how open defecation will have a negative impact on the health of their families,” says poshan sakhi Sabita Jani. At the maithri baithak, menstrual hygiene issues are discussed, especially with adolescents and young women. “Though the state government has started distributing sanitary pads to schoolgirls, the adolescents and young women who stay at home find it a financial burden to buy sanitary pads. So we encourage them to use clean cloths and sensitise them about proper washing and drying of the used cloth,”said Jasaswini Padhy, coordinator, Swabhimaan Project, pointing out that the use of cloth is preferable as sanitary pads will create an environmental problem in the near future.

Smita Jena, a poshan sakhi of Cherengaguda Village in Padmapur Panchayat, has been explaining to all the village women about how to provide better nutrition to girls and women. “Normally we say nutrition is needed for pregnant women and lactating mothers. But nutrition is essential for women of all ages, particularly adolescent girls. So, if adolescents understand the need of nutritious food it will have a positive impact on an intergenerational cycle. Because a healthy mother will deliver a healthy child,” she said. “Sometimes women are not allowed to attend maithi

Alisha Khara (22) prepares for her regular door-to-door counselling visit.

She puts on her jacket and picks up a bag with cards containing details of women’s health, nutrition, menstrual hygiene and the need for using toilets. “There are many issues women do not feel comfortable talking about in a group. They prefer one-to-one interaction. They also feel more comfortable and ready to open up in the familiar atmosphere of their own homes,” she says.

Alisha is a poshan sakhi (loosely translated as ‘nutrition aide’) in Kolabnagar, Badake-ranga Gram Panchayat, in Odisha’s Koraput District. She has been trained to counsel village women and adolescents about these issues. “When the village women understand the need for menstrual hygiene and toilets, it will solve many health issues,” says Alisha.

After completing Standard XII, Alisha married a young man from her village. Though hers was an early marriage, she was not willing to jump into motherhood immediately; rather, she wanted to pursue her studies. While attending a Maitribaithak, a monthly community meeting that gives women a space to

Street plays, with pertinent messages have villagers hooked 4

December 2018 - Volume 10 Issue 12 Rs 20

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Now, here is poverty of quite a different kind 2

Getting women to know more about nutrition, health and hygieneWorking on the premise that healthy women are crucial to a healthy society, a group of poshan sakhis are spearheading awareness campaigns in rural Odisha, both collective and one-on-one, to encourage adolescent girls and women to take better care of their nutrition, health and hygiene

discuss health, nutrition and WASH issues, at her village, she heard about different options for delaying pregnancy and discussed them with her husband. He agreed to delaying parenthood.

“But it was difficult to convince my mother-in-law that I wanted to delay pregnancy by at least 2-3 years. Then a poshan sakhi visited our home and after repeated counselling she convinced my mother-in-law,” Alisha says. That’s what impressed Alisha, and inspired her to work as a poshan sakhi. “I am enjoying this counseling work,” she says.

Apart from door-to-door counselling, poshan sakhis also encourage village women to participate in maitri baithaks (a meeting of friends). A UNICEF study conducted in 2016 suggested that organisations such as-self-help groups have the potential to manage grants to improve last mile delivery of essential nutrition services for women, provided they are enabled, supervised and protected against violence and exploitation.

To address this, a swabhimaan (self-respect) programme has been piloted in

Challenging a male bastion and driving change 5

Putting theory to practice for delivering development schemes 6

Walking in the woods and ‘finding my soul’ 3

rakhi ghosh, Koraput, Odisha

Messaging helps tribal people access entitlements 7

Koraputsadar Block in Koraput District and Pallahada Block in Angul District. The aim is to improve the health and nutritional status of adolescents, pregnant women and lactating mothers through an integrated multi-sectoral approach by activating the potential of the women collectives in the communities.

In 2016, the swabhimaan programme was piloted in Odisha through the Odisha Livelihood Mission (OLM) with support from UNICEF and Living Farms.

All the village women, including adolescent girls, participate in the maithri baithaks conducted once a month at the Swabhimaan Kendra, a village resource centre. “At maitri baithaks, besides discussing health and WASH (water, sanitation, hygiene) issues, we sensitise women on how to prevent early, poorly spaced and repeated pregnancies,” says Poshan Sakhi Laxmi Mandal.

According to the 2011 Census, Koraput District was among the lowest ranked in Odisha in the matter of using toilets. But poshan sakhis, who also act as sanitation motivators, helped bring about behavioural changes among villagers. Apart from sanitation motivators, a few women from self-help groups were encouraged to train as masons. The women masons, locally called rani mishtrys, help in constructing low cost toilets to make these villages ‘open ddefecation free’.

Radha Jani, a village woman, said, “We used to face numerous problems while going out to defecate or urinate in the night. But toilets gave us safety and dignity. Pregnant women, menstruating women and disabled women particularly find it safer than defecating outside.”

“We also teach women

Tribal healthcare lost in the woods 8

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Poshan sakhi Alisha Khara (back to camera) counselling village women during her visit to households.

Poshan sakhi Kamala Khara showing pictures relating to WASH and nutrition for pregnant women.

December 20182

Now, here is poverty of quite a different kindThe second half of the year is festival time – Ganesh Chaturthi in August, followed by Gokulashtami, then Dassera and Deepavali, Eid, Christmas and New Year, with various local and regional festivals in between. Are city residents becoming ‘poor’ in terms of creative joy in their pursuit of monetary goals? Of course, there are urban families that still observe traditions for the sake of the inner satisfaction they bring, to provide a change from the monotony of daily life, but the stark contrast between the two sets of families, rich and poor, should make us ponder about the role of rituals and customs, even if they seem meaningless sometimes. Lives devoid of creativity, are ‘poor’ too, in an important sense

Focus

On Ganesh Chaturthi, Sunitha and her two daughters woke up

early, and while the girls gathered clay from the banks of the stream that flows beside their village on the outskirts of Bengaluru in Karnataka, the mother busied herself drawing a fresh rangoli design outside their modest hut before starting preparations for making the special sweet modak that is associated with Lord Ganesha.

The three of them then moulded the clay into an image of Ganesha and set it on a small wooden plank that they had decorated with rangoli and red powder, stuck small mustard seeds for eyes and curved white paper rolls for the tusks. The girls fashioned a decorative crown with tinsel, sequins and coloured paper. They then sang songs in praise of the Lord who removes all obstacles, before sitting down to a special repast of kheer and modak. The immersion of the idol the following day was another event full of ritual, including going in a procession to the river bank with the idol held aloft.

In the nearby metropolis, Geetalakshmi and her family who live in a gated community in an upmarket suburb, drove into town to pick up a readymade Ganesha idol, brought it home in their car, put on a CD of devotional songs, then ordered modak from a take-out, before deciding to go out for a matinee show at the multiplex to celebrate the holiday.

For Dassera (Navaratri), Sunitha put out the traditional display of dolls. Her husband helped set up the tiered kolu ‘steps’ on which she arranged the dolls while her daughters created a side-display on a theme that differs from year to year – this time it was on a traditional wedding, with miniature bride and groom dolls decked up in finery that the girls stitched from scraps of silk and zari. The display

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sakuntala narasimhan, Bengaluruwas much admired by visitors. On the last three days of the nine-day festival, they performed arati and sang songs, and distributed home-made sweets as prasad to friends and relatives.

Geeta and her family used the festive holiday to go on a trip to see Hampi. The traditional kolu display was abandoned many years ago, as being “too much work”. For Krishna Jayanti (Gokulashtami), which celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna, Sunitha, as always, drew tiny feet of an infant coming into the house (representing infant Krishna’s footprints) with her fist dipped in rice paste, and the family sang songs on Krishna. Geeta bought readymade plastic rangoli stickers from the market and ordered sweets from the restaurant.

Deepavali meant different rituals for Sunitha’s family – getting up early, taking an auspicious oil bath, wearing new clothes, lighting crackers and putting out earthen lamps with wicks dipped in oil before going around to friends’ houses with sweets and seeking the blessings of the elders in each family by prostrating before them. Geeta’s daughters cribbed about having to take an ‘icky’ oil bath before dawn, so they slept in to

‘celebrate’ the holiday, then watched films on DVDs after lunch. Sweets were distributed via an online delivery service to business associates

For Christmas, Sunitha’s Christian neighbours fashioned wreaths from greenery gathered from a nearby riverbank and the whole family sang carols. Geeta’s friend Jacintha and her husband who live in the same gated community chose cards from an online site and sent them off electronically to friends and relatives. Their feast was also ordered online, to give the woman of the house rest on a festive day.

On the way back from

Sunitha’s village, I happened upon a group of rustic women by the roadside singing and dancing the traditional kummi in a circle near a tree trunk. It turned out that they were celebrating the Nagapanchami Festival, when snakes are worshipped (not so outlandish as it sounds – ecologists will tell you that snakes too have a purpose in the chain of evolution). One of the women I spoke to said “You are right akka (sister), singing won’t protect us from snake bites, but it still gives us an excuse to get together, and sing and relax; we can’t do it on other days when we go to work as maids in several houses.”

“What did you do during your New Year vacation?” I asked Sunitha’s daughters. “We learned a new pagade game from ajji (grandmother),” they said in unison. “It is more complicated than the usual pagade,” they added with excitement. “We will teach it to our friends when school opens.” Pagade is played with sea shells as counters.

I asked Geeta’s daughters the same question. “We watched the new version of Star Wars and Star Trek and some Kamal Haasan movies,” they replied,

while their mother added wryly, “They spent a fortune on buying DVDs; I told them it would be cheaper to hire the CDs, but this way they can watch the movies again and again with friends.”

Sunitha and her family are ‘poor’ by per capita income measure. Geeta’s are among the upper one per cent of the populace. Not poor in money terms. But in terms of creative pursuits and involvement? The rich family is poor in creative terms, because they can buy everything without exerting themselves. You measure opulence through how much physical effort you can avoid.

Doctors, however, speak of ‘doing with one’s hands’ as therapy. The joy of immersing oneself in creative work cannot be measured in money terms. Paying for a sticker is not the same as drawing an elaborate rangoli oneself, and having it admired by passers-by. There is the advantage of eye-finger coordination, as medical experts will point out, plus the bonus of focusing one’s brain on the task on hand and getting it right.

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Drawing infant footprints for Gokulashtami with rice paste, representing Lord Krishna walking into the house.

baithaks and we visit their houses and counsel mothers-in-law on the food, nutrition and rest that a pregnant woman needs,” she adds.

The Global Nutrition Report 2017 places India at the bottom of the table, with the most number of anaemic women in the world. According to the data, in India more than half (51 per cent) of all women of reproductive age have anaemia. Low awareness, illiteracy and the practice of putting the family before self when it comes to care are factors that often deter women from taking proper nutrition and care of themselves.

Apart from explaining the nutritional value of different foods, the poshan sakhis encourage

women to cultivate vegetables and fruits in the backyards of their homes. “After receiving training on minimal-cost cultivation of mixed vegetables, a few landless families have developed backyard kitchens. We provide them season-wise guidance and small loans so that every household with at least a small patch of land can grow vegetables to supplement nutrition for their families,” says Jasaswini. Sandhya Rout, a mother of two growing children, adding that thanks to her garden, her family now enjoys a variety of food. The children not only enjoy their meals, they also help their mother in tending the garden.

The tribal women are also given demonstrations on how to include the millet, corn, greens and tubers p l e n t i f u l l y available in these parts, in their diet. This helps them to add variety in their regular

Getting women to know more about nutrition...

meals. In Koraput-sadar where the

swabhimaan programme has been pil-oted, there are 25 trained poshan sakhis. “There are plans to increase the number to 50 by

Village women are all attention at a maitri baithak.

the end of this financial year and next year we have planned to implement this programme in the entire district,” says Sushmita Samantray, district project manager, OLM, Koraput.

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December 2018 3

Walking in the woods and ‘finding my soul’

“Into the forest I go to lose my mind and find my soul,” John Muir,

a Scottish-American naturalist and early advocate for the preservation of the wilderness in the US, had said way back in the 1800s. Known as John of the Mountains and Father of the National Parks, he created the world-famous Yosemite National Park in California. Little did he know that, in far-away Rajasthan, his maxim of “finding my soul in the forest” would find an echo in ‘tree therapy’.

Tree therapy is a novel initiative of the administration in Udaipur, a district in Rajasthan. The effort was launched in October this year. “Udaipur’s tree therapy is the first such initiative in Rajasthan and also perhaps in India,” O.P. Sharma, Indian Forest Service officer in Udaipur (North) told this correspondent. The move was

Borrowing leaves out of Japan’s and USA’s books, the Udaipur District Administration has initiated a novel de-stressing amidst nature plan, a unique ‘tree therapy’

inspired by the national health programme started in Japan in 1982, when the forest ministry of that country coined the term, shinrin-yoku, and promoted what it called ‘being with the tree’ as therapy.

Being one with nature is high on Japan’s priority list. Almost everyone in the Land of the Rising Sun takes every opportunity to walk or picnic under the cherry blossom trees. Japan has spent millions of dollars studying the physiological and psychological effect of what is now known as ‘forest bathing’.

The Centre for Environment, Health and Field Sciences in Japan’s Chiba University conducted a study measuring physiological effects on those who took to ‘forest bathing’ and found that simply being in touch with nature made subjects less stressed. There are 48 designated therapy-based ‘bathing trails’ in the country now.

“Just being with the trees and relaxing is the main focus of the therapy,” Sharma explains. In Udaipur, “there’s no hiking in the forest, no exercising. Just hugging the trees soothes frayed nerves. One can walk, preferably barefoot, sit, meander, relax, rather than try to accomplish anything in the forest,” he says.

“The primary motive is to get ourselves to relax, become stress-free by inhaling the essential oils, called phytoncides, found in wood, plants, some fruits and vegetables. The trees emit phytoncide to protect themselves from germs and insects. Not only does forest air feel fresh, inhaling phytoncide has been found to boost human immunity. One has to spend at least half an hour with the trees to get the desired result,” Sharma points out.

Udaipur is one of the greenest districts of Rajasthan, a desert state. It has abundant forest cover

– about 3.5 lakh hectares. The first area offering such therapy came up in Gulab Bagh. Spread over 100 acres, Gulab Bagh boasts of a lotus pond and trees like mango, guava, lemon, mulberry, bananas, sapota, tamarind, bullock's heart (ramphal), litchi and wood apple. Another area for forest bathers is coming up at the Mewar Biodiversity Park in Amberi.

The Biodiversity Park, meanwhile, has developed over 165 hectares of land with the help of funds allocated by the Rajasthan Biodiversity Board. The park boasts 63 types of trees, including a good number of sandalwood trees, 117 varieties of herbs and several other types of plants as well as many species of mammals, reptiles, birds, frogs and insects. Sharma says “Gulab Bagh and Mewar Biodiversity Park are ideal for forest bathing as the greenery and the number of trees make

rakhee roytalukdar, Jaipurthem peaceful havens for those who want to forget stress for a while”.

Swapnil, 23, who has taken to forest bathing with gusto, says: “The feeling is amazing. Being one with the nature silently, especially with trees, and just imbibing the sounds of the forest gets you into a soothe zone from where you don’t want to come out. It takes time to develop a relationship with nature but once you develop it, it will last a lifetime. Udaipur has never had this kind of forest walks before.”

Swapnil’s friend Indranil, 26, a fitness enthusiast, says, “There’s no pressure here, no urgency to lose weight, do yoga, meditate or work out, no milestones to achieve. Simply hug the tree, sit, or take a walk in the woods. The essential thing is to connect with trees and nature with all your senses. And sense a whole new world. ” <

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Forest bathers hug trees and spend some time with nature in Udaipur's designated tree therapy zones in Gulab Bagh and Biodiversity Park.

Lhingnei and her husband Thongkeng work in a

pineapple farm at Muolvom Village in Nagaland’s Med-ziphema Division, a place famous for pineapples. Monsoon being the peak season for harvest, the couple work tirelessly, from morning till evening, with a little rest over lunch which they prepare and have on the farm itself during a break.

Pineapple fruit has two seasons in a year, explain the couple — first from July to September and later in Autumn. The couple, like many others in the village, are engaged all year through with the pineapple farm. “We have no other job or occupation, we work round the year,” says Lhingnei.

During the off season, they weed the farm and take care of other things such as post-harvest management. The fruits are manually plucked from the farm and carried in a traditional basket. They pile up at the farm gate where the trader (mostly a middleman) from the town comes to collect the fruits.

Finding sweet success with pineapple cultivationFarmers in rural Nagaland have shifted from paddy cultivation, an age-old practice, to pineapple productionninglun hanghal, Imphal

Plucked pineapples from the farm being taken to city markets.

livelihood and sustenance. All families in the village are either directly or indirectly dependent on pineapple farming. It is either a primary or a secondary occupation — for both men and women.

Not surprisingly, unlike other villages in Northeast India where most women are into weaving or handloom as an important activity, traditionally or otherwise, women folk in Muolvom work full-time or are into related activity in the pineapple farm. For instance, Ngaineihat runs a roadside hotel where she also sells pineapples from her family farm. She manages her time between running the farm in the morning and the hotel during the day.

Misao and other pineapple farmers are gearing up to maximise their produce and take it to a new level — both in fresh and processed form. About a hundred pineapple farmers in Medziphema have formed a society called Muolsang Organic Pineapple Society, of which Misao is a founding member.

Misao says, in future, “we are looking forward to food processing and producing pineapple and its products on a larger scale”. With support

from the government, Misao and farmers in Medziphema hope to produce more pineapple products in different forms and commercialise them at various levels.

There are interesting facts about Nagaland and its passion for pineapple. The average yield of pineapple in Nagaland is estimated to be 50-80 tonnes / ha. The varieties of pineapple grown include Queen, Kew and Giant. Currently, 3700 hectares are being used for pineapple cultivation in the entire state. Earlier, pineapple cultivation was random and scattered over the years, progress has been made in terms of improvement in pineapple cultivation and commercialisation.

(Courtesy: The Hindu BusinessLine)

Muolvom is about 30 km from main Dimapur City in Nagaland where the plucked pineapple is unpacked. It is marketed here. However, the bulk of it goes further to Assam, mostly Guwahati, from where it is transported to other parts of the country, either as fresh fruit or in other form such as juice or processed form.

Pineapple farm owner Letth-ang Misao, proudly showing the harvest, asserts, “these are the sweetest pineapples in the world. They are purely organic — not a pinch of fertiliser or chemicals, either on the soil or the plant, is used”. As proof for his claim, he says that the total soluble solid (TSS ) — the measurement of sugar content — is highest in Muolvom pineapples.

Muolvom and surrounding villages in Medziphema Division of Nagaland are famous for growing the “sweetest” pineapples in the world. The agro-climatic conditions of the state are highly favourable for pineapple cultivation on a large scale. Misao proudly

states that the soil in Muolvom-Medziphema is so favourable for pineapple that saplings (or crown / cap with roots that are removed from the tip of the pineapple fruit for plantation) brought from elsewhere produce the same, best, pineapples when planted on this soil. Misao states that he himself has experimented with a variety of saplings/caps brought from elsewhere to grow on his farm and found it to be so.

Misao, who is in his mid-sixties, says he inherited the farm from his father — and naturally the occupation. “Our family has been into pineapple farming for generations” he says. Misao owns about five hectares of pineapple farm. According to Misao’s random calculation, a hectare of pineapple farmland produces about 20000 fruits. His annual harvest comes to about a lakh fruits, he says.

Village Muolvom is about 200 households. Most of them own a farmland or work at the farm as employees. Pineapple farming is their basic source of

The whole village watches mesmerised as a man and a woman dance

energetically to the beat of the dhol. It is foot-tapping music. But there’s more to it than music and dance. The lyrics of the song they are dancing to are catchy, but they’re also meaningful. It’s a street play by Chetabani, a six-member troupe which sensitises the uneducated and the marginalised sectors on issues as wide-ranging as vaccination, the right of the girl child to education, and benefit schemes instituted by the government.

Chetabani has been working for the past 23 years to spread social messages. But this time,

Street plays, with pertinent messages, have villagers hookedWhile campaigns like #MeToo have forced the world to sit up and take notice of the hitherto underreported or hushed-up scenario of abuse of women, an annual international initiative to create awareness about violence against women touched a chord with uneducated villagers in Odisha through the medium of the street play. The effectiveness of Shanta Memorial Rehabilitation Centre’s campaign is an eye-opener and other such organisations should take the cue to hold awareness campaigns among underprivileged sections through a medium that they loveaditi panda, Bhubaneswar

they’re performing under the aegis of Shanta Memorial Rehabilitation Centre (SMRC), an NGO based in Bhubaneswar.

SMRC’s campaign is part of the larger 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, an international campaign to challenge violence against women and girls, which starts each year on 25th November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and goes on till 10th December, Human Rights Day.

This year, SMRC’s initiative ran simultaneously in three states. The vehicle of communication was the street play. Plays were written to inform common

people about disability, gender-based violence and different government mechanisms to protect women in various arenas. Each dance drama is well-rehearsed and lasts for 45 minutes. Local language is used, and the message is kept simple so that it is easy to understand. The overall focus is the same as those of global campaigns such as #MeToo, #TimesUp, #NotOneMore, though the method of communication is radically different.

“Dancing continuously is very tiring but the appreciation that we get from the viewers is worth all the hard work,” says Rashmi Ranjan Sahoo, the male dancer of the troupe. He partners Snehalata Samal, while Jivananand Das on the keyboard and Prabhakar Biswal on the dhol provide the accompaniment. Bishnucharan Sathpathy manages everything from setting the stage to capturing the performances on camera. The ‘captain’, the main vocalist, is Swarnalata Jena, who also pens the lyrics of every performance.

Barsa Parida, a teenager in the audience, says, “The dance and music are very pleasing and everybody feels like dancing along with the troupe. Actually, there’s a lot we don’t know, and the messages of these plays are easy to understand and remember. Moreover, the whole family sees the plays, so the men also learn many things”.

“Women in villages have less access to information and very little time to sit in front of the TV, which is the only means of getting knowledge,” says Visakha Mustree after watching a Chetabani performance. “So, when we get information through street plays, we come to know that there are actually some laws and policies for women.”

Babuli Prasad, a local counsellor, who watched a campaign play, says the street play has a very easy connect with the people living in slum areas. “To use this medium to talk about disability and domestic violence as well as disseminate knowledge on government provisions is very interesting. More such initiatives on other good practices like

December 20184

Actors (above and below) play their parts with enthusiasm.

Children sit in rows to eagerly watch a street play in a village.

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Many prefer to stand and watch, engrosed as they are.

hand-washing, hygiene and education should be conducted to enlighten the people.”

Shanta Memorial Re-habilitation Centre was founded

in 1985 and is the oldest organisation for the disabled in Odisha. Its work focuses on advocacy, gender equity, research and development. Current campaigns run by SMRC target women with disabilities and Disaster and Disability. It has branches in Gujarat, Telangana and Karnataka and works across India on disability laws and issues of women, rural communities and natural disasters.

Plastics have invaded our environment like never before. Now scientists have discovered that squirrels in urban areas are using plastic waste as a building material for their nests.

Indian palm squirrels(Funambuluspalmarum) are using plastic bags, plastic threads and cigar butts along with natural materials in urban areas as nesting materials instead of leaves, twigs, shredded bark, mosses and other soft materials.

Mewa Singh and K. Mohan at the Bio-psychology Laboratory and Institute of Excellence, University of Mysore, have made the observation in female palm squirrels in Mysuru and have reported their findings in a recent issue of Current Science.

The researchers observed that squirrels collected a long plastic sheet from a small dump yard, carefully checked it and tore it into the appropriate size and shape. Thereafter, the female squirrel rolled the entire plastic material into her mouth and carried it to the nesting site where she spread the snipped pieces of plastic and built her nest.

Two more nests which were built using similar plastic material at the same location were also found. In another place, which was also located near a dump area, it was discovered that only one of the four nests on the tree was built completely with natural materials.

All shelters, whether they are houses made by humans or nests by birds or squirrels are mainly for the protection. Nests, like houses, differ in shape, size and materials used to build them. The type of nest, the materials used and the architectural design provide important insights into the life of a species and upbringing of young ones. Just as humans make houses using locally available material, the Indian palm squirrel too is doing so in urban areas where trees are scarce but plastic material is not.

“The proportion of anthropogenic (artificial) material used in nest building is directly related to the extent of urbanisation. Although Indian palm squirrels usually build nests using natural materials, these squirrels appear to be adapting themselves to changes in habitat by using plastic material to survive. The use of plastic for nest building by the palm squirrel is a typical example of the struggle for existence in altered habitats,” the research study has explained.

(Courtesy: India Science Wire)

Squirrels using plastic to build nestsmonika kundu srivastava, New Delhi

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“I used to work for long hours but the payment was very little, just

Rs 3000-4000 a month. Today, I am my own master and earn much more,” says Mariya, a young woman who started driving an e-rickshaw six months ago in the historic town of Allahabad. Mariya previously worked as a helper for a private agency in a hospital. Today, she owns an e-rickshaw and earns, on an average, Rs 500-600 a day.

“My day starts at 7 am when I take commuters from civil lines to the railway station and elsewhere. I work till 5 pm and have enough time left to study as well.” Though Mariya loves driving, she ultimately wants to become a lawyer. Right now, her aim is to chip in towards the education of her three younger siblings and pay back the loan for her vehicle. “I have already paid three instalments of Rs 2843 per month.”

Mariya’s role model is Sapna Giri, an e-rickshaw driver who introduced her to the start-up social enterprise, SMV Green Solutions, which helped her get the loan for the rickshaw under its Vahini Project. Sporting a cap and dressed in trouser and shirt, Giri is a familiar face on the roads of Allahabad. She has been ferrying commuters for the last eight years. Earlier she used to rent the vehicle for Rs 400 a day, but thanks to the Vahini Project started in December last year, she owns one now.

Support provided under Project Vahini includes loans for buying e-rickshaws at reduced interest rates, training in driving, assistance in acquiring a licence, personal and vehicular insurances and equipping rickshaws with special safety provisions.

Head of Business Develop-ment, SMV Green Solutions, Abhishek Dwivedi says the e-rickshaws have CCTVs equipped with features that enable families of the women drivers monitor their movement and safety from their smart mobile phones. Other security features like panic button are also going to be installed soon. Project Vahini also enables regular bookings for the drivers for tasks such as dropping and

Challenging a male bastion and driving change Allahabad’s Vahini Project helps empower women e-rickshaw drivers. Support provided under Project Vahini includes loans for buying e-rickshaws at reduced interest rates, training in driving, assistance in acquiring a licence, personal and vehicular insurances and equipping rickshaws with special safety provisions

fetching students from schools and colleges or delivering goods to retail outlets. The company is in the process of speaking to companies like Ola for bookings for e-rickshaws.

Both Giri and Mariya say commuters are usually nice but the police, they allege, not only uses bad language but also harasses women drivers more than the men drivers. Giri, who is equipped with karate skills, recalls a particularly unpleasant incident. “Once a policeman abused me, and when I reacted, he tried to break the CCTV in my e-rickshaw.” But the struggle that she experienced in her early years has made her strong-willed enough to deal with any situation. Giri mostly takes bookings or commuters on

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sarita brara, AllahabadSapna Giri is a role model for many.

a sharing basis. She also tries to help other women e-rickshaw drivers get regular bookings.

Yet another initiative in the pipeline that will benefit the e-rickshaw owners as well as the start-up is opening electric battery swap stations. Many of the e-rickshaw drivers do not have power connections of their own and have to waste several hours getting their vehicle batteries charged. The swap outlets will provide e-rickshaw drivers access to lithium ion batteries at lower cost and also eliminate the delay in charging batteries and hassles related to their maintenance. Once this happens, drivers like Giri will save precious time lost in charging of batteries. “Right now I have to leave my e-rickshaw at

an outlet for battery charging as the owner of my rented accommodation does not allow the power connection to be used for this purpose. All that will change,” says Giri.

As of now not many women are associated with the Vahini Project, but several others like Meena John, a graduate, want to become part of the project. John already has an e-rickshaw which is driven by her during the day and, if need be, by her husband in the evening. Mother of two daughters, John feels that an association with an organisation is always beneficial. “I want my vehicle to be equipped with safety provisions that Vahini provides but more than that the organisation helps in getting bookings and lends support in several other ways,” she

says. “We do not just provide an e-rickshaw but forge a partnership with them,” says Dwivedi.

Naveen Krishna, managing director, SMV Green Solutions, talks about the challenges they are facing in engaging and empowering women for the job. “It is not just the question of women who want to drive rickshaws, but the need to change the mindset of the men folk in the family. Our challenge is to allay their apprehensions and convince them to make women equal partners in this endeavour. Making a living from a profession that is male-dominated will give financial freedom and boost the self-esteem of these women e-rickshaw drivers,” he says.

(Courtesy: The Hindu

A ‘rickshaw revolution’ on Indian roads‘Green autos’ cut down on emissions and empower drivers to become owners

Indian autorickshaw driver Narasimhamurthy R. will

soon own the 200 cc four-stroke engine three-wheeler with electric start that allows him to make a living. For almost two decades, this driver in Bengaluru had to rent his work vehicle. But eight months from now, he will make the final payment on a four-year loan he received from Three Wheels United India (TWU), a non-banking financial company that helps autorickshaw drivers to buy greener vehicles.

In 2015, a Three Whee-ls United field officer named Jayalakshmi approached the 45-year-old driver with an offer to help him purchase an autorickshaw with lower CO2 emissions than the one he had been renting. At first, Narasimhamurthy declined the offer, but the saleswoman managed to persuade him. Three months later, he signed up for TWU's Namma Auto (Our Vehicle) financing programme.

In India, drivers who rent two-stroke autorickshaws generally earn the equivalent of less than eight dollars a day, but Narasimhamurthy now earns as much as 50 per cent more, since four-stroke autorickshaws are more fuel efficient and incur

lower maintenance costs. Once he finishes paying off the loan, his income will increase to the equivalent of nearly 15 dollars per day.

"Nearly 50 per cent of autorickshaw drivers are forced to rent vehicles due to unaffordable financing options, therefore limiting their income and ability to choose a less polluting vehicle," says Cedrick Tandong, CEO of TWU. Bank rating systems for loans are ill-adapted to low-income drivers who have difficulty saving money and often have no banking history.

Autorickshaws provide a convenient and affordable alternative to inadequate public transportation in developing cities, and they have become popular in South Asian countries such as India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Thailand. But they are highly polluting: a study commissioned by the European Union revealed that the total annual emissions from 120000 autorickshaws in Bengaluru amount to 0.45 million tonnes of CO2, 1445 tonnes of nitrogen oxide and 164 tonnes of particulate matter 10. While only around 20 per cent of the autorickshaws are two-stroke

vehicles, they are responsible for roughly 25 per cent of total CO2 emissions and nearly 70 per cent of PM10 emissions.

"One percent of India’s over two billion tonnes of annual vehicular CO2 emissions come from autorickshaws. However, it is unrealistic to expect drivers who live on subsistence incomes to be concerned about reducing pollution, without first helping them increase their income," says Tandong.

A four-stroke autorickshaw costs around 175000 rupees (nearly USD 2400). TWU lends 150000 rupees to drivers at an interest rate of 10.5 per cent, while the drivers pay the rest upfront. TWU reaches out to driver communities directly through its team of 16 field officers and indirectly through partnerships with local nonprofits such as Women Health and Development (WHAD) and Payana, focused on social inclusion.

The Namma Auto programme goes beyond providing affordable financing. It encourages drivers to set aside 500 rupees (USD 6.8) per month by joining self-help groups of 15-20 drivers. The amount is then deposited into a group savings account at

the Karnataka Namma Souharda Credit Cooperative.

"The interest obtained is loaned to the group’s members at a two per cent interest rate, capped at 10000 rupees, in times of dire need — be it for children’s school fees, house rent deposit or hospitalisation. Taking on joint responsibility releases the drivers from the clutches of moneylenders who give out loans at exorbitant interest rates of more than 36 per cent," says Jayalakshmi, adding that in five years none of the groups she leads has ever defaulted on a loan.

Three Wheels United was founded in 2014 by Dutch social venture Enviu and, since then, has created an ecosystem of 15000 drivers and financed more than 2000 vehicles, mostly in the southern Indian states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The company claims it has reduced CO2 emissions by approximately 22000 tonnes.

(Courtesy: The Hindu BusinessLine)

sangeetha chengappa, Bengaluru'Green’ four-stroke auto rickshaws, such as these, are fuel-efficient and incur lower maintenance costs, and help their driver-owners enhance their earnings.

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December 20186

Putting theory to practice and delivering development schemes

At just 24 years of age, Abhinav Vats has learnt a lot as the chief

minister's Good Governance Associate (CMGGA) posted in Palwal District of Haryana. An economics graduate from Delhi University, he worked as a research analyst with McKinsey and Company at Gurgaon for two-and-a-half years before deciding to be a CMGGA.

Designed as an experiential programme by Ashoka University in partnership with the Haryana Government, CMGGA recruits young women and men to work with the deputy commissioner and other district officials. Backed by government support and resources, Vats began his work by understanding how the district administration functioned and the problems faced by it.

Palwal District is one of the more backward Haryana dis-tricts. When Vats joined 10 months ago, the administration was highly under-staffed, especially the departments in charge of rural development. “Last mile delivery of the existing central and state initiatives was way below targets.

How a 'super village challenge' in Palwal District set the benchmark for the speedy development of villages

Administrative approvals were hard to come by. So, I innovated methods to leverage existing constraints,” says Vats.

John Nash’s Game Theory he learnt from textbooks stayed with Vats even after he graduated. Nash’s Game Theory creates mathematical models based on conflict and cooperation between rational decision makers. It assumes that all rational people are logical decision-makers and act in their own interest and that their interests can be aligned in a manner that one person's gain is not another person's loss. At McKinsey, he used it to understand the payoffs for choosing a particular strategy.

In the district administrative set-up, Vats used the Game Theory principles to design ‘Palwal super village challenge’ for last mile delivery of rural development schemes. His idea was backed by the deputy commissioner of Palwal, Maniram Sharma.

Vats says, “There are three agents who are critical to the delivery of any rural development programme—village sarpanch (head), district level scheme nodal officer

and frontline workers for the department at the village level.” For a water and sanitation programme like the Swachh Bharat Mission, there are the village sarpanch, the CEO of the district panchayat/ executive engineer of the rural water supply and sanitation department and the swachhagrahis, who are deployed at the village level as frontline workers.

“We worked on aligning the interests of these three agents and used technology to monitor the impacts. This ‘trinity of interests’ framework got the backing from the interdepartmental brainstorming sessions where select programmes were prioritised. The select schemes were Swacch Bharat Mission – Rural, women empowerment (Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Programme), digital literacy (the PMGDISHA Scheme), skill development (Rural Self Employment Training Institutes Scheme) and innovation (in areas of community welfare, technology etc),” says Vats.

“The super village challenge launched in November 2017 used a competitive framework primarily targeted at village sarpanches for the speedier implementation of development projects at the village level. Each development area had a set of clearly defined parameters that had tasks. Successful completion of these parameters generates points for each gram panchayat,” says Vats.

“I had reserved an amount of Rs 1.5 crore from the D-Plan fund available to me. Top performing panchayats at the block and district orders were ranked and given work orders based on their rankings,” says Sharma.

Sharma adds that the announcement of Rs 1.5 crore additional fund from MP-LAD for top performing panchayats by Krishan Pal Gujjar, minister

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amita bhaduri, Palwal, Haryana

of state for Social Justice and Empowerment during the award ceremony in February 2018, however, was completely unanticipated.

“Twenty development parameters were defined for the challenge and the entire competition happened digitally on a portal,” says Vats. A leadership index like in a stock market tracked the performance of villages and displayed panchayat rankings on a real-time basis. All the 260 panchayats in Palwal participated.

“We got login IDs and passwords for our panchayat. When a sarpanch felt his village was ready on a parameter, he made an online self-declaration. Within 15 days of the declaration, an on-ground inspection is conducted by the officer in the presence of the sarpanch. The officer then had to either pass or fail the panchayat. If a GP passed, points were awarded and changes reflected on the leadership index. In case of failure, the sarpanch could reapply later,” says Mehender Singh Gujar, sarpanch of Paroli.

Declarations and verifications were done on a continuous basis and top performing villages kept on changing. All GPs could view the ‘leadership index’. All panchayats have now been declared ‘polythene free’ by the district administration and over a hundred new self-help groups have been established and over a hundred schools and village libraries showed visible infrastructural improvements.

The administration has to now work on sustaining the developments on the ground to prevent slippages. “The super village challenge helped us generate a multi-faceted impact from the very same system, officials and sarpanches. This would not have been possible without the ground-breaking

thinking brought in by Abhinav Vats,” says Sharma.

The ‘Palwal super village challenge’ is over but the village has to gear up for a clean-up as a routine to sustain the momentum. “We will use gram panchayat funds including MGNREGA allocation for swachhta (cleanliness),” says Mehender.

A cleanliness drive is on as I visit Paroli Village. Plastic items are being removed from the village and surrounding areas. The blazing sun has brought with it unbearable heat but the sarpanch of Paroli is busy mobilising people to not revert to polythene bags and keep using alternatives.

“I want to join the non-profit sector preferably in a corporate foundation or a bilateral agency after this stint. The NGO work wouldn’t be backed by huge governmental or corporate support and resources and will not permit a wider social impact. I will still get a rich first-hand understanding of community needs before I can start my own social enterprise,” Vats says.

The super village contest has a website (www.supervillagepalwal.in) and a dedicated page on social media (https://www.facebook.com/supervillagepalwal/)

(Courtesy: India Water Portal)

Abhinav Vats. Women participate enthusiastically in the ‘Pawal super village challenge’ for last mile delivery of rural development schemes.

Awards being given to the gram sarpanches.

Deputy Commissioner Maniram Sharma (in white) on a visit to Paroli. The village generated very high points by demonstrating improvements in its soak pit coverage and vermicompost facilities.

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Kalu’s pursuit of pension began in 2004, when he approached the

sarpanch (panchayat head) for his old-age entitlement and was paid sums varying from Rs 150 to Rs 200. It was arbitrary and irregular. Within three months of the Nagrik Soochna Kendra being set up, the paperwork was completed and in 2015 all three got their full pension for the first time. Kalu, being over 80, is, in fact, entitled to a monthly pension of Rs 500 and efforts are on to get that for him.

Tejlibai and Chunkibai, over 60, are also getting their widow and old-age pension, respectively. So are 45 others from 250 households in Ratlipura. After pension through post offices, banks and business correspondents appointed by them, the kendra has now taken up the responsibility of procuring it for them all.

Tejlibai says, “I had a skin problem and treatment was expensive.” With the helpline now available, a Deen Dayal Antodaya Upchar Card or the red health card for those below the poverty line was made in 2015 and she received treatment at the primary health centre in Zhirniya. A broad grin lighting up her face, she displays her arms free of the eruptions.

Several other services, like

Messaging helps tribal people access entitlements

usha rai, New Delhi

the Ujwal Yojana, trickled in and 80 families got cooking gas connections without having to go through an intermediary. A mobile service to give informa-tion on entitlements, called Mobile Mahiti (knowledge) Karyakram, was established through the Kendra. Some 4000 people from 37 villages get mobile messages in Nimadi, the local tribal language.

Parents, teachers and anganwadi (nursery) workers get information on their mobiles on mid-day meals, government guidelines on menus and how to ensure children get their dues. Information on new housing schemes is also shared on the device, along with money allotted for one or two-room houses and how to procure it with the support of the gram sabha (grassroots self-governance system). After the patwari’s (local authority) survey, the community is hoping for crop insurance — Fasal Bima Yojana — too.

In a month, six voice messages and eight text messages are sent to the community. Even if the older people do not use mobiles, their children do and they share the information with those who do not have mobiles. Like in the urban areas, there is growing interest in mobiles.

It is information dissemination

that enabled Phaliya, a habitation of 62 households, 4 km from Ratlipura, to get a primary school for 40 students earlier this year, saving children a 4-km walk. The community and the PRIs (panchayati raj institutions) were facilitated to make the demand for the school.

Motivated by the Kendra and with the support of PRIs, communities are making micro plans for village development. Based on the population, the requirement for roads, water, schools, public infrastructure and farming issues, the peoples’ village development plan for 2018-2023 will be merged with the gram panchayat development plan.

An important intermediary for communication is a radio reporter who puts out messages on the mobiles and then goes and meets community members to check if they have received the messages and need any help. Also in use is the interactive voice response system technology. Where there are communication problems, messages are narrow-cast to self-help groups, farmers’ interest groups and others.

In addition to the radio reporter, five nagrik mitras (citizens’ friends) equipped with tablets, reach out to smaller groups in the community with messages and videos. Nagrik

Kalu, Lal Singh and Nathuchaina of Ratlipura Village, Zhirniya Block, Khargone District in Madhya Pradesh, received their full quota of pension as late as 2015. They came to know about old-age pension entitlements the previous year after the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme - India (AKRSPI) set up information centres to tell people about government schemes and how to access them. The initiative began after a survey to understand the extent of deprivation in the tribal areas of three blocks of Badwani, Khargone and Dhar in MP and the schemes available to people

mitra Sandeep More does a dozen meetings every month in the three panchayats and seven villages under his charge. In addition to the videos, he shares a helpline number for emergencies. Though there is a determined thrust to modern media for communication, the good old blackboard is still used for messaging.

About 8500 citizens, 80 per cent of those applying for a government scheme, have been successful. More youngsters from the tribal communities are accessing scholarships and hostel accommodation to continue with their education in adjoining cities. At present, there are 13 kendras servicing 140 villages.

(Courtesy: The Hindu BusinessLine)

A nagrik mitra explaining health messages on his tablet.

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Registered with The Registrar of Newspapers for India under TNENG/2009/27557 8

Kalindri Pandaria (23) died in July this year, while giving birth to her

second baby. On the fateful night, when she developed labour pain, it was raining heavily in her hamlet, Niwaspara, deep inside the jungles of Achanakmar Tiger Reserve in Mungeli District of Chhattisgarh, about 30 km away from the pucca (proper) road. To make things worse, rivers Kasnai and Maniyari, which surround her hut, were both in

Tribal healthcare lost in the woodsIndia’s adivasis languish outside the health coverage net, with little access to hospitals and doctorsmaitri porecha, Ganiyari Village, Bilaspur

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spate on the day she died.A glance at Kalindri’s medical

papers reveals that her delivery was a ‘high risk’ one. Her first baby, Ritu, now 19-months old, was born through a Caesarean section in a hospital. For her second delivery, she needed help to reach the hospital, 52 km away. Many hurdles loomed. How could she and her family cross flooded rivers? Even if they acquired a vehicle at night, how would they navigate 30 km

of a bumpy, rocky, mud road to reach the highway?

Helpless, Kalindri delivered her second baby at home. But, in the process, she bled to death. She underwent a vaginal birth after Caesarean (VBAC), a highly risky process, with the help of a dai (an elderly village woman who helps with pregnancies) and her mother-in-law, Milaapa Bai. They were clearly ill-equipped to deal with the fatal complications that led to Kalindri’s death.

A month before Kalindri’s death, on June this year, the Union Health Ministry reported in a press release that there was a 22 per cent reduction in maternal mortality since 2013. With the total number of maternal deaths going down to 32000, for the first time, every day, 30 more pregnant women were now being saved in India as compared to 2013. Sadly, Kalindri was not among the lucky ones. According to the latest figures, up to 130 mothers still die in India for every thousand live births, during pregnancy.

Milaapa Bai holds on to Kalindri’s baby, Ritu, trying to pacify her. Ritu is fed up of chomping on boiled egg and smears the remnants of the

yellow yolk over her face. She then strews egg white pieces in the courtyard, oblivious to the conversation around her young mother’s death.

Milaapa Bai hands out Kalindri’s portrait. A young smiling woman stares out of the frame. Kalindri’s photo haunts Milaapa Bai. She breaks out into a soft sob. There is nothing left to say. People in small places do not have small problems.

The expert committee jointly constituted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA), in a recently released report, Tribal Health in India – Bridging the Gap and a Roadmap for the Future, states that “27 per cent tribal women still deliver at home. This could be part attributed to the unfriendly attitude of health workers, language and understanding gap, and lack of trust in an alien system, maternal health services provided by the government are often not in tune with the health beliefs and practices of the tribal people.”

The report further notes that the cost of institutional delivery, distance and lack of transport continue to be deterrents. The average expenditure on child birth at a health centre is Rs 4000 — way more than the costs covered by the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY).

Kalindri’s death is a microcosm of everything that is wrong with conditions of tribal people in India. There are an estimated 10.4 crore of them, spread across 705 tribes in ten Central states and eight states in the North-East. They form 8.6 per cent of India’s population.

“Sixty-six years of Independence later and eleven Five-Year plans down, we still need to review tribal people’s health as a serious and special concern,” Dr Abhay

Bang, chairman of the Expert Committee, told BusinessLine.

As the report points out, the popular perception is that tribals are those “semi-naked wild people who live somewhere in the forests and mountains, and who sometimes appear in the news because their children are malnourished.”

The committee that was constituted in 2013 to submit the first-ever report on tribal health took four-and-a-half long years to finish the gargantuan task — as against the planned six months. “It proved to be a most challenging work. To our dismay we found that besides data on tribal healthcare and finances not being available, the institutional mechanisms to generate such data also did not exist or function. The darkness of information was astounding. For example, nobody knows what the infant mortality rate is amongst the tribal population or how much money is spent on tribal health,” Dr Bang says.

The report notes that as against the rest of the country, tribals are trapped in a unique situation, where they have to deal with a triple burden of diseases — the first is malnutrition, communicable diseases like malaria, tuberculosis (TB) and so on; the second is non-communicable diseases like cancer, hypertension and diabetes and the third is mental health issues and addiction to alcohol and tobacco.

(Courtesy: The Hindu BusinessLine)

A tribal woman waits to get examined by a doctor in the Bamni sub-centre run by Jan Swasthya Sahyog in Chhattisgarh. On right and at bottom, data and statistics help us understand the situation of healthcare better.