Economic Growth India Project #1900

Empowering Villages in Rural India

by Seva Mandir

Project Report | Aug 31, 2020
Supporting Communities during COVID-19 Pandemic

By Atul Lekhra | Programme Incharge

Dear Friend,

I hope this update finds you and your loved ones in good health.

Together, we are facing a truly unprecedented situation. The global coronavirus pandemic is affecting all of our families, our businesses, our communities, and our way of life. The Covid-19 pandemic is a two-pronged health and economic crisis, and requires a two-pronged response.

Seva Mandir has an important role to play, and we’re working hard to help rural communities in southern Rajasthan to overcome this situation. Through our Covid-19 Relief Programme, we have provided more than 52,200 relief kits for food, sanitation, storing grain, sanitary pads, and personal protection.

In our last report, we shared with you the steps which Seva Mandir had taken for the safety and security of the people living in its rural areas. But now the scenario has completely changed, people now are aware about Covid-19 and they also know the ways to keep themselves safe and protected from this virus.

As the initial brunt of the crisis is over and the lockdown is slowly lifted, Seva Mandir’s focus is now on developing and implementing long-term relief for communities and individuals through livelihood interventions.

The economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown are now becoming clear. Migrant labourers have returned back to their villages and are now out of work and putting extra pressure on the meagre resources of their households.

Seva Mandir is building the capacity of individuals, families and communities to adapt to the new normal and continue in leading their own development.

To mitigate the economic effects of Covid-19, Seva Mandir is rapidly expanding its comprehensive livelihood support to ensure families and communities have the tools, knowledge and ability to continue to improve their lives.

We are deeply grateful for your overwhelming support and messages of encouragement. Until now, over INR 6 million (USD 80,000) has been spent in providing relief.

We are committed to continuing to serve the communities we work with, and we know you will be too. The world will come out stronger after we beat the coronavirus.

Thank you, and sending our best wishes for yours and your family and friends safety.

Regards

Atul Lekhra and the Seva Mandir team

Follow us on www.facebook.com/sevamandir

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Apr 30, 2020
Seva Mandir: Covid-19 Relief Efforts

By Atul Lekhra | Programme Incharge

Namaste,

We hope that you, your family and loved ones are in good health and safe.

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought countries to a standstill in an attempt to reduce the spread of the virus. India has been under lockdown since the end of March and, although it is necessary, it is having a huge effect on the economy. It is this economic downturn that is hitting families living in poverty the hardest.

84% of the population Seva Mandir works with are subsistence farmers who struggle to make a living from their small landholdings. These farmers’ incomes had already been under pressure in recent years, due to low commodity prices, but a good monsoon season last year had given hope to the region that they could increase their production and sell more in the markets.

Then Covid-19 arrived and the situation worsened exponentially.

Seva Mandir is conducting a vast Covid-19 relief effort to provide aid to the hardest hit families in the rural and tribal areas we work in. Seva Mandir has experience of more than 50 years in working with communities to transform and improve their lives - and that is no different now.

The first priority is to keep people safe. Our ground staff and village workers, are ensuring that the families are practicing proper hygiene methods and are aware of the latest Government advice and regulations. As an organisation, we are responsible for the wellbeing, safety and security of our people.

We are distributing food kits (consisting of onions, potatoes, grains, rice, oil, spices, and salt) and sanitation kits (comprising of soap and detergent), both enough to last a family of 5 for 2 weeks. Importantly, we are also providing farmers with grain-storage kits and tarpaulins to increase the amount of food they can store – essential as the harvesting season approaches.

Until now, we have reached 24,300 families- distributing 19,100 sanitation kits, 1,500 food kits, and 2,000 grain-storage kits. We are also aiding the government in their relief efforts.

Many of these people are relying on the relief kits to survive this lockdown. People like Meera:

Meera had been working as a daily-wage labourer after the death of her husband. When the lockdown came, she lost her only means of making an income.

‘My situation is already so bad – I did not think it could get any worse.’ Meera explains. ‘But then the relief kits came from Seva Mandir, and suddenly I felt like my own family is here to help.’

However, there are still many more families left to reach, and you can help us provide lifesaving aid to them. You can give your support to our Covid-19 project by clicking here. Your donation to this fund will provide relief and support to the families of these communities during this challenging time.

You can be part of this effort whether it is by donating directly to Seva Mandir, by spreading the word of Seva Mandir to people you know, or just by sending us your messages of support.

You can keep up to date with our efforts on our dedicated Covid-19 page on our website. Click here to access it.

Once again, thank you for your unwavering support. Please stay healthy and keep social distancing.

Regards

Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir Team

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Dec 31, 2019
New Year Greetings and Wishes to You!

By Atul Lekhra | Programme Incharge

Dear Friend,

Wishing you and your family a very Happy New Year!! May this New Year brings with it an abundance of joys and infinite happiness to you!

Thank you for your support to our project ‘Empowering Villages in Rural India’. Your support is bringing real changes in the lives of our villagers.

Seva Mandir has always believed and worked towards empowering communities to take accountability of social transformation as the most sustainable way of moving ahead. Seva Mandir has nurtured its village development groups into spaces where people are able to actively participate in the decisions which directly affect their lives.

To further empower these village groups, the groups have been amalgamated into federations. These are multilayered, self-governing community institutions created by Seva Mandir to resolve larger-scale issues. The federations work on the social as well as financial issues of the region and liaise with various government as well as non-government agencies.

Jhadol is 50 kms away from Udaipur and is inhabited by mostly tribal population. Seva Mandir has been working very closely with village communities in Jhadol and that has resulted in strong village groups and federations in the region. The federation meets every month to discuss issues pertaining to their zones (each zone comprising 10-15 villages).

In May 2019 , Ogna zone in Jhadol proactively worked on an issue that helped not only the daily wage laborers of their zone, but for the entire region.

In order to ensure employment in village, government had launched a programme called Mahatama Gandhi Employee Guarantee Act (MNREGA) under which 100 days of guaranteed employment is ensured in villages. However, along with labor, the act also ensures other conditions like availability of a shady area for rest, toilet, crèche for children and first aid kit should also be ensured at the work site.

While working on one of the construction sites for a road, a woman got severely injured on her head. There was neither a first aid kit available nor a resting place on the work site and she had to be immediately rushed to a hospital. Despite terrible blood loss, the woman could be saved but the incident was an alarming situation for the federation. The federation collectively wrote a letter to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) appraising him about the situation and demanding a medical kit at each work site for the region. The CMO also responded immediately to it and within a month, medical kits were made available at all MNREGA work sites in Jhadol.

In another effort by Phalasiya and Madri zone federations, a very old and regressive social ritual was collective discarded. During the festival of Holi, every year for a period of 15-20 days vehicles on highway used to be stopped by women and children to demand money from passengers. It was very risky and exploitative for people to travel during these areas. The federation members launched a campaign against this practice and discussed it with every village group. This year the number of cases reported dropped by 80% and the federation have committed to uproot this tradition completely by next year.

The federations are slowly transforming to highly active and responsible action groups which are challenging social norms and demanding quality in government services. They will be very instrumental in ensuring development remains ‘by the people’ and ‘for the people’ in the region. The localized understanding of these federations about grass root challenges is multi faceted and empowering them to take collective action can bring profound changes in the lives of people.

We would like to thank you for letting us meet our commitments in the field. All this has been possible due to your consistent support and trust in us.

Seva Mandir is delighted to congratulate long-time academic collaborators and supporters of its work, Professors Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer, who have been awarded the 2019 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science ‘for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.'

Seva Mandir's research association with Abhijeet Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer began in 1996, you can find out more here https://bit.ly/2YUO9aJ.

Thank you again for your generosity in choosing to support our project.

Best Wishes

Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir Team

Follow us on www.facebook.com/sevamandir

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