<Panikhowa Pukhuri. Almost every household in Assam used to have one of them for drinking water, with a Khaal for other uses of water. Later tubewells replaced the Panikhowa Pukhuris. Rain water storage, purification and distribution will definitely come into play in those remote rural areas where drinking water is hard to get from sub-surface.> <Panikhowa Pukhuri. In our ancestral home -we had /have 3 Pukhuris. Front -always sun-bathed-naturally UV cured-was forthe village to drink from- no treatment--DIRECT. Second- for ladies' bathing/washing one at the back. Last is for the Toilet washup needs--- at far behind ---in the shadow of the Bamboos. Times have changed. Nobody can afford to block huge spaces for 2/3 Pukhuris at each home. DUg wells were in- between solutions -- minimum footprint-naturally filtered clean water. Excercises readily available. But Well -diggers were not local in any Assam district. They came from Bengal/Bihar.Even today. The Hand pump came in between- -good excercise for all the family " You want water-then go pump up".But some had "IRON" and smell-- although very clear. My ElectroCoagulation cleans up-- but we have clash of interest with Govt-Paniwallahs. Then came Govt. Water( they gave some water only in lieu of all their Dilli lifestyle). Now there is almost no Govt Water. Govt. now seems to say " We pay NGOs-- NGOs should bring people the water they need". How will DHAN change their cost- of- living situation? I wonder. Situation in South may be radically different than in Assam. mm
> Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:11:41 -0800> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: > [email protected]> Subject: Re: [Assam] FW: Rural India and the DHAN > Foundation> > Mukulda,> I agree with you completely - development comes from > within. First there must be the will to develop and second there must be > means to do so.> There is no harm if some outsiders bring in ideas and > resources to stimulate the process. But will the efforts such as from DHAN be > sustained?> > "One of DHAN’s important initiatives is reviving ooranis -- > oorani is a> dug-out pond that traps rain water run-off and stores it for > drinking water purposes in> rural areas where ground water is either > inadequate or unfit for use" - > Oorani must be the same as our Panikhowa > Pukhuri. Almost every household in Assam used to have one of them for > drinking water, with a Khaal for other uses of water. Later tubewells > replaced the Panikhowa Pukhuris. Rain water storage, purification and > distribution will definitely come into play in those remote rural areas where > drinking water is hard to get from sub-surface.> > Dilip> > > > mc mahant > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:> Development comes only from within.Always!> Not > from Dilli,Not from DC> MM> > > > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: > [email protected]> Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:29:42 -0600> Subject: [Assam] > FW: Rural India and the DHAN Foundation> > > > Wonder which district in Assam > has DHAN been to. > > Anyway, another good one to add to the list of > organizations that are doing good things for the poor.> > JFYI> > > > > From: > Ram Narayanan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2008 > 4:21 PMSubject: Rural India and the DHAN Foundation> My dispatch of January > 13, covering the visit of 24 Indian Americans to rural Tamil Nadu, was the > first of a series on my impressions (and the impressions of my colleagues) of > what’s happening in rural India and what the Indian American community can do > to lend a helping hand to make sure that rural India catches up with the rest > of the country in economic progress over the next decade or two. An NGO which > is very active in the villages we visited, was the DHAN Foundation with its > headquarters in the city of> Madurai. DHAN stand for Development of Humane > Action. The DHAN Foundation is a professionally managed development > institution which has been working, for over a decade and a half, with poor > communities to improve their quality of life and reduce poverty. The > Foundation believes in enabling communities to bring about significant > changes in their lives by themselves. The enabling process requires highly > motivated professionals. DHAN’s raison d’etre consists in: ** Mothering > development innovations: Promoting and nurturing new ideas on different > development themes, viz., microfinance, small scale irrigation, dry land > agriculture, working with panchayats. ** Promoting institutions to reach > scale: Encouraging exclusive thematic organisations to undertake development > work with a sub-sectoral focus -- to ensure that quality benefits reach a > large number of the poor.. ** Developing human resources: Bringing young > professionals into the development sector and providing them> opportunities > to practice and develop relevant knowledge, attitudes and skills to work long > term. DHAN’s guiding principles include: ** Engaging high quality human > resources to work at the grassroots with the focus on enabling rather than > delivery of services. ** Valuing collaboration with mainstream institutions > and government to demonstrate effective ways of development interventions to > build viable linkages between them and the people. ** Promoting people’s > organisations at various levels to ensure entitlements and to build an > effective demand system. ** Focusing on promotion of livelihoods to directly > address poverty. ** Enriching the themes and retaining sub-sectoral focus as > the strategy for growth. DHAN’s Programmes: Presently DHAN works with some > 700,000 poor families in TEN STATES of India in the rural, tribal, coastal > and urban contexts. The states are: Andhra Pradesh in 6 districts Assam in 1 > district Jharkand in 1 distrct Karnataka in 5 districts Kerala in 1> district > Madhya Pradesh in 1 district Maharashtra in 1 district Pondicherry in 2 > districts Orissa in 2 districts Tamil Nadu in 19 districts. It has over 750 > development staff, including 350 professionals, both men and women from > varied disciplines working at the grassroots. It has pioneered in evolving > new themes for addressing poverty and livelihood which are scaled up to reach > large numbers of families. It currently operates two major themes in Tamil > Nadu: **Kalanjiam Community Banking Programme with poor women and **Vayalagam > Tankfed Agriculture Programme with small and marginal farmers dependent on > tanks for their livelihood. The Kalanjiam Community Banking Programme has > developed the federation model of people’s organization. The model places > emphasis on establishing appropriate institutions and services owned and > managed by poor women and building sustainable linkages with mainstream > banking and government institutions. The women are now going beyond > microfinance and> are addressing other development needs such as health, > education etc. Village tanks and ponds occupy a significant position in > irrigation and local ecosystem in South India. They are one of the vital > water resources for rural communities. As water-harvesting structures, they > were ingeniously designed by ancient rulers and traditionally managed by the > local communities over many centuries. They sustained farming activities. > Neglect of these precious water resources led to a decline in their > performance as assets and badly affected the livelihood of the community. > DHAN Foundation, through the Vayalagam Agriculture Programme, has sought to > conserve these treasures by organizing the farmers dependent on them and > regenerating local management by building their stakes. One of DHAN’s > important initiatives is reviving ooranis -- oorani is a dug-out pond that > traps rain water run-off and stores it for drinking water purposes in rural > areas where ground water is either inadequate or> unfit for use > (http://dhan.org/ooranis/index.php). For a list of ooranis under development > now in Tamil Nadu: http://www.dhan.org/ooranis/projects.php . Another > interesting oorani site:list of donors http://www.dhan.org/ooranis/donors.php > . New themes in progress include the Tata-Dhan Academy for grooming > development professionals, Rainfed Farming Development to improve the > livelihood of farmers, enabling the Poor through Information Technology, and > Working with Panchayats. DHAN has an integrated model of livelihood > restoration and rehabilitation programme in tsunami affected coastal regions > for fishermen and coastal farming families. DHAN People Academy and DHAN > Institute of Vocational Education cater to training and capacity building > needs for the leaders and people functionaries. The Foundation is also > promoting development tourism to show case art, culture, heritage and > development work. DHAN is involved in developing rural tourism model in > collaboration with UNDP and> Government of India. Through its work at the > grassroots, the Foundation has been successful in demonstrating large scale > linkages of people’s organisations with the mainstream institutions such as > banks, government agencies, academic and research institutions. With > experience and learning from the grassroots, it has been able to influence > policy makers at different levels. It is a member of several policy advisory > fora to banks and government. It is also being seen as a resource centre for > the themes of microfinance and water for NGOs, bankers, government agencies, > donor agencies, and researchers. The experience of over a decade and half has > laid a strong and sustainable foundation for a few more decades of > development innovation, institution building, human resources development, > networking, development campaigns and policy impacting for pro-poor policies. > It is a founder member and member of various national and international > networks for promoting pro-poor policies. As> for the future, DHAN looks > forward to intensifying its work in the Southern states, both in depth and > scale, and further strengthening its involvement in projects in the Northern > states. It proposes to give focus through specific projects to livelihood > opportunities for the poor, and skill and capacity building programmes. > People within India as well as people of Indian origin living abroad, > including Indian Americans, have contributed financially to the development > of specific projects sponsored by DHAN. Dhan also has a volunteer programme > where socially concerned and committed individuals from within India and > abroad can offer their expertise in the area of health, education, water, > communication, web design, content creation in local language for meeting > local needs, for periods ranging from three months to a year. Volunteering > could also be virtual for tasks such as web design, editorial support, > writing for the web etc. There are also opportunities for donation in> kind > such as computers, cameras etc. DHAN’s website is at http://www.dhan.org/ . > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] , [EMAIL PROTECTED] . A useful US contact: Ram > Krishnan at Minnesota [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Cheers Ram Narayanan US-India > Friendship http://usindiafriendship.net/ > ________________________________________________________________PS: (*)This > update is being sent to you because we believe you welcome it. If, however, > you prefer not to receive similar information updates on India, US-India > relations and related security issues, please reply to this message with the > word "UNSUBSCRIBE" on the subject field. Powered By PanWebMailer Version 2.0 > © 2004-2005> > _________________________________________________________________> Helping > your favorite cause is as easy as instant messaging. 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