Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan funded by Arghyam
We are grateful to Smt.RohiniNilekani, other trusteesand the team members of Arghyam, Bangalore for support of the project “Activating Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan”in collaboration with block Panchayats. Arghyam suggested that we should change our role from implementing agencies to Resource Agency. We have our own apprehension for the suggestion to work with the government, but fortunately in the first year itself we were able to get their full co-operation. We are thankful to the District Collector, Dindigul District, Project Director DRDA, BDOs and other staff of three blocks, especially District and Block Co-ordinators of NBA.
We are furnishing below
Blockwise construction of IHHL from April 2014 to March 2015
Sl.No / Name of the Block / Total households / Without toilet (As on April 2014) / IHHL completed (Apr’14-Feb’15) / Subsidy Received (As on Feb’15)1 / Athoor / 28125 / 14879 / 829 / 339
2 / Nilakottai / 35628 / 19766 / 514 / 336
3 / Vathalagundu / 21985 / 12924 / 380 / 135
Total / 85738 / 47569 / 1723 / 810
We had a review meeting with Shri.ManoharRao, Arghyam,who is helping us for the past 9years. He is also aware of the difficulties in the field. We have estimated to achieve the target of 2000 toilets that have to be completed before March’15. Since it is the first year we have spent more time with people in discussions andcreatingawareness for the need for toilets. The second year target has been fixedat 12000toilets and actual number of application received is more.We have also made an advance of Rs.13.5 lakhs to the beneficiaries to start the initial toilet work,as bridging interest free loan which has beenrepaid after receipt of subsidy. We are continuing this revolving fund support during the second year also. We succeeded in creating awareness in 10000 people who have attended our programmes.
We are thankful to Sri.Srikandaprasannafor the new initiative, using mobile for collection of data and also for the web platform which allows us visualisation and real time analysis of data.
Arghyam will deploy a mobile application and a web-based server for this purpose. The mobile-app will be installed on recent android-based smart phones. These devices will be handled by Women Cluster Facilitators (WCF)to collect household level information related to the progress of the toilet construction, as well as receipt of subsidy.
The mobile-app will be an initiative and WCFs will be trained to use the same efficiently. Collecting the household level information via this mobile-app will ensure efficient data collection and also reduce inadvertent data- entry errors.
The data will be transmitted over internet from the mobile to the central server, where all the data points from every WCF will be collected. This data, when collected over a period of time and across substantial number of Gram Panchayats, will give a clear picture of the bottlenecks in the system - validated and backed by data.
The centralized server will also have in-built capacity to draw charts, graphs and other relevant visualizations. Using these features will ensure many steps closer to a good ground-level data-based documentation, without extra effort for the same.
We are thankful for the technical and financial support and also for this new initiation of Arghyam to modernise and introducing new MIS.
Modernisation Programme of Kasturba Hospital
There were many patients in Kasturba Hospital who came for maternal child health services, surgery, cardiac care and regular medical check-ups. They are being referred to nearby hospitals in Dindigul, which is causing untoward hardships, extra-ordinary expenditure, inconvenience, discomfort, probability of losing the continuity of treatment and loss of wages.
We have also noted many of the diagnostic investigations executed outside the hospital cost much to the rural people and we found that certain cases were not of good quality. We thought that the patientsof our 330 service villages, mostly rural population and low income group should get all the benefit under our own roof. We have decided to provide the services to the downtrodden with the installation of Ultrasound scan. When we approach the Cognizant Foundation they generously sanctioned the fund for equipment and also further funds for the maintenance till 5th year.
We are grateful to Sri.Lakshminarayanan and Sri.N.R.Krishnan and other trustees of Cognizant Foundation. We appreciate the excellent co-operation and efforts taken by Sri.Madhavan for the negotiation with the manufacturers and also for the maintenance arrangements made with them.
New Creche Building in Sivasailam
We have been running a crèche in Sivasailam in a shed with asbestos where the children felt heat in the summer. We are thankful Shri.K.R.Vijayan, Chennai who has constructed the building at a cost of Rs.11.20 lakhs
We have obtained permission from the Govt.of India under sec.35 Ac for receiving donation which is eligible for 100 % exemption under Income Tax act. We are thankful to Sri Parthasarathy for opening the innings with a generous donation of Rs.5 lakhs, immediately after we obtained permission under section 35 AC for donations.
We have also obtained permission to receive donation under 80G. There are many foreign donors who are extending their support for our units at Sivasailam, Sowbhagya Illam, Hospital and others. Many individuals, corporate houses and others extend their financial support for all the units in Gandhigram Trust and also for general activities. We are grateful for each one of them for their support. There are other individuals who are extending non-financial support and also helping us by rendering service to our units / our programmes.
-K.Shivakumar