INTER COLLEGE AWARENESS CAMP OF IRCS

FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

A 1-day inter-college awareness camp for Girls Youth Red Cross Volunteers was organized on 23rd Feb07 at Kuchinda College, Kuchinda. The program intended to create awareness among the girls about the roles and responsibilities of Youth Red Cross Volunteers. Mr. Shiv Prasad Meher, PRO, BISWA explained Volunteer service why & how?. Aims & objectives of Red Cross were explained by Mr. Joy George, Honorary Secretary Red Cross District, Sambalpur. Disaster Management Role of YRC Volunteers was elaborated by Mr. S. K Sahu, Project Officer, OSDMA. 100 girls of about 12 nearby colleges of Kuchinda participated in this camp. The Chief Guest of the event Mr. L. K. Mahapatra, ADM, Sambalpur distributed certificates of participation at the end if the event. Camp experiences were shared by two of the volunteers & counselors. Prof. Dipak Behera, Sambalpur University, Dr. Narayani Panda, ViceChairperson, IRCS District Branch, Sri Sudhir Pujari, UTSARGA, Sambalpur, Dr. R.C Nanda, CDMO, Sambalpur, Sri Bapi Biswajit Sahu, Sri Rama Chandra Basantia, Dr. S.M Mahapatra, SDMO, Smt. Hemalata Dang Pradhan, Advocate, Kuchinda, were the Guests of Honor of the camp. Vote of thanks was given by Mrs. Mishra, Asst. Camp Coordinator. The program was sponsored by Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS), Sambalpur District. If you want to subscribe on line The Link, please log on to our website: www.biswa.org/newsletter
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Communicate Minds
28th Feb 2007 FORTNIGHTLY

Volume-56

ADVISORS
Khirod Ch. Malick

BISWA IN TI PROGRAM OF OSACS

The Orissa State AIDS Control Society (OSACS) has launched its Phase III Targeted Intervention (TI) program all over the State to control the pandemic AIDS. The program mainly targets the Female Sex Workers (FSWs), Men having Sex with Men (MSM) and Injectable Drug Users (IDUs) as the Core Group and the truck drivers, the migrant population as the bridge group. The objectives of this intervention are to provide care services to the identified core and non-core group and to create a consciousness regarding the pandemic among the general public. HIV and AIDS is no more a health problem only, rather it has become a developmental issue in the past decade or so due to its spread to all the corners of the world and penetration into all economic and social segments without any discrimination what so ever. It is no longer a problem restricted to specific regions in the world or to individuals with high-risk behaviors and has become pandemic. The most productive age group is the target of the disease because of various reasons. In the 21st century it has been branded as the biggest threat to mankind as it poses serious problems to a nations overall economy, productivity and it sweeps away everything on its way. The epidemic has now spread from the highrisk population to a more vulnerable Bridge Population which includes the main workforce of any community. Today India stands the second largest country of HIV/AIDS population. It has become the biggest gender issue in countries like India where the societies are still very conservative. Women are increasingly at high risk of infection. Today women account for nearly 50% of all people living with HIV worldwide. Young people who are in the age group of 15 to 24 accounts for early half of all new HIV infection. In India surface transport is the lifeline of countrys progress. With an extensive road transport network, the movement of goods and people and along with it the network of HIV/AIDS is reaching far and wide touching thousands of lives everyday. Truckers who transport essential commodities from one corner to other also transmit STD /HIV to all parts of the country. The occupation which keeps them away for months together forces them to buy sexual favor from commercial sex workers and local women along the national highways, thus work as a major route of STD/HIV transmission. The community of the nearby areas of NH involve with the Truckers directly/indirectly. Truckers, one of our primary stake holders are heterogeneous floating
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Editorial BISWA in TI program of OSACS Other BISWA News

FIELD TRAINING OF ASHA VOLUNTEERS

In collaboration with the National Rural Health Mission, BISWA organized a 3-phased training programme for the Accredited Social Health Activitists (ASHA) volunteers at the CHCs of Jujomura and Lipinda. The 1st phase was organized on 29th-30th January 2007 whereas the other two were organized on 31st Jan - 01st Feb07 and 14th -15th Feb07 respectively. The trainers of the program were Dr. Usharani Mishra, Medical Officer, Jujomura CHC, Mr. Alekh Gutta, Block Extension Educator , Jujomura CHC; Mr. Bhawani Shankar Mishra, Program Manager, Mr. S.N Mohapatra, Project Co-coordinator RCH-II, Mrs. Sumitra Amanta, Health Worker (Female), Jujumura and Mr. Khirod Ojha, Health Worker (Male), Jujomura from BISWA.

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health problems of these people poses as a major challenge to Very recently the apex court of the country has passed the targeted Intervention to prevent transmission of HIV/ AIDS the verdict that the siblings must be punished if they wont and STD in the target area. take proper care of their parents in old age. Geriatric problems are increasing day by day in India. As parents, The epidemic AIDS should not be perceived as a health problem the elders have given their children their life, educated only because in a developing country like India certain sociothem and often enable them to earn a decent living. But economic, political issues are closely related. So it is highly at the same time one problem always prevails, i.e. high essential to identify the local problems, the factors that may expectations among the elders from the younger which directly or indirectly influence the project. That may be beyond is not always possible or practicable. Elders should first the control of the implementing agency. There is a great need of all understand the socio-economic conditions, careers to have an insight into the socio-cultural belief and practices of and family of their children. They should try to adjust the targeted group, their economy and also to tentatively know and not to interfere in the day to day affairs and problems about the people to be covered under this category. Sex being of their childrens family. Unless asked, they should a taboo in India it is important to know and understand the patiently refrain from giving advice. They should not targeted group in the context of their perception about the compare the attitude of the youngsters of today with their problem, their felt need and to find out those specific issues that to dealt with through a strategic approach. own attitude when they were young. They should try to assist in the day to day affairs of the family, like taking the grandchildren to school, doing the bank work or paying the bills. Interaction with the grandchildren most often refreshes the minds of the elders FOUNDATION OF BISWA OLD AGE and in fact delays the ageing process. Though some people HOME LAID prefer to be left alone, loneliness is one of the main problems for elders. In a social life one has to compromise, so, if either the elder or the younger one On the auspicious occasion of Maha Shivaratri (16.02.2006) the foundation stone of BISWA Old Age Home at Huma was could compromise, there would be no problem at all. laid by Mr. K. C. Malick, Chairman, BISWA. Mr. Golak Bihari Mishra, Geriatric Care Officer, Mr. Bhabes Chand, Field Continued From Pg: 1 Engineer and some local eminent citizens witnessed the occasion. population with a divergent origin, language, culture and The Home shall have eight rooms specially designed for care religion hail from different parts of India and to be very specific and comfort of the inmates (elderly persons) referred by the the major portion of them are from Andhra Pradesh, compassionate donors to the cause. Mr. Malick assured to Tamilnadu, Punjab, Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, complete the Home as soon as possible. West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa. They represent the marginalized and under - privileged section of the society. The occupational hazards coupled with alcoholism and rampart (oral) drug abuse make this population highly vulnerable. FSWs and MSMs are the major Core population category who sell sex along the NH and also in the nearby townships need special attention. Poverty, absence of alternative employment other than agriculture, ignorance about the fatality of HIV and STD make this group exposed to acquiring the HIV infection and transmitting it to their spouse and other sexual partner including truckers/local community/migrant laborers/ School-College Students. Addressing the sexual

SPECIAL FEATURE
CHANGE SELFHELP GROUPS SO POOR BENEFIT: NGOS
Talk about a good intention gone awry. Several womens groups have joined hands to seek drastic changes to the functioning of SHGs as they feel they have failed to achieve its basic purpose - poverty alleviation and women empowerment. SHGs can be formed in a village with a minimum 10 members and a maximum of 25. Once formed, they can apply for loans under various Government schemes. Currently, there are 7 million SHGs in the country, out of which 90% comprise only of women. Archana Dwivedi of Nirantar, an NGO which surveyed the functioning 2,750 SHGs, says though they aim to provide loans to poor women, in reality, they are not beneficiaries. The representation of the poorest, including Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims, is negligible and in most cases, they are excluded in many States. In a majority of cases, we found the husband of the member using the money, but the wife having to repay the loan. She says. Further while SHGs face serious hurdles in accessing credit from financial institutions and banks, she says, there have been cases where they charge extremely high rates of interest and deploy coercive methods to recover loans. We did not come across even a single case where SHGs helped a family come out of poverty. There are many cases where women took loans to start micro enterprises such as making papad, jelly and pickles. But in the absence of marketing and capacity-building infrastructures, it became unviable. Incidentally, the Government is going to introduce the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Banking (Amendment) Bill in the coming budget session to ensure financial institutions dont charge exorbitant interests from the poor. Jahnavi Andharia of Anandi, an NGO in Gujurat, says the Government does not have any data on the exact number of SHGs nor any data on how much loan has been given to them till date. The whole exercise is about getting loans to repay other loans. Many times, the loans are cornered by the woman heading the SHG. The limited agenda of SHGs is further hampered by the lack of educational opportunities within the Groups as many dont know how to read or write. Thomas Franco, Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti, an NGO helping rural women through SHGs, says, In the recent past, womens organizations have been increasingly raising these concerns and this need to be addressed. Getting credit is everybodys right and SHGs are meant to reduce dependence on the money-lenders. SHGs have created opportunities for a large number of women in the public realm. But it has also failed to achieve poverty alleviation and women empowerment as projected by the government. The ground reality is that though women are instrumental in setting up SHGs, their purpose hasnt been served. Syeda Hamid, Planning Commission Member, says, There is a need to take stock of the SHG phenomenon. While there are many challenges, there are also significant opportunities. There is an urgent need for construction of a committee on SHGs and the status of women as recommended by the Planning Commission.
(Courtesy: The Times of India, Delhi Edition)

DISTRIBUTION OF BICYCLES AT BISWA CENTRAL OFFICE

20 bicycles were distributed at BISWA central office at Danipali, Sambalpur on 11th Feb07. The ex-students of Innovative Schools of village Jankarbahali, Budapada, Rathipada of Maneswar block were facing problems to go to the far-off High schools. As they are very poor, so they cant afford to buy bicycles and the schools are very far from their houses. Mr. K.C Malick, Chairman, BISWA distributed bicycles to them for their easy conveyance to schools.