Women Entrepreneurs maintain quality.

women garments making unit in SEVAI,Allur

Women make a vital contribution to industrial output. Women have traditionally played an important role in the business sector, as owners, managers and workers. Worldwide, many women are entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship emerges from an individual’s creative spirit into long-term business ownership, job creation, and economic security. Women bring commitment and integrity because they care about economic empowerment, entrepreneurial development and innovation. Women entrepreneurs are very pragmatic, and seek to provide them with all the skills they need, both managerial and technical, in a single package. SEVAI intends to build women’s capacity in the area of information and communication technologies and business management in micro enterprise sector with a view to improve their business operations .women produce more than 50 percent of the food for Asia. Female entrepreneurs have demonstrated the ability to build and maintain long-term relationships and networks, to communicate effectively, to organize efficiently, and to be fiscally conservative. Women were the exclusive target of the various projects, and they passed the benefits on to their families in terms of improved living conditions, Some of the projects are Bakery and Confectionery, Battery-Operated Lamps, Beauty Clinic ,Bed Linen stitching Unit,Boutique,Broiler Farm, Calf Fattening Farm, Circular Knitting Unit, Commercial Embroidery Unit,CNG Filling Station, Collar Knitting Unit, Corrugated Packages ,Cotton Bags Manufacturing, Cotton Towels manufacturing, Dairy Farm, Day care Center, Denim Jeans, Departmental Store, Digital Technology, Fabric Dyeing, Fabric Weaving Unit, Fashion Gloves ,Fitness Club, Flower Shop, Fruit Juice Processing ,Garments Stitching Unit, Gemstone Lapidary, Gold Jewelry Retail Shop, Label Manufacturing, Laundry and Dry Cleaning, Layer Farm, Leather Goods, Lingerie Stitching Unit, Medical Store ,Medical Transcription, Men’s Dress Trousers, Mobile Franchise ,Molding Plastic Products ,Montessori School, Oil Distillation Unit ,Paper Cone, Pet Bottles, Polo T-Shirt ,Semen Production, Socks Manufacturing ,Superstore, Tents and Canvas, Vegetables Farming,,Wallets,Work Wear, Woven Polypropylene Sacks, Yarn Dyeing & Finishing etc.The Market Strategy requires knowledge about Entrepreneurship Markets, Marketing Network ,Rural-Urban Linkages ,Women Building Legacy-Video File suitable Opportunities for Rural women linage with Rural Knowledge Centre, Microfinance, Banking and Financial Services. Women Self Help groups in SEVAI garment unit always are connected this people who will give them the contract, Maintain quality, always keep a watch to their workers, to do even small work by themselves.-Govin

Summer Dance classes in SEVAI Shanthi Matriculation school, Pettavaithalai.

Trichy, 10: June 2011: While giving the valedictory function of Summar dance classes in SEVAI Shanthi Matriculation School, Secretary of Muthamil Kalai Panpattu Maiyam, Dr.K.Govindaraju mentioned “The mention of summer break for school pupil dance class students may bring to mind images of rest and relaxation, but taking the summer off from dancing may not be such a great idea. While even a couple of weeks without stretching can result in a loss of flexibility, several weeks away from the studio may cause you to lose strength and technique”. SEVAI Shanthi Matriculation Higher Secondary school and Trichy Muthamil Kalai Panpattu Maiyam jointly offer classes throughout the summer months. Classes tend to be small, making way for tremendous gains in progress. The classes feature guest teachers and dancers, offering students a wonderful opportunity for growth in dance. Dr.K.Govindaraju further said “If taking classes during the summer won't work out for you, try your best to remain at your current dance level. Stretch every day to maintain flexibility, and dance as much as possible on your own. Even though you may not make any gains over the summer, at least you won't suffer any losses”. “I had a great time at summer dancing classes and enjoyed performing every piece. Bharathanatiyam was never my strongest area and I do feel that I improved a great deal with the help of the trainers. I, of course, enjoyed the other classes as well! Thanks again for allowing me to take part in summer dance program. It was an experience of a lifetime!”Said Preeti,one of the participants of the summer dance classes.-Govin

‘Real Estates mess up Woodlots and Green fencing, disables to ward off Peacocks'

wandering peacocks as they have no bushes for their shelter

‘Real Estates mess up Woodlots and Green fencing, disables to ward off Peacocks’ said Dr.K.Govindaraju, Director of SEVAI,a Trichy based NGO.He said “We promote watersheds and organic farming and due to intrusion of real estate business men of the cities to the rural areas, they buy the lands with woodlots and dense tree and green coverage and make them plots for construction of homes for city population and market them in overseas those are NRIs at very high cost. Poor farmers lose their land and there is a major crisis for environment degradation. The birds and forest animals like foxes enter into the habitations and agriculture fields as they have no more homes in their buses and woodlots. Peacocks have become a big worrying factor for the farmers due to the rising population of peacocks and lack of proper natural control had led to a situation where farmers feared cultivating crops or vegetables. In earlier days our lands that are covered with trees, and we have a variety of ways of handling them. The most ecologically safe thing to do with your woodlot, of course, is to never touch it, or even enter it. Leave it completely alone, and don’t let anyone else go onto it, either. Villages earlier had wood lots bushes and trees that acted as a sort of home for birds and green fencing in their farms to protect the crops. In woodlot management, as in all things on the homestead, we balance on the knife’s edge between our survival and that of our land. Woodlots are responsible for a vast ecosystem balance with thousands of parts, and what is the absolute best thing for that ecosystem is not necessarily the best thing for you. Now, they have replaced them with coconut trees. And hence, the fields have now become open to attacks by the peacocks. The birds dug up the vegetables and crops while looking for worms, insects and roots. The damage to crops was more when peacocks moved across the fields. Agricultural lands in Trichy district were the worst hit by the peacock attacks and control the attacks of the peacocks; the best option was to revive the practice of promoting woodlots for the homes for the birds and develop green fencing. The tall, broad, and well-formed, with few dead limbs and no sign of disease are good trees to be maintained in our woodlots. These are your breeder trees, which will seed the next generation. Removing them will rob the ecosystem of their superior genetic material, weakening it and leaving future generations vulnerable to disease and deforestation. Trees the guardians of woodlots; the keepers of its health and fertility. Now we could not see any woodlot or dense forests, the trees are cut. Birds such as peacocks have no shelters and they are in open air, they roam around the fields for their food and survival such as peacocks. 

cleared the bushy green coverage of Puthur land for real estate

The real estate business engulf the rural forest wealth and all the woodlot areas situated in and around 40 kms from a District Headquarters such as Trichy have been bought by real estate owners and covert them as house plots and market them among NRIs residing throughout the World. Those birds such as peacocks and swallows have no place for their survival and breeding. They lay eggs in open air and breed them and they roam around the agriculture  fields .It is high time to protect the bushes and trees of the villages and save the bird population and create a eco balance. Real estate’s are not real protectors of our eco-system and they are greedy making money for them at a heavy cost of losing our nature and environment which harms the mankind. The first things you should be looking at in terms of cutting, though, are the dead standing trees. If they don’t seem to be habitats for wildlife - and the taller they are, the less likely they are to have residents - cut them down. Often, the dead wood alone will support your wood burning or lumber needs, depending on how much wood heat you use or how many fence posts you need. Don’t cut a stick of living wood for fuel until you have completely exhausted the untenanted dead trees. Also, diseased trees should be culled. The idea is to encourage genetic disease resistance in your woodlot. If there are infestations of cocooned bugs such as tent caterpillars, or fungal diseases such as black knot or brown rot which affect only parts of trees, cut the limbs off and burn them, and disinfect your tools afterward s". Govin

MAINSTREAMING HIV/AIDS IN TRICHY AMONG WOMEN SELF HELP GROUPS.

Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS for SHGs

Trichy, 10: June: Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society and Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women, Trichy Unit of Women Development Corporation and local NGOs such as SEVAI, CARD etc in Trichy have been jointly implementing an intervention programme for women in Self-Help Groups. Even though the first HIV case was identified in Chennai, Tamil Nadu and since the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society continues its fight against HIV/AIDS, TANSACS, NGOs and other Government Departments, civil societies envision a Tamil Nadu where no new individual would acquire the HIV infection, and every person living with HIV/AIDS has access to quality care and lives with dignity and they all believe that Tamil Nadu would be able to halt and reverse the epidemic of HIV very soon. Tamilnadu Government and its NGOs and Departments lay foundation on a quality care-and-support system for persons living with HIV/AIDS. By fostering close collaboration with Non Governmental Organisations, Women self-help groups, Community Based Organisations, positive people’s networks Tamilnadu Government constantly works towards improvement of accessibility and accountability of the services, effective prevention strategies and providing prevention-to-care continuum support for HIV/AIDS affected people. Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society takes continued efforts to ensure that people living with HIV/AIDS have equal access to quality health services. It stands committed to building an enabling environment wherein those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS play a central role in all responses to the epidemic – at state, district and grass root level. TANSACS believes that it is possible to create an environment where human rights are respected and where those infected or affected by HIV/AIDS live a life without stigma and discrimination by evolving strategic responses for combating the HIV/AIDS situation to achieve the vision of a Tamil Nadu: where every pregnant woman living with HIV has the choice to bring an HIV-free baby into the world, where every person has access to Integrated Counselling &  Testing Centres (ICTCs),,  where every person will eventually live a healthy and safe life, supported by technological advances and where every person who is highly vulnerable to HIV is heard and reached out.

The mainstreaming women self help programme in Trichy aims to decrease women’s vulnerability to HIV / AIDS, help women take informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health rights, improve their knowledge on STI and HIV/AIDS, make them aware of the services provided with regard to treatment and testing in the state, and empower them deal with stigma and discrimination issues against people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHAs) in the community. Women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs) have been reached through a four-tier model of training programme. The ‘PLF-Trainer’ has been selected from the panchayat-level federations (PLF) in every district. She has then been trained by a ‘Master Trainer’. The panchayat-level trainers have, in turn, trained the animators. Finally, the animators train the women in the SHGs.  During the training,   women in the SHGs are given information about their reproductive rights and issues concerning HIV / AIDS and STD through specially designed flip books. The flip books have been prepared in a pictorial form, which gives information to women through a story line. The programme has been coordinated through the Tamil Nadu Non-Governmental Organizations and Volunteers Resource Centre (TNVRC). The existing machinery of the Women’s Development Corporation has been used for monitoring and supervising the programme. TNVRC has also appointed a district coordinator and an accountant for Trichy district.

Ms.Vanitha, SHG coordinator of SEVAI said “SEVAI NGO as directed by TANSAC and TNVRC conducts program for 5000 self help groups in Trichy city, Musiri, Lalgudi, Manikandam, Thiruvarambur, Manachanallur and Andanallur Blocks of Trichy District.

The training programme has been very well received by the women and the feed- back from the programme has been extremely encouraging with outcome of Increase in knowledge of STI, HIV/AIDS and Condom negotiation, Heightened risk perception, Increased care and support for children and women infected with HIV, Acceptance of PLHAs in the community and Increased referrals to ICTC and other services through SHGs”.Mrs. Percy Lal, District Resource person of Trichy District Link Workers program of TANSAC/NACCO/APAC as implemented by SEVAI said ‘mainstreaming HIV/AIDS in Trichy among women self help groups is very supportive to the Link Wokers program too as ‘link worker’ is a concept by which a rank of middle-level health care workers are trained to become the second important line of defence against HIV/AIDS as they are believed to be especially important in rural India to reach out to high-risk groups and vulnerable population with information, knowledge, skills on STI/HIV prevention and risk-reduction. Many of the self help groups members act as volunteers of Link workers programme as the link worker forms a credible bridge between the patient and the doctor, and the patient and society, and helps build a community-centred HIV care model as LWS also aims to increase demand generation, service utilization by strengthening referral linkages and community mobilization to address issues of stigma and discrimination among core group and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) in the rural areas. The Trichy District Assistant Project officer and the TANSAC nominee visited the training programs conducted in Trichy and also the outcome and involvement of PLF-Allur in this project of mainstreaming women self help programme in HIV/AIDS.Mrs.Mohana Sundaram, SEVAI Project coordinator of Target Intervention program of APAC/TANSAC/NACCO Project mentioned such convergent efforts of TANSAC will definitely achieve zero prevalence of new HIV in Trichy District shortly. Govin

Governement to crackdown on rash and reckless driving .

Reckless and dangerous overtaking of vehicles

Trichy,8 June:‘Trichy Traffic Advisory Committee is required to meet and discuss measures to prevent accidents in Trichy District as road accidents ,many road accidents  this region and several  of them are fatal’ said Dr.K.Govindaraju, Member, Trichy Traffic Advisory Committee. He said "On 7th June,2011 evening on my way back home from my office situated atAllur,8 kms from Chatram Bus stand in Trichy ,I was seated in the front seat of my car, I  saw a heavy loaded Lorry was fast approaching in the left side of the road  with rash driving,  overtaking cars, buses  dangerously in a very narrow road in Kambarasampettai Village.Jeeyapuram  Deputy Superindent of Police Office is very much situated at the right hand side of the road of Kambarasampettai.  My driver stopped the my car 50 metres away in the extreme left side of the road by judging the rash driving of the lorry driver, even it was nearly hitting my car and creating shock to several pedestrians,cyclists. I would like to make a request to the concerned authorities to take appropriate  action against erring drivers while driving their vehicles recklessly. Trichy population very often experiences dangerous rash driving even in narrow and traffic intensive roads.Honb’le Tamilnadu Chief Minister is to take it up the matter with NHAI authorities for completion this Trichy -Karur bypass road.

Trichy  district administration and Police authorities need to come down on negligent and rash driving both within the city limit and on the highways. The licence of drivers of public transport vehicles and goods carriers, involved in fatal accidents will be suspended for three months for first offences. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Road Safety Advisory Committee meeting chaired by then Collector Shri.Ashish Vachhani some three years back, I have no idea whether such a decision of enforced in the District. The permits of the vehicles involved in fatal accidents need also be reviewed. The permits needed to be revoked based on the previous record of the vehicles. Drunken driving should also be liable for suspension of licences for three months. The crackdown against drunken driving should cover all vehicles, including private ones. Drivers have to drive in a way that takes into account everyone around them, not just themselves. When a driver is irresponsible, the consequences can be deadly. Drivers who ignore the laws and drive without regard for the safety of fellow drivers are especially culpable. This is called reckless driving. Thousands of road accidents take place annually across the country. Majority of these accidents are fatal and lot of them cause severe injuries to victims. Road mishaps are often caused by human error. Speeding is a major cause for accidents. It’s responsible for about one-fourth of all accidents concerning vehicles. Rash driving seems to be a major factor in speeding. Dangerous road blocks and road conditions are also a major cause of accidents. Blind spots are common on some roads and they cause major types of road mishaps. Drivers often do not see vehicles from other directions and this condition results in mishaps. Unnecessary distractions while driving is also a major cause for road mishaps. Careless drivers who use phone or listen to loud music, try to get fallen objects or shift their attention to other people in the backseat while driving are prone to accidents. These dangerous distractions while driving are very common. Substances use is often a cause for drivers who are responsible for road mishaps. Consumption of alcohol, legal or illegal substances often lead to vehicular accidents. Abuse of recreational and prescription drugs also lead to the impairment of the ability to drive. Driver fatigue, overloading and driving without enough driving skills and experience are also causes for vehicular mishaps. The recent accident of Minister Mariam Pichai is sheer negligence of drivers by violating traffic rules and regulations. Taking precautionary steps are important to avoid road mishaps.It is again a pity that 23 people traveling in Air-conditioned bus from Chennai to Bangalore lost their dear lives due to road accident on 7th June Mid-night.The traffic advisory committee in the respective districts are to meet often and take stock of the situation of the road accidents and preventive measures on war-foot basis. -Govin

District Welfare Committee partly funded for seven intellectually challenged Athletes participation in – Athens Special Olympics 2011 – cheques handed over by District Collector, Ms.Jayashree Muralidharan.

Trichy collector Smt.Jayashree hands over cheques to Athletes

Trichy: June 7: Trichy Differently abled seven Athletes those were selected and proceed to participate in Special Olympics to be held in Athens at Greece were blessed by District Collector, Ms.Jayashree Muralidharan. Trichy Chapter members of Special Olympic Bharat, Tamilnadu wished the seven intellectually challenged Athletes from Trichy to win Gold medals for India at Special Olympics world summer games to be held in Athens, Greece from June 25 to July 4 2011, wherein 7,500 Special Olympics Athletes from 172 nations will compete in 22 Olympic-type sports. Dr.K.Govindaraju, Chairman of Trichy chapter of  Special Olympic Bharat, Tamilnadu said that seven intellectually challenged children participate in this Special Olympic from Trichy two from Asha Deepam School and five from Vidivelli School of Trichy. The seven Athletes from Tiruchi are A.Sindhu Bhairavi, M.Priya M. Shanthi R.Praveena, V.Karthikeyan, Harisrinivasan and M.Chandrabose.Special Olympic coach and Director of Special Olympic Bharat, Tamilnadu Mr.Paul Deva Sahayam accompanies these children and lead them to Special Olympic Venue of Athens in Greece.  The team left from Trichy on 7^th June,2011 and earlier District Collector Ms.Jayashree Muralidharan, District Differently abled welfare officer Ms.Symala, District Revenue Officer Ms.Pechiammal and officials from District Welfare committee Exective officer, Dr.Thirunavukarasu and Trichy chapter members of Special Olympic Bharat, Tamilnadu wished these participants a successful mission in Athens. On behalf of Trichy District welfare committee, its president and District Collector Ms.Jayashree Muralidharan handed over Rs. 5,000 each for 7 participants as part of their travel cost. Mr. Paul Devasahayam, Director of SOB, Tamilnadu mentioned that “Athens was selected as the host of the 2011 World Summer Games by the Special Olympics International Board of Directors in June 2007. The 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, which promise to be one of the world's largest multi-sport and humanitarian events, will unite 7,500 athletes from more than 172 countries. Athens hosted the 2004 Olympic Games, and Special Olympics athletes will compete at many of the same venues in 2011.The Special Olympics World Games will be the crowning of a long lasting movement founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver who managed to realize her dream of global magnitude”. Mr. Paul Devasagayam further said “This year, a team of 260 athletes, coaches and officials are representing India in 12 Olympic type sports. Athletes would be participating in Aquatics, Athletics, Table Tennis, Volleyball, Basketball, Cycling, Bocce, Handball, Power Lifting, Football (soccer) and Roller Skating. The Special Olympics World Games are held once in four years. Air Marshal Denzil Keelor (Retd.), Chairman, Special Olympics Bharat and the entire team are very supportive to Special Olympic, SOB-India has been sending Teams to participate in various sports disciplines. Special Olympics Bharat, the National Programme based in Delhi, is accredited by Special Olympics International. It is recognized by Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Govt of India, as a National Sports Federation for development of sports for the differently abled persons. SOB-India has established sub-programmes in 31 states and has over 750,000 Registered Special Athletes in its programmes. Special Olympics Bharat also participated in the last two World Winter Games held at Nagano Japan in 2005 and Idaho, USA in 2009. At the 2009 Games, the boy’s team won the Gold whereas the Girls team brought Silver, the snow sports teams such as Alpine Skiing, Snow Boarding and Snow Shoes teams brought back 2 Gold, 8 Silver and Bronze. Special Olympic International is a worldwide organisation founded by Mrs Eunice Shriver, sister of (late) President, John F Kennedy of USA, which promotes the development of sports programme for the intellectually disabled. It is officially recognized body by the IOC and operates in 172 countries’’-Govin

‘Namakaga’- a fortnightly promotes Knowledge based Development Journalism.

Development - peers of Namakaga study circle

The ‘Namakaga’ a bilingual (both English and Tamil) fortnightly published from Trichy is a community-based knowledge management fortnightly on comprehensive development news. This fortnightly is closely related to the Knowledge Management for Development of community, self help groups, school community, special educators and comprehensive development workers.’Namakaha’ also covers the social issues to be addressed to and also covers the success stories implemented by NGOs and Government Departments. It never fails to critically make an analysis of socio, economic, political, environmental and other public associated concerns and issues and publish the same. The ‘Namakaga’ publishes case studies and short ‘Self Help groups’ interventions, schools interventions' which have a knowledge management component to such topics of  poverty alleviation, health, agriculture, education, gender empowerment, policy issues, and so forth. ‘Namakaga’ is concerned with the role of knowledge in development processes. This includes knowledge management from small community-based organisations to large multilateral ones; knowledge process with the grassroots; and description and analysis of knowledge networks. The Namakaga’also aims to promote cross-fertilisation with other fields and, in particular, to provide a platform to share information on approaches that throw light on the development sector-wide knowledge system. Namakaha also publishes articles that knowledge about development across the life span of articles of the biological, social, and cultural factors that affect development. Namakaga News and articles address human development, studies of other species those are appropriate and have important implications for human development. By challenging current assumptions and promoting cross-fertilisation, the Namakaga’ seeks to stimulate new thinking and to shape future ways of working. Development is understood to be a process involving a broad palette of human factors, concerned with individual people living in very different conditions across the world. As such, development efforts are aimed at strengthening people's abilities to respond to the challenges they encounter in their environment at individual, family, community and wider societal levels. It is a process of empowerment of marginalised people, which involves the transfer, development and leveraging of knowledge in such a way that they are better informed of their personal development possibilities and livelihood opportunities, and better equipped to capitalize on them. From this perspective, development initiatives can succeed only if there is a thorough understanding of the cultural and socio-economic environment of the intended beneficiaries: development depends to a large extent on how well knowledge of these factors is applied. The Editor Mr.L.ShanawasKhan is an educationist and he tries to promote development journalism and Namkaha is first of its kind in Tamilnadu as commercial fortnightly.-Govin

‘Forest: Nature at your service’-World Environment Day-2011 observed in Thottiyapatty watershed Forestry by SEVAI.

“Nature at your service” the theme of World Environment Day-2011 and Wed-2011 was observed in the Forest region of Water shed of Thottiyapatty by SEVAI,a local non Governmental Organisation..Thottiyapaty villagers walked along the forestry of Watershed region jointly promoted by SEVAI and FdnF. On this occasion, the founder of SEVAI Dr.K.Govindaraju enlightened the villagers about the WED-2011 and said “forest provides many important natural resources, such as timber, fuel, rubber, paper and medicinal plants. Forest also help sustain and availability of freshwater supplies. More than three quarters of the worlds accessible freshwater comes from forested catchments. Water quality declines with decreases in forest condition and cover, and natural hazards such as floods, landslides and soil erosion have larger impacts. The life and well being of a nation depends on its sustainable development. It is a process of social and economic betterment that satisfies the needs and values of all interest groups without foreclosing future options. To this end, we must ensure that the demand on the environment from which we derive our sustenance, does not exceed its carrying capacity for the present as well as future generations. This conservation is pre-requisite for sustainable development. World Environment Day (WED) is observed on June 5 every year to promote awareness on the importance of preserving our biodiversity, the need to identify problems related to the environment and ways to take corrective action. It was on this day in the year 1972 that the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was formed”.

Dr.K.Govindaraju further said “Forests cover 1/3 of the earth’s land mass and play a key role in our battle against climate change, and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere while storing carbon dioxide – this is what the theme aims to reinforce. Forests are one of our world’s greatest treasures, bringing us natural beauty, clean air and a place our cherished wildlife can call home. On World Environment Day, we are to realize a vision of providing all people, regardless of where they live, with easy access to clean, safe outdoor places near their homes or schools. Environmental consciousness is the foremost thought that will help each and everyone to contribute in their own way for preservation of our environment in spite of the growing pollution on account of industrial emissions as well as auto emissions. If people of India are blessed with clean air, clean water and clean environment, our life span will continue to grow, and our nation will produce some of the healthiest people, smart people and hard working people that will show to the world that our growing population can be tackled through whatever challenges that are ahead of us”. Earlier the villagers planted Fuel, Fruits, Flowers, Fencing trees in and around the Watershed Forest and introduced water conservation technology for Forest Protection..-Govin