No. of branches where CBRM committee formed 933

A Supportive Sisterhood

Self-confidence, prestige and transactional skills are the norm now amongst women self help group members in Chikkamagaluru district. Not only have they broken the shackles of economic dependence, every woman who has travelled towards empowerment pulls up another woman on the path to success.

S. Ashwathi, CEo, Chikkamagaluru Zilla Parishad, points out with pride that women in the rural areas of the district have the confidence to interact with other self help groups across the state. “They have developed the courage to take leadership, they can analyse various issues pertaining to women empowerment and make use of the various government schemes.” This is a sea change compared to days prior to implementation of NRLM, when the women kept to themselves. This, she says, underlines the pivotal role in identifying groups to bring them within the beneficiary ring of NRLM. Under this scheme, the members of the group are given five days of training in roles that are important for the success of the scheme: Master Book Keepers, Local Community Resource Persons and Block Resource Persons who will act as backbone; 35 MBKs are trained in maintaining various books of record for 35 federations. 73 trained Local Resource Persons are maintaining the documents of meetings and internal transactions of various SHGs within the purview of federations. 19 Block Resource Persons have trained executive committee members of Ward Level and Gram Panchayat Level Federations.

The district has WLFs with SHGs and families in its fold.

Community Investment Funds have been distributed to 35 Gram Panchayat Federations. SHGs have started their own micro enterprises from the fund received under Sanjeevini.

272 women SHGs members have made use of CIF for agriculture and allied activities.

As Chikkamagaluru district predominantly lies in the Malnad area (place which receives highest rain) and has a vast forest area, it has ample scope to trade in minor forest products. The VAN DHAN project is being implemented in Koppa taluk with association of LAMPS (Large Area Multi-Purpose Cooperative Societies) on a pilot basis with the cooperation of TRIFED. (Van Dhan is an initiative of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India; it seeks to improve tribal incomes through value addition of tribal products.)

A Fertile Growth

Sanjeevini Champion: Ashwini, Koppa taluk

This Sanjeevini champion in Chikkamagaluru district has achieved a remarkable feat by turning an arid piece of land into a fertile farm. Going beyond providing a secondary income to her family, Ashwini has become the go-to person for farmers in the region who seek her advice on multi-cropping.

Proving that nothing is impossible for a determined person, Ashwini has emerged as a success story of Sanjeevini, by overcoming poverty and hunger with the timely help of the project.

Ashwini is from a marginalized farming household in Karimane village, and her husband’s earnings as a mechanic were insufficient to meet their everyday needs. She joined the Pragathi Stree Shakti self help group of Karimane village in Tuluvina Koppa Gram Panchayat, hoping to learn about an alternative livelihood.

While she owned an acre of farmland, it was arid and was lying unused. At a meeting of the Gram Panchayat Level Federation, when she expressed hope that her farm could be made cultivable, Sanjeevini’s Block Mission Management Unit started guiding her. A soil fertility test showed that the land was ideal for coconut cultivation. The primary intervention that was required was to dig a borewell that would irrigate the land.

Ashwini was able to arrange Rs.95,000 for digging the borewell with personal savings of Rs.50,000 and financial assistance provided by Sanjeevini through its CIF of Rs.20,000 and internal borrowing from the SHG of Rs.25,000. She began mono cropping by planting coconut trees. Sanjeevini’s farm livelihood team suggested that she install a drip irrigation system to use water efficiently, and also suggested that she shift to multi cropping. Realising that there was some land that was unused, she began cultivating vegetables which could feed her family and reduce household expenses. Initially, she earned Rs.10,000 a month by mono cropping, and subsequently, the multi cropping of coconuts and vegetables, increased her earnings to Rs.30,000 a month. The substantial increase in her family income helped her children get to school and made her financially independent. Her stature in the village community grew, and other farmers began approaching her for assistance in developing their farms through multi cropping.