Resource Institute of Social Education, Pondicherry.

About the Organisation:

  1. Brief history:

RISE is working for the development of the Dalit population since 1982. Mr. C.S. Roche Victor, played a major role in initiation of RISE and has been the back-bone of the Organisation for the past 20 years. He is a Christian and belongs to the first generation Graduates in Dalit community. Apart from attending various training programmes on Social development in India, he has also attended a 25 days training on `Liberation and Development' at INODEP, Paris, France in August 1986.

We have been working with the target population for the past 20 years. Most of our beneficiaries are Dalits (the oppressed people; described by others as untouchables and by Govt. as Scheduled Castes) who are mainly landless agricultural labourers. All our previous projects aimed at ensuring three square meals per day for them by providing loans for self employment i.e. for goat/ sheep rearing, milch animals, cycle shops, iddly shops, etc. That was the immediate need of the people.

  1. Vision:

To create a new society where there is no discrimination in the name of caste, creed, religion and gender.

  1. Mission:
  • Poverty Eradication
  • Community health promotion
  • Education Programme
  • Dalit Empowerment
  • Child development
  • Women Empowerment
  • Cottage industries promotion
  • Promote and protect the civil, political, social and cultural rights of the people.
  1. Belief:

Without Education there is no Development; there is no future.

  1. Objectives:
  1. To fight poverty through integrated holistic development, emergency relief, health, education and leadership development for the most needy families and communities.
  2. To promote community health to benefit the weaker section of the rural area.
  3. To promote the education of the children through sponsorship programme and supplementary education programme
  4. To initiate and guide cottage industries or any other industry schemes which provide employment to weaker sections of the population in urban and rural areas.
  5. To promote and protect the civil, political, social and cultural rights of the people.
  6. To fight against the social and economic discrimination of people especially women.
  7. To promote communal harmony among the people.
  8. To train people to work in the field of development.
  9. To provide safe drinking Water for the rural poor; and stop privatization and commercisalisation of water.
  10. To initiate and guide cottage industries or any other industry schemes which provide employment to weaker sections of the population in urban and rural areas.
  11. To undertake programmes of housing for the rural and urban population.
  12. To provide relief to the need in areas affected by natural calamities and other emergencies.
  13. To provide personal attention and direct benefits to children, youth, aging and their families so they may live with dignity, achieve their desired potential and participate fully in society
  14. To fight for Land Rights and Land Reforms.
  15. To develop an understanding of the concept of livelihoods, entrepreneurship and micro-enterprise.
  16. To resist Globalisation, combat communalism and defend democracy
  1. Legal Status:

The organisation is registered under Societies Registration Act, 1860 in the year 1982; and registered under the Foreign contribution Regulation Act, 1976 in the year 1985.

The organisation has 7 members in the Governing Body and 15 members in the General Body; anyone with sound mind can become a member in the General Body. Anyone who is elected to the Governing Body can further be elected as its president. The President is the Chief Functionary of the Organisation.

  1. Achievements:
  1. Awareness Education Programme for the benefit of 5000 agricultural labourers.
  2. Cultural programme on health awareness covering 20 villages for 8350 persons in Villianur Commune
  3. Distribution of 20 milch animals for 20 widows to make them self-reliant.
  4. Deepening of drinking water well in 5 villages.
  5. Drinking water supply to 5 villages by arranging tap connection from over-head tanks.
  6. Allotment of burial ground for Dalits in 5 villages.
  7. 48 houses were constructed for homeless Dalits.
  8. Awareness camps for Dalit youths in 10 villages.
  9. Skill development programme in tailoring and embroidery for the Dalit Muslim women in one village.
  10. 18 Agricultural camps covering 20 villages to educate and enlighten the Dalit small and marginal farmers about improved methods of agriculture, plant protection measures.
  11. Distribution of goats, ducklings, plough bullocks and establishment of small enterprises for 650 persons.
  12. Community organisation for Dalit washermen community to fight for their rights.
  1. Past experience with Network:

RISE has developed thick rapport with the following organizations to fulfill its mission and also they have the vision as RISE.

-Social Action Movement ( SAM )- Tamilnadu / Pondicherry as State convener.

-Dalit Mannurimai Koottamaippu (DMK) i.e., Dalit land Rights Movement - Tamilnadu /Pondicherry as state convener.

-FEDINA, Bangalore - NGO net work - member.

-Indian Social action Forum (INSAF) - as the State Convener

-Indian Network of Action Groups (INAG) associated with FIMARC- Belgium - as the Core-Team member.

-Joint Action for Sustainable Livelihood (JASuL) - District convener.

-National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights – as the Member

-National Federation of DalitLand Rights Movements.

About the Target Area:

a)Exact geographical information:

Our project area is Villianur Commune Panchayat of Pondicherry Union Territory, South India. The villages are situated 10 k.m. away from Pondicherry town, where the Administrative office is situated.

Our target villages are spread over in 25 kilometers diameter. On an average we travel 600 kilo meters per month.

The public transport buses goes to most of the village only twice a day. Some villages are not at all reachable by public transport buses.

The area is a moderate fertile place. There are equal proportion of dry lands and wet lands. In the months of April, May and June it will be very hot; and in October, November and December, it will be rainy. The best months to travel are January and February.

b)General conditions of the population in the project area:

The population of the Villianur Commune Panchayat is 1,14,285 spread over in 45 villages.

The density in Villianur Commune Panchayat is 450. Average size of the family is 5. There is absence of women headed families. Main economic activities are agriculture, private industries. The rainfall is 2212 mm. Main crop is paddy and the type of livestocks are bulls and cows.

The population is predominantly Hindus about 87%. The second most followed religion is Islam with 10% and the remaining 3% are Christians belonging to different denominations.

c)Socio-Economic and Living Situations of Dalits, our main target population:

Dalits are socially discriminated, economically exploited, culturally oppressed, educationally neglected and politically voiceless on account of their socio-economic-political situations in India. This is the outcome of caste system that born of Hindu Society and religion formulated by the alien Aryan invaders. Therefore caste system is part and parcel of Hindu religion, which preaches perpetuates and rationalise inequality, injustice and divisions at every stage in socio, economic, political, cultural and religious structures of India for more than 3000 years affecting millions of Native Indians and making the Hindu Society as a Sick Society.

The Dalits are landless people. They lack ancestral property. The work assigned to them was low mean, dirty and unproductive, so they were forced to live on charity dependency. In India more than 90 % of Dalits are working as agricultural labourers, construction workers, road layers, head load carriers, porters, menial workers, firewood breakers, well diggers, scavengers, sweepers, peons, attenders, watchmen, and railway and port workers. Only very few Dalits are working in the Government departments as administrative officers because of reservation.

Dalits are migratory labourers. Since most of the agricultural lands are occupied by industries, they lost the agricultural employment and move to the towns for employment. This has been further aggravated by Special Economic Zone. They move from place to place according to the seasons in search of employment and income. Their life is very much disturbed. They meet with lot of risks and uncertainties. Matured daughters become un-wed-mothers. Families break most of the time, as they become victims to police harassment. Dalit women are mostly illiterates. Nearly 80 % illiteracy prevails among them. They are uneducated and unemployed. They go for agricultural work; their earnings are meager; their work is seasonal. As in other communities male domination keeps them under subjugation. Humiliations and insults are hurled on them. Only those women who fetch additional income are respected. Usually they do not participate in the community affairs nor do they take part in the decision making process.

d)Situation of children:

There are more children in the Dalit families. This is because of the economic reasons. According to the Dalit calculation more children means more income. The drop out ratio of Dalit children is more when we compare with other community. Dalit girls lack facilities for education. They very easily drop out from school, as they have to take care of babies at home, cook food, and fetch water and firewood. Girls are considered to be burden to the family as like other community in India. There is lot of untold stories behind them.

In this world of LPG (Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation), since the Education is also being privatized, there is commercialization and privatization of Education. The Private Schools are charging exorbitant fees, which the Dalit Children are unable to pay.

There has been a criminal neglect of the Dalit community historically. The schemes made for them never did yield any result as the money, instead of reaching them ended up filling the coffers of the corrupt officials and politicians, at their expense. Dalits have been so poor and so helpless that they have been exploited everywhere and at all times by the dominant castes of all regions. There are political debates and something symbolic announced time and again for their upliftment but no concrete measures have ever been taken. What is the use of providing them reservation if very few amongst them manage to reach school?

There are enough schemes and provisions that can change the educational and economic profile of the community if they are implemented at the ground level. But the governments in the past have failed miserably to reach them due to the corrupt nexus between bureaucracy and politicians. Many Dalit politicians have not conducted themselves differently from their peers. It is high time that the government focuses on the visible results too; merely institutionalising the process has not resulted in any real improvement as yet though the government has been unveiling various schemes after gaining independence, without any real effect.

This decade has however seen a marginal change in the profile of the community. Majority Dalits who indulged in un-gainful and unproductive vocations, started to migrate towards the cities all over India. The migration caught momentum and very soon all the healthy male and female folks migrated somewhere or the other, leaving the parent state where they were treated most miserably. Though, their living conditions in cities became worse; they were not constantly reminded of their downtrodden status in the social hierarchy.

e)Health condition:

Since the target populations have no adequate income, they do not take much care when they suffer from health problems that are tolerable. This leads to multiplication of the problem and high infant mortality rate. The common diseases are fever, malnutrition, anemia, diarrhea, jaundice, fungal infections, insect bites, scabies, night blindness. Only during emergencies (child-birth, dysentery, insect bites, poisoning, heart attacks and major injuries due to accidents) they rush to the nearby hospitals (which are in 10 km distance) and most of the times it is too late.

Since the industries surrounding the villages are polluting the water and air, the health conditions of Dalits are deteriorating. Skin diseases, lung problems, heart diseases, etc. are affecting the local population.

Dalits ethnic women are at high risk for HIV/AIDS in the rural villages. They do not have education and awareness. Tourism is also flourishing in Puducherry; and thereby the innocent and ignorant Dalit women are also pressurized to fall prey to the anti-social elements.

f)The Need:

  1. Strengthening the collaboration between likeminded Dalit organizations through collective actions on the following issues.
  1. DalitLand fights
  2. Reservation to Dalits in Private sector.
  3. Proper implementation of the Special component plan meant for the Dalits.
  4. Proper implementation of SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act of 1989.
  5. Ensuring equal opportunities to women.
  6. Share from the common property resources
  1. Building alliances with marginalized sections through joint actions of the following issues:
  1. Promoting the educational rights of children
  2. Progressive land reforms
  3. Protection of the livelihood resources of the common masses from the clutches of the multinationals.
  4. Campaign against anti workers laws.
  5. Campaign against all forms of Human Rights violations.
  6. Equal rights and health rights to women.

g)The Strategy:

To work in collaboration with other State, Regional, National and International bodies against casteism and racism.

This will not only strengthen our activities in Pondicherry, but will also be helpful and motivate all Dalit Networks and Movements in India. Hence kindly permit us to submit the proposal.

Puducherry, INDIA
February 11, 2008 / C. S. Roche Victor
Secretary, RISE