Since 2017, foundation has been working in Jamui district of Bihar, one of the 115 Aspirational Districts identified by the NITI Aayog. We have been implementing our CSR projects with an approach of intensive development across 15 villages and extensive development in over 200 villages of Chakai, Jhajha, Khaira and Sikandra blocks. Our focus has largely been on strengthening interwoven aspects of agrarian life, including but not limited to agriculture and allied sectors, livestock management and development, healthcare, improvement in learning outcomes and women empowerment.
SHRI VARDHMAN NIDAAN SEVA
A project initiated in December 2020 and undertaken solely by the Foundation, Shri Vardhman Nidaan Seva is a Mobile Health Unit (MHU) initiative in Jamui district, Bihar. The project has been identified, evaluated and undertaken with the objective of providing primary – preventive and curative medical and healthcare services to families in the Khaira and Sikandra blocks that face the hardest time in accessing reliable care, and possess an even lower level of awareness of good health seeking practices. Since inception, the MHU has been serving more than 14 villages through its weekly pre-designated and scheduled clinic locations in the Khaira and Sikandra blocks.
Project Bachpan
Initiated in August 2017, Project Bachpan was born of a need felt and voiced by the communities, to address undernutrition and poor learning outcomes visible among pre-school children in the age group of 3 to 6 years. The prime objective of this project was and remains to be, strengthening developmental milestones of these children, who are part of large families, where mouths to be fed far outnumber the hands that feed. The project runs through five children’s learning centers (Balwadis), set up and run in five villages of Sikandra, namely – Dhanimatari, Dhawatanr, Korasi, Lachhuar and Sabal Bigha. These centers are run by locally appointed sevikas/sevaks (teacher-facilitators), assisted by sahayikas (assistant teachers), and boast of a desirable teacher-student ratio of 1:25. Children attend the Balwadis six days a week, for four hours each day, and learn with games, sing-songs and fun activities, inspired by the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services scheme) guidelines and other popular, progressive styles of teaching and learning.
The children are fed one-time nutritious meals cooked at the centers by their volunteer mothers, cooked and served on the basis of a pre-determined weekly menu, comprising locally sourced and healthy ingredients. We envision setting up and running more such Bachpan learning centers in the coming years.
Shri Vardhman Mahila Griha Udyog
As the name suggests, Shri Vardhman Mahila Griha Udyog is a small-scale enterprise, initiated in 2017, to empower women by providing them with a platform to earn livelihoods and achieve socio-economic security. A first of its kind, the Udyog’s journey began in October 2017, with 16 women from rural Jamui, travelling right up to Palitana in Bhavnagar – Gujarat, to learn the skill of rolling and vending khakhra
(a roasted flatbread Indian snack made of whole-wheat flour). The idea behind the project was yielded from a number of community visits and discussions with the women-folk, where they expressed their inclinations at harnessing their most visible ability of cooking rotis.
With regular handholding support provided to them, the Udyog has taken then form of an independent food-producing central-kitchen unit, enabling our Udyog members (didis) to earn a minimum of Rs. 1,900/- and a maximum of Rs. 4,200/- a month, basis their output. Over time, the Udyog has expanded in terms of proceedings earned from khakhras sold to customers in Bihar and beyond.
Integrated Livelihoods Development Centers
India’s rural economy depends on agriculture as its backbone, in addition to which, cattle rearing plays a major role in helping our farmers earn their daily livelihoods.
Back in 2017, the farmers of Jamui district were observed to be engaged in cattle-rearing, but deriving very little from it financially, owing to the dry climate affecting green fodder availability, lack of scientific cattle-management practices and unavailability of trained veterinarian service providers.
Against this backdrop, the Integrated Livelihoods Development Centres (ILDCs) project was initiated in January 2018 in Jamui district, Bihar, with the objective of enhancing livelihood opportunities through improved livestock management and cattle development. The project has set up, operationalized and run 21 ILDCs, which to this day, function as village-based veterinarian clinics. These centers are managed by 21 rural youth, identified and trained as para-veterinarians, working under the name - Gopal and providing a range of preventive and curative healthcare services round the clock, such as deworming, deticking, vaccination, fodder plot inputs, infertility treatments and cattle health-camps. Our Gopals also conduct monthly farmers’ extension education meetings to disseminate information on scientific techniques of cattle management.
Adarsh Gram (Model Village) Development Project
The Adarsh Gram (Model Village) Development Project has been undertaken to facilitate comprehensive rural development harnessing available natural resources, and village capacities to transform 15 identified remote villages in Sikandra block, into self-reliant, models of change.
Initiated in March 2018, the project has been working for over two years, with rigorous focus with over 3,000 marginal and small farmers enabling them to realize their potential and linking them to higher income-generation practices. The soil in Jamui holds immense potential, despite the water scarcity – a fact that was less exploited by our farmers, prior to our technical inputs. Therefore, our efforts are hinged upon robust planning, followed by imparting knowledge and skills through practical demonstrations, inputs for crop diversification and increased yield, and linking them to larger avenues for realization of enhanced livelihoods. Over the past years, farmers have been trained on (and adopted) cultivation of different varieties of paddy, Systematic Rice/Wheat Intensification methods of paddy and wheat cultivation, reducing annual input costs with the help of Foundation Seeds of paddy, mustard and wheat, growing vegetables in low-cost models known as nutrition gardens, fruit cultivation through mini-orchards of lemon, guava and custard apple trees and organic farming using low-cost vermi-beds. This has been achieved not only through planned farmer training sessions, but also through practical demonstrations conducted at our Model Farm (Kisaan Pathshala) – a 2.5 acres plot curated and cultivated with a wide variety of crops, vegetables, fruits and flora to enable our farmers to observe and explore the potential held by the natural resources surrounding them.
While agriculture remains central to the Adarsh Gram Development Project, no development is complete without the community being educated amply, to achieve a higher quality of life. Consequently, in order to strengthen the learning bases of government school-going children in their early years and crucial later years, five Vardhman Gyan Kendras have been initiated and run across five villages.
These centers cater to students in grades 1 to 4 and 8 to 10, helping them gain a stronger hold over English, Math, Hindi and Science.