1 mm. as against the normal
annual rainfall of 904 mm. Landless labourers and marginal farmers
started migrating in search of work to the neighbouring districts of
Erode, Kodagu and Mandya. Even in these districts, employment
opportunities were scarce during the year since the drought conditions
were widespread in the entire state of Karnataka. H.D. Kote and
Nanjangud taluks in Mysore district were listed among the severely
affected taluks, and these two areas being the focal areas of Myrada-PLAN
H.D. Kote Project, the conditions had a direct bearing on the work
of the Project. The Project responded by creating temporary employment
opportunities for the local communities by taking up labour generation
programmes such as desilting of tanks, trench digging for tree planting,
making boulder blocks for use in construction activities, etc. These
efforts preceded the efforts of the Government of Karnataka in providing
food for work to the farmers during the drought period. (The tanks
desilted have been filled with water during the summer showers received
recently.)
As a consequence of the drought, the current year saw sustained and
prolonged (almost 3 months) disturbances in the project area due to
frequent bundhs and strikes called by the farmers agitating against the
release of water from Kabini and Cauvery rivers to the State of
Tamilnadu. This also effected kharif agricultural operations. Pest
attack on cotton was another problem faced by the farmers during the
year. It was estimated that in H.D.Kote taluk alone, the farmers
lost 3 crores of rupees from cotton, which is a major crop in the area.
The farmers also agitated demanding electricity for irrigated
agriculture and for waiver of interest on crop loans availed by them
from banks and co-operative societies.
But cheer was also present
The self help affinity groups played a significant part in mitigating
the drought-related stress on the poor by giving hundreds of members
loans for food purchase and making alternate income-earning investments.
Neither was there any demand for waiver of loans taken by SHGs
from banks and Sanghamithra Rural Financial Services. On-time repayment
exceeded 99%, for which the Project can rightly take credit for its
capacity building efforts and the creation of buffers (i.e. enabling
the groups to build up their common funds over the last decade to levels
that protect them well in times of risk).
Local Level Institutions
The Project is working with 1,717 self help affinity groups, 57
watershed associations, 59 federations of self help groups, 206 school
committees, 238 children’s clubs, 84 village water and sanitation
management committees, and 13 community resource centres. The
last-mentioned is a new Myrada initiative that has picked up well and is
rapidly getting stronger. Not just groups promoted by the Project but
also those promoted by others – including the Government, under
programmes like Sthree Shakthi – are enrolling as members of the
community resource centres.
More than 600 new linkages were established between financial
institutions and SHGs in the current year.
Watershed Development
1,560 ha. have been covered with treatment measures. NABARD is
financing the programme in two locations, one of which has taken off
well and the other is slowly gaining momentum. The Government has also
approached the Project to take up watershed development in five
watersheds in H.D. Kote Taluk under the National Watershed
Development Project (NWDPRA). Planning activities are in
progress.
Drinking Water, Health and Housing
The Project is involved in community participation activities under the
Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission Project in 30 villages of H.D.Kote
and Nanjangud taluks. A large drinking water system servicing a
population of 15,000 at Sargur Town was completed during the year.
The trained Health Volunteers on the Project are regularly conducting
training and awareness programmes for SHGs on general health,
safe drinking water, immunisation, personal hygiene, public sanitation,
prevention of HIV-AIDS and STDs, etc. 275 trainings were
conducted in the current year, apart from public campaigns, particularly
on HIV-AIDS. Training programmes for adolescents is another focal
programme, particularly to make them aware of reproductive health and
the consequence of early marriages. Improving School sanitation was
given emphasis during the year, with assistance from the Zilla Panchayat
Mysore. In 33 schools, construction of toilets, provision of water
facilities, and construction of compound walls were completed. Wall
paintings were also made to create awareness among children on the need
for maintaining hygiene in the school.
Housing for poor families, which was a major program of H.D.Kote
Project in the past, was continued during the year. 79 families were
supported for house construction and 191 families were supported for
home electrification. However, the Project contributed only 20% of the
costs of constructing the house. The balance was mobilised from the
beneficiaries themselves and from the Government under the Ashraya
Scheme.
Education and Vocations
The Project continued to supplement government efforts to improve school
infrastructure. 44 classrooms were constructed during the year. In
addition, the Project supported children’s ‘Right to Recreation’ by
organising excursions, picnics, a visit to the Fantasy Park at Mysore,
etc. Creativity camps and summer camps organised during the year were
attended by a total of 3,570 children.
433 youth (boys and girls) were supported to learn vocational skills.
Training in skills such as tailoring, knitting, bag making, etc. were
provided by Spoorthi Centre and Jyothi Vikas Kendra which are local
NGOs working in the area. Skills such as driving, fashion designing
and nursing were imparted though appropriate specialist institutions.
Training Activities
The Training Centre at H.D.Kote is functioning independently as a
CIDOR (Centre for Institutional Development and Organisational
Reform), though legally still a part of Myrada. In the current year,
3,956 training programmes were conducted for various loca level
institutions and attended by 71,208 participants. Many of the sessions
were handled directly by community trainers who had previously been
trained by the Project. Persons from other institutions visiting the
CIDOR for training and to learn from the experiences of Myrada
included I.A.S. probationers from Mussoorie, Zilla Panchayath
officers from Orissa, government officers from Vietnam, NGO and
government staff from Indonesia, staff from several in-country NGOs,
and students from Japan. ***************** |
