E-Sandesham

January, 2011

The Official E-Newsletter of Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty

Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty, HUDA Hermitage Complex, 4th floor, Hill Fort Road, Hyderabad -- 500004. Ph: +91-40-2329 8981/76/80, 2329 8665/92, 2329 8461/67

E-Sandesham
In this Issue
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January, 2011

The Official E-Newsletter of Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty

From the CEOs desk...
A life without purpose is a languid, drifting thing; every day we ought to review our purpose, saying to ourselves: This day let me make a sound beginning, for there is so much to be done. As a New Year begins, we at SERP renew inception to ensure that women have an equitable position in their household as well as the society. Our article on Gender focuses on our efforts in tackling domestic violence and other social disputes by involving the community. Livestock, especially cattle are an important asset for a rural household. They are complementary to agriculture and provide financial and nutritional security. They are a handy asset in the hour of crisis. Recognizing this potential we have focused on dairy interventions and the result is promising with Andhra Pradesh becoming the second largest milk producing State last year from fourth position in four years. Women overcoming the barriers of poverty and social harassment are testimony of our efforts and we have articles featuring two such heartening life stories. Every New Year brings with it fresh hopes but laced with new challenges and that makes the journey for all of us at SERP more exciting and pushes our adrenalin to strive harder to reach newer and bigger Milestones. Heres wishing all our readers a very Happy New Year 2011 B.Rajsekhar, IAS

Gender Strategy Family Counseling Centres

Livestock Rearing An Effective means to fight poverty

Life Story-1 Life Story-2

our commitment to strengthen the SHGs and their Federations and together work towards poverty free Andhra Pradesh. While the decade of 2000-2010 was a period of consolidation of the process of social mobilization of the poor that resulted in nearly 10 lakh SHGs, 38,000 VOs, 1099 Mandal Samakhyas and 22 Zilla Samakhyas, the vision for the new decade of 2011-2020 is about these selfmanaged and self-controlled institutions of the poor being the prime-movers in partner-

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ing with Governments and Markets to eradicate poverty of its members. Our strong belief is that AP will meet its MDG commitments by 2015 with the strong collaborative effort between the Government and these institutions of the rural poor women. Women are the key stakeholders in this relentless battle against poverty and women empowerment is a necessary and sufficient condition to achieve that. As a result, SERP has had a Gender Strategy in place since its

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Gender Strategy -Family Counseling Centres

Jamuna.P (Director -- Gender)
Women empowerment in the true sense can only be achieved when a woman is secure and confident in her own family, mere financial independence cannot ensure total freedom from oppression. The entire success of SHG movement can only be realized if gender equity is achieved. The Gender unit of SERP has been working over the years to provide women with sufficient avenues to be able to express themselves freely and claim their just position in the society which is predominantly patriarchal in nature. There are instances where a woman may be earning for her family but still dependent on her husband, in-laws or children for every little thing; thus the primary objective becomes to increase the decision making level of the woman in the family. Every woman should have equal say in all important decisions taken in the family and in the society as well. In addition, freedom to mobility is an important aspect to safeguard the right of woman to move freely for livelihood, social and recreational purposes. This is a significant indicator of a womans position in her household, where she may move in and out of the house as and when needed. Intra-family equity plays a crucial role in safeguarding interests of women across all age-groups. An equitable say in decisions, education, assets, food, health needs, etc. will ensure that girl child as well as dependent old women are not neglected and their basic necessities are met. These are attitudinal shifts perceptive in nature and will take a long time to be internalized in a society patriarchal in its outlook. Women oppression is rampant, and the poor women who belong to marginalized communities are the most vulnerable. These women are considered easy prey by the influential and victimized. Extreme poverty and male chauvinist tendencies have given rise to several social evils like girl child

infanticides, forced abortions, child and women trafficking, sexual harassment, etc. The main reason such acts of atrocity continue is because the poor victims are unable to seek justice. A poor woman struggling to ensure two square meals for herself and her family does not have the wherewithal to approach police, lodge a complaint and fight a court case. Justice is beyond their reach and to combat such a situation, the Gender unit has trained Gender CRPs setting up Social Action Committees. Members of these committees take up social issues relating to domestic violence, marital disputes, dowry harassment; sexual harassment, trafficking etc. free of cost and facilitate a fair conflict resolution. Once they receive a written complaint from the victim, they undertake the necessary steps to resolve conflicts and approach police, judiciary or the bureaucracy as and when the need arises. Community Managed Family Counselling Centres (CMFCC) at Mandal Level: Objectives of the CMFCC: CMFCC is established to take up social issues relating to domestic violence, marital disputes, dowry harassment, sexual harassment, child trafficking and child labour etc. Setting up of the CMFCC: Mandal Mahila Samakhyas (MMS) allocate a room for the Social Issue Committee

members to carry out their work. The committee works from 10 A.M to 5 P.M on a specified day every week to address the case work on violence against women at mandal level CMFCC. The details of the dates, timings are informed to all the Self Help Groups (SHGs) through the leaders of the Village Organisations (V.O).

Definition of Violence against women: Any act of gender based violence that results in, or is likely to result in physical, sexual, verbal, visual, psychological, emotional and financial abuse, harm or suffering to women, including threats, invasion, assaults and that have the effect of hurting her or taking away her ability to control, contact another individual, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.

Every SHG nominates one member to be the Gender point person. All the gender point persons come together to form the Gender Forum. 10 members are elected from the gender forum, which would then go on to form the village Social Action Committee (SAC).

development officer, doctor, lawyer etc... Process followed at the CMFCC is as follows: Solving cases The Process: A case can come to Family Counselling Centers directly from women or can be forwarded from the VO Social Action committees when there are cases that could not be solved at the village level. Irrespective of how the case has been received, application can be taken from the victims parents or other family members like her brothers / sisters. The features of CMFCC are as follows: A team of 10 members elected from the village SAC are chosen as representative in the CMFCC CMFFC members deal with social issues at the mandal level The members of this team are trained on various aspects like social agenda, family laws, counselling aspects, women development etc... The team members are paid a daily wage and travel expenses to the villages. In certain circumstances, the Family Counselling Centre also provides monetary help to the victims towards medical, travel and legal expenses This team calls for a convergence meeting every month with the local police officers, mandal revenue officer, mandal It must be ensured that the application has the signature of the applicant along with the date of application. All received applications must be properly kept along with the case number assigned. On the basis of the application, a case is registered with the Family Counselling Centre / Social Issue Committee. For this purpose, case register should be maintained. The victim is contacted and the FCC team will discuss with her atleast two or three times. In the beginning, the victim is encouraged to state her problem openly and come up with a solution which in her opinion is best to solve her problem. The case is taken further based on the discussions. Everything discussed is noted down and is stored as case history for further use.

 The opposite party is either called through a letter or a message from women leaders of the family counselling centre of social issue group members of the village organisation. In case of no response from the opposite party, the members visit him themselves. All this is done to develop a clear impartial understanding of the case. Both parties are called for a hearing at the family counselling centre. The case is discussed in the presence of both parties and the VOs of the respective villages. The family counselling centres facilitate the process until a mutually satisfying decision is reached. If this is not possible, both parties can be called for another meeting or concerned action can be taken.Depending upon the situation and the case involved, a case can be registered in a police station or a court. Assistance needs to be taken from the Advisory officer when a case is registered with a court. No private lawyer must be employed. Only when the victim appoints her own advocate will a private lawyer is accepted. If the case is solved at the social action committee itself, the finalized decision must be written on `10bond paper and signatures of both parties must be taken. Social action committee members cannot act as witnesses

Brewing of illegal liquor was going on unabatedly in Naraasapuram village in Vissannapeta Mandal in Krishna District. The incidents of consuming liquor and wife beating had become the order of the day. Taking up cudgels against liquor brewing the women folk of the Mahila Sanghams under the leadership of the Social Action Committee took up agitation and approached the excise officials and village Sarpanch providing information against persons making liquor demanding action.
Action against arrack producer

In spite of warning from the excise officials the brewers started making liquor more vigorously. Though the Sangham members warned the brewers of dire consequences the latter did not care and asked them to mind their own business claiming that they were unafraid and already bribing each excise official in the tune of `3000 every month. After much agitation and facing abuse from the brewers, finally the Mahila Sangham leaders approached the district collector who responded positively and ordered to put an end to liquor brewing even in thandas.

Challa Susheela is a brave woman belonging to BC community from Share Mohmmadpet village, Jaggayyapet Mandal in Krishna. She is close to 40yrs of age and has studied upto class VII. The youngest child to daily wage labourers, she was married off before she attained puberty. Like several young girls in her village she had birth to 2 children before she was 18. However, since she had given birth to two girls and lost her husband soon, she was subjected to severe harassment by her mother in law who resorted to keeping her and her children hungry and out in the rains and was dependent on the pity of her neighbours to see through her basic needs of food and shelter. All this changed once she decided to join the Sri Anjaneya SHG in 1997. Buoyed by the support she got there, she soon overcame her financial troubles and started taking active interest in helping women facing similar circumstances. Gradually she became the leader of her group and became the secretary of the Social Action Committee. She then started the Family Counselling Centers (FCCs) Since then she has handled more than 60 cases in her mandal and got trained as Gender CRP. Apart from counselling several cases of family disputes among husband and wife in her mandal, she has visited Nalgonda, Medak, Warangal and Ranga Reddy districts guiding women groups in establishing SACs and FCCs in these places. ChallaSusheela now dreams of sending her girls for higher education and hopes that no other woman has to go the kind of torture she underwent.

in this scenario. Original copy of this document can be kept in the family counselling centre and duplicate copies can be given to both parties. After the case is solved, follow up action must be done to ensure that all conditions are met. Welfare of the victim must be verified frequently. Cases of rape must be filed in the police station while divorce cases must be registered with the Lok-Adalats. Compensation given to the victim by the Social action committees must be deposited in the victims bank account in case of cash and must be registered in the name of the victim or her children in case of land dealings. When the case is filed in a police station or court, a copy of the FIR or the affidavit must be taken and kept safe. Having Gender CRPs has been a boon to many oppressed poor and several women and children have come out of the clutches of familial harassment and violence leading a free life.

Livestock Rearing, an effective means to fight poverty

Kranthi Kumar Suman, YP (Livestock & Poultry Development)
Livestock are an important part of the economy and livelihood system of rural poor; and are viewed as financial, social, and natural capital. Livestock has complementary utility with Agriculture, they play an important role in farming system through animal draught power and nutrient recycling through manure compensating for unattainable access to tractors and fertilizers and agri-wastes from the produce often works as fodder making livestock maintenance viable. It is not only important for employment, income generation and food security but are often the only capital reserve of farming households, to be sold when times are hard. Animal sourced food especially eggs and milk provide high quality food for child nutrition and can improve overall nutritional status of poor families. Livestock are also a tool for achieving gender equality since most of the activities in livestock rearing are controlled by women in the households. Livestock, in one way or other, are critical to enhancing the livelihoods of poor and empowering the vulnerable groups. Recognising the potential of Livestock, SERP initiated dairy development interventions which gave encouraging results and positive impact on rural livelihoods. Andhra Pradesh was fourth largest milk producing state in 2005-06, producing 7.62 Million tonnes. Now Andhra Pradesh has surpassed Punjab, and Rajasthan to become second largest milk producing statewith production of 9.57 million tonnes of milk. The major chunk of credit for this success goes to rural poor women members of SHGs who have taken rearing of milch animals as their livelihoods to come out of poverty. They are now getting Minimum Support Price for the milk produced in their houses. But this was not the case four years ago when there was no option than to sell milk to local milk vendors for `6 `7 per litre. What was started on pilot basis in two mandals in 2006 has now expanded to 176 mandals in 20 districts of Andhra Pradesh with

199 Bulk Milk Cooling Units managed by Mandal Samakhyas. Nearly 1,50,000 producers in 4500 villages are pouring milk at village milk procurement centres and they have negotiating power in the market. In order to tap the potential of livestock to its maximum, SERP is now expanding its activities towards small ruminants (sheep, goats) and poultry as well. Livestock & Poultry Development has been made an integral component of PoP Strategy. It is envisaged that every PoP family will

important if dairying has to be a sustainable livelihood for rural poor. And hence several steps were taken to ensure availability of Green fodder through mandal level perennial green fodder nurseries; concentrate feed through mini feed mixing plants; breeding facilities through Gopalmitra and breeding bull in every village; and veterinary health services through veterinarians and Para- veterinarians. Community members are also trained on the basics of Animal Nutrition and Animal Reproduction to propagate dairy best practices in the villages. By the end of December 2010, about 2000 acres of perennial fodder have been propagated from 189 mandal nurseries. Feed credit line is operational in 750 villages through 50 feed mixing plants. 1300 SHG women in 150 mandals have been

have livestock of their choice (Cattle/ Buffalo/ Sheep/ Goats/ Poultry) which will enhance the productivity of their existing resources and result in additional income. SERP has earmarked `5191.20 lakhs of SGSY fund as 50% subsidy, to be utilized for milch animal induction in PoP households. It is expected that a minimum of 58,012 PoP families will be benefitted and have an earning member in the form of milch animal in their homes by the end of January 2011. In due course of this intervention, it was felt that besides providing forward linkage, backward linkages support is equally

trained and deployed as Spearhead Team to propagate fodder and feed in the villages. One drive has been launched to utilize leakage water near irrigation bore wells; and drainage water for fodder cultivation and as a part of this drive about 18000 bore wells have been covered by SHT members. Breeding bulls have been bought from other states to improve the local animals. SHG women members are being trained on animal health care and deployed as Animal Health Workers and Livestock Extension Worker to cater to the needs of primary animal health care.

Breaking the Shackles of Poverty...

Story of Aravala Jayamma, a SHG beneficiary

Background: Poverty led me to the edge of death, but fortune brought me back. My husband used to spend all the days earnings for his liquor and even used to borrow the same. I had to feed the family as he was indifferent. He used to take away even my wages and beat me for not being able to give him food when he came back fully drunk. It became impossible for me to feed the family without money, despite my hard work. Thinking that there was no solution to my problem, I decided to call it a day. I took my daughter and two sons to the well in the nearby field and wanted to jump into it. But, the owner of the field spotted me and consoled me. He spoke to my husband and warned him against ill-treating me. Even after this incident, there was not much difference in his attitude towards the family and children. He did not stop drinking and continued to borrow at very high interest rates for his liquor. As the situation worsened, I had to send my elder son to the landlord on a yearly wage agreement as I could not provide him food and clothing. I struggled for several days during that period, only with a hope that

Name Name of the SHG Age Caste Education Status Children Village Mandal District

Aravala Jayamma Jyothi Mahila Sangham 45 Years Scheduled Caste Illiterate Three Dimmagudi Peddavaduguru Ananthapur

someday all of this would change. The Change: During these tough days, I joined the Self Help Group (SHG) and started saving `10 a month. I had to wait for almost a year to receive some financial help from the group. My long wait ended when I received `10,000 as my first loan. I did not hesitate even for a single moment about how to utilise the funds, as I was planning about this right from the moment I joined the SHG. I took the money and purchased 10 goats and started rearing them with the help of my children. Today, after several loans

from the banks and the group, I was able to increase the number of goats to 70. I was able to buy three acres of agriculture land through goat rearing. My children are happy today and are able to get food three times a day. Looking at my progress, my husband too changed and extended his support. He gave up drinking and is fully involved in goat rearing. With his support we have been able to purchase five acres of agricultural land and a permanent house. Assets Created: 9 Acres of agricultural land 2 Houses 3 Cows, 20 Sheep, 70 Goats, 1 Buffalo, 20 Poultry Chicks. 2 Bulls and a cart Colour Television 5 sovereigns of gold and 20 sovereigns of silver Cycle, tape recorder. Current Sources of Income: Agriculture Cows Buffalo Goats Sheep I still remember the day when everyone in the village ignored me as my husband was a drunkard. There was no respect for me S.No 1 2 3 4 4 5 S.No 1 2 3

Loans Availed
Bank
Amount 12000 30000 10000 50000 10000 Purpose Purchase a Cow Purchase Goats Construction of House Purchase Agricultural Land Release gold from Mortgage

Group
Amount 15000 6000 8000 10000 Purpose Family Expenditure Health Care Buy Food grains Celebrate Festivals

and relatives rejected us and we were never invited for festivals or family functions. I lived like a slave in the house with my inlaws. My active participation in the group has changed my life. From total poverty, we are today able to own nine acres of land, two houses for my two sons and some gold and silver. The total value of our assets is estimated around `3.70 lakh and it was all possible because of the loans from the group and the bank linkage. I now realize that the group is a very big asset for any woman.

Gender Success Story

Story of how the Gender strategy brought change to the life of Basheerunnisa...
Background: It was the women of my SHG group who gave me the courage to stand up and have my own identity. Born at a teachers house I was pulled out from school when I was in class V to take care of younger siblings. Being gullible I got lured in the sweet talk of my neighbor, Murali Krishna falling in love with him and got pregnant. At this point he deserted me and after being unable to get the abortion done, my parents also turned against me. Feeling desperate I left home looking for him, I was alone all throughout my pregnancy and when my boy was four months old, could I find him getting remarried. I stopped the marriage with the assistance of the police and got married with Murali Krishna. He did not like me taking the help from police and started to harass me both physically and mentally. He refused to give money for family provisions and started getting drunk frequently. Unable to bear more, I lodged a police complaint but he continued with his errant ways in spite of repeated warnings. I went on putting up with all this for another 10 years with the hope that he will change himself some day. My efforts to get back to my parents were in vain and I also gave birth to another boy. Finding it nearly impossible to raise my two kids with Murali Krishna finally I left home in 2001. After leaving him I tried to live with my parents but they did not welcome me. I went to Murali Krishnas native place Itikala Kota, but his parents also did not support me. Finally his aunt took me in providing me shelter and all kinds if support. The Change: Initially for an year I worked as the caretaker at the bridge school to cook for the children, it was there, I heard about IKP and the SHG movement. I decided to return to my native village and hired a thatched house as my parents still refused me shelter. I met some

Name Name of the SHG Age Caste Education Status Children Village Mandal District

Basheerunnisa Jyothi Mahila Sangham 45 Years Scheduled Caste Illiterate Three Dimmagudi Peddavaduguru Ananthapur

of the women in the village to form a group and became a community activist. Deriving strength from the group I started to borrow from the group and the bank to start selling saris in the village. While handling this small business I was able to manage the accounts and activities of the group. Soon I became the president of the group and subsequently of the Village Organisation. Social Action Committee: I became member of the Social Action Committee in the village. My personal experience before and after marriage equipped me to understand the problems of other women and help them overcome such problems. My active participation in the Committee led me to become the Community Resource Person (CRP) for Gender. As CRP I have visited Kurnool, Medak, and Krishna districts, but have limited my work mainly in West Godavari district. Cases Handled as Gender CRP : As Gender CRP, I handled four cases of domestic violence in and one about a dispute between two families in my native village. I meet women in trouble and do my best to help her come out of the problems. In one case, wife and husband were fighting all the time. They had almost decided on a divorce, leaving their two children inn quandary. The wife alleged that the husband was not taking care of her while the husband alleged the wife of infidelity having no inter-

est in him and the children. At this stage I took the initiative as Gender CRP and counselled the couple separately and together convincing them to resolve their issues, today they are happily living together. In another case, a man was trying to cheat a woman he had been living with for years. She had a disabled son and the man helped the lady get pension for her boy and a house site in the village. Once these were cleared, he started harassing the woman to handover these to him. He also used to use up all her earnings from her pan shop and drove her out of her home. We took at the case with the Mandal Samakhaya and threatened to take up legal action. He tried getting help from his brother, who is a local MPTC; however we were able to use our influence and get the case resolved in the favour of the woman. She is now a active SHG member and sells vegetables in the village to support her family. The Success: When I look back, I feel proud of myself as I was able to overcome all my problems. Deserted by my family and lover in the early days, I have fought to have my own life. I was deprived of education when young but have now completed my class X education with the help of my group. I feel proud to be part of the Gender activities where I get an opportunity to work for women and help those in trouble. This was all possible, only because of the group.