Sandeep (PDM 11) compiled a video of some of the success stories from women who were able to start small businesses after joining Kalanjiams. He screened this video to communities to help raise awareness of self-help groups.

Note: Subtitles have been provided so that you can get the gist of the story. If anyone is capable and interested in providing more accurate subtitles, that would be fantastic!

The objectives of this project include on-farm conservation and improvement of crop varietal diversity. Under this they are focusing on documenting and characterizing the agro-diversity of small millets; conducting and evaluating participatory varietal trials; mapping seed channels; and improving farmer’s access to varietal diversity. Other objectives include developing sustainable agriculture kits and conducting on-farm research, improving post harvest technology, and conducting value addition research. For achieving these objectives they are working on developing millets-based food products for rural and urban consumers as well as exploring appropriate technology for dehulling and milling of small millets. Another objective is to revitalize indigenous knowledge and socio-cultural practices. To increase the consumption of small millets and make it socially accepted, consumer surveys will be conducted, and small millets will be promoted through local entrepreneurs, public and community-based channels, public outreach events, and education campaigns. Finally, public policy analysis is being conducted to identify innovative use of existing policies, reallocate direct subsidies provided to beneficiaries of PDS, network with policy makers, create awareness in scientific institutions, and network with other NGOs.

In India under DHAN Foundation, this project started in six sites of three states: Tamil Nadu (Tirumangalam in Madurai district; Anchetty block in Dharmapuri district; and Jawadhu hills in Tiruvanamalai district); Orissa (Semiliguda and Dumriguda in Korapur district); and Jharkhand (Bero in Ranchi district).

To work on the objective of on-farm conservation and improvement of crop varietal diversity, two students from Tata-Dhan Academy, Ravi Raj and Amarendra Kumar, went to Bero location of Jharkhand during their first Development Practise Segment. These two students selected panchayats for organizing to the unorganised. Ravi Raj selected Itta panchyat, and Amarendra selected Ghagra panchyat. During this phase of organising farmers, they went through many steps including building rapport with the farming community, seeding the concept of the programme, conducting various PRA techniques, selecting farmers for group formation, forming rainfed farmers self-help groups, strengthening groups, conducting padyatras cultural program, and initiating the cluster development association processes.

The following two slideshow videos illustrate some of the steps they went through during their field stay.

Here’s Amar’s experience:

… and Ravi Raj’s:

Here are two paperweights made of broken pieces of granite, painted by Seema (PDM 12).

I’ll post more as they appear, and look out for a few articles from students in the next couple of weeks!

Badminton was scheduled for the third day of sports week, coordinated by Shanti and supported by Pashupati and Sandeep. Four players were selected from each house to participate in the competition. The first match was between Milkha Singh and Dhyan Chandra houses, followed by a match between P. T. Usha and Dhyan Chandra houses. In the semi-final games, V. Anand house won against P. T. Usha house with a closing score of 11-3. In the second match, Milkha Singh I won over Milkha Singh II with a closing score of 11-8.

Overall, six rounds of badminton were enjoyed by all. Two houses, Milkha Singh and V. Anand, will compete in the final match.

Participants from the faculty’s side were R. Sangeetha and Aadinarayan Sir; the student representatives were Ravi Raj, Shanti Gupta, Amarendra, Vineet, Pahupati, and Jitendra.

The overall result of each match is enlisted below. (Winning teams are in bold.)

First Round

• Milkha Singh (R. Sangeetha and Vinay) vs V. Anand (Aadinarayan and Shweta)
• P. T. Usha (Yogesh and Vineet) vs Dhyan Chandra (Sandeep and Shanti)
• P. T. Usha (Shilpa and Lijji) vs V. Anand (Pashupati and Jitnedra)
• Milkha Singh (Ravi Raj and Amarendra Kumar) vs Dhyan Chandra (N.V.Aravind and Rajeev)

Semi-final Round

• P. T. Usha (Yogesh and Vineet) vs V. Anand (Pashupati and Jitendra)
• Milkha Singh I (Ravi Raj and Amarendra) vs Milkha Singh II (R. Sangeetha and Vinay)

Yesterday at the Academy, students and staff members participated in a cricket match. (Unfortunately, since faculty were busy in a meeting at DHAN’s Central Office, they could not participate.)

The cricket match organizers merged two houses as one team, putting the P. T. Usha and Milkha Singh houses together (led by Yogesh), and Dhyan Chandra and V. Anand houses together (led by Pashupati). Pashupati won the toss and invited Yogesh and his team for first batting. In the first inning they secured 99 runs in the allotted 12 overs. Pashupati’s team played quite poorly, loosing four wickets to Anurag in the first over. In the end, the team could secure only 27 runs.

For some people, this was their first real experience playing cricket, and they did really well. Shilpa (from the P. T. Usha house) started very well, well making 12 runs as the opening bats(wo)man. She also took one wicket and one catch.

Yogesh got the most runs in the match. The “man of the match” went to Anurag, for his excellent bowling performance. From staff’s side, Prakash secured two wickets in an over.

Overall, this was a very one-sided match for the team led by Yogesh–for which the winning team enjoyed a very energetic celebratory evening–but there are still two more matches to come to complete this series.

This year, PDM 11 and PDM 12 decided to organize a sports week—an event started in 2006 by PDM 5.

Sports week inauguration

On 25 July 2011, at 4:30 PM, we inaugurated the event with a welcome note delivered by the sports committee coordinator, Sandeep (PDM 11). He shared the history of sports week at TDA and its relevance and explained the preparation that had been going on for the past few day by both batches of students. “It is a golden opportunity for students and faculties to interact with each other” he noted, “and it will also give a chance to staff to be a part of a sports event”.

After his remarks he invited Sangeetha Madam to formally inaugurate the event on behalf of the Academy’s director. The lamp was lit starting with Sangeetha Madam followed by all the house captains. She mentioned that “It is the best opportunity for all to interact with each other, and I hope this series of sports will be carried forward by our students in the near future also”. She also translated her introductory speech into Tamil for the sake of some of the other staff present, and motivated everyone to involve themselves in the games starting with….

The bindi challenge.... Preparation, action, and verification!

… the bindi challenge. This was one of the several “one minute games” that have been planned. In this game, as Shweta narrated in the rules, the challenge was to put the most bindis on someone else’s head within one minute’s time. Three members from each of the four teams participated, starting with team P.T. Usha and team Milkha Singh. This was followed by team Vishwanand Anand versus team Dhanya Chandra, won (again by only a two bindi margin) by team Vishwanand Anand.

Everyone lined up, awaiting further instructions...

The bindi challenge was shortly followed by the fast walk. All the members from the different houses participated in the event except the five who were involved in photography. Yogesh from P.T. Usha house won the game; he finished the race in 2 minutes and 36 seconds, followed closely by Sandeep from Dhyan Chandra house, who finished in 2 minutes 45 seconds.

With everyone tired after their fast walk, it was refreshing to sit in some chairs, at least for a little while, before the last event of the first day—musical chairs—was started. Aravind and Shilpa, the event’s coordinators, instructed each house to select five members to participate in the game.

Only two chairs were harmed during the process of this event....

The whole process of this game was very energetic and everyone was actively involved, whether it was as a participant or as a cheerleader. From the faculty’s side Sangeetha Madam, Vijaya Bharthi Madam, and Aadinarayan Sir participated alongside staff and student participants. After an exhaustive and dizzying set of round after round of circumnavigating the dwindling chairs, Sangeetha Madam secured the first place, with her direct competitor (and second place winner) being Shewta, and third place going to Uma Parvathi.

Sports week got off to a very successful start overall, even after continuous classroom sessions by both batches. After the musical chairs competition was over, everyone partook in some refreshments, and, satisfied and happy with the whole event, started thinking about the next several games to come!

UPDATE: Here is a short (shaky) video of the inauguration:

As usual, almost as soon as the students come to the campus and start to get settled down, we put them into groups and send them off on a one-week village stay. This time, one of the groups happened to have a camera with them, and when they returned, they were kind enough to put together this video to share with us.

I look forward to a lot more interesting stories and explorations in the months to come!

This is the story of tribal communities in Latehar district where I saw the extent of exploitation. Before telling this story, I want to make readers familiar about the context of Latehar. Latehar is a district in Jharkhand where people have been facing drought from past 7 years. The majority of the population belongs to scheduled tribes; according to the Government of Jharkhand, there are 10 different tribes.

This tribal family went with no food for two days to save money to pay the exploitative charges set by photo- and copy-shop owners.

This story is set in the village of district Navadih. In this village, people are not able to get safe drinking water. After a discussion with some villagers, I was able to understand that the only source of water was a river on which 70% of the population depend not only for drinking, but for household work. I was amazed to see the situation of the poor people in this village. I was also not able to do anything about it because the exploitation was not being done by outsiders, but by others in the area.

Let me elaborate. The Government of Jharkhand announced that a ration card camp will be held for three days from 5 May to 7 May, 2011. Each household needed to submit their red-card (below poverty line) application form with the photographs of all their family members with identity proof. Tribal people were very excited because if they were able to get the red card, they could access government schemes like the public distribution system (PDS).

However, this excitement was quelled by the exploitation by local shopkeepers.

Photo studios and photocopy shop owners saw these three days as an opportunity to implement their monopoly power; being under-developed, Latehar district only had three such shops. These shopkeepers raised their prices for photographs from Rs. 20 to Rs. 100 (an increase of 400%), and their prices for copies from Rs. 2 to Rs. 20 (an increase of 900%).

I could feel the pulse of the people because Navadih’s villagers were asking me to take their snap because they couldn’t afford the new price. I also paid the same price as the villagers when I went to make copies of the interview schedule for my study.

“Why are you charging such a high price?” I asked one of the shopkeepers, who was not willing to take a paise lower than their new prices.

“The cartridge is very expensive, and machines are also very costly. That’s why I’m charging this cost,” came the reply. “If you do not believe me, you can ask the other shopkeepers.”

I went ahead and paid the amount he charged, despite not believing his claim. And, while paying this high cost did not affect me too much, some of the cases of the villagers touched my heart. There was one SC caste family who solely depended on forests for their livelihood; they did not eat anything for two days in order to collect money to pay for their photographs and copies. And this family was not alone–many families saw this sacrifice as the only way to save money in the hopes that after getting their red card, they will be able to get some benefits.

This experience highlighted to me why tribal communities are still backward and poor. Many people take advantage of these illiterate communities by giving them wrong information. If we really want inclusive development, we need to address awareness. If people are aware of the market price, perhaps they would be able to work together to challenge the monopolistic behavior of the shopkeepers.

What is also sad is that those who are even a little educated aren’t interested in seeing others develop, but are only interested in helping themselves, even if it means exploiting others and taking advantage of adverse situations. This leads to a situation of increasing inequality throughout India. This leads to a contradictory picture of India where, from one perspective, India is shining in terms of economic growth, while from another perspective, tribals are becoming poorer and poorer.

I am also upset because after coming to learn firsthand about just a few of the situations tribal communities face, I still feel I am not able to do much, and other institutions do not seem to be giving enough attention to these communities.

We should all think about how we can make develoment in India more inclusive…. Your suggestions are welcomed.

By Yogesh Bhatt

Date: 30th May. Time 6:30 pm. I was working on my laptop. My window was open I was enjoying the cool outside breeze. I didn’t realize that this cool breeze carried rainfall with itself until I heard the peal of thunder outside.

Usually, it happens that whenever my friends and I get this type of opportunity, we immediately start to enjoy the moment. This time, I did not know that what was happening—why weren’t these guys outside jumping in the rain?

Sandeep and Anurag took the initiative and convinced everyone to come outside and enjoy the rain dance. Until that point, I was patiently waiting outside—waiting to get a natural moment to click some beautiful pics. Fortunately, before immersing myself in the first monsoon shower in Madurai, I was able to finish a smart job: I collected some memories.

We all started dancing outside the campus. Music is always a best friend for these moments, so we carried a music system outside and challenged the sound of the thunder. Our rain dance was a half-hour packed with fun and energy, and we wound down by going for a long walk to enjoy the peaceful beauty of nature.

This was a special moment for us. At that time, I was just thinking that really, life is not all about competition, chasing things, and perfection—it is something beyond that. It also demands peace, calm, and love. Nature always gives us a chance to enjoy these beautiful colours of life at every moment, but we rarely take the time to listen to what nature wants to tell us.

Please, whenever you get a chance, sit silently, listen carefully, and dance with melodies nature gives us.

By Amarendra Kumar

There is saying that “practice makes a man perfect.” I realized the truth in this when I got a chance to observe and understand fish farming. The person we met with runs a very successful fish farm despite not having any background in fisheries.

His name is V. H. Ahmad Mohideen. He studied economics in Madurai, and then received a diploma in marketing from Mumbai, and took his first job as an executive manager in Saudi Arabia. He has now returned to his home because of the peaceful environment here.

When we first met him, he brought us to a small pond and started to share his story; one of his workers also came to show us how they catch fish. At that time, my curiosity was very high to see and try to catch the fish in hand, but I didn’t have the opportunity because our discussion took us to a medium sized pond with a depth of about 13 feet. We also saw some small man-made ponds (constructed out of plaster and brick, approximately 8 feet by 12 feet, and 3 feet deep.

We saw seed of grass carp and common carp. At that time, we asked if we can catch some fish or not. Mr. Mohideen replied that if we thought we are able to catch the fish, then catch them. I tried for some time, but was not able to catch any. After this, Mr. Mohideen described the feeding pattern: twice a day, before 10 AM and after 4 PM; it is not advisable to feed the fish in the afternoon because if they come to the surface at that time, they can get skin diseases. He then fed the fish oil cake; when he threw the oil cake in the water, the water color changed, but after a minute or two, it was back to its original condition.

After my failed attempt to catch fish and after watching the fish being fed, we moved on to the ornamental fish. Mr. Mohideen had six small pond-like structures, each measuring about 7 feet by 3 feet. In these ponds, he had ornamental fish like angel fish and goldfish. He also had three very small pond-like structures, each measuring about 2 feet by 3 feet, which we learned was used for breeding; for this, two male and one female fish were kept in these ponds during the breeding season.

We then moved on to another small pond where ornamental fish like batsu and koi were kept, and to a large deep pond where bigger fish varieties were kept. The water appeared dirty, but Mr. Mohideen mentioned this was due to the depth of the pond. He mentioned that this large pond was used to supply water to the other smaller ponds.

After our tour of the ponds, Mr. Mohideen described his entry into fish farming. He started doing this business 9 years ago, mostly to ensure his peace of mind. In the initial phase of operations, he was quite unsuccessful, particularly because he did not have knowledge of fish farming; now, however, he has seven large tanks on lease for farming, and even supplies seed to the local government. Most of his knowledge was gained in an on-the-job manner. At first, he lost many fish, inspiring him to visit others to learn how to solve his problems. Now, he can solve his problems on his own because he has been able to learn a lot about the fish farming process. However, he still does not know the technical terms related to his field of work.

Mr. Mohideen is happy with his job, in part because it is quite profitable. For instance, you can purchase 1,000 seed of fish for farming at the rate of Rs 1 each, a 10% survival rate (worst case scenario). Rear these fish in ponds where they are able to feed on natural foods, and after six months, each fish will grow to a weight of at least 1 kilogram. The market rate for 1 kilogram of fish is Rs 50, so with a minimum of 100 fish surviving, you can earn Rs 5,000. This is a very good return on investment for Rs 1,000. The normal survival rate is closer to 60-70% most of the fish are closer to 2 kilograms in weight.

As you can see, fish farming has the potential to be quite profitable; Mr. Mohideen describes himself as middle class.

After I left, I realized how profitable fish farming could be. In fact, even though Mr. Mohideen started with no experience, he is now able to run a business in which he also provides employment to more than 20 people. Through this field visit, not only were we able to understand fish farming; we were also able to understand how to look at different livelihood opportunities for the poor.