22 thatched huts gutted in a fire accident in Kuthuppapallam of Trichy.

Damaged dwellings of fire victims

Twenty two thatched huts were gutted in a fire caused by an electrical short circuit in Kuthuppapallam slum near the birds’ road in Trichy in the early hours of Tuesday, 12 March 2019.The blast aggravated the fire which spread to nearby thatched huts.Though neither any casualty nor any injuries were reported in the accident, properties worth lakhs of rupees were reduced to ashes.  22 Huts were totally damaged and people have no place to stay, currently the slum dwellers stay in the road side. 127 people including children and old people stay in open air. Some local people provided basic food for the first day. SEVAI, a Trichy based NGO distributed blankets and tarpaulins for the roofs damaged families  as interim arrangement with the support of local youth. District Welfare Committee provided Rs.1500 per fire victims’ family for

DWC Treasurer handsover Rs.33000 for fire vidtims

22 families for immediate and emergency expences especially  for children and old age people. The fire victims express that all these 22 damaged huts dwellers need renovation of the devastated huts. There is an urgent need to speed up the renovation as in-situ shelter with fire proof roofs. It is also important to retrieve the damaged records from Government sources and bring back the peoples life to normalcy. –Kris.

International Women’s day-2019 celebrated in SEVAI Shanthi Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Pettavaithalai.

School treachers garlanded Avvaiyar drawing  in School premises.

SEVAI Shanthi Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Pettavaithalai celebrated International Women's Day 2019 by respecting to Avvaiyar on International Women’s day on March 8.On this occasion, the school staff members garlanded the picture of Avvaiyar, an eminent, earliest   woman Tamil Poet. The Head Mistress of SEVAI Shanthi Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Pettavaithalai, Ms.Kala delivered the key note address on the importance of International Women’s day. In her key note address, Ms.Kala said, “International Women's Day 2019 is celebrated with the theme of “Balance for Better,” for a gender-balanced world. International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 every year as it was adopted in 1975 by the United Nations. Gender balance is essential for economies and communities to thrive. While there has undoubtedly been progress toward more balanced societies, there is still a long way to go and that everyone can play a part in achieving gender equality. Women can do anything and everything. They just need to be brave, fearless and believe that they are equally powerful and capable of doing whatever they want to do. They can bring the change the world requires. We should be strong enough to take our decisions and take a stand for ourselves. We need to respect Avvaiyar, the great Tamil poetess who lived in the southern parts attributed to saga period who had been instrumental to promote equivalency among men and women. Avvaiyar is a prominent female poet of Tamil literature. She found great happiness in the life of children and mothers. Aathichoodi is a collection of single-line quotes written by Avvaiyar and organized in alphabetical order and said, ‘What we have learned is like a handful of earth, what we have yet to learn is like the whole world’. It is important to remember such a woman personality lived in Saga Period in this part of the world as an outstanding poetess among several men poets. “Balance for Better,” was practiced by Avaiyar and we need to sustain and develop further as per the global needs on gender parity. Women’s rights are the fundamental human rights that were enshrined by the United Nations for every human being on the planet. These rights include the right to live free from violence, slavery, and discrimination; to be educated; to own property; to vote; and to earn a fair and equal wage”. HM Kala concluded saying that, “We need to stand for other rights that are vital for women’s equality and for the right of every woman to live equally and free from discrimination, no matter her sexuality or identity”.- Kris

“Making Running Water Walk” –Key concept of SEVAI Watershed project

Watershed beneficiaries of Thottiyapatty

SEVAI implements watershed projects in Thogamalai Block in Tamilnadu with the approach of “Making Running Water Walk” –as the key concept of Watershed project implemented by SEVAI with the support of Society General and technical support of Casa Foundation. Director of SEVAI K.Govindaraju oriented the watershed farmers in Allur and said, “Water runs downhill.” A Watershed is a land area whose runoff drains into any stream, river, lake, and ocean. Watershed boundary is the divide separating one drainage area from another. Comprehensive Watershed Project   is the process of managing human activities and natural resources on a watershed basis. This approach allows us to protect important water resources, while at the same time addressing critical issues such as the current and future impacts of rapid growth and climate change.

A watershed aims at the sustainable distribution of its resources and the

Check dam constructed in Watershed area

process of creating and implementing plans, programs, and projects to sustain and enhance watershed functions that affect the plant, animal, and human communities. The main aims of Comprehensive Watershed Project   are harnessing, conserving and developing degraded natural resources such as soil, vegetative cover and water; prevention of soil run-off; rain water harvesting and recharging of the ground water table; increasing the productivity of crops; introduction of multi-cropping and diverse agro-based Ecological Health: A healthy watershed conserves water, promotes stream flow, supports sustainable streams, rivers, lakes, and groundwater sources, enables healthy soil for crops and livestock, and also provides habitat for animals and plants. The watershed plays vital roles in the area's ecology, economy, transportation, industry, and general health. Surface water is just that—water that collects on the surface of the earth. This category is composed of rivers, lakes, streams, wetlands, etc.

Groundwater is the other half of the moisture equation contained in a watershed. Groundwater is water that occupies pore space in the rock and soil layer beneath our feet, filling natural underground storage areas called aquifers. Groundwater slowly moves through these aquifers, going on to feed into surface water sources like lakes, ponds, rivers, and even the ocean. This natural discharge to the surface doesn’t deplete aquifers, as the groundwater is replenished with precipitation that soaks through the surface soil and into the saturated groundwater layer.SEVAI creates awareness of the need among farmers for treatment measures to manage water and soil, The types of measures to control soil erosion and water run-off, The actual design of the structures, The skills required to construct the structures, The materials required to construct the structures..All of the above have to be understood by the farmers, acceptable to them, and affordable in terms of maintenance costs. Farmers are also inventors, experimenters, builders, and managers. They hold opinions and also have a wealth of practical experience. The main goal of Watershed Management is to implant the sustainable management of natural resources to improve the quality of living for the population is to be accomplished by the Improvement and restoration of soil quality and thus, raising productivity rates.”Director of SEVAI further enlightened the farmers on the watershed components being implemented in watershed project by SEVAI with the support of Society General as well as with the technical support of Casa Foundation. K.Govindaraju added, “Watershed components are 1. Rainwater harvesting, 2. Ground water recharge, 3. Maintenance of water balance, 4. Preventing water pollution,5. Economic use of water,6. Percolation pits/tanks,7. Farm ponds,8. Bunds and terraces, 9. Community tanks, 10. Water spreading,11. Contour bunding,12. Checkdams, 11. Gully plugging,12. Agro forestry,13. Social Forestry,14. Eco-preservation,12. Biomass regeneration,13. Increasing productivity of animals,16. Income and employment generation activities,17. Coordination of health and Nutrition programmes, 18. Marketing of Agro products,19. Value Added food grains marketing, 20. Organic farm practices,21. Women involvement in water and soil conservation, 18. Better standard of living of people,19. Eco-friendly life style of people,20. Increasing water holding capacity of soil,21. Preventing soil erosion,22. In-situ soil-moisture conservation,23. Biomass management and energy, 24. Ground water recharging structures, 25. Pasture development, 26. Open Wells and agriculture promotion and 27. Horticulture and alternate land use.”-Kris