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Minutes book
General ledger
Cash book
Savings and Loan disbursal book
Loan application
Receipt book
Group savings pass book
These achievements were made possible due to the hard work and commitment of women.
Gundlakonda is a remote village in Devanakonda Mandal of Kurnool district. The village looked like a desert with parched, fallow lands. Women did not venture out of their houses, and many had never even seen another village. Marriages were arranged among the village folk themselves. Only the men visited the sandy (the weekly village market) to buy groceries and other household needs. A majority of the villagers were illiterate. Most of the village was dirty, due to which people often fell sick. At nightfall the men got drunk on cheap liquor, fought with each other and went home to abuse their women.
The women woke up early, completed their daily chores and set out for work along with their children. The main occupation was weaving mats from palm leaf. Each woman wove around two to three mats each day. The men did nothing to earn a living but still held the reins of the household. They would never bother to help the women. The women of the village were a subdued lot and suffered silently.
It was the watershed programme which changed the face of the village. In 2000, the staff of the Rural Action In Development Society (RAIDS), an NGO which was the project implementing agency for the APRLP came to the village to create awareness on watershed initiatives. But their entry into the village was resisted by the villagers.
The NGO worker was not deterred. He explained the concept of the project to the villagers and managed to convince them. He told the women about self-help groups and in 2002, the women formed six groups. Each group opened a bank account to deposit their savings of Rs.30 per person every month. After six months, two members from each group joined together to form the Mubarak Village Organisation. The village organisation opened an account in the Devanakonda branch of the Andhra Pragathi Grameena Bank, and deposited Rs.50 per group every month. As a result, four more groups were formed and they joined the village organisation, paying Rs.500 each as membership fees.
All the groups meet every month and check their accounts and transactions. The members of the village organisation meet on the 9th of every month, between 6 pm and 8 pm, to review their
transactions. Every member has to be present for the meeting. Those who are unable to attend have to inform the president of the village organisation well in advance.
A typical agenda for discussion of a village organisation meeting is:
§ Bank deposits of all the groups
§ Savings of the groups
§ Decision on loan disbursal
§ Watershed aspects
§ Issues affecting women of the village
§ Social issues
§ Village problems
Several records are maintained such as:
Minutes book General ledger Cash book Savings and Loan disbursal book Loan application Receipt book Group savings pass bookThus far, the total savings of the village organisation, from all groups, exceeds Rs.15, 000. This amount is given out as loans to members of the groups for various uses, at a low rate of interest.
The recurring expenses of the village organisation are:
Ø Annual office rent Rs.1,200
Ø Monthly salary to the group book-keeper Rs.300
Ø Monthly salary to the village organisation book-keeper Rs.300
The present assets of the village organisation are worth Rs.2, 000. Each group has taken loans of Rs.10, 000 the first time, Rs.25, 000 the second time and Rs.100, 000 the third time, from the bank. This has been rotated among the members for agricultural investments. The APRLP too has provided financial assistance to each group ranging from Rs.90,000 to Rs.160,000 to initiate income generating activities like sheep/cattle rearing, dairy, vermicompost, setting up small provisions shops, hotels/eateries, flour mills, etc.
The village organisation has initiated several activities such as:
ü Encouraging tradition bound women to participate in meetings and undergo training.
ü Fixing equal daily wages of Rs.40 for both men and women.
ü Planting trees in every household with the motto that green trees are the stepping stones to progress.
ü Admitting all children to school. The organisation admitted 30 children into the Bridge School (which prepares students for regular school) and 70 children to primary school.
ü 104 of the 109 families in the village were Muslim and therefore reluctant to practice family planning. Through education and awareness, they have been made to voluntarily practice
ü family planning.
ü Destroying 40 liquor stills in the village and practicing prohibition.
• Coercing all the men who used to get drunk and abuse their women into the ‘Jamat’ – a spiritual sect of Islam. Once in this sect, they had to abstain from alcohol and tobacco.
Large amounts were spent on Mallinikunta watershed activities:
· Watershed development Rs. 31.66 lakhs
· NRM related works Rs. 13.38 lakhs
· Administration Rs. 2.76 lakhs
· Community mobilisation and training Rs. 2.76 lakhs
· Productivity enhancement Rs. 8.29 lakhs
· Livelihood creation Rs. 4.00 lakhs
The village organisation paid Rs.26-31 per cubic meter to the labourers for stone constructions, farm ponds, check dams, water canals, dug out farm ponds, fruit gardens etc. spread over 461 hectares.
Achievements of the village organisation:
· Due to the impact of the watershed, the rain water which filled Kuramgiri tank located 10 kilometers away, now percolates to the village and has replenished the water table.
· Where the village once subsisted on one solitary well, it now boasts of 20 wells and 30 borewells.
· Farmers in the village now grow cash crops like onion, chilli and vegetables, making good profit.
· Those who were once daily wage farmhands, have now taken land on lease and cultivate it on their own.
· Organised a district level sports event.
· Installed a telephone facility in the village.
· The members of the village organisation laid drinking water pipe lines, proper roads and cleaned up the village through shramadaan (voluntary labour).
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