From the hinterlands of Paderu

For the last 22 years, M Malini has juggled her time between a village in Paderu and Visakhapatnam where she heads welfare activities as the director Chaitanya Shravanti.

It all started back in 1995 when as a fresh graduate Malini was at her father’s home in Chintapalle. “Someone suggested that I join an organisation that worked for the tribals in that region. I decided to give it a try,” she says. She was reluctant about the job and gave herself just three days to try it out. But the three days turned into weeks, then months and then years till today Malini has been working with tribal villages for over two decades.

Malini, director of Chaitanya Shravanti has spent over two decades trying to bring in changes in the lives tribal people living in Paderu  

She has supervised a series of projects to address the concerns of the tribals. First it was to bring education and schools to remote areas. “After the government established schools in this area, we shifted our focus to health issues and helping these people get better access to healthcare facilities,” she says.

Malini realised that forcing changes down their throat was not the way forward. “We explained the changes to them and insisted they be a part of the change. Initially, it was hard going but once they realised we meant no harm to them or their way of life, they allowed us to help them,” she recalls. Chaitanya Shravanti also trains the tribals people in making plates and cups with dried leaves. Sixty villages in the Paderu area are involved in it with 25 volunteers overseeing the work.

Malini started another non-governmental organisation called Aranyika which focused on promoting leadership qualities in tribal women. She says, “After spearheading the projects for a few years in Aranikya, I handed the reins to the local tribal youth and made them responsible for their own decisions rather than thrusting our notions of development on them.

“ My daughter was just 29 days old when I first took her to the forests along with me. Her childhood was spent playing in the forests along with the tribal kids. She completed her primary schooling with them too,” recalls Malini whose daughter is now 17 years old.

Malini hopes to continue in her empowering journey by educating the tribal youth about their rights and responsibilities.

Creating a model village

Santhi Latchipathuni established the Deeksha Mahila Welfare Society in 1999  

Veerasagaram - a remote hamlet in Vizianagaram district was once notorious for child marriage, domestic abuse, school dropouts and migration. But Santhi Latchipathuni who established the Deeksha Mahila Welfare Society in 1999 changed it and today it is a model village. Santhi was particularly anguished by the abysmal condition of the women. So, along with 40 other women of Veerasagaram she formed the society for the socio-economic empowerment of the poor and marginalised communities with a special focus on women.

Today, there are about 30 women-led self-help groups who make incense sticks, organic jaggery, biomass and other agri products.

“When I started the society, the locals resisted and opposed me,” says Santhi, who wassarpanch of the village from 2013 to 2018.

But though she was married at the age of 16 herself, Santhi’s dream of creating a model village was backed by the husband. “I was fortunate to get the support of my husband, something that many women do not have, ” says the mother of two.

“The real turnaround happened in 2012 with the formation of 30 self help groups,” says Santhi, who is in her 40s today. Now there are over 1,080 women beneficiaries working under the support of Deeksha Mahila Welfare Society.

The society has conducted awareness camps on health and nutrition, financial management literacy and skill development and self employment training and also set up a farmer-produce organisation called Rytula Jattu in association with NABARD. “We hold regular meeting in the village, conduct various training capsules and discuss the road map ahead. That ways, the women have a sense of purpose and are involved not just their personal skill development but also the upliftment of society as a whole,” says Santhi. Under her leadership, the village saw the development of road, water, sanitation and school committees. Her efforts were acknowledged nationally when in 2017 her name figured in the list of Best Women Sarpanch award of India. During her tenure as a sarpanch, her village won other awards for its good sanitation. She was also instrumental in abolishing liquor in her village.