Widening the Scope of the Chanceless

People’s Action for Development-PAD is social organization working for the empowerment of marginalized section of the society such as fisher folk and palmyrah tapers of Gulf of Mannar region, which spreads from Rameswaram to Thoothukudi. The region is semi arid depending on rain fed agriculture and fishing as main source of income. In the Gulf of Mannar region one third of the population constitutes fisher folk among them 83 to 93% of fisher folk practices traditional methods of fishing using traditional boats.

 Village profile:

Vembar south and north constitutes 2 panchayats (elected local governing body) having population of 13000, among them 62% are fisher folk, the remaining are agriculturalist and others. Vembar comes under Vilathikulam block of Thoothukudi district. Since Vembar bordering thoothukudi and Ramanathapuram districts PAD could serve people of both districts. Thus Vembar VRC is covering Kadaladi block of Ramanathapuram and Vilathikulam block of Thoothukudi districts. There are 3 Village knowledge Centres under Vembar VRC namely- Thangamalpuram (agricultural village), Rochmanagar (fishing village) and Keelavaipar. The following table is self evident of villages-

Sl.No	VRC/VKC	Name of the village	Name of the block	Name of the district	To No. of population
1	Village resource Centre	Vembar	Vilathikulam	Thoothukudi	13000
2	Village Knowledge Centre	Rochmanagar	Kadaladi	Ramanathapuram	1600
3	Village Knowledge Centre	Thangamalpuram	Vilathikulam	Thoothukudi	1350
4	Village Knowledge Centre	Keelavaipar	Vilathikulam	Thoothukudi	3200

Situation prior to intervention:

The blocks of Kadaladi (Ramanathapuram) and Vilathikulam (Thoothukudi) are witnessing major migration due to reducing livelihood opportunities. The rapid salination of ground water, depletion in fish catch and inadequate income from palmyrah tapping are few reasons for heavy migration.  People were deprived of accessing to basic amenities such as quality education, health, alternative livelihood, road facilities and approximately 50 to 60 kms combine with poor transport denied the connectivity for with government officials especially district administration.     the target people are fisher folk and palmyrah tappers are who constitutes as the poor of the villages. According to 2001 census all 98 coastal villages of Gulf of Mannar comes under below poverty line i.e. family which has income of less than Rs. 24000 per year.

Both fisher folk and palmyrah tappers are often subjected to exploitation of money lenders due to their seasonal occupations. The people of the region are deprived of alternative livelihood resulted in migration of labour force (50 to 60%) to other neighbouring towns and cities. In this context PAD along with able support of International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) promoted the concept of Village Resource Centre (VRC) to cater the needs of the villages  in and around Vembar, which is the base of the PAD (fishing village) belongs to Thoothukudi district comes under state of Tamil Nadu, India.

Diversification of livelihood:

In early 2004, PAD conducted Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) followed by focused group discussion in its target villages, which enabled PAD to identify the key issues, problems along with causes and needs of the villagers. The key issues are UN available of adequate livelihood, access to basic amenities, access quality education are few. The main cause for the issues is inadequate information and lack of knowledge on various aspects that are required to strengthen their life and livelihood. In order to bridge the rural urban divide, ICT enabled Village resource centre and Knowledge centers were established as a hub and spokes model. The purpose of VRC and VKC is to strengthen the five capitals such as Natural, Social, Human, Physical and Financial by diffusing different technology as a tool for development. This added one more capital as Information to the existing five capitals. Different forms of services namely providing content, capacity building and linkages relating to diversification of livelihood enhancement. Content like fish prone zone, wave heights, weather details, season based agricultural information that are crucial for both fishing and farming community are provided. Capacity Building in terms of trades that meets local needs such as Boya making, boat engine repairing, herbal cultivation, fish pickle making, simple chemical products were provided for enabling alternate livelihood. The villagers are linked with banks, cooperatives, District Rural Development Agency and welfare departments for accessing financial resources and Government schemes and entitlements.

The initiatives of PAD on establishing computer centres (May 2005) in the villages in order to build the capacity of the school drop outs and local youths with computer literacy were later converted (Mid 2006) as a Village Resource Centre and Knowledge centres. The transformation of the centre with knowledge and information services paved the way for people to access the required information and knowledge to fulfill their needs, which made the people to realize the fact of Knowledge / Resource centre.

To add further, the Boya training expanded as a viable enterprise for a group of fishermen at Rochmanagar which fetch them additional income in an average of Rs.1200/- per month as profit. In addition to financial benefits, the Boya enabled the fishermen to access the boat that is anchored 200 to 300 m away from shore also protect them from the poisonous fish called jelly causes allergy leading to even death. Once the community realized the significance of the knowledge centres, it is being maintained and managed by the villagers itself through Village Development Committee which is formed with the facilitation of PAD.

Challenges / Constraints:

                                                                                      

Any intervention has some or other challenges.  When new KW is assumed the role, the induction period slow the process of delivering services through VKCs.  

Secondly The Government officials in various departments like Animal Husbandry are not responding adequately.

In order to facilitate wider connectivity, the advanced form of adequate technology like satellite connectivity is required, which can be provided through   ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization).

Present Status:

After the withdrawal of MSSRF support (April 2009), VKCs has completely owned by communities through Village Development Committee (VDC), which is facilitated though PAD. VRC and VKCs continue to provide the computer literacy courses such as Microsoft Unlimited Potential Programme (MUPP), Tally, basic computer literacy and Computer Aided Learning Programme (CALP).

S. No	Courses	Male	Female	Total
1	Basic in Computer	592	787	1379
2	MUPP (Microsoft Unlimited Potential Program)	108	290	398
3	DTP (Desktop Publishing)	106	140	246
4	Tally Graduate	79	98	177
5	CALP	96	125	221
6	Users	947	1295	2242

The computer literacy course provided through VKC facilitated the users to secure employment in range of positions such as DTP Operators, Photo editors in Studios, Medical shops, computer instructors etc and earn to the extent of Rs. 3000/- to Rs. 12,000/-. PER MONTH

The selection of diversified livelihood options ensured additional and alternative income for different groups. Through simple chemical training, women group at Vembar involved in manufacturing of toiletries which is marketed locally. The promotion of herbal cultivation in Thangamalpuram provides supplementary income to the farming community especially in off-seasons. The training on tailoring paved 20 women at Thangamalpuram ensures an average income of Rs.70/- per head per day and the scope for the unit has expanded as there were requests from export companies. The training on fish pickle preparation motivated women group at Vembar to launch the fish pickle unit which has marketing feasibility locally.

Senthurapandiyan, a farmer from Thangamalpuram village expressed “VKC moolama kodutha payirhikku pinnalathan enga velila irukira mooligaikala adaiyalam kandukolla mudinchudhu. Aduthan enakku kooduthal varumanatha koduthathu” (The training on Herbal cultivation enabled me to identify the herbals which are grown in our fence. It gives me an additional income).

Vasanthi from Thangamalpuram voiced “Computer payirchiyin moolam, pesuvatharku thannambikkaiyum, dhairiyamum vanthathu” (The Computer training gave me courage and self confidence to communicate with others)

                           

Acknowledgement:

I thank Ms.Sharan & Ms.Vasanthi of PAD for collecting the data.