Leprosy Rehabilitation Project in Tamil Nadu
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| Women's Indian Association (WIA) |
| INFORMATION
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| Background Stigma and poverty dog leprosy affected people even after cure, isolating them from the economic and social dynamics of mainstream life. Being ostracized by society, they tend to live in isolated colonies or "clusters" as a homogenous group, earning irregular livelihoods by begging, or surviving with government handouts, living ‘on the dole’ as it were. Encouraged by a project experience in Shahdara, a leprosy colony near New Delhi, which showed that it was indeed possible to successfully rehabilitate such handicapped persons to become productive members of society, the WIA (Women’s Indian Association), the Chennai Branch of All India Women’s Conference (AIWC), initiated a new five-year project for leprosy affected persons and their families in the Tamil Nadu region. The project is financially supported by IWA for a period of five years. The project aims to provide beneficiaries with viable income generating opportunities, thus weaning them away from begging. The project covers 8500 persons in Tamil Nadu, 3000 of whom are in Government Rehabilitation Homes (will be referred to simply as "Homes", henceforth) and 5500 persons of whom are located in 40 colonies spread throughout Tamil Nadu. |
| Project Activities Income generating Activities (IGA) differ in the Homes and colonies. In the Homes, the focus is on agriculture and allied activities, whereas the focus in the colonies is on micro-credit for self-employed persons. |
| Homes : All the Homes have cultivable land ranging from 5 to 40 acres, some of which had become degraded through disuse over the past 2 to 3 decades. The intention of the project was to provide a sound agricultural infrastructure (land reclamation, land development, irrigation, fencing, water resource management etc) so that this valuable resource already available to all the Homes could be utilized for the benefit of the Home inmates. A total sum of Rs.24.7 lakh rupees has been spent by the project on agricultural activities (mainly for building up the requisite infrastructure) in the Homes, so far. Besides providing infrastructure, the project has provided technical know-how and training to beneficiaries in the Homes so that they can independently carry on with their IGAs (i.e., agriculture – using a judicious mix of short, medium and long term crops; horticulture, pisciculture, dairying, goat rearing etc) over the long term. Welfare committees, the members of which are Home beneficiaries themselves, have been formed so that beneficiaries can independently manage these processes over the long term, without the assistance of project staff. Corpus Funds have been established for each Home so that IGAs can be financially supported over the long term. 10 percent of farm income is regularly contributed to the Corpus Fund, to keep it replenished. Vegetables cultivated on this land are sold to the Administration of the Homes to be used for cooking the inmates’ food, so that Home inmates may benefit nutritionally. Similar tie-ups have been arranged with the dairying facilities started by the Project. |
| Colonies : Project activities in the colonies focus on providing micro-credit facilities to qualified persons. Based on the principle that anything given free is not properly valued, the project does not give out grants, but rather, interest free loans, typically repayable in 10 monthly installments. Moreover, having to take the responsibility for repaying the loans forces beneficiaries to move away from the ‘on-the-dole’ syndrome and mindsets. The repayment amounts from beneficiaries is recycled straight back into a revolving fund, from which further loans can be made. Loan amounts typically range from Rs.1000 to Rs.5000; however, in exceptional cases, amounts up to Rs.45,000 have been granted. Market information, skills and aptitudes of the beneficiaries are considered when granting a loan. Welfare Committees, comprising of residents of the colonies themselves, have been formed to aid in the loan processing procedures and have been trained by project staff to function independently over the long term, even after the project’s official closure. A highlight of the project’s success is that after two and a half years of intensive training, the welfare committees of the colonies are already functioning independently; monitoring IGAs on their own, and managing financial transactions using a "colony welfare committee revolving fund" that has been set up for each colony. |
| Most of the occupations which the beneficiaries take up fall in the category of petty trade. Being successful in their trades has given beneficiaries self-confidence and dignity. The formation of self-help groups (including those for women) has proved to be a general mechanism of support for beneficiaries, besides being an instrument for members to pool their resources for productive purposes. The project has helped qualified beneficiaries to open bank accounts and has encouraged the habit of saving a proportion of their incomes. |
| Future Plans and Funding RequirementsThere are 40 such colonies throughout Tamil Nadu. The WIA- project is currently able to help only 27 of them because of funding limitations. Much more funds are needed so that the program can be implemented in all the colonies. One funding option is the "colony adoption" program through which a colony could be ‘adopted’ by a donor with a donation of Rs.2 lakhs, which is the estimated amount for undertaking activities such as those described above. |
| The children of leprosy affected persons are disadvantaged due to the conditions of poverty and stigma that they live in. It is proposed to create a separate fund to support the higher education of those children. Loans and scholarships could thus be given for collegiate education, for taking professional courses and for vocational training. |
| Colony residents have identified the requirement for better housing as an urgent basic need. Their flimsy huts are particularly inadequate during the monsoon season; in fact, some residents claim that they are better off outdoors without shelter rather indoors. Repeated expenditure is also incurred by them because of frequent repairs. The project hopes to collect enough funds to build 2000 houses in the various colonies over a period of time. Additional funds are also needed to help sustain the agricultural activities in the Homes over a long period. |
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| Please note: Donations to the WIA are eligible
for Sec. 80(G) deduction under Income Tax Act.
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| Contact person: Mrs. Padma Venkataraman, 3/345,
AGS Colony Beach Layout, Kottivakkam, Chennai – 41, India. Phones: 4423671, 4423655.
Phone/fax: 4423760
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| e-mail: kvenkat@giasmd01.vsnl.net.in |
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