CYSD

The current outbreak of the COVID-19 has declared as a global health emergency. The world is waging a war against mental and physical illness with fear of coronavirus. Moreover, the coronavirus is mostly affecting the persons having low immunity and mortality rate is also more in such persons. The standard line of treatment for this disease is not yet established, though hurriedly some vaccines are brought out. Considering the current need-based scenario, prevention of the disease by improving the immune system is the best and ultimate way to combat this dreadful situation. Therefore, various Yoga Practices useful for immunity building are advised by Vedic Gurus to improve the strength of lungs as well as general immunity of the body.

Keeping this in mind, CYSD organised a two-day virtual Yoga Session on the 17^th & 18^th of May over Zoom to enrich the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of its family members, well-wishers and other associated organisations’ members.

Yoga experts and Yoga practitioners from Patanjali Yog Peeth Sansthan were invited to educate the participants on the benefits of Ancient Practice of Yoga, Swadeshi Upchar to avoid diseases and infections during the Pandemic.

Sri Pruthveeraj Pradhan and Sri Sudhanshu Adhikari were part of the yoga session. Sri Adhikari steered the session by requesting everyone to chant ‘Om’ followed by the chanting of popular Hindu mantras. It helped in generating positive energy and a calm surrounding for the upcoming activities.

Exercise, Paranayama, Swadhyaya and Meditation were practised in the two-day programme. The importance of Yoga to stay fit and healthy was also highlighted.

Sri Adhikari demonstrated a set of exercises for 30-45 minutes for the full body. It was followed by a session on meditation and breathing exercises to help enrich one’s mind and cleanse the nasal cavity.

The session also focused on strengthening the seven chakras of the human body through the practice of Kapalabhati. Numerous other important exercises were also taught and their value was beautifully elaborated by Sri Adhikari.

The importance of organic and home-grown vitamins and vital minerals were emphasised to boost immunity system. Sri Adhikari also talked on the value of good yoga practices in one’s life and how being a Yogi is important to lead a meaningful life.

 “Yoga is the Mantra to Fight Coronavirus. The Yoga movement will certainly help arrest the deadly virus infection in human body, if people practise on regular basis concentrating the body, mind and soul”, said Shri Adhikari,

All the members who were part of the session enthusiastically participated by asking pertinent questions on Yoga & Meditation and getting the doubts clarified.

It was an extremely enriching and soul soothing experience for all participants.

Manorama, a smart young woman of 32, stays in Patharabandha slum of Bhubaneswar with her family of six members in a tiny house.

Being poor, in order to supplement her family income, Manorama made of her mind to become a chauffeur. Where there is a will there is a way. Fortunately, she got a chance to get enrolled in the Women on Wheels (WoW) programme initiated by CYSD in 2019.

Women on Wheels is an initiative started by the Azad Foundation in Delhi to empower resource-poor women in becoming professional drivers. This programme enabled socially excluded female members of the society to move from the margins to the mainstream.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day (8^th March, 1999), CYSD launched the WoW programme in collaboration with Azad Foundation and Mahindra Finance in Bhubaneswar to train women between 18-35 age group from various slums in the city to become chauffeurs.

After being professionally trained completing one year course she obtained a valid driving licence. Despite several hardships, she had to wait for several months to get engaged in a job to support her family. Luckily, Manorama got a placement in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) as the Sanitation Vehicle Driver. Now, she drives the sanitation vehicle engaged for disposal of garbage in Ward No. 47 of the city.

Manorama says that her role in the sanitation drive of BMC is important in creating awareness among the citizenry in allotted zone.  She educates people on the difference between dry and damp waste. She also creates awareness on the importance of maintaining cleanliness and sanitation in homes as well as of the environment. So she enjoys the job.

 “I am really happy that I’m able to contribute to the society through the sanitation drive, especially during this deadly Covid-19 pandemic”, shares Manorama

Manorama is truly a COVID Warrior.

Each hypothesis must be open to be tested, and each belief must be verified to establish reliability and validity. Providing psychosocial support in the hinterlands of Odisha with the collaboration of CYSD with three NGOs gave me a clear invitation to either concede or not concede failure—to me, there was no in between at that time; especially with coordinators, NGO partners (Harsha Trust, Gram Vikas and Srushti) and CRPs who had very little exposure to mental health assignments prior to this project.

Collaboration brings strength, learning, and shows us sights beyond what is usually perceivable as the power of ‘you’, ‘me’, ‘us’ and ‘them’. My first hypothesis on the power of collaboration was tested to be true in the due process.

Our initial encounter with the reality in villages was not as encouraging as anticipated. As part of the training design, however, the “prepared to face resistance” mechanism was in-built. Hence, our second hypothesis that people may resist mental health services was validated too. Though a handful of CRPs felt incapable and were suffered their own lack of confidence, a few of them expressed their fear of contamination; while some of them shared their “experience of listening to other’s problems without being able to do anything immediately.”

In the villages, while people wanted material support, we provided psychosocial support; they wanted to know if corona would go soon, we had to prepare them to be able to live with it for as long as a few years; they wanted help in travelling back to their workplaces, we had to sensitize them about their choices; they wanted a job of their choice, we could only inform them about the available government entitlements.

In essence, our CRPs have travelled the road that wasn’t built before. Some of our CRPs and their families tested positive, and attended training whilst in quarantine homes. In particular, Khirodini, one of our CRPs, deserves a big applause for her indomitable spirit. Some of them faced dire network issues which posed a real problem to their online training. The collective efforts of the CRPs are unforgettable.  Many CRPs would walk for miles on the village pathways just to be able to reach out.

Gradually people started sharing their traumatic experiences, serious psychological issues, behavioral challenges, and emotional distress with our CRPs, after almost two months of regular visitation and serious trust-building on the part of our CRPs.  Issues ranged from fear of death to domestic violence; from substance abuse to suicide attempts; stress of sharing space to helplessness in taking care of children and their education.

Uncertainty, fear, grief, loss were the themes leaving majority of people feeling anxious. People didn’t feel the safety of “knowing” how to deal with the pandemic. However, they were not left alone in this battlefield. Our CRPs sensitized them, supported them, and stayed with them to see their journey go from emotionally vulnerable to emotionally resilient. I extended my support personally and professionally to the CRPs to help them deal with their own emotions and get the confidence to assist others.

Gradually, people started asking for repeated meetings with CRPs, for them to come back at convenient times. In fact, many meetings happened in the harvesting fields and yards.

Accommodating all these people and giving each one individual attention also became a challenge. Some families where alcohol-induced violence was a regular phenomenon restricted their women and girls from speaking up. All of these were problems the CRPs themselves had to tackle. Despite resistance and confidentiality concern 324 distress families were attended for psychosocial requirements.

However, every story has an ending—and this doesn’t end with a ‘no’—we found ways to continue providing support through group sessions. An increasing number of people started to become vocal about their emotional vulnerability, thanks to the courage of a particular CRP Hemalata, who conducted thirteen group sessions out of a total of twenty-nine sessions in a span of two months. It was such a profound experience to see 436 SHG members being sensitized on the prevalence of mental health and emotional awareness. Toofan from Gram Vikas literally worked on a war footing mode and contributed to the supervisions through his case presentations.

However, I wonder why, unfortunately enough, most men resisted taking this support. They vocally denied their need for “this kind of help”—or perhaps they were unaware they needed it. The active participation of male CRPs might have helped the situation, and in the future the same will undoubtedly strengthen the connect and ease among male clients. In this regard, Anita Mahanta from Srishti, played a crucial role by involving student communities, where boys could also participate. Truly unique.

An assignment like this brings one community close to another—but at the heart of the story there are individuals; there are personal stories. And in our case, at the heart of our story, were women; pregnant women, women with visible signs of domestic violence, women with empty stomachs who were beaten up every day for not cooking food that suited the tastes of men in their house. To these individual stories, we were witnesses with empathy. To these individual traumas, we were enablers of emotional expression. To these individual minds, we were a container of their pain and struggle.

The road which was unheard-of in August 2020 was almost ready by December 2020; and the travelers of this road ready by the last week of December 2020. They voluntarily reached out to us and declared the existence of mental illnesses in their families; one call led to another. I mention Phulamani with special emphasis here, one of our most resourceful CRPs, who helped the heads of almost seven families get in touch with me and plan for their treatment.

They openly shared “what does it mean to have a mentally ill child, parent or in-law” and desperately wished for intervention. At this crucial juncture—indeed a milestone in itself—we faced a shortage of resources; mainly in the logistics.

At such a time, collaboration between The Director, MHI, Cuttack, CDMO Keonjhar, psychiatrists from Keonjhar Hospital and Psychosocial Support Team from CYSD provided respite and promise to these patients and their families; an ambulance was also arranged, which was instrumental in their access to the due medical infrastructure; it is with great happiness and optimism that I write about their on-going treatment, which has resulted in not only obvious health changes in them, but also in a gradual change in the social mindscape of their families and community.

Last year, when the unprecedented nation-wide lockdown was imposed, hundreds of migrant workers throughout the country lost their livelihood overnight. They had no work, no roof and no food with the blink of an eye. Walking thousands of miles in tattered chappals, migrants with their families marched towards their hometowns in despair in the scorching heat of late March. Some were brought back by the State Governments through trains and buses. These included many who returned to the tribal dominated undivided Koraput district in the southern part of Odisha, including Rayagada district,

Rayagada, covered with dense forest, hills and natural resources, is a home to major tribes like Kandhos, Jhodias and Souras who sustain widely on agriculture and collecting forest produces.Most parts of the district are untouched by development with low level of education and chronic poverty that has led many to migrate to different parts of the country in search of better livelihood options. The push owing to crop loss and heavy debt burden driving them into poverty.

The unforeseen return of large number of migrants posed multiple serious challenges to the state and civil society. Envisaging to ensure and protect the rights and entitlements of migrants in Rayagada, a Migration Support Service Centres (MSSCs) were set up by CYSD in collaboration with UNICEF. MSSC developed a database of migrants on the basis of age, gender and skill sets acquired by them and the details of their employers for tracking, monitoring and response.

The centre facilitated the registration of workers under Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW), MGNREGS and inclusion in entitlements with the help of local government. It also tried to create an environment for inclusion of the children of the migrants in the social welfare schemes of the government, like the ICDS, ICPS, SSA, Kishori Shakti Yojana, Universal Immunization Programme, Biju Kanyaratna Yojana, Banishree, etc.

MSSC undertook activities for skilling and re-skilling of migrants and youths with a focus on prior learning of semi-skill migrants and development in the capacity of local governments towards integrating the needs of migrants, children, women and other distressed groups in Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) and monitoring at the local level.

Harsha Kadraka, a 22-year-old returnee migrant who received Agri-based skill training on Mushroom cultivation from MSSC says that she is excited to sell her mushroom and earn Rs. 700 – 900 daily. “From a distress migrant to a self-employed has only been possible because of CYSD and UNICEF’s joint efforts” says delightful Harsha.
Besides, attempts were also made in strengthening the local institutions including Child protection committees; mobilizing Gram Panchayats (GPs) to strengthen infrastructures for children at Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) and schools, and facilitating community leadership development at source for safe migration.

The centre has been working towards ensuring better policy and programs for migrants in the context of inter-state registration portability of entitlement benefits. It is deeply engaged in exploring the opportunities for expanding and replicating the model.MSSC is currently functional in 10 Gram Panchayats of Kolanara Block of Rayagada district, namely, Kolanara, Rayagada, Suri, Dunduli, Gadiseshkhal, Bada Khilapadar, Jharidi, Bankili, Rekhapadar, Bhoimoda, Katikana covering 114 villages having 44677 population with 10174 HH. The Centre is benefiting 1049 migrants of 147 families from these 10 GPs.

The project is being implemented on the ground with the help of multiple-stakeholders, like concerned Sarpanch of 10 Gram Panchayats, 10 Samiti Sabhya (Members), 118 Ward Members, 10 PEOs, 10 JRS, 113 AWWs, 131 ASHA, 28 ANM, Medical Officer, BDO, WEO, BSSO, District Labour Officer, Block Chairperson, Community Resource Persons (Volunteers of CYSD-UNICEF) are a part of the initiative.

A total of 1046 migrants’ families are involved in this process; and about 586 new born babies have been registered in between January 2020 – December 2021.Initial intervention revealed that more than 5000 people were deprived of their basic social entitlements like, PDS, Pension, health insurance, Aadhar card, job cards, labour cards, Educational scholarships, immunization, birth and death registration, housing, drinking water, electricity and so on. The most affected of them were the migrant families. In order to address this problem, MSSC with multiple stakeholders’ collaboration intervened at the micro level through the ‘Single Window System’.

Nedi Padmabati, a 45-year-old widow from Darabada village in Rayagada district says that she is grateful to have received a ‘Labour Card’ with the support of CYSD and UNICEF. “Being a widow, it has become very hard and worrisome for me to survive amidst Covid-19 pandemic with the burden of nurturing two children of mine”, says Nedi.

The Labour card will make Nedi eligible in obtaining government benefits like; assistance in case of any accident, death benefit, pension, medical expenses for treatment, loans and advances for construction of own house, financial assistance for skill up-gradation, education for children, purchase of working tools, marriage of two dependent daughters and even assistance in funeral expense.Despite several initiatives, the number of distressed migrants has only seen a surge in the last two decades. The lockdown surfaced the problems of migrant workers and highlighted the dire need to ensure safety and security for 60 million people of the country who are inter-state labour migrants.

MSSC is a small joint effort by CYSD and UNICEF in Rayagada to solve the grassroots problems of Migrant returnee in dealing with the tsunami like issue. However, the necessity for similar initiatives holds special importance. It is the time to provide protection and care for greater outcomes. Projects like the MSSC need scale up, technical support and assistance in this mean time when the second wave of COVID-19 has already hit the state.

The Odisha Vikash Conclave-2020 was enriching with the evening session on “Development \prriorities in Odisha : Role of Civil Society” inviting eminent panelists. Initiating the deliberation, a brief overview of the day-long programme along with release of Odisha Development Report, 2020 and the outcomes of discussions on various thematic sessions were shared by Ms. Sneha Mishra, Secretary, AAINA. The esteemed panelists of the session, like Justice Ananga Kumar Patnaik, Former Judge of Supreme Court; Dr. Rajesh Tandon, UNESCO Co-chair & Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, Prof. (Dr.) Amitabh Kundu, Distinguished Fellow, Research & Information System for Developing Countries; Dr. Bhagban Prakash, Former Senior Advisor, Election Commission of India, Shri Jagadananda, Convener of Odisha Development Initiative and Co-founder, CYSD, and Shri P K Sahoo, Co-founder of CYSD presented their valuable concrete suggestions on development priorities of Odisha focusing on role of civil society.

 “It is required to invest in building leadership among the tribals, youth and the women; engage with multi-national companies; have dialogue with them on how they can contribute to the development of the state. Also, Growth rate is impressive in Odisha, but the share of agriculture production to GSDP has gone down. Further, the state is lagging behind in the social sectors including health and education which is a matter of concern. The population growth rate is not so high in Odisha, but the death rate is high. There is need for increased relative pricing of rice.”

Dr. Rajesh Tandon

“Odisha seems to be in the development paradox as there are huge sources of water but irrigation coverage is low; soil is rich but productivity is less; there is political stability but development is not encouraging and inclusive; and being an agrarian state, its agriculture share to GSDP is not up to mark. Further, around 30000 civil society organizations are operating in Odisha, they need strong collaboration among each other to sort out varied issues of the State together.”

Dr. Bhagban Prakash

For the development of Odisha, drinking water, health & nutrition and education should be the priority areas. An increase in income of people is the need of the hour, so employability skills and entrepreneurial abilities require to be developed among the youth. Moreover, peace, harmony and fraternity should have to develop among the civil society organizations so that they can unitedly influence the legislature and the judiciary.

Justice Ananga Kumar Patnaik

“The development priorities include both the hardware and the software components. While the government mechanism is good at dealing with the hardware component; the civil society is good at managing the software component including social mobilization and facilitating community actions. If both the actors join hands they can make the impossible possible. Therefore, collaboration among all the development partners is the need of the hour.”

Shri Jagadananda

There is need for collaboration and synergy building among the development actors through regular dialogue and discourse with utmost trust and solidarity. Equity and inclusiveness are the keys to development. Moreover, there is no substitute for volunteerism and voluntary action in development.

Shri Prafulla Kumar Sahoo

The Odisha Development Report, published by Odisha Development Initiative, released on the occasion of the 3rd edition of Odisha Vikash Conclave-2020, contains 40 insightful articles written by experts from diverse sectors. The report, in a studied and objective attempt, has assessed the present situation and identified the key areas of concern and constraints in achieving inclusive growth. The report also clearly states that partnership, collaboration and joint initiatives of government, civil society organizations, academic and corporates can take the development agenda to a new height and Odisha can be at the forefront of socio-economic growth of the country in the coming decades.

Though the state’s position in health parameters such as malnutrition, anemia is better than the national average, the situation in tribal districts are alarming says the report. Over a dozens of tribal dominated districts are above the state average of anemic mothers and underweight children, the report highlighted further.

The ranking of overall index highlights that districts in the coastal and the industrial belt of north-west regions of Odisha are having better social development scenario as compared to other parts of the state. In the case of basic amenities, five districts namely Khorda, Cuttack, Jagatsignhpur, Ganjam and Puri have been maintaining the top ranking, while southern districts namely Baudh, Nabarangpur, Kandhamal, Mayurbhanj, Subarnapur and Malkanagiri were found to be the worst performing.

Eight districts in Odisha have more than 50 percent tribal population. The report highlights that the districts with high share of ST population record significantly low levels of development in health, basic amenities, education, economic, and the overall social wellbeing.

“Despite the well-orchestrated interventions by Finance Commission, Planning Commission and other institutions, Odisha remained a low recipient of federal transfers and corporate investments. Besides, regional disparity in Odisha is a major challenge and needs special attention with specially designed development programmes and schemes. Moreover, social inequalities based on caste, sex, region, lopsided development, rapid urbanization, high distressed migration, and less income opportunities are noted to be major challenges in Odisha.”                                     

“Odisha Development Report 2020 clearly articulates the development priorities for Odisha; what the government and the civil society can do; and good civil servants who are open to new ideas, free to accept and translate them to action.”

“One-fourth of the state population consists of indigenous people and over 90 percent of farmers are small and marginal landholders mainly depend on agriculture and allied sectors as their primary sources of income. CSOs have proved the partnership with government agencies on effective implementation of OTELP, cluster farming, agriculture production cluster programmes, etc; and many CSOs have demonstrated successful development models that need to be upscale in undeveloped rural/tribal pockets of the State.”

“The State Government is emphasizing on the agriculture productivity and improvement in the quality of life and livelihoods of tribal people through various income enhancement programmers and alternative livelihood opportunities meant for them. Also, the CSOs have demonstrated partnership with government agencies on effective implementation of the programmes & schemes and many of them have developed successful models that need to be up-scaled in underdeveloped pockets of the State.”