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CORD-Sidhbari is
situated in the village of Sidhbari, Kangra District, Himachal Pradesh.
CORD’s work here began in 1985 with the setting up
of the Chinmaya Rural Primary Healthcare and Training Centre, whose sole
focus was maternal and child healthcare. However, it soon became clear
that poverty, illiteracy, environment and an insufficient infrastructure
were adversely influencing the life and health of the people.
THE PRE-CORD SCENARIO
Agriculture was the main source of survival for people who cultivated
the mountain terraces for their food and cash needs. Small and insufficient
land holdings, soil erosion, lack of safe drinking and irrigation water
further aggravated their problems. The major activity of the local population
revolved around cultivation of their small land holdings and maintenance
of milch animals. The villages and the surrounding forests were largely
denuded, giving way to landslides and threatening their livelihood. Only
subsistence agriculture was possible on the steep mountain slopes. Wheat
and maize were the main crops, with rice grown in the lower regions. Fruits
and vegetables were grown but not enough for commercial purposes. Lack
of affordable and accessible health care resulted in high maternal and
infant mortality. Ignorance and low levels of literacy provided a fertile
breeding ground for prejudices and harmful practices.
In the face of these conditions, it became clear that healthcare issues
were inextricably intertwined with the overall social and economic realities
of rural India. CORD’s approach, therefore, turned more holistic
and development oriented.
CORD-SIDHBARI TODAY
CORD- Sidhbari has touched the lives of over 55,000 beneficiaries directly,
and over 2,75,000, indirectly, in over 500 villages of District Kangra,
through its comprehensive integrated rural development programme. The
thrust of the programme is working with village women through several
village-level structures. The programme is demand-driven, truly participatory,
and holistic in its intrinsic approach. It integrates every aspect of
life through Mahila Mandals, Yuva Mandals, Gram Sabhas, micro-credit through
Self-Help Groups, Community-Based Livelihood (Farm & Allied Sectors,
Non-Farm Sector including Service Sector), Social Justice and Informal
Legal facilitation, Alcohol Abuse Awareness, Local Self-Governance/Panchayati
Raj Institutions, Health, Community-Based Rehabilitation for the Disabled
People, Participatory Natural Resources Management, Children’s education
through Balwadis and Balvihars, Adult Literacy, etc. Entrenched processes
and dependable networking ensure sustainable development towards self-reliance.
CORD-Deuladiha, a branch of CORD, is located
in Deuladiha village, Telkoi Block, Keonjhar District of Orissa.
Keonjhar is one of the thirty districts of Orissa.
This district has one of the highest number of tribal populations. Of
the total population, more than 80% of people belong to SC, ST and other
backward castes and are economically backward. As per the Government survey,
conducted in 1991, 87.33% of the total population lives in village and
remote areas of the district. Though the district is enriched with mines
and minerals and natural resources like, iron are, Bauxite, chromium,
Dolomite etc. and deep forestation, yet natural resources have not been
properly harnessed to uplift the economic status of the people and to
solve the unemployment problem. The district is 350 kms away from Calcutta
on NH 6, 200 kms from Cuttack, the oldest railway station and 230 kms
Bhuvaneshwar,the capital of the State.
Telkoi block is one of the 13 blocks of district Keonjhar with an area
of 559.29 sq kms and a population of 74,210 (as per census 1991). Most
habitants depend on agriculture and natural resources like forest products.
Deuladiha comes under the Gram Panchayat of Telkoi Block, where CORD is
focusing its activities. Deuladiha Gram Panchayat consists of 5 revenue
villages and a 6th village with 3 hamlets viz. Deuladiha, Jenadar, Kadapara,
Santeibhanj, Udouagiri and Nuagosh include 3 hamlets of Nuagoarh villages.
The ground water level in these 3 hamlets is below 350 feet. Inhabitants
of this area belong to schedule tribes and schedule castes and are dependent
on agriculture based on rainwater. The total population of the G.P is
6,215, The break up is: SC-2153, ST-2310 AND OTHERS-752. At the bottom
of the economic ladder are the small farmers and landless labourers.
Almost all the inhabitants depend on agriculture.
Their living and income generation depends on agriculture. But because
of insufficient work in their own fields and locality, they migrate. Due
to lack of rainfall and lack of irrigation facilities, they loose their
livelihoods and this worsens their socio-economic conditions. Also the
temperature of this region is high and the soil red with high acid content
and less fertile. The maximum temperature rises to 51 degree C was minimum
falls to12 degree C in the month of Jan. The climate is very tropical
and is not seen anywhere else in the district.
The women of this area are laborious and spend their time working at home
or in the agricultural fields during the cultivation period. Caste discrimination
is an important factor which stands as a barrier on their socio- economic
condition.
CONTEXT: -
Keeping the above background in mind, some socio-economic
problems of the area that stand out are :-
• Lack
of awareness
• In
accessibility
•
Illiterate (90% to 95% adult women are illiterate)
•
Poverty (95% families are BPL)
•
Non-availability of Drinking and irrigation water.
•
High Drop out rate in school children
•
Malaria Prone Area. (Keonjhor is the district where Malaria is the highest
in Asia)
•
Poor health, hygiene and sanitation
• Caste
problems etc.
TARGET GROUP:
Women, poor and vulnerable families and the weaker farmers
group
BENEFITS OF BENIFICIARIES:
•
Technical Skill development
• Moral Development
• Better health
• Increase the per
capita income
• Literacy
• Sustainable livelihoods
• Increase the employment
facilities through self-employment programmes.
Chinmaya Vijaya (A CORD Project)
• About the Orphanage
• Mission Statement
• Objectives
• Sponsorship Form
About the Orphanage
Chinmaya Vijaya, a non-political, non-government all girls’ orphanage,
is founded by Drs. Sumathi and Appa Rao Mukkamala as a tribute to Pujya
Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda, who dedicated his entire life in the service
of mankind.
With the blessings of Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayananda,
Head of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide, Chinmaya Vijaya was formed in early
2007 under the auspices of CORD. Chinmaya Vijaya is specifically committed
to the care of orphaned and homeless girls in order to provide them with
a family, a home, and a strong foundation to lead an independent and secure
life.
This project has been made possible through the generous
donation of five acres of land by the family of Lingamaneni Bhaskara Rao
in Kaza Village, Andhra Pradesh, and by monetary donations from the family
and friends of the Mukkamalas and devotees of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide.
Mission Statement
To embrace any orphaned girl child in the 5-7 year age group, irrespective
of her caste, colour, creed, or ethnicity, and to raise her as our own,
providing her with food, shelter, clothing, education, and healthcare.
Objectives
•
To adopt 200 girl orphans.
• To
give the children a home and a stable living environment.
• To
create strong and dependable relationships among them so that they live
in a safe, home-like atmosphere.
• To
inculcate and encourage bonding and belongingness with one another.
•
To look after their health and well-being.
• To
provide education, recreation, and create other such facilities for all-round
self-development.
• To
imbibe in them social values, bring them up with self-respect and as moral
and responsible citizens.
• To
prepare them to face life independently by providing them with professional
and/or vocational training.
• To
absorb them into the social mainstream and help them, if they choose,
with the completion of their education, employment, and/or marriage.
"A word or deed that gives solace and comfort
to the heart is worthy of billions in wealth". This philosophy holds
true in Chinmaya Vijaya. Generous donations from all like-minded individuals
and organizations are accepted, acknowledged, and utilized to further
this genuine cause.
Sponsorship Form
Download
Form
Interested persons may sponsor a child by completing and submitting the
Sponsorship Form.
All contributions are tax-deductible.
CORD-Lathikata, a branch of CORD, is located at Lathikata,
the block headquarters of Lathikata Panchayat Samiti in Sundergarh District
of Orissa. It is situated 25 km away from Rourkela – the steel city
of Orissa, on the side of National Highway no. 23.
CORD is working in a tribal populated area where the literacy rate is
less than 35% and more than 52% people live below the poverty line. The
communication facilities in this tribal block, which comprises 92 villages,
are extremely poor.
Ten Panchayats out of sixteen are separated from the block headquarters
by the Brahmani river, which does not have a bridge inside the geographical
territory of the block. The incidence of malaria is very high and the
health service facilities do not reach the remote villages. There is an
acute problem of water, electricity, irrigation and employment.
In this scenario, CORD is serving the rural communities through grass
roots activities and development programmes, such as:
1. Self-Help Group movement
2. Skill Development Training for SHG members
3. Income-Generating Programmes for SHGs
5. Workshops & Awareness programmes
4. Deworming Camps in schools
5. Talkson “Education & Life” in schools
6. Yuva Mandals
CORD-Siruvani, one of the branches of CORD is situated in
Thennamanallur, Thondamuthur Block.,15 kms from Coimbatore.
The rural development work in Siruvani has been going on since 1996 under
Chinmaya Rural Development Centre (CRDC) and the main activity has been
health care which has been the entry point in the villages. There are
6 subcentres which are visited by our doctors on one particular day of
the week. The main center is just outside Chinmaya Garden campus in Nallurvayal
where the doctors are available on all the six days of the week. The doctors
give treatment for acute & chronic ailments and health education and
create health awareness. Around 200 patients per day receive diagnosis
and treatment in all the centres put together ( i.e. about 65,000 villagers
benefit annually).
To increase CRDC’s sphere of activity and integrate all aspects
of development CORD started comprehensive integrated and sustainable community
development activites in Thennamnallur Panchayat first. This panchayat
has four villages Thennamnallur, Puthur, Sandegoundanpalayam (SG Palayam)
and Kallimedu.The total population is 4500 ( 2001 census ).
Sanitation, lack of health awareness and medical facilities, poverty,
lack of unity,low agricultural yield and adult illiteracy are the problems
common in the area.
Sanitation:
 a)
All drains are open and often get clogged due to improper disposal of
garbage. Also because of heavy rains they overflow in the rainy season.
b) Only 340 of the 1020 families have separate toilet facilities(ie
approx 34%). The rest of the families defecate in the open and the streets
are very dirty. The Panchayat has built 5 sets of common toilets which
are not being used because they are not being maintained properly. The
people have to motivated and coaxed and educated into using these toilets
c) The Panchayat has been unable to enforce the use of a
garbage collection system as a result of which all public places and streets
are littered with non-biodegradable materials and is both aesthetically
unpleasant and hygienically bad.
d) Stagnation of wash water causing mosquito breeding because
of lack of kitchen gardens and not being connected to drains
Lack of health awareness and medical facilities:
a) Though there has been a medical subcenter for the past
several years, the villagers are not yet aware of basic health issues,
family planning and adolescent health issues.
b) Deliveries are all institutional either in government
hospitals or in private nursing homes.
c) Problem of addiction to alchohol and smoking is high—though
not yet quantifiable
d) Villagers are not yet aware of simple hygiene rules,
use of ORS for diarrhea and simple home remedies
e) Use of temporary contraceptive measures and permanent
methods of contraception is very minimal.
Poverty:
a) 633 of the 1020 families are below the poverty line
b) 50% of them are scheduled castes living in the Gandhi
and Ambedkar colonies
c) The other 50% of those below the poverty line are among
the Backward Community(BC) group in these villages.
d) The main reason for this is because most of them are
manual laborers working in the fields for daily wages. They earn around
Rs.70 per day. As the number of people wanting the same job are many,
most of them are employed only for around 20 days a month.
e) Because they are only dependent on agriculture, most
of them are employed seasonally.
f) The daily wage earners do not know or have any secondary
occupation to fall back upon.
g) The SHGs started by the Government have failed and the
loans given to the people BPL have not been repaid. This is because they
have been unable to sell their products like coir ropes and also because
of lack of proper monitoring on the part of the agency which started the
SHGs.
h) In Thennamnallur village 27 SHGs were started.
Of these 19 were by women, 6 by the youth, 2 by the physically challenged.
Of these, only 3 or 4 are functioning well and all the nine in Gandhi
colony are defunct.
Lack of unity:
a) the SC people and the Gounders do not mingle.
b) Since there is no Mahila or Yuva mandals people rarely
get together and there is no unity.
c) There is complete lack of pride in their village and
unconcern about the activities in their village
d) Those BPL and the SC people are rapidly getting
converted to receive favors & job opportunities.
Adult illiteracy:
At least 25% of the adults are not functionally literate
CORD-Thamaraipakkam is situated in Ellapuram Block, in Thiruvallur
District of Tamil Nadu. Situated on the border of Tamil Nadu and Andhra
Pradesh, this is one of the largest and poorest districts of Tamil Nadu.
It has always been a water-scarce region, with the recent droughts making
the situation worse.
Brief details about the districts are given below:
The district has 14 blocks, with 820 villages. CORD-Thamaraipakkam
is presently working in 4 blocks, viz. Ellapuram, Thiruvallur, Poonamalle,
and Villivakkam.
In Ellapuram Block, where CORD operates, there is no Primary Healthcare
Centre. For any urgent medical aid, people have to take the patient to
the Government District Headquarters Hospital in Thiruvallur Block which
is over 16 km from most of the villages, or to a Trust Hospital in Ambattur
which is also over 20 km from most of the villages. Economic conditions
prevent them from availing treatment from the Government hospital. As
a result they end up going to quacks for treatment, which increases the
morbidity rate. The villages in Ellapuram Block have very poor sanitation
resulting in unprotected water supply and an unhygienic environment, leading
to the frequent spread of diseases.
The problems that have been identified in the area
are:
•
Unemployment of both men and women
due to slowing down of agricultural operation
following the failure of monsoon
•
A high level of indebtedness to moneylenders
•
Poor sanitation and consequent spread of diseases
•
Adult illiteracy (the level of literacy is very low, even among the so-called
‘literate’)
•
Alcoholism among men
•
Lack of proper health facilities
CORD-Thamaraipakkamin pursuance of its aim of providing
a decent standard of living with freedom, dignity and self-esteem for
its people continues to create opportunities for the people and harness
their potential for their self development through its different programmes.
CORD-Gajapati is located in Parlakhemundi which is the Sub-Divisional headquarter of the District Gajapati. Gajapati is one of the backward and poor tribal district o Orissa province.
This district falls between the borders of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh hence 30% of the population are Telugu speaking. Most of the inhabitants are Scheduled Tribes and some Scheduled caste who have converted to Christanity. The inhabitants mainly depend on cultivation and collection.
Illiteracy, Poor health,severe climatic conditions and other socio-economic problems are the major hurdles.
In the above scenario CORD,Gajapati has started in work in 8 villages of Laxmipur Gram Panchayat which is in the Rayagada Block of Gajapati District.
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