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Volume-46

Communicate Minds
30th September 2006 FORTNIGHTLY

ADVISORS
Khirod Ch. Malick Pitabasa Sethi Makardhwaj Sahu Shiv Prasad Meher Aurobinda Mahapatra

BISWA SHG CONVENTION

BISWA and CARE jointly organized an urban convention of women self help groups on 24th September, 2006 at Aranyaka Mancha, Sambalpur, wherein more than a thousand members lodged their presence. It was organized in the chairmanship of Sri K.C. Malick, Chairman BISWA, Smt Sujata Pattnaik, CARE-CASHE project, Orissa represented her organisation. Sri Julius Lakra, PD-DRDA, Sambalpur participated as the chief guest & Sri I.C. Behera, APD-DRDA, and Sri Sirdhatha Dash, Branch Manager, UTI Bank, Sambalpur participated as a guests of honour. Sri Ashish Kumar Sahu, Project Officer CARE-CASHE, BISWA & Smt Pattnaik explained about the role of their organisations. Ms Mamata Sahu, Federation Officer and Ms. Rajashree Khuntia, Insurance Officer shed light on their role in the organisation. Sri Bhawani Shankar Mishra, Program Manager detailed about the role of BISWA in socialdevelopment sector. At the outset Sri Ajaya Dhar Badgayan, District Coordinator, Sambalpur initiated the meeting and welcomed the guests. Sri Sasanka Sekhar Dalpat proposed the vote of thanks at the end.Earlier a similar regional level women SHG convention took place at Rairakhol on 13 September, 06, wherein Sri P. Sethi, Secretary BISWA presided. Sri Srimanta Patra, participated in it on behalf of CARE. Sri Srinibas Kabi, Sub- Collector Rairakhol graced the occasion as the chief guest & Sri P. Mohanty, E.O. NAC Rairakhol participated as the guest of honour.

In this Issue...
Editorial SHG Convention

Cluster development
Other BISWA News

The Link
Chief-Editor Debabrata Malick Editors Guru Prasad Nahak Kiranbala Acharya

Central Office
BISWA At-Danipali, P.o-Budharaja Dist-Sambalpur, PIN-768004 Tele fax- +91-663-2533597 Email:biswamalick@rediffmail.com, kcmalick@biswa.org www.biswa.org

State Offices
ORISSA Gada Gopinath Colony, In front of High School, Plot No. E/7 PO: Rasulgarh, Bhubaneswar-751010 CHHATTISGARH C-243, Kuber Griha Society Rohinipuram, Raipur-492010, Telephone No: 0771-6451927

Sucess Stor y . . . Story

In this technocratic world, entrepreneurial society is derived out of some form of technology or the other. The technology could be a broad based one and could comprise of low-end user- high technology, or conversely high-end user-low technology. The new-age technologies like the computer technology, information and biotechnology have had a spurt of great entrepreneurialship and the modern society can be described, at best, as an integral part of this technology. Simple electronic gadgets have revolutionized the job structure and potential entrepreneurial skills. This has made tremendous impact on developing great skills and tools to mobilize the technologies for the common man. It is foreseen that the new-age entrepreneur will be able to run business even from ones home regardless of the volume of business, in general. This is where the role of the NGOs comes into great focus. It is the duty of the philanthropic organisation to unearth innovative ideas and to impart quality training in newer technologies, so that the young and confident entrepreneur blossoms out of the institute to venture into a sound business environment. There are several areas where the NGO can play an important part in developing cutting edge and innovative technologies and imparting training in many development tools. Thus it can be concluded that the role of technology in building up entrepreneurial skills of the future entrepreneurial society from academic institutions requires careful consideration.

Manoj

ORIENTATION PROGRAM ON WATER & SANITATION

Most of the people do not have access to improved water supply sources, whereas billion of people not have access to any type of improved sanitation facility. Generally people die every year due to diarrohea & water born diseases. The main problems which are responsible for this situation are: lack of priority given to the sector, lack of financial resources, lack of sustainability of water supply and sanitation services, poor hygiene behaviors, and inadequate sanitation in public places including hospitals, health centers and schools. Recently, a two days orientation program on water and sanitation was held on 20th September, 2006 at Nuapali village of Kubedega G.P. in Bheden block of Bargarh district. The main objective of the program was to sensitize the people about the problem and issues on water and sanitation. In this program many personnel from Gram Bikas participated. BISWA self help group members were also present there. Mr. Lingaraj Dash, Asst. Manager (Planning) coordinated the program on behalf of BISWA.

Manojs grandfather lived in Rengali village of the Sambalpur district. He had a very small patch of cultivable land and mainly depended on brass & bell metal craft. With 3 sons & 4 daughters, it was not easy for his grandpa to respond to the household demand and the family always negotiated its living amidst a continued set of unmet needs by cutting down on various expenditure, consuming coarse grains and pulses and at times of crisis by even skipping meals. Only except Manojs father, the other 2 sons of his grand father migrated to Rangoon in search of jobs and the daughters got married in the nearby villages. Manojs father stuck to his ancestral craft of brass & bell metal, helping his father to earn some more. Manoj has another brother and also 2 sisters, who have been married at a very tender age in nearby villages. Manoj is the youngest of all his siblings. He, unlike his elder brother, has followed his fathers step and learnt the traditional craft of brass & bell metal. Manoj got married at the age of 22 to a girl from their own caste. At the time of marriage, he was earning about Rs. 6000/- per annum at an average of Rs.500/- per month. The paternal property of agricultural land, after being divided among his father and uncles, is negligible and thus does not fetch any income for his family as such. At present he has a family size of 6 persons which includes his parents, two children and the couple. In the year 1999, he was able to know about the NABARD cluster development programme and the REDP being conducted by BISWA with support from NABARD. He thereafter showed interest in getting trained in the semi-mechanisation of brass & bell metal craft. He joined the BISWA-SHG for the artisans as a member in the BISWA-SHG-1 for artisans. He received skill up-gradation training to be a semi- skilled crafts man in the brass & bell metal craft. After having gone 45 days REDP training, now he has been able to make show piece items, those have market demand. He has also undergone a 15 days training programme of design development because of being trained as a semi-skilled artisan. He has been able to learn and make 20 show piece items from the above design development training programme. Now as he has succeeded in proving himself to be an entrepreneur in addition to being an artisan, he has been able to get a loan of Rs.1,00,000/- from the bank towards setting up of his own unit in the locality. He has successfully established his individual unit in the Chauldepo area of Rengali and now earning a decent income of Rs.20, 000/- per annum from the newly set unit. He has become an example for his fellow artisans in that area as a successful entrepreneur having undergone the Rural Entrepreneurship Development Programme being conducted by NABARD.

CLUSTER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME IN BRASS & BELL METAL

The industrial city of Katapali, in Bargarh district is known for manufacturing household articles in brass & bell metal with some decorative items to cater the market of aristocracy. There are 280 enterprises in this cluster which provides employment to 1500 people. From the beginning fifteen Rural Entrepreneurship Development Programme - REDPs & skill up-gradation were supported by NABARD. A cluster development programme has initiated for this cluster during 2006. The basic objective of this programme is to ensure holistic development of the cluster through intervention in various strategic areas. The following activities were carried out as part of this programme: 1. A proper diagnostic study was conducted by visiting 280 enterprises to understand the current status of the cluster and delineate the scope of improvement. During the course of the diagnostic study, Industry Structure Analysis and SWOT analysis were carried out to gauge the resilience of the cluster and understand its growth potential. 2. An awareness workshop was organized to disseminate the findings of the diagnostic study and chalk out an action plan in association with the cluster actors. 3. During the course of the diagnostic study, it was found that there was a dearth of business development services especially in the area of technology up-gradation and availability of technology. In order to address this problem, a group of artisans were exposed in various technological areas at Moradabad (UP). They have been introduced to take care of the technology up-gradation requirement of the enterprises in the cluster. 4. The entrepreneurs are aware of the utility of adopting best practices to improve the performance of their enterprises. So, seminars are designed in order to address cluster generic problems. 5. Buyer-seller meets are to be organized in order to strengthen backward linkages for the cluster. These meets will provide a platform where the buyers are exposed to the product offers of the suppliers and the suppliers understood the requirements of the buyers. 6. A databank of Business Development Service (BDS) providers has developed with the purpose of helping entrepreneurs in sourcing quality BDS. This databank incorporates information on the names and addresses of BDS providers, types of services provided by them, their pricing pattern and the nature of BDS. 7. A cluster map was developed, where all the stakeholders in the cluster and their linkages were depicted. The current institutional matrix gives an idea about the degree of strength of networking among cluster actors, so that one can get an idea about the intervention areas to improve networking among them. 8. Arrangements are made to provide personal counselling to the entrepreneurs in order to solve enterprise specific problems. Several entrepreneurs and their employees showed deep interest in getting personal counselling from BISWA staff members. On an average 2-3 hours are spent in providing personal counselling to the entrepreneurs. 9. Special efforts are made to ensure that the entrepreneurs are able to implement the suggestions provided by BISWA staff and NABARD. About fifteen such technological implementations have taken place leading to improvement in quality and productivity of the final products. Future course of action: The project has been visualised with the following activities: 1. Organizing workshops in the areas of technology, marketing, export, ISO 9000 etc; 2. Organizing buyer-seller meets to strengthen forward linkages for the cluster; 3. Strengthening the local industry associations and capacity building of the cluster actors. 4. Organizing cluster visits in selected clusters to learn the functioning of dynamic clusters; 5. International benchmarking; 6. Documenting best practices in order to facilitate demonstration effect for other pro-active entrepreneurs; 7. Technological Implementations leading to improvement in quality and productivity; 8. Seminars are to be organized in the areas of technology, diversification, marketing etc. so that the entrepreneurs are aware of the utility of adopting best practices to improve the performance of their enterprises. 9. Improving market linkages for the enterprises. Efforts will be initiated to explore the possibility of establishing direct export linkages. 10. Networking is one of the important areas of intervention in the cluster. Five consortia to be formed with the joint initiatives of artisans, BISWA and supporting agencies. Joint initiatives of this nature can improve the competitiveness of the enterprises and built their resilience in meeting external challenges in this era of liberalization and globalization.

KATAPALI, BARAGARH

WORKSHOP ON RTI
Right to information (RTI) can be used as a tool by people in a democratic country to ask for specific information from any government department. Like a share holder in a company, citizens are owners of the country in democratic countries where they have every right to ask for any specific information from any of its department. The main benefit derived from RTI is for developing counties where it works as a tool to curb corruption. People have the right to question any official on any specific issue. This makes the official obliged to maintain all necessary documents and process them at the right time. Related to this, a workshop on Right to Information Act., was organized by ISD & Swadhikar forum at Bhubaneswar with support from OXFAM on 16th September, 06. The program was inaugurated by Ms. Subhashree Das, Director, ISD. The main objective of the workshop was to impart knowledge about the Right to Information in Orissa. Mrs. Bani Mahapatra, Help Line Operator, SWADHAR took part on behalf of BISWA.

MASS RALLY
A mass rally was organized on 15th August, 2006 on the occasion of Independence Day at Burda GP of Loisinga block in Bolangir district. More than 300 hundred women SHG members took part on the rally. Members also participate in tree plantation program. Mr. S.N. Naik, District Coordinator, Bolangir coordinated the rally.

The Link B I S W A At-Danipali P.O-Budharaja Dist-Sambalpur PIN-768004 91+663 2533597(O)

DSWO VISITED SWADHAR

Sri Ganeshwar Panda, DSWO, Sambalpur visited SWADHAR for official inspection on 28th September. Dr. Diptibala Pattnaik, Chairman SWADHAR recieved him and made him visit the campus. Sri Shiv Prasad Meher, PRO BISWA facilitated the visit. Sri Panda checked the books of accounts and discussed with Ms. Pranati Bag, Superitendent SWADHAR and her other staff members about the management of BISWA. He met the inmates and discussed with them about their problems and experiences.

Printed and Published by Debabrata Malick, Chief Editor. The Link, at BISWA Computer Section, Danipali, Budharaja, Sambalpur. PIN- 768004 Ph. No- 0663-2533597, email: thelink@biswa.org