pro-poor, pro-nature & pro-women.
| Visit to the Tsunami affected villages in Pondicherry |
| 1. Periyakalapet Panchayat |
| Mr Senthilkumaran, Mr Parasuraman and Prof MS.Swaminathan I had detailed discussions with following members |
| Shri Ramalingam,
President Shri S Sellappan, Vice President Shri J. Mourthy, Secretary Shri S Pazhani, Deputy Secretary Shri M Angappan, Treasurer Shri S Sakthivel, Deputy Treasurer |
| Staff members and volunteers Prabhu Vani, Sugantha, Indira, Guna Sundari, Palaniammal and Kalaichelvan are working in providing support to the affected families. The fear of the sea is continuing and the young people do not want to take to fishing. There is no work for both men and women. The families are surviving on the amounts being given by Government. There are many Self-Help Groups (SHG's) formed by the administration but these do not have any viable enterprise. After detailed discussion, it was decided to form the following 4 SHG's based on market driven enterprises. |
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| Mr Rajamohan will arrange for the training of the Mushroom SHG in a day or two. Mr Senthilkumaran will organize the training in Ornamental Fish Culture with the help of Dr Sakthivel. Steps will also be taken with reference to identifying suitable agencies for training in tailoring and boat repair. |
| Prabhu Vani will create a database on the members of the different SHG's based on their enterprise. Prabhu Vani and Sugantha have already developed an excellent database on all the tsunami affected families. |
| 2. Ganapathychettikulam Fishermen Village Panchayat |
| Discussion held with the following |
| Shri Ramakrishnan,
President Shri Kothandapani, Vice President Shri Venkatesperumal, Secretary Shi Ezhumalai, Deputy Secretary Shri Balakrishnan, Treasurer |
| Some of the problems were the same as in the case Periyakalopet village. It was decided to establish a Knowledge Center in the room kindly offered by the Panchayat. This center will be set up during the next few days. Steps will have to be taken to identify viable enterprises for women and suitable volunteers. |
| 3. Veerampattinam Village |
| Discussions were held with M Subbaya, President, Panchayat, E Visvanathan Vice President and Balan, Vice President. The center is being managed very well by our volunteers M Rajalakshmi, M Arul Vel, R Ezhumalai and G Prathima. So far Government has distributed in three instalments Rs. 2000, Rs. 2500 and Rs. 3000 per household. A few bags of rice have also been given. The families have lost their boats, motors and fishing nets. They are looking for alternate livelihoods. It was decided to help in organizing the following four market driven SHG's . |
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| 4. Pillayarkuppam Village |
| Detailed discussions were held with Biocouncil Members. Shri S Mohan, Asst. Manager Advances (Agri) of the State Bank of India paid tributes to the members for prompt repayment of loans. Biocouncil Members wanted high priority to be given to the establishment of Village Knowledge Centres (VKC's) in their respective villages. They also wanted training in the use of the accounting software. Mr Senthilkumaran will do the needful. The Biovillage Council will be registered as a Society very soon. |
| 5. Construction of building for the Hub of the VKC's and Community Radio. |
| The progress was reviewed with Ms Suhasini Ayer-Guigan. She assured that the equipment from our Villianur Hub can be transferred to the new building early in April. |