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On behalf of NABARD Mr. N. Satpathy and Mr. S.S Ram, Manager, NABARD participated in it. Mr. Manoj Mohapatra, D.C, Khurda, BISWA was the resource person of the workshop. Mr. Manas Ranjan Mahanty, A.C, Khurda, organized the workshop on behalf of BISWA.

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Communicate Minds
31st March 2007 FORTNIGHTLY

CONDOLENCE TO NIYAM BARIK

To grieve for the soul of the great social worker of Western Orissa, BISWA organized a condolence meeting at its Central Office on 21st March07. The meeting was convened by Ms. Kiranbala Acharya, Asst. PRO, BISWA and was presided over by Mr. K.C Malick, Chairman, BISWA. Mr. Niyam Kumar Barik, a renowned Social Worker of Western Orissa, passed away on brain hamrage at Cuttack on 20th March07. He was a great follower of Prabhabati Devi and Parbati Giri. He was the Secretary of Old Age Home at Phuljharan. Mr. Malick expressed his in-depth feeling for this unfortunate incident and depicted it as an irreparable damage for all of us. Mr. Makardhwaj Sahoo, another senior employee of BISWA and also a friend of Mr. Barik, shared his experiences on time spent with the great departed soul.

Volume-58

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Khirod Ch. Malick

REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON JUVENILE JUSTICE (CARE AND PROTECTION OF CHILD) ACT-2000

BISWA, organized a Regional Workshop on Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2000 on 13th March07 at BISWA Training Institute Hall (BTI), in collaboration with Basundhara, Cuttack The meeting was presided over by Dr. Diptibala Pattnaik, Consultant, BISWA. At the outset Mr. K.C. M a l i c k , Chairman, BISWA invited the Honorable Guests to the dais, followed by lighting the inaugural lamp by the Chief-Guest. Mr. Malick then invited the media persons and all other participants to be a part of the workshop. The meeting started with a selfintroduction session by the participants. Then the main topics of discussion i.e. Quality Institutional Care (QIC) & Alternatives for Children (AC) on Juvenile Justice Act which were discussed by Mr. Harihar Naik, Coordinator, Basundhara. He explained the objectives of Child Rights and You (CRY). He described the motto of Juvenile Justice Board and how to protect the children who are not in conflict with law. Procedure of formation of Child Welfare Committee (CWC) was described by him. Mrs. Saila Behera of Basundhara spelt out the objectives of the workshop. Summarizing the aim of selecting Western Orissa for this workshop, she explained the attempts that can be taken for the survival of poor, neglected, trafficked and abandoned children. She described the functioning of CWC on Social Rehabilitation & reintegration of deprived children, since 1974 to 2000, ACT, role of CWC members, office place of CWC, working procedure of CWC, role of DSWO in CWC, the role of child line 1098 , role of press in child care, alternative family restoration, follow up action etc was elaborately explained by her. At last she invited all the participants to take lead roles to make the workshop a successful one by their active participation. Addressing the workshop Mr. Goparanjan Dubey, Chairman CWC, Sambalpur, and the Chief-Guest of the workshop said that, a meaningful study of the act is very much necessary. He differentiated the Juvenile Justice for the
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Pitabasa Sethi Ajoy Shroff Jogeswar Majhi Shiv Prasad Meher Aurobinda Mahapatra

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Editorial Regional workshop on Jrvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Child) Act-2000 Other BISWA News

AWARENESS CAMP ON REGP OF KVIC

BISWA, in collaboration with Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC), organized a one day awareness camp on Rural Employment Generation Scheme (REGP) at D.R.D.A conference Hall, Nabarangpur on 24th March07. The objective of this camp was to create awareness among the target groups/ beneficiaries for availing the opportunity of REGP. The un-employed youth were among the target groups of REGP. The meeting started at its scheduled time at 10am and the welcome address was given by Mr. Shiv Prasad Meher, PRO, BISWA followed by lighting the lamp by the Chief-Guest and the Honorable Guests. Mr. B. Majhi, A.D, KVIC, Sambalpur spelt out the objectives of the camp. Mr.V. Kullu, G.M, DIC and Mr. Narendra Ku. Pradhan, P.D, DRDA, also spoke on the occasion. Sri Upendra Nath Jena, Md. Bazi, Freedom Fighter and the Chief-Guest of the camp told about the usefulness of Khadi. Mr. Parasuram Majhi, M.P also blessed the camp with his encouraging words. He hailed efforts taken by BISWA in this field. More than 60 participants from various blocks of Nabarangpur were present and towards the end of the program an open house session was organized. The Dist. Coordinator of BISWA, Nabarangpur proposed the vote of thanks.

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The proportion of people living below the poverty line in India has declined to 22 per cent in 2004-05 from 36 per cent in 199394. However, with a population of about 260 million below the poverty line, India has the worlds largest population of the poor. These numbers will rise to 390 million if poverty is measured by the international standard of those living on less than USD1 a day. India, with a gross national income (GNI) per capita of USD720, ranks 159 among the countries in the world, well below other large developing economies . Although Indias first microfinance institution (MFI) started operations in the 1970s, the focus on microfinance in the country gained momentum only in the 1990s, when bank lending to self help groups (SHGs) was treated as part of their mainstream credit operations in 1996; many of the current large- and mediumsized MFIs were established during this period. The mobilisation of women in literacy and anti-liquor movements in Andhra Pradesh, the Tamil Nadu Womens Development Project, and the launch of Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), a rural poverty alleviation programme by the Government of India (GoI) in 1999, supported the formation of SHGs that were later credit-linked to banks. The SHG-bank linkage programme was aimed to address the poor inflow of credit to rural areas despite years of branch expansion and directed credit policies. The SHG approach of lending resulted in banks lending to the economically challenged without collateral. Now the SHG-bank linkage programme is one of the largest microfinance programmes in the world with 2.23 million SHGs linked, covering nearly 32.98 million poor families with cumulative bank loans of Rs.114 billion as on March 31, 2006.

Help Group members, orientation of C W C members and m e d i a approach for solution of problems. Mr. Purna Chandra Panigrahi, a social activist, explained about the quality institutional care & alternative care for children. He also explained the CWC, child care home, civil society as conceptual & contractual organizations. At last he stressed on holistic approach to ensure quality services. At the tail-end of the workshop all the participants shared their concern for child right. Vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. Shiv Prasad Meher, PRO, BISWA.

BISWA INTERVENTION IN TRIBAL DEVLOPMENT

With a vision to create a poverty-free society BISWA started its journey in the year 1994. Since, then BISWA has never looked back and now BISWA has started its national integration movements. Recently it has started intervening in the tribal areas of Raipur District of Chhattisgarh. Gariabandh, Mainpur and Chhura blocks of Chhattisgarh s t a t e reflected indications of development much below the national average in a baseline survey, conducted by BISWA. The findings inspired BISWA to intervene in these areas. From the base-line survey it became clear that the per capita income of the Kamar Tribe is Rs. 300/- per month per family. They mainly depend on the nearby forest called Maleiba Hills. They use to go to the forest to cut bamboo trees and they spend 3-4 days with deterioting condition of food and water which causes illness and health hazards. In this process they are destroying the forest, causing a severe hamper to the revenue of the forest department. BISWA started intervention in Kantidadar village of Gariabandh block. 20nos of SHG were imparted training for making bamboo stick (Khadi) for making Agarbatis. We developed a small manual machine to produce bamboo sticks. Many women in these areas were given training on leave cup plate making on Shiali Leaf and 40 machines has been provided to them. The producers have been linked to the market. After six months it is seen that the per capita income of these tribal women has increased up to Rs. 40/per day. The training has also been given to a blind lady of 62 years and now she is able to earn Rs.20/- to Rs.25/ - per day. Communicatively these indicate that micro-enterprise development program of BISWA can bring about sustainable change in the economic conditions of the poor. In this process BISWA has helped the local governance to stop deforestation, is increasing forest revenue with door step finance has been provided and training & marketing has been provided by BISWA. Children have started going school, per capita income of the tribal has been increased along with enhancing purchasing capacity 3(as said by a local vendor who used to sell Rs.300/- per

WORKSHOP ON PREMARITAL COUNSELLING

BISWA organized a 1-day workshop on Pre-marital Counseling at P.G Council Conference Hall, Sambalpur University on 28th March07. The workshop was initiated by Mr. Shiv Prasad Meher, PRO, BISWA and Smt. Diptibala Patnaik, Consultant, BISWA. Dr. Pattnaik welcomed the guests and the student to participate actively in the workshop. All the guests spoke on the occasion and expressed their views. Prof. Rajani Kanta Behera, Chair man P.G Council, congratulated the staffs of BISWA, for organizing this type of Awareness camp which is very much useful for the student. Pre-marital counseling is very much necessary to generate consciousness for the students before they are going to marry was the view the Prof. Samarendra Mohanty. Indian society is male dominated and a highly qualified girl also remains suppressed by the social customs. Dr. Deepak Behera advised the girls to take the best advantage of this type of awareness camp. In the views of Prof. Braja Kishori Mohanty pre-marital counseling can better promote the youth and then she spoke on Reproductive Health & Education. Dr. Bharti Panda said that Pre- Marital Counseling refers to the preparation before marriage. She suggested that before marriage psychological preparation is very much necessary for the boys and girls. The meeting was felicitated by Ms. Sarita Mohapatra, Help-line Operator and Ms. Mousumi Poddar, Family Counselor, BISWA and the vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. Shiv Prasad Meher, PRO, BISWA.

TRAINING ON RECORD KEEPING

With support from NABARD, BISWA organized a one day orientation training program of grass root level SHG members

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children in conflict with law and children who are not in conflict with law. He also discussed about the role of NGOs in implementing the law. Mr. Harihara Naik followed to describe the protection of child right under Juvenile Justice Act-2002. He explained the definition, salient features, constitution of juvenile justice, procedure to choose members, constitution of CWC, rehabilitation & social reintegration, type of homes under J. J. Acts etc. An open house session was organized prior to lunch session. Mrs. Sushama Satpathy, Dr. Shanti Manjari Mishra, Mr. Shashi Bhusan Sahu and Mr Bhawani Shankar Mishra satisfied the queries raised by the participants. The second session of the workshop started with the deliberate description on the role of community and civil society organizations in protection of child right by Mr. Rajendra Meher from Boudh. He described the importance of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) to Self

on record keeping at Balipatna Block of Khurda district on 27th March07. The meeting was attended by the SHG members of Adheinch and Abhaymukhi villages. The participants raised various issues relating SHG formation, group dynamics, taking up of economic activities and record keeping of SHGs on Micro-Credit and Micro-Enterprise.
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