A lot has been said of BPOs. They have changed people’s lives and brought a modicum of hope to the lesser privileged sections of society that was denied for so long. However, till now the story was mostly restricted to urban India. Thanks to the efforts of a few like an enterprising District Collector in Tamil Nadu, Santhosh Babu and an economics graduate straight out of a US college, Kartik Raman, rural India now has an opportunity to be included in the BPO boom, and avail of alternative and better sources of income than what they could eke out from their meagre resources.

Kartik, along with 2 others, started a rural BPO in Bagad village in Jhunjhunu district if Rajasthan with 10 women, many out of class X and some graduates. A year later, the BPO called Source of Change boasts of 30 more employees earning between Rs.3500 and Rs.7000. Kartik plans to expand to more towns, recruiting about 1000 employees by 2012.

When Santhosh Babu decided to open a BPO for his collectorate, he recruited and trained villagers who had failed class X. The first BPO was of 100 seats capacity and was started with a loan of Rs.20 lakhs from the District Rural Development Agency. Its biggest client today is the US All State Insurance. Sreelatha Menon reports in Business Standard:

The most important gain of the BPO experiment in Tamil Nadu is that it recruits mostly people in villages who have failed Class X as well as graduates and pays both equal salaries of up to Rs 5,000.

After the tremendous success of the BPO experiment, Babu has been made the Managing Director of Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (Elcot) to expand his operations to all 30 districts. Elcot has started a rural finishing scool where 7000 dropouts have already been trained, and plans to tender applications for franchises in every village. Every franchisee has to profitable and uncompromising on quality. The model is already serving as an inspiration for other states to embark on a similar development path.

We wish these dedicated few all the success in their endeavours and hope many more will join their ranks in improving the lot of all the far flung villages in India.

Read the rest of the story here.
Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

Village Services Trust (VST) is an NGO based in Tamil Nadu with a mission to facilitate rural development through community development projects. Their vision is to “serve the basic needs and priorities of the socially, educationally and economically backward sections of women, foster rehabilitation and overall development of the physically challenged and provide utmost care and support for child welfare”.

VST’s main focus areas are women’s empowerment and child welfare and they currently operate in the Dindigul and Kanyakumari districts of Tamil Nadu. Many of their initiatives, targeting the areas of education, health and overall welfare, are implemented in tandem with the state government and other NGOs operating in these areas.

VST has enabled the formation of women’s group in village to campaign for better representation and involvement in key decision making processes. They also have implemented a Grameen Bank model micro credit system that is supported by Self Help Groups (SHGs). These SHGs have also been successful in building community network within these societies for women and the marginalised.

VST also runs health centers to provide medical, maternity consultations and counselling. In collaboration with the Aravind hospital, Madurai, VST has organized eye and dental camps. They are also active in spreading awareness about personal hygiene, HIV, STDs, immunization and family planning.

The other major focus for VST is child welfare with emphasis on rehabilitation of abandoned and abused children. VST rescues at-risk children and provides them shelter, education, vocational training and, more importantly, an opportunity to lead a normal life again. The child rehabilitation project has been operational since 1999 at their Dindigul center. It is estimated that there are 3500 children living on the streets of Dindigul.

Many of the abandoned or run-away children seek work in factories and shops to earn a living. Their predicament makes them easy victims of sexual, labor and/or drug abuse. VST seeks to help these children by help strengthen family structure to minimize run-aways, scouting for and reaching out to the abandoned as early as possible and shelter them before abuse. They also rescue abused children and provide a safe shelter where they can grow in a nurturing environment.

At present, there at 83 children being cared for at the shelter. It takes almost Rs. 1.5 Lakhs or $3,000 a month to sustain this project, to provide for children’s basic needs ie food, clothing, health care, education etc.

The child rehabilitation project currently has a crisis of funds. VST is seeking donations to help them continue operations and provide for these children.

Below is the link to their website which is enabled with a Paypal system for donations. Your generosity will be greatly appreciated by VST and the children. You can also choose to sponsor a child at the shelter.

Village Services Trust

Please do visit the website to read more about the work that they are doing on the ground.

You can also contact them at

The Village Service Trust

Michaelpalayam – 624215
Nilakottai Taluk
Dindigul District
Tamil Nadu

Phone: +91 (451) 6531 997
Mobile: +91 (0) 995 286 4440 or +91 (0) 984 212 4729
Fax: +91 (451) 242 0430 or +91 (451) 244 0062

Email: thevst[at]rediffmail[dot]com

More often than not, the perception of the police amidst the citizens has not been very good. In fact, even many of our movies have portrayed them in poor light. Due to this, we forget that they too are ordinary human beings like all of us. Friends of Police aims to bridge the gap between the public and the police personnel. Conceived by Pratheep V. Philip, Inspector-General of Police, Social Justice and Human Rights, this group has been attempting to change the perceptions of the police since 1993.

This article in The Week states that “the members of FOP are volunteer citizens who keep their eyes and ears open, and pass on potentially vital information to help the police.”

And what was the inspiration for Pratheep to start FOP:

“I know that our department has a negative image, and ever since I joined the service in 1987, I have had this urge to do something about it,” said Philip. He was wounded in the blast that killed Rajiv Gandhi at Sriperumbudur in 1991. “I was lying in a pool of blood thirsting for water. The policemen were either hurt or not around. It was a young boy from the crowd that gave me some water. The incident made stronger my idea of involving the public,” he said.

The help to the police, besides improving their image in the minds of the public, has been significant, says the article:

The volunteers have helped ease tensions, and have provided security at festivals and social gatherings in sensitive areas. Having an FOP volunteer around helps the policemen deal with the public better. “They act as an intermediary. And because they are in plainclothes, it is easier for them to collect information besides convincing the public,” said Philip. From unravelling a murder mystery to preventing a terrorist strike, just about anything is possible with FOP volunteers. “They are a viable option in combating terrorism.”

Read the complete article on Friends of Police here.

Krishnammal Sankaralingam

They are two old people from a small settlement in Tamil Nadu called Nagapattinam. And this year, the Sarvodaya couple – Krishnammal and Sankaralingam Jaganathan, will be honoured with prestigious Right Livelihood Award – also known as the Alternative Nobel.

The couple had started Land for the Tiller’s Freedom (LAFTI) in 1981, a non-profit organization based on the Gandhian idea of equitable land distribution as a basis for rural economic development. It has its roots in the Bhoodan movement created by Acharya Vinoba Bhave, who advocated the Village Community ownership of land – a non-violent land revolution encouraging landowners to voluntarily submit their lands for community ownership. The Bhoodan and LAFTI movements have been instrumental in distributing 11,000 acres of land to 11,000 landless poor families for agriculture. LAFTI has also negotiated with government for land subsidies and with banks for reduced interest rates on loans for purchase of land. Read more about the organization here.

Rajaneesh Vilakudy has reported about the latest honour in Rediff News:

Talking exclusively to rediff.com from Kuthur, a tiny hamlet in Tamil Nadu, where the old couple reside, Krishnammal said, “We are happy. Our initiatives are being rewarded. It is a big award, but Padma Shree is bigger. It is an honor by the Indian Government, which we savour for our lifetime.”

Describing them as India’s Soul, the Right to Livelihood Award panel said the feat was “for two long lifetimes of work dedicated to realising in practice the Gandhian vision of social justice and sustainable human development”.

The duo had been awarded with the Padma Shree in 1989. Sankaralingam is 95 years old, and has been involved in many struggles including the one for independence.

Two lifetimes dedicated to fighting for causes and seeing results. We can imagine how difficult and satisfying that must be, and offer our heartiest congratulations to the couple who have heralded sunrise in so many lives.

Link Courtesy: Bharath Madhavan. Thanks!

Image Courtesy: Right Livelihood Award Website

The Tsunami that wreaked havoc in Dec, 2004

Everything that M Malar owned was washed away in December 2004. After eking out a bare subsistence for four years, this mother of three has finally been shown a ray of hope. She and 37 other Tsunami survivors like her can begin life afresh working as permanent staff members of “Green Friends” at the new vermin-compost yard set up at Sholinganallur by the town panchayat.

The yard has been set up with the help of an NGO Hand-In-Hand (HIH), which runs 19 yards in Kancheepuram district with the participation of the local bodies.

D Madhavan reports in this article in The Times of India:

Two years ago, Malar, originally a resident of Odaikuppam in Besant Nagar, was accommodated in one of the 6,700 quarters built by the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board for tsunami survivors in Semmancherri.

But this was not enough for Malar. She had to feed her children and give them an education – she did several odd jobs, from working as a maid to hawking goods.

Two months ago, there came another turn in her life. She and 37 other tsunami survivors of Semmancheri were offered a permanent job by HIH in the new yard.

A self-help group was formed to help them sustain their livelihood. “It is a second life for me. Now I can ensure that my three children get a good education. I want to ensure at least one of them pursues medicine,” Malar told The Times of India.

The tsunami-survivors were given free training on all aspects of maintaining the yard. These women in turn will teach the residents about the need to segregate their waste into biodegradable and non-biodegradable parts. Initially, the “Green Friends” will receive monthly compensation, but after a year they will be in charge of sustaining the project.

Read the complete article here.

Image Courtesy: Inmotion Magazine, AREDS Team

The Irulas are one of the lowest groups in the Hindu social order, found in Tamil Nadu. Many of them work as rat catchers in the farms of others, who pay them a small sum for each rat they catch. This being the chief occupation, the Irulas live in abject poverty.

Jerilyn Watson writes about this tribe and their ways of catching rats in this article:

The traditional way they catch rats is to light a fire in a clay pot. They blow air through a small hole in the bottom to send smoke into the underground spaces where rats live.

Then, for food, the catchers dig out the rats and any grain stored in their burrows. But often the rats escape, and the rat catchers get burned on their lips and hands. Many also suffer lung and heart disease from breathing the smoke.

Sethu Sethunarayanan, the director for the Development of Disadvantaged people in Chennai looked for a way to improve this technique, and dvised a new steel trap.

With the new trap, the rat catcher still forces smoke into the burrow. But the trap is attached to an air pump operated by hand. The catcher no longer needs to blow into the trap. And the pump has a wooden handle to prevent burns to the hands.

The Irulas asked for and received almost one hundred thousand dollars from the World Bank. They used the money to establish a factory to build the traps. It employs fifty women. The traps are sold for about twenty-five dollars each.

This small contraption has led to a dramatic improvement in the lives of the nearly three million Irulas. They’re earning more money, getting better health care, and more importantly, their children can now go to school instead of catching rats.