23 September 2024

Mr. Rajnish kumar

Transformation of Rajnish Kumar socially, mentally and educationally Background: In the village of Turki, Muzaffarpur, Bihar, Rajnish Kumar faced immense challenges. As a Dalit youth from a destitute family, he was marginalized both socially and mentally. Despite his deep desire for education, the oppressive environment and financial constraints of his family loomed large, stifling his aspirations. Rajnish struggled with self-expression and social interactions, often feeling isolated from his peers. Education, which could have been his pathway to empowerment, seemed increasingly unattainable. Turning Point: The Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti recognized Rajnish’s potential and reached out to his family. They understood that his mental health issues were compounded by social stigma and economic hardship. Through consistent dialogue and encouragement, they inspired Rajnish to consider rejoining the educational system. With their support, he gained admission to college, marking a significant turning point in his life. Challenges: As he stepped back into education, Rajnish faced multiple hurdles. The transition was not easy; he struggled with his ability to communicate and often felt overwhelmed. However, with perseverance and the right guidance, he gradually adapted. He began participating in discussions and activities, slowly building his confidence and self-esteem. His dedication to his studies was unwavering, driven by a desire to uplift not just himself, but his community. Transformation: After completing his BA, Rajnish emerged not just as a graduate, but as a beacon of hope for many in his village. He became deeply involved in educational initiatives, focusing on the empowerment of youth from marginalized backgrounds. His journey of transformation inspired him to become a voice for the Dalit community, advocating for the principles and teachings of Baba Saheb Ambedkar. Currently, Rajnish serves as the block coordinator for the Bihar Ambedkar Youth Forum, where he plays a pivotal role in educating and inspiring young people about their rights, opportunities, and the importance of social justice. His experiences fuel his passion for advocacy, making him a key figure in promoting educational development in his region. Impact: Rajish’s journey reflects the power of resilience and support systems in overcoming adversity. His story resonates deeply within the community, motivating others to pursue education and advocate for their rights. Through his efforts, he is helping to change the narrative for Dalit youth, encouraging them to break free from the shackles of social stigma and pursue their dreams. Rajnish Kumar is not just a graduate; he is a leader, a role model, and a testament to the transformative power of education and community support. Conclusion: Rajnish Kumar's story is one of triumph over adversity, illustrating how determination, coupled with the right support, can empower individuals to rise above their circumstances. His ongoing work serves as an inspiration to many, proving that change is possible, and that every youth, regardless of their background, has the potential to lead and inspire others.

15 July 2024

Continuous awareness campaign for change in social and mental behaviour of Dalit youth and career capacity development

With the support of Alliance Dalit Forum Bihar and Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti ccfd, Bihar Ambedkar Youth Forum has been formed in 10 blocks of 10 districts as a campaign for behavioral change of marginalized community and social economic, political mental change along with career capacity development of youth in 15 districts of Bihar. Continuous programs are being organized to connect youth with the mainstream of educational development, in which 1000 youth have been added in the first phase. Alliance Dalit Forum Bihar, Convenor Dharmendra Kumar said that on one hand the country is going through Amrit Mahotsav, on the other hand the marginalized community, especially the young generation, is facing economic inequality, is deprived of the concept of educational life and is forced to be imprisoned in factories. According to the census of 2011, the population of youth in the age group of 15 to 29 years is 27.5% and the total youth population is about 45%. The central government has implemented the National Youth Policy 2014 to bring the youth into the mainstream. Despite this, the youth are excluded from the mainstream of society and are aimless and thoughtless, far from inclusive quality education. The ability to think and understand is not being developed in them. He elaborated on the context of Dalit oppression and Dalit concept in Bihar and said that there is no dearth of academicians, researchers in the context of Dalit oppression and connecting them to the mainstream of inclusive development in the country, the only thing that is lacking is willpower. Willpower is sure to bring about a change in social behavior and mental development is sure to bring about an improvement in thinking. He expressed regret over the social conservative evils, especially the caste system, caste-based violence, as a major obstacle in the path of inclusive mental development and education and inspired people to become just and dignified through the thought-provoking words of Baba Saheb Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar. A roadmap was prepared for the next three years regarding the main issues, challenges, possibilities and strategies of Dalits in Bihar. In the roadmap, it was decided to ensure social, economic, political and educational participation of youth through Bihar Ambedkar Youth Forum.

Promoting organic vegetable farming as a livelihood option:

Ambedkar Gram Samiti (CBO) Organization The last line of the marginalized society, the Mahadalit community, especially women, is being encouraged to farm with farmers on their residential land and on lease for economic empowerment and livelihood of the families. Training was provided to 100 women cadres on better vegetable farming techniques related to organic vegetable farming in small pieces. This is all the landless communities of Morwa Rakhat and Mohanpur of Samastipur district, whose livelihood depended on the farmer, but today these women have made a new beginning, all of them have taken up vegetable cultivation as a form of farming by dividing the work among themselves. which requires very less land per plant and is yielding good returns compared to other crops in a period of 6-8 months. This initiative is aimed at generating additional household income for marginalized families with household consumption. Bani is helpful in doing this. While expanding their livelihood from vegetable farming, these women cadres have received training related to the cultivation, production of marua and manufacturing of porridge and flour from it. Through the activity, these women have earned around Rs 50000/- from an average of 0.20 acre land. This has increased the confidence of the people. and connected to the mainstream of livelihood.

Steps from nutrition to educational progress!

Ujala Kumari, father Mr. Bablu Ram belongs to Mahadalit community of village Morwa Rakhat, Block Morwa, District Samastipur, Bihar, 6 year old girl Ujala Kumari is now feeling strong with mental development. Their father is a migrant labourer, mother does domestic work in farmers' houses, most of the Scheduled Caste families in this village go to other states to earn their wages and the women, along with domestic workers, are dependent on agricultural and non-agricultural activities. and livelihood options are limited and vulnerable to climatic conditions. Bablu Ram is a migrant laborer, hence the family faced food crisis and had to earn a living by taking loans from local moneylenders and micro finance to meet their food needs. They have to depend on this and this has adversely affected the health of all eight families. When Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti (DVAS) in collaboration with Jeev Daya Foundation started the Nutrition cum Education Center program in this village, Ujala was enrolled in the center along with two other siblings. Ujala regularly visited the Nutrition cum Education Center of DVAS, where she was provided biscuits and milk regularly. When Ujala joined the center in the year 2022, her weight was recorded at 14 kg and on the basis of development index, she was in the category of underdeveloped children. Within a short time, the growth process of the girl got faster and now her weight is 25 kg and height is 122 i.e. her weight has increased by 11 kg cm and 31 inches. Adequate nutrition strengthened his locomotor muscles and bones and his performance in sports also improved as a result of the activities. She also developed mental and physical resilience to overcome challenges and is making remarkable progress in her educational level and health status. Today 465 such children are enrolled in the health and nutrition centers of Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti (DVAS) and the children are very happy that their learning levels are improving.

I am now malnutrition free, go to the center like normal children;

Alia Praveen, father Mohd. Islam, village Anandpur Morwa, Samastipur, Bihar says smilingly, now we are free from malnutrition and are going and playing in the center run by the organization in association with the normal children of the village, through which we can And her family is very happy. Presently she is studying in Poshan cum Ambedkar Prerna Education Centre, run with the support of Jiv Diya Foundation. It is said that Aaliya's mother is very poor and her husband is mentally handicapped due to which there is a lot of difficulty in earning a living. Due to Ms. Aaliya not getting proper nutrition at home, her growth was very low, she was thin, could not speak properly and could not walk. Her mother was always worried, fearing that she might become mentally handicapped like my husband, and that is why she used to take medicines from the local doctors to make Aaliya's body fat. When Aaliya came to the nutrition center in January 2022, her age was 2 years 6 months and her weight was 5 kg 400 grams. After coming to the nutrition center, today its weight is 17 kg and height is 101 cm, which Alia and her mother are very encouraging and express their gratitude towards the organization, now she comes to the Ambedkar Prerna Education Center every day like a normal child.

Phoolkumari Devi freeing herself from moneylenders and moving towards economic empowerment:

Mrs. Phoolkumari Devi, husband Mr. Shiv Kumar Ram, resident of village Morwa Block Morwa, is a very poor, indigent woman of Mahadalit community of marginalized community. She has 4 children. Due to her husband's mental health not being good, she has to earn a source of income as a domestic worker. She is earning her living due to which she is unable to provide proper nutrition to her children and treat her husband. Many moneylenders and micro finance people actively prey on these people in this area. That her husband's health was very bad and she was running the household by taking a loan from Micro Finance to get food. Mrs. Phool Kumari, after seeing the people of Micro Finance misbehaving with her and mentally torturing her for not depositing the installment on time, got humiliated in public. She took a loan from the moneylenders of the village and started depositing the installments in micro finance, but she came under the grip of debt from both the sides. After Covid, their condition started getting worse. On one side, there was micro finance and on the other side, moneylenders had started wreaking havoc on them regarding repayment of loan. Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti formed a community-based organization named Ambedkar Gram Samiti in this village, in which she emerged as an active member. Savings fund was deposited in the organization so that in time any member should be freed from debt and linked to self-employment. A good amount of funds were deposited in the organization. This year, when the micro finance and moneylenders forced Mrs. Phoolkumari Devi to deposit the installment, the women of the organization "Ambedkar Gram Samiti" protested and gave Rs. 35 thousand from the organization fund to Mrs. Phoolkumari Devi, due to which the micro finance and moneylenders were able to pay the loan amount. Got back and took the breath of living free. While all their children are getting education and nutrition at Ambedkar Prerna Education Centre, Phoolkumari Devi is moving towards economic empowerment by connecting vegetable farming with livelihood. Now the women of CBO collect money and deposit it in the bank and use it in case of any emergency. The reimbursement rate is amazing.

Priyanka developed as a role model by connecting destitute children with education through Ambedkar Prerna Education Centre.

Priyanka Kumari Father Mr. Chandan Ram, Mother Mrs. Lalita Devi, Age 1 year Village Benua is a resident of Block Morwa, District Samastipur, Bihar. Priyanka Kumari's father was very poor and helpless, due to which she remained unwell due to his inability to provide proper nutrition and was deprived of school education from primary education onwards and was involved in other activities with her family. As she was growing up day by day, her family started worrying about her marriage and were searching for a boy. The activities of community based organization "Ambedkar Gram Samiti" were run in this village by Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti and Nutrition cum Ambedkar Prerna Education Center was run for the children excluded from education. Priyanka Kumari told the organization cadres that she wants to study, she does not want to get married, after that her family members were discussed, after that they started sending her to the center and today, when she passed matriculation, her family members started feeling very proud. Priyanka Kumari's dream is that she wants to study further and become a doctor and serve the poor, this tells us that due to lack of money, proper treatment is not possible, which we will try to overcome. Priyanka Kumari herself freed herself from forced marriage and now remains a role model to save other girls in her villages from child marriage. Priyanka Kumari, along with giving selfless education to other children at Ambedkar Prerna Education Centre, is herself a pioneer for higher education. Sathi is working as the Block Coordinator of Ambedkar Youth Club run by Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti for providing quality education to the youth and child protection and eradication of child marriage. His family members are very proud of this pioneer and express their gratitude to the organization.

My participation, collective responsibility!!

I am Neeta Devi, husband Shri Kameshwar Ram, village Anandpur Morwa, Samastipur, Bihar from a marginalized family. I grew up in an uneducated environment, so my mother did not allow us to go out of the house in my childhood. The parents were always worried that their daughter's life would be ruined if she fell into high and low status and due to the fear of being defamed in the society, they did not allow her to go to school, they used to take help in their daily work. I had a strong desire to study, but instead of sending me to school, I was married to a migrant laborer boy at an early age. We did not even know the religion of marriage. I was ignorant about which I used to hear a lot of taunts. In our village, a community based organization “Ambedkar Gram Samiti” was established by Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti, in which an education center was run for children against acts of violence against women, for equality, justice and to connect everyone with education and the organization also helped women. A program was started to make us functionally literate, in which we started learning to read and write. In the beginning, people used to make fun of us, but the family members supported us. After that, we, as an active women cadre, elected me as the President of the organization. After that, we included the organization in the examination conducted by the National Board of Open Schooling under the Mukhyamantri Akshar Aanchal Yojana and we gave the examination and got the certificate of passing 8th. Letter received. Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti trained the School Education Committee members regarding their functioning, responsibilities and rights. They told us that it is the responsibility of the School Education Committee to enroll the children who have not been enrolled. Make children and community aware, pay attention to cleanliness. Participate in the development work of the school, pay attention to the quality of the mid-day meal provided to the children. Now we go to every meeting regularly. Let's talk to the teacher himself. They are told to establish harmony with the children and teach them through games. Toilets in the school should be kept operational during regular class hours and maintained clean. If the fan in the school is not working then they are asked to get it repaired. I ask for dialogue between the community and the teachers so that the community has confidence in education, in the organization meetings I tell all the women and children and their parents about sending them to school regularly and not doing child marriage. Changes have started taking place in our village primary school. Earlier there were 62 children enrolled in the school, out of which only 34 children came to school regularly, occasionally. I personally met the children, met their parents. In the regular meetings of the organization, he was motivated to send children to school every day and got the children who were not enrolled in school enrolled. I took the responsibility that no child from the deprived community should be deprived of education. Today there are total 167 children in this school. Today, no one stops me from fulfilling my responsibilities. Even sometimes children find it difficult to go to school due to crossing the road, so the organization cadres take the children to school by crossing the road and help them in bringing them back home. I believe that what I am doing is I am playing a small role, it will have a big impact in building the future of children and they will get inclusive quality education and will enhance the mental development of children along with their potential. I would also like to thank the Headmaster of this school for continuously ensuring the development of the school and the involvement of the community in the educational development of the children. Mrs. Neeta Devi Member, School Education Committee Anandpur, Morwa, Bihar

Dalit women started taking equality initiatives! Now she is known as Ambedkar Didi!!

Mrs. Maheshwari Devi, wife of Shri Baleshwar Paswan, comes from the marginalized community of village Raitoli Morwa district Samastipur Bihar. She is a strong president of Ambedkar Gram Samiti established in Morwa Rai Toli. Before the intervention of Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti (DVAS), Maheshwari Devi continued to play important roles like taking care of the household and children. It tells that Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti formed a community based organization "Ambedkar Gram Samiti" after joining with which it faced external obstacles like lack of mental knowledge on various socio-economic aspects, mobility, education, health and behavior living. It has helped him overcome this problem and further boosted his confidence and self-esteem. She is now participating more in family and community decision making. A recent incident that happened with Maheshwari Devi has shown her extreme audacity. A few days ago, she met Asha. Asha asked about her younger child's pre-primary education and advised her to visit the nearest Anganwadi centre. He visited and learned about the functioning of Anganwadi Centre. She started taking interest in pre-primary education and sent her daughter to Anganwadi centre. After facing so many struggles she managed to retain her child in Anganwadi center and now her daughter has joined regular school which is an excellent initiative after DVAS started working. After this incident he discussed about the job in MNREGA in the nearest block office and they have decided to provide the opportunity when the work starts in the village. Maheshwari Devi has developed a sense of ownership in the program. She takes personal interest and initiative to support DVAs during community interface meetings and home visits. This case shows a huge progressive change in a Dalit woman who had so much potential but restricted herself only to the realm of domestic responsibilities due to all the applicable social norms and discrimination. The initiative of the program team to identify such hidden change makers in the community has now become one of the strategies of DVAS to ensure sustainability of the programme. Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti (DVAS) appreciates the courage and aspiration to ensure dignity for the village daughters and instills pride in her now known as Ambedkar Didi.

Women has Started to take Decisions

Women has Started to take Decisions Rukmini Devi w/o Arvind Paswan is a strong member of Village Development Committee of Rampur Maheshpur. Prior the intervention of DVAS Rukmini Devi remained occupied by pivotal role such as taking care of household and children. After getting involved with village group it has helped her to overcome external barriers such as lack of knowledge on various socio-economic aspect, mobility, education, health and further boost up her-self confidence and self esteem. She is now more likely participating in family and community decision making. Recently an incident took place with Rukmini’s daughter where she showed her ultimate audacity. Her daughter has decided that she will go to school and as she is girl her father don’t want that she will attend the school but her mother Rukmini Devi has showed interest and sent her daughter to school. Rukmini said that “Now I have understood that hiding the incidence from the society will spoil the dignity of my young girl while punishment to the offenders will protect her and other young girls who struggling everyday to continue their studies.” Rukmini has taken developed a sense of ownership in the programme. She takes personal interest and initiatives to support DVAS during the community interface meetings and home visits. This case shows a big progressive change in a dalit woman who was with so possibilities but restricted herself only within the domain of household responsibilities because all enforced societal norms and discrimination. The program team’s initiative to recognize such hidden change makers from the community has become now one of the strategies of DVAS to ensure program’s sustainability. DVAS acknowledges Rukmini for her courage and aspiration to ensure the dignity for the daughters of the village.

Dalit Women Driving Change

Dalit Women Driving Change Urmila Devi w/o Jai Narayan Ram is a strong member of Ambedkar Village Group of Nipati Gram Panchayat in Morwa Block of Samastipur Block. Prior the intervention of DVAS Urmila Devi remained occupied by pivotal role such as taking care of household and children. After getting involved with village group it has helped her to overcome external barriers such as lack of knowledge on various socio-economic aspect, mobility, education, health and further boost up her-self confidence and self esteem. She is now more likely participating in family and community decision making. Recently an incident took place with Urmila’s daughter where she showed her ultimate audacity. Her daughter was misbehaved by bike rider while she was returning back from her coaching class. She was in a cycle and got severe hurt as she fell down because of sudden reckless driving of the bike rider. Instead keeping the matter under the wrap unlike other village women she instantaneously rushed to the police station and filed a FIR against the bike rider. Urmila said that “Now I have understood that hiding the incidence from the society or from the police will spoil the dignity of my young girl while punishment to the offenders will protect her and other young girls who struggling everyday to continue their studies.” Urmila has taken developed a sense of ownership in the programme. She takes personal interest and initiatives to support DVAS during the community interface meetings and home visits. This case shows a big progressive change in a dalit woman who was with so possibilities but restricted herself only within the domain of household responsibilities because all enforced societal norms and discrimination. The program team’s initiative to recognize such hidden change makers from the community has become now one of the strategies of DVAS to ensure program’s sustainability. DVAS acknowledges Urmila for her courage and aspiration to ensure the dignity for the daughters of the village.

Rising of the village power over dearth of knowledge

Rising of the village power over dearth of knowledge Mushahar Toli is located in Ram Tola Village of Modwa block in Samastipur District of Bihar. Musahar Toli is dominated by Musahar, the Dalits traditionally who are ‘the rat catchers’ and are mainly landless agricultural labourers. They are the socially marginalized, educationally deprived, physically exploited caste there. Economic vulnerability, malnutrition, ill health, disease, illiteracy, hard labour etc. are crowed in the dictionary of these people. Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti (DVAS) is working with this community since last three years to uplift their socio-economic status. As a part of the behavioural change strategy DVAS, Samastipur team has adopted many novel techniques, in particular collectivising the community in the form of village groups to take lead in generating village level consensus towards raising voice for their rights and dignity. Later on the team of DVAS conducted several meetings with the Musahar Toli Village Group to create awareness on various rights and Government entitlements. These repetitive meetings developed the courage among the community to challenge the Government for their privileges. In a similar meeting the community got to know about the student scholarship support provided by the Govt. The representatives of the village group were unaware of this existing support so the group was advised to seek information from the Headmaster of the school. Immediately the group took a strong action and through a few months rigorous effort they realized their right. The whole Musahar Toli considered this as the victory against the routine violence and discrimination on them made by the upper caste of the society and beginning of the journey for acquiring knowledge. This case shows how collective initiative can be mobilized by an organisation’s intervention in mass awareness. This courageous step by the Musahari Toli Village group sparked a ‘ripple effect’ whereby others are motivated to follow this path.

“ I am happy with Vandna Kumari of Digha Mushari performance ‘ remarked a proud and satisfied Mr Ranjit manjhi. Vandna Kumari was enrolled with Government school and lost interest in his studies and became a dropout. Her father’s is making alcohol l and drinking and distribution for the neighbors , His children’s are also When this came in DVAS team they approached his father and motivated him to get Vandna enrolled in STD – I at the education centre. Vandna Kumari was motivated by the teachers as soon he stated to pick up the pace of his studies ,This change in learning attitude is now being cited as an example to the parents .

Girl with hope Rita Kumari is a girl of age 17 from area of Kankarbagh, doctors colony ward no- 34, Patna. Her father name is vrijnandan kamad and mother name is Ramrati devi. She have two brothers and she is the only daughter in her family. Her father do the work of a labour and thus helps in satisfying the basic need of his family. If any single day, her father don’t go out for work due to any reason, then they remain hungry for whole day. Her elder brother is married and he lives separately with his family and don’t contribute in any financial support. Her younger brother don’t do anything neither work nor study due to lack of money. Rita is Paralyzed, she is not able to walk properly due the effect of paralysis in her leg. When we visited her home, we saw she was bearing old and torn clothes, her leg seems to be weak due to paralysis and she uses some support to move from one place to other. We started conversation with her by asking about her health, she offer us a vacant place to sit. The condition of her house was so deteriorated, the roof her house was covered by husk and somewhere it was open and broken from many sides. She said that her family face a lot of problems in living here due unavailability of proper house. She works in Anganwadi as a maid and cooks khichdi and get Rs.500/- per month, but Rs. 500/- is not enough to satisfy the need of her family. She wanted to study but due to lack of money her dream is not possible, she have appeared thrice in the 10th Board Exam and then got it cleared and now due to poverty she is not able to continue her study. Some times she works in ‘kabaadi’ also when her father is not well and there is lack of money at her house. The place where she lives is very dirty and unhygienic, there is no toilet in her house and that’s why she have to go out and she feels so bad in going out for toilet. There is no availability of clean drinking water in her slum and it affects the health of people living in slum area. Currently her father is sick and he is not able to go out for work and her mother also don’t do anything. So, all the responsibility lies on her shoulder. She want to earn and satisfy the need of her family but she is not able to do so due to lack of opportunity. The condition of her house needs to be improved and also the facility related to toilet, clean water, cleanliness of slum should be given to the community living there. There should be more scope of job and education for the people living in slum area.

Dukhni Devi is a women who lives in front of viklang Bhawan, Jai Prabha Blood Bank in ward no-35, her husband name is Congreshi Sahni, their financial condition is very poor. Dukhni Devi is a domestic worker and satisfy basic need of her family by working one or two homes, her husband is a daily wage worker and he don’t work regularly. She 3 sons and 2 daughters and its very difficult for her to feed her family everday. She don’t have any facility of water, sanitation and initially due to lack of money she was not educating her childrens and they keeps on playing with other childrens of slum and her daughters used to do household chorus. By the intervention of team of Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti, team members interacted with her and listened very carefully, we convinced her that she will get the facility of water and sanitation by consulting ward member and telling him all the problems. We also suggested her to send her childrens to school and told her about all the facilities that her children will get after going to school. We also told her that education is a key to reduce pain of her life because when childrens will get educated they will understand everything and also choose good source of livelihood for them. After several round of counselling with her, she got convinced to send her childrens to school and said thank you didi for guiding me, please keep visiting us and please help us reducing our problems by your suggestion. Now her childrens go to school regularly and they seems happy after going to school daily.

I am studying in Class Vth remarks a proud Arti Kumari daughter of Sri Bigan Manjhi of Lohiya Nagar slum. Arti Kumari is one of seven children in the family. Arti used to accompany her mother in rag picking job and in spite of hard labor led a miserable life. She did not have chance to play with other children or attend schools for pursuing her education. The winds of change began when she joined the JagJagi education centre promoted by Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti. Slowly her instinct towards education developed in the process and her personality changed a lot with knowledge and exposure. Today Arti sings and plays with the peers and feel that she has the freedom from the life of abject poverty. The centre has been successful in arousing confidence among the child and she wants to become a doctor when she grows up to provide medical treatment to poor free of cost.

One Day I will file nomination for the post Mukhiya in Panchayat elections and get elected ‘remarks Joyti Kumari with confidence when she was elected as Bal Mukhiya during Bal Panchayat facilitated by Dalit VIkas abhiyan Samiti to promote awareness on active citizenship among children. After being elected as Bal Mukhiya (Child Mukhiya) Jyoti says she will promote peer education and counselling to motivate all girls who are out of school to join educational system. She also declares that she will be fight for equity and parity of Girl Child in the panchayat. Jyoti a girl child aged 11 yrs from the village of Ramchandernagar in Fatuha Block of Patna District of Bihar where she studies in Class V of the education centre being run by Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti. Jyoti Kumari comes from a very poor dalit family and is third of the nine children of Mr. Anil Das and Mrs. Indu Kumari Who work as Unskilled labourers to earn their livelihood. Due to their abject poverty and the family not having a background for education the education of children had never been a priority for the family and the team of Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti had to conduct several round of counselling to convince the parents to send their girl child to the centre.

-“ I am happy with Archana Kumari of Digha Mushari performance ‘ remarked a proud and satisfied Mr Ganesh manjhi, father of the child. Archana Kumari was enrolled with Government school and lost interest in his studies and became a dropout. Her fathers is making alcohol l and drinking and distribution for the neighbors , His children’s are also During this work and helping him , When I sow they are sailing alcohol then I teach them Please Send ur daughter to study in my school; Because when she study her life will bright afterwards ; she is coming to study ,sometimes her father’s is also coming both are very happy. Her father’s challenges I leave this work and send my daughter to study. When this came in the notice with the Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti (DVAS) team they approached his father and motivated him to get Sapna enrolled in STD – I at the education centre. Archana Kumari was motivated by the teachers ns soon he stated to pick up the pace of his studies ,This change in learning attitude is now being cited as an example to the parents who are disinterest and out of school children for promoting education and retention of children in educational activities

2. Most of the time I used to graze goats but now I also study like other girls ‘ exclaims a triumph Sharmila Kumari of village Ramchander Nagar in Bali panchayat of Fatuha block of Patna district in Bihar. Sharmila is the eldest of the four children’s of Mr. Sharvind Das and Ms. Fekani Devi who come from the Scheduled caste community of Bihar. The parents of Sharmila are illiterate and earn their living by working as unskilled agricultural labour.. The family has been struggling for economic stability and has taken up goat rearing to supplement their household income. Sharmila being the eldest child was entrusted the responsibility of taking the goats to the grazing grounds and to look after other siblings when parents were at work as a result she did not attend any form of Schooling. When the project intervention started in the village Sharvind participated in one of the community meetings where his case came in light and the organizational team members started dialogue with him to convince that he should send Sharmila to school. After a series of discussions Sharvind agreed send sharmila to the educational centre. When the grandmother of sharmila started observing the happiness and confidence of sharmila in attending educational centre she has now decided to support the family in taking the goats to the grazing land.

I am pleased with the performance of Prakas Kumar remarked a happy and satisfied Budhram ram Father of Praksh resident of kankarbagh tempo stand slum. Prakash is one of the 5 (2 Brother,3 sister) children of his parent who work as Safai Karamchari (sanitation workers) in and around the locality of Patna. Prakash also used to accompany his parents and sometimes supported them in scavenging work. The parents were not interested in educating Prakash. The winds of changed began when Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti (DVAS) intervened in the area and convinced the parents to send Prakash to the education centre. Since them Prakash joined the education centre and is studying along with other children at the centre and learning with interest. Prakash is very happy that DVAS gave him a chance to learn and study which he is very proud of. The parents and other family members are also happy with Prakas’s progress and now are realising the importance of education in Life.

Inclusive city changed Sudha's life Today, as a mentor

Ms. Sudha Devi ,Husband - Sri Raju Sahni 42 yrs. Malahi Pakri, Kankarbagh Patna Shri Mati Sudha Devi husband Raju Sahni has 6 children, worked as a household babysitter in many homes to raise children, but was fed up with inhuman behavior in the midst of work. Homeless to Sudha Devi she was bound to lead a difficult life as she was not getting any benefit from the regime. Their children were not going to school. They are the main reason for being deprived of basic facilities like water, sanitation, and they do not have any kind of ID proof and due to this, schemes, local address is necessary to get benefits which is seen as another problem complication for these poor people. Under the inclusive city, the DVAS had decided to link Sudha's family with the government and took the initiative to insist on them from the Slum Development Committee. At first, he ran away from the organization and later he talked about his dignity and he started to participate in the regular meeting and united the people and started talking to the officer about the issues of development of Beghro and this led to his self-esteem. Awakened and kept moving forward. Malahi Pakri is working as a support in the Rain Basera today after voicing the demand for housing for the homeless. Now, they are living in shelter homes with their entire family. All their children are enrolled in primary school and receiving education. Sudha and her husband are earning together, as well as another slum is helping to make ID proof of the object. Today, his entire family's withering face has blossomed and is happy, and is working as a mentor in the Slum Federation

10 December 2022

Children get rid of the side effects of not getting regular vaccines we are trying to create awareness so that such incidents do not happen to others.

Children get rid of the side effects of not getting regular vaccines We are trying to create awareness so that such incidents do not happen to others. Rekha Devi W/O- Raju Ram, Age- 39 years living in Hanuman Nagar, K- Sector slum with her three sons and a daughter. Her elder son is married, He is living separately with his family, second son is physically handicapped and younger son and a younger daughter is studying in the government primary school near by the slum. Her husband is daily wages labour, he is addicted of alcohol and other narcotics habits, He expenses their maximum income in their addiction. The family survival condition is very poor. Rekha devi is fighting with her husband everyday because she is facing her children need every day. Day by day her condition is going poor. After intervention of Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti (DVAS) has been formed Slum Vikas Samiti a community level CBO in Hanuman Nagar, K- Sector, she is joined as a member of Slum Vikas Samiti, she attended the meeting in regular basis, while her husband was not interested. Suddenly her younger daughter was seek she has no option to go to the treatment in a private, she was taking her daughter to government hospital, there were no doctor she has been wanted to better treatment for her daughter but she felt no way, she mobilised all the member of Slum Vikas Samiti in the hospital, she was fighting for the treatment, then treatment was start immediate, this event was inspired to her then she was doing regular visit to the PHC and supervise the facility of the government hospital as well as immunization. She is creating awareness in the slum about the immunization of pregnant lady and children in proper way in the PHC, she also mobilize the slum community in the PHC. Now a day she is getting a good recognition in the slum and his husband is also supporting in a good way. her younger daughter and younger son have been attending school regularly, She is happy and very satisfied of her life

24 July 2022

From urban homeless home babysitter to role model, self-effort only makes one stronger

Mrs.Savita Devi W/O Shankar Saw Age- 50 years, living in Maila Tanki, Rajendra Nagar ( ward no- 42). She has three sons and four daughters, two elder sons and three daughters have been got married. A younger daughter and son has been doing study in government school. Her husband is suffering from paralysis. He has been not able to even wake up from the bed. She was suffering from very bad situation. Somewhere she is working as domestic worker but that was not enough to fulfill the daily need of their family. While she expected from her children to continue the study. After the intervention of Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti(DVAS) in the Maila Tanki slum, she was attended so many meetings of Slum Vikas Samti as a member after some times she got the post of President of Slum Vikas Samiti. Sometimes later she got suggestion from the animator to do some small business in the slum for generate extra income. After that she is doing boiled egg and omelette shop in the slum in evening time. Simultaneously, she has been aware about their rights due to regular participating in the meeting. Earlier her husband has been harassed more and more physically as well as mentally, but now she is fighting for their rights with her husband, now a day her husband is supporting in their business. Now, she has getting satisfactory income. Now she is performing a duel role in the slum, she is president of Slum Vikas Samiti and a catalyst for women of Maila Tanki Ward No- 42.

December 2022

Further progress in education free from malnutrition

I now feel stronger remarks Rupani Kumari’ a 4 years old girl from Chakshaym nagar village of Tajpur block of Samastipur in Bihar. The majority of SC families depend on farm and nonfarm activities to earn their wages and the livelihood options are few and vulnerable to climatic condition and also impacted by CoVID19 situation. Mr Rajkaran Manjhi and Meena Devi daily waged labourer by profession did not get regular work and thereby the family was facing food crisis and had to depend on the local moneylenders for debt to meet their food requirements and this had adversely impacted health of all eight family members including Roopam Kumari along with other siblings. When DVAS started nutrition and education program in the village Roopam along with two other siblings was enrolled with the centre. Roopam regularly attended the Nutrition and Education centre of DVAS where she was regularly provided with biscuit and milk. When Roopam Joined the centre her weight was recorded 14 kg and was in the category of stunted growth children based on the development index. In a short span of time the growth process of the child picked up and she gained on 4 kg in terms of weight and 9 inches of height. With adequate nutrition her locomotors muscles and bone became stronger and her performance in sports and games also improved as an outcome of the activities. She also developed mental and physical resilience to put aside the challenges and is making remarkable progress in her educational levels and health status. Today 105 such children are enrolled in the Health and nutrition center's of DVAS and the children are improving in terms of their learning levels and happy.

Happiness returned to the lives of children; entry into primary education after being free of malnutrition

Anuradha Kumari, daughter of Santosh Ram and Sanju Devi of Morwa village, Samastipur, Bihar, has 4 sisters and 2 brothers. Confident, prefers to go to the nutrition center. The family comes from poverty-stricken families and his mother is a Divyang (PWD). Santosh eke out a living as a daily wage labourer which was insufficient for year-round food security for the family and the family often took loans from local community moneylenders. Deprived of the expected basic facilities of the district, Morwa is the last line hamlet of the society, where there is neither primary education nor pre-primary education apart from the basic facilities of the government. With the help of Jiv Daya Foundation, in January 2022, Nutrition-cum-Jagjagi Education Centre was started in this colony. Anuradha used to fall ill continuously due to not getting proper food. Anuradha was initially identified as a malnourished child. Anuradha started coming to the nutrition center as the parents were of the opinion that the child would get regular milk support. Anuradha regularly visited the center where she was given milk, biscuits and vitamin supplements. Anuradha has now increased her weight by 5 kgs i.e. from 10 kgs initially she joined the milk project and currently her weight is 15 kgs and height is also increasing. Within a year of the milk project, there has been a lot of positive change in Anuradha's lifestyle. Has experienced very positive weight gain, actively participates in the Center for Mental Wellness and Safe Eating, has become assertive and feels free to talk with her peers and family members. Very interested in dance and sports which is worth watching, all children follow her, she has started speaking and practicing alphabets, besides many other girls Aanchal Kumari, Aastha Kumari, Sandhya Kumari, Swati Kumari and Ruchi Kumari have also seen a lot of growth - positive development. The special thing is that there has been a positive development of growth in girls as compared to boys in the center. The parents of the child are very happy to see the health and educational development of the children.

November 2022

Freedom from money lenders

Bibha Devi, a women belongs to Rampur maheshpur panchayat, and her block is Tajpur. She is an active member of Ambedkar gram Samiti. She belongs to very poor family and her husband is a daily wage worker, she have three childrens 2 Boys and 1 Girl. One in an emergency situation she needed money, she asked to everyone but didn’t get any help. Later she went to money lender and asked for money on interest they said we will provide you money after 4 days and for that you have to give us some gold jewellery till you don’t return money to us. She felt so helpless because she didn’t had any jewellery at that time, she was so tensed and really didn’t understand what to, then one of the member of Ambedkar Gram Samiti reminded her, we have money in account of our group and suggested her to take money from that account. All the members of Ambedkar Gram Samiti organized together and gave the amount of money she required, later she deposited all the borrowed money to the group and saved herself from the high rate of interest of money lenders. This idea helped her women like Bibha Devi and now many other women also take help from this group in case of need of money and not get trapped by money lenders.

31 December 2022

Malnourished free; Total growth of children increases in one year

We are happy to see the cognitive and physical growth of Durga says a beaming Jitendra Ram father of Durga Kumari. Durga is one of the six children in the family and her father works as a migrant labourer. The family livelihood options are limited and insufficient to have sufficient food security for the year and as a result her mother is also anaemic. In the beginning her mother was not in favour of sending her to the village centre. After several rounds of discussion with Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti team and volunteers she finally agreed to send the child to village centre. Soon Durga started picking up the early childhood education with understanding and comprehending concepts of mathematics, number system, simple addition and subtraction. Her health aspects also reflected growth and wellbeing and she gained 5 kg weight and 5 cm in height during the process. Durga has the dreams to become a police officer in her career. Durga growth and development is now motivating the community to provide equal treatment to girl child in terms of education and nutrition. Total Growth in a year is as follows; Starting Weight-15, Assessment Weight-20 ,Starting Centimeter -113, Assessment Centimetre-121 Total Weight Gain-5 and Total Growth in Centimetres-8

I am free and not less than anyone:

A story of Smt. Sangita, A women from Baghi Panchayt in Tajpur Block, she used to live with her mother in law and brother in law. Her husband used to live out of state for work. She was married at very early age which and had 3 childrens, she was very weak and was not able to do any work properly. She was not allowed to meet anyone and go out as well, got tortured by her family members. Due to her bad physical condition, people used to consider her un pious and says she is a ghost and nobody should talk to her. She used to face a lot of problems due absence of her husband in the house and sometimes she used to sleep Hungary. After the intervention of Dalit Vikas Abhiyan Samiti, during the formation of CBO, Sangita Devi also wanted to join the group but all the women got against her and start leaving the meeting as they said she don’t have good character, she is not lucky, she have bad soul. When animator of DVAS came to know about the situation, they tried to convince the family members as well as community. After a lot of effort by animator, people got convinced and accepted Sangita Devi as a member of Ambedkar Gram Samiti(CBO), she was even made the leader of CBO. She said that there are a lot of women who face these type of situation in their life, I want to work for those women and remove domestic violence and superstitions from the society. Right now she is very happy and very active member of CBO, and she is also working as a surveyor for the organization and her family member is also supportive now.

24th March 2023

Ambedkar Gram Samiti successfully advocates installation of 1st Hand Pump in their Tola:

Ambedkar Gram Samiti successfully advocates installation of 1st Hand Pump in their Tola: Today my family has access to safe drinking water and I do not have to request other for drinking water. It is my right says a confident and proud Neelu Devi, secrectary of Ambedkar Gram Samiti Baghi Tatma of Baghi Panchayat in Tajpur blocks. The hamlet is dominated by Mahadalit population who are marginalized and mostly BPL families. The tola exhibits all indicators of underdevelopment as lack of access to safe drinking water no contact roads between the tola and rest of the panchayat , subsistence agriculture etc. The families of the tola were forced to collect water from irrigation wells and farm pond. The winds of change began when DVAS started it work in the tola and soon successfully formed Ambedkar Gram Samiti.