Best Farmer Award to NBJK Beneficiary

Mr. Birsa Munda (son of late Soma Munda), a farmer of Latardih village under Murhu block in Khunti district was declared as the Best Farmer in a function held by District Agriculture Department on 15 September i.e. Foundation Day of Khunti district. On this occasion, Mr. Edwin Minz (District Agriculture Officer, Khunti) has praised Birsa for innovative agro practices and honored him publicly with the spade & sprayer. Birsa and his wife Mrs. Sani Munda are associated with Food security & Livelihood program by NBJK with support of Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Mumbai. Sani is a member of “Shanti Mahila Mandal” SHG promoted under the program. They have total 14 acres of land, out of which 8 acres are farming land as a reliable source to feed their 5 members’ family. In this Kharif season, Birsa has sown paddy in 4 acres and prepared 15 decimals lands for tomato farming. He started with tomato as a cash crop first time in the year 2012 as an experiment on lesser area and earned Rs. 8000 in the season. This encouraged him a lot to go further and produce more quality tomatoes. NBJK has supported Birsa Munda for input arrangement and guidance at every step like nursery set up, transplantation, weeding, fertilizers composition, pest control, harvesting and marketing. This year, he has earned around Rs. 20000 up to September and now planning to utilize more lands for the purpose.

Training to DPO Members & Office-Bearers

3 days residential training to office bearers and members of Disable People’s Organization in Chouparan block (Hazaribag) was conducted during 10-12 September under Cross CBR program with support of Sightsavers, Kolkata. On this occasion, Dr. Jitendra Kumar (State Coordinator, Sightsavers) has provided important inputs about organizational strength and the very process of empowerment for the people involved in shaping up of any body with common interest. Mr. Shankar Rana (Coordinator, Lok Samiti) has shared his expertise upon various legal formalities to be fulfilled by any social organization. Er. Prabhunath Sharma (Treasurer, NBJK) put a methodical presentation before the trainees with questions like for what, why and how an organization proves its existence. The training was coordinated by Mr. Virendra Sinha (Program Manager) who focused over better living condition for PWDs through entitlements and the right to get benefits of government schemes. He said that a DPO can play important role in mainstreaming of its members through collective activities and concerns. 36 PWDs members & office bearers of DPO from 30 villages of Chouparan block have participated in the training enriched with a motivational film show.

NBJK Contributes to ASER Survey

In the period of 8 – 10 September, NBJK and Pratham (Mumbai) have organized a training program for volunteers selected to conduct ASER survey in 30 villages of different blocks of Hazaribag district within next 15 days. ASER (Annual Status of Education & Research) is a nation wide survey by Pratham to check academic condition of children fall under 05 – 14 years age group. This training was imparted to 21 volunteers who are assigned to draw information by visiting selected villages. In every village, they will go to the government primary school and 20 selected families to get the required feedback. The volunteers will make draft maps of the visited village and will assess children’s performance in Maths, English and Hindi in course of the survey. During the training at NBJK, all the trainee volunteers had an opportunity to conduct mock survey in nearby villages like Oriya and Singhani. Mr. Narayan Rajak (NBJK) and Mr. Suryabhan (Pratham) were resource persons while Mrs. Sujata Prasad (PM-education, NBJK) has coordinated the program.

Shoes Distributed among School Children

NBJK and Plan India has started phase II of their shoe distribution campaign on 1 September from Churchu block. It’s noteworthy that they have covered 54, 042 children of 390 schools in 7 blocks namely Churchu, Tatijhariya, Daru, Sadar, Ichak, Chouparan and Barkagaon of Hazaribag district during November’13 – May’14 as phase I of this noble effort to provide shoes to village children. Mr. Shivesh Verma (Consultant, Plan India) justifies shoes for children as a deterrent to various infections which ensure safety for tender feet and inspire children to go their schools regularly. It adds to education ultimately and our target is to equip the same children with new pairs of shoes as a booster to this awareness, he said. Under phase II of the campaign, 5,483 students in 68 schools of Churchu block, 10,900 boys & girls of 63 schools in Sadar block and 1,754 children of 13 schools in Tatijhariya block have been covered till 3rd week of September. All the shoes are donated by Toms Shoes, UK and entire distribution exercise will take one more month to reach rest of the schools in other blocks of the district.

Convention and Seminars under Mental Health & Development program

A convention of PWMIE (people with mental illness & epilepsy), their caretakers and NGOs working for them was organized on 18 August at NBJK, Ranchi. This convention was attended by federations of PWMIE and partner NGOs of Jharkhand-Bihar for Mental Health & Development program by NBJK with support of BasicNeeds, Bangalore. The resolution moved by Mr. Girija Satish (ED, NBJK) to form a national federation of PWMIE was welcomed unanimously and people have elected Mr. Kumar Kant Singh as president while Mr. Angura Mahto, Mrs. Radha Arya and Mr. Satyajit as secretaries and Mrs. Meena Devi as treasurer along with a 17 members executive committee of this national body. This will help to formulate an inclusive mental health policy and program with a say from PWMIE, said Mr. Girija Satish. On 19 August, a seminar upon “Impact of Mental Health & Development Model in Jharkhand” was inaugurated by Dr. K. K. Sinha (Director, RINPAS) at Ranchi. He applauded NBJK-BasicNeeds for a large number identification, treatment with support of RINPAS and rehabilitation of people suffering from mental illness. Mrs. Uma Sunder (BasicNeeds) has discussed about different modules of mental health & development program which ensured mainstreaming of more than 6 lacs PWMIE in India while Mrs. Reema Ghosh (BasicNeeds) has shown statistics for high escalation rate of patients with treatment, IGAs and their association with SHGs or local federations. On 30 August, another seminar was organized at Patna to discuss the impact of the model in Bihar. As the chief guest, Mr. K. K. Singh (President, National Federation of PWMIE) has stressed over replication of mental health & development model by the government for PWMIE suffering due to lack of treatment facilities in Bihar. Mr. Girija Satish has expressed gratitude to BasicNeeds for the comprehensive model to ensure basic rights of PWMIE with support of 23 NGOs in 24 districts of Bihar and Jharkhand. This provided almost free treatment and medicines to 6652 PWMIE, out of that 5503 are in far better condition and 3825 are associated with IGAs or any productive work. The seminar was addressed by social workers and beneficiaries of the model.

Aids & Appliances for CWDs

53 children with disabilities from villages in Hazaribag district have been provided aids & appliances by Remedial Coaching Center project with support of Axis Bank Foundation, Mumbai. In the camps held during 25-27 June, there were 20 children from 14 villages like Dumri, Chakrasar, Basaria of Chouparan block, 16 children from 10 villages namely Baiheri, Silwar, Mandai and others in Sadar block while 17 children from 12 villages like Bodra, Jordag, Nano etc. in Churchu block have got hearing aids, calipers, wheel chairs, CP chairs, tricycles and others as per assessment made earlier. On this occasion, Mr. Prabhu Nath Sharma (Treasurer, NBJK) was hopeful for further utilization of these aids & appliances to bring normalcy and academic mainstreaming for challenged children and has conveyed best wishes for their bright future also. Mrs. Sujata Prasad (program manager) said that school education for girls and children with disability are priority areas for RCCs running in rural pockets of Hazaribag.

Tool Kits for SWABAL (Axis Bank Foundation) Trainees

Challenged youths finished employability training through skill development under SWABAL project have received sewing machines and cell phone repairing kits at NBJK, Hazaribag on 10 May. In a simple ceremony, Mr Akhilesh Jha (Manager, Axis Bank-Hazaribag) handed over 03 sewing machines to Tamanna, Sunita and Lalita from Mandaikala, Oriya and Mandaikhurd villages respectively while 02 cell phone repairing kits were provided to Sintu Kumar and Dashrath of Jagdishpur and Oriya villages. All these are differently able youths who will initiate for their livelihood engagements with this support as seed capital. Mr Akhilesh Jha has assured for financial assistance of Rs. 10000 to very poor trainees apart from the regular budget of SWABAL, an innovative Community Based Rehabilitation program by NBJK in Hazaribag and Dumka Sadar blocks with support of Axis Bank Foundation, Mumbai. This has the target to train 100 Person With Disabilities (18-45 years) in different earning trades for their economic independence. On this occasion, Mr Satish Girija (Secretary, NBJK) has expected that SWABAL will prove its worth for obstructed youths by their realization of own power. Mr Rupesh Mallik (Program Manager) has informed that at present 05 hearing impaired, 05 visually impaired and 15 with other impairments are getting training of sewing, computer, mobile repair, blacksmith, beautician and each trainee will be provided a seed capital of Rs. 3250 (half refundable after income) to be engaged with income generation activities of their choice.

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State Level Seminar on Financial Inclusion through SHG (Women) Bank Linkage

NBJK – Ranchi has organized a state level seminar with support of INAFI India and NABARD on Financial Inclusion through SHG Bank Linkage. Mr. K. C. Panda (CGM, NABARD) was the chief guest of this function who praised women SHG program in Jharkhand, stressed over need of its growth and affordable credit facility within access of poor. Before this Mr. Satish Girija (Secretary, NBJK) has welcomed all the dignitaries and shared SHG work experience of NBJK. He termed it as a most constructive developmental program that brought change in lives. Mr. M. Kalayanasundaram (Chief Executive, INAFI India) said that the objective of a strong SHG movement can be achieved by facilitating smooth work culture, strong linkage with banks to work together and leadership development. SHGs of Jharkhand need to be more empowered as already happened in southern states, compared  Mr. M. P. Vasimalai (Chairperson, INAFI India) while he was relating various stages of bank linkage for them. Mr. Dhiraj Horo (NRLM) has focused over the criteria & conditions set for SHGs to proceed gradually. Mr. B. K. Das (DGM, NABARD) was in favor of money utilization skill and multiple loan facility for SHGs.  Mr. Brij Lal (Chairman, Jharkhand Gramin Bank) has observed for more stake of NGOs in the process of bank linkage with constant monitoring for credit utilization and repayment. Other prominent speakers who have expressed their views during the seminar were Dr. Manjunath (SKDRDP), Mr. S. D. Ghoshal (BoI), Mr. B. N. Singh (SBI), Mr. A. B. Jaitley (JGB), Mr. B. S. Gupta (SUPPORT). The seminar was attended by 70 NGOs representatives working with women SHGs in Jharkhand.