Community Ownership and Development - Towards Sustainable Livelihoods!

Skit on the three issues The CCO staffs along with the Bal Sansad organized an awareness rally on the 27 th April 2018. The summer camp children from std. 1 st to 10 th participated to create awareness on three main issues of Pali village. Around 203 children participated in the rally that marched on to all the 9 wards of the village. In the procession awareness slogans were raised, the banners and posters were also displayed at few places. Three short skits on the main issues of cleanliness & health, irregular water supply and lack of information on ration issues were performed. The skits on these issues helped to mobilize and create awareness once again by the children.  The participants from the youth volunteers (23 in all) were admirable. The students of std. 11 th & 12 th helped to manage the crowed along with the Bal Sansad children. The villagers from the youngest to the eldest have become aware of the three main issues at Pali. The volunteers were ex...

The monthly meeting of the core committee (CC) at Pali was held on 11 th April 2018. Twenty nine members attended this meeting. The agenda and planning for future activities was discussed. The CC members gladly mentioned they could understand the concept of fundraising more clearly after their visit to Gorai and Chowk and have learnt to face struggles and oppositions firmly and courageously. The meeting included a follow up on the 3 main issues such as water, cleanliness, and ration and a discussion on wall painting in order to create awareness on the issues.   The follow up on the water issues is in process with the M.B.M.C authority for building new bore-well and cleaning the well. They promised to get 2 government wells cleaned by the mid of May and build a bore well at the compound nearby for public use by the end of May. The cleanliness issue is in process with the Local Corporators for fixing two broken pipe lines in ward no. 2 & 4, and broken roads in ward no.2,...

The CCO and subcommittee of the cleanliness issue organized a rally on the 20 th April 2018 at the 3 zones of Manthanpada, Manori attended by 15 people. The participation from the local women in the campaign was seen as they took broomsticks and swept the roads. The BMC provided broom sticks, a garbage carrier and sufficient staff for collecting the garbage. The core committee members also made the people aware of segregating waste in the dust bin. The villagers interacted with the head of Solid Waste Department and the Cleanliness Supervisor. One of the zones from the village was extremely filthy as garbage was not thrown in dustbins. BMC found it difficult to pick up the garbage regularly due to the long distance between Malad and Manori and as it consumed lots of time. Certain measures like follow ups with the BMC took place. People have demanded regular or at least twice/ thrice a week a garbage-picker vehicle or a mini compactor on daily basis which will pick up the garbag...

On 19 th April 2018 an educative session was held at Pali for the Bal Sansad with 28 children present for the same. The main objective was to understand the three pillars of the Indian Constitution and its functions. The Bal Sansad welcomed the resource person. The background of the Indian Constitution was explained to children by the resource person following which the topic was taught in detail. She said that the modern India Government was originally formed through the Constitution of India. While framing the Indian constitution the Constituent Assembly was working meticulously to frame a system of Governance in which the powers conferred by the people won't be vested on a single person/institution. Hence they devised the principle of 'Separation of powers' among the three pillars of democracy that is the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. She explained the role of the president, the functions of the governor, council of ministers, prime minister etc....

A session on managing outdoor work activities was held for domestic workers on 13th April 2018 at Manori. Nine women attended this session. Miss Snehal and Mr Mahesh, manager of Citizen Credit Cooperative Bank were the resource persons for the session. Miss Snehal questioned the workers their way of shopping for groceries to which they replied that a list is made for the items to be purchased and later final accounts are submitted to the owner after they have shopped. Miss Snehal explained the need to make a list of the required items before going shopping, cross checking the items that are purchased, keeping a check on the brand mark logo, checking for the expiry date of the product and to carry along a proper bill with stamp after shopping is done. Mr. Mahesh explained steps to pay bills via bank and demonstrated the way to deposit slips and fill cheques (bearer/account payee etc) for transactional purposes. He also provided basic information on the different types of bank a...

Ration card holders were disturbed and tensed for not receiving their monthly ration from the ration shop. The shopkeeper instead of giving them the full information on the issue or the actual reasons for denying them their rights of Food Security demeaned and sent them empty hand. The men and women from Pali-Uttan flocked to the CCO office where the members contacted the ration shop secretary of Chowk and informed them about the misbehaviour of the shopkeeper. The authorities called up the shopkeeper to know the reason. They were told that in the Bio metrics the meter number of the 283 BPL (below poverty line) card holders were not showing. Therefore they needed to submit all the required missing documents whose names were in the ration card. The CC (core committee) and SC (subcommittee) members along with CCO staffs collected documents and registered 185 BPL beneficiaries since their income was below Rs. 59000/-. After submitting the required documents and receiving an...

A combined follow up meeting was held by the members of the irregular water supply and uncleanliness & health subcommittees on 6 th April 2018 at Pali. Seventeen members attended this meeting. The president of the irregular water supply subcommittee shared details regarding the bore wells and the cleaning of the 2 common wells. An official from the Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation (M.B.M.C.) was sent to take a survey of the 2 wells. He clicked pictures and wrote a report on the same. The cleaning of these wells is to be completed by the end of May 2018. The follow up of the bore wells is still in process. The members of the uncleanliness & health subcommittee spoke about their door to door visits reminding the ward people to keep their houses and surroundings clean. It was decided the walls of the common places will be painted with slogans to create awareness among the people. They also discussed about having proper arrangements of dustbins in the wards, wall pain...

On 2 nd April 2018, at Manthanpada in Manori, 9 youth attended the session on career guidance. The session was started interacting with the youths. They were asked what did they dream of becoming in their life? Many responded that they wanted to be nurses, some even said teachers and so on. Mr. Dayanand, CSA staff and resource person then gave brief information on various courses like teaching, nursing, fine arts, banking courses, account courses etc. which could be taken up after completing Std 10 th and 12 th . This brought a sigh of relief to the troubled and confused youth.   He also guided them with the criteria for the courses and shared the salary range they can expect. The session helped them rethink their career choices and expressed their need for further guidance from the CSA & CCO staffs. Std. 10 th is the foundation of every youth to make a wise choice for a better tomorrow.