CYSD

Odisha was battered by a Super Cyclonic Storm on 29 October, 1999 that made landfall near Paradip (43976). The estimated maximum wind speed reached 260-270 kmph in the core area which produced a huge storm surge that led to sea-level elevation of more than 20 feet and took away valuable lives of nearly 10,000 people. It was accompanied with exceptionally heavy rains which led to devastating floods and cut off the State from the rest of the country.

The extent and severity of the destruction caused by the cyclone was unprecedented:

• Approximately 10,000 people lost their lives
• 19 million people living in 18,000 villages in 14 districts of the state were affected by the disaster
• Millions were left homeless with 750,000 houses completely destroyed and a further 1.12 million damaged
• Half a million animals and 1 million poultry were killed
• 1 million hectares of standing winter crops and other horticultural crops were destroyed
• 90 million trees were felled, destroying 95,000 hectares of forest cover which included 18,000 hectares of coastal belt plantations, 30,000 hectares of cashew plantations and 4.5 million coconut trees
• 14,000 water sources were damaged, including 6,000 irrigation points and 8,000 tanks and water harvesting structures
• Surface communications, telecommunications and power supplies suffered extensive damage with thousands of miles of power lines being destroyed leaving one third of the state without power for over a month
• 52,000kms of roads and 12,000 bridges were destroyed
• Health care facilities were destroyed or damaged
• The cyclone upset the already delicate livelihood system of people living in the affected areas, who were mostly marginal farmers:
• Loss crops and livestock devastated farmers and destroyed their livelihoods
• An estimated 18,400 fishing and 21,700 weaver families lost their livelihoods
• Betel vines worth millions of rupees were damaged affecting hundreds of families
• Wage labourers suffered due to a severe setback in all sectors of the rural economy leaving few employment opportunities

 Immediate Response

 As soon as the fury of the cyclone abated CYSD began relief and rescue work in both urban and rural areas. At the same time it facilitated a collaborative civil society response to the disaster which led to the formation of an alliance of NGO’s and came to be known as the Orissa Disaster Mitigation Mission (ODMM).

Relief to Urban Slums

• Providing food relief through setting up the first community kitchen in the slums
• Helping people salvage materials from the debris to rebuild their homes and distributing polythene sheets to support this activity.
• Facilitating the formation of volunteer groups to clean water sources and drainage lines, distribute halogen tablets and explain how to use them, and to burn carcasses.
• Facilitating the formation of mobile health teams, which treated 11,354 people.
• Volunteers and serving together – see page 3 of report, and other pages for examples of volunteers and community working together

Relief and Rescue in Rural Areas

In rural areas CYSD operated from 19 nodal points to carry out relief and rescue work in 411 affected villages in 6 districts.

Food Relief: Community kitchens were set up in 335 villages providing food relief to 162,942 people.

Salvage and Retrieval Work, such as clearing and cleaning roads and water bodies, removing corpses and carcasses, retrieving school structures and individual houses, and repairing small bridges. These activities improved sanitation and made villages accessible.

Health :

The cyclone brought with it fears of an epidemic, such as cholera. Non-availability of drinking water, prolonged exposure to wind and rain, and lack of food and shelter were all factors responsible for widespread infection. Severe colds, coughs, fever and gastroenteric disorders were reported in most villages. CYSD facilitated the formation of health teams which carried out health check-ups at mobile health camps and at nodal dispensaries. 25,062 patients were treated, 5000 under-five children were treated.

Shelter :

Temporary shelter materials were distributed to needy families. Food support for renovation of shelters under the Food for Work programme (FFW) was also provided, and as such 1,647 thatched houses were built for the most destitute.
Education :

Hunger, homelessness and loss of their everyday life-world, threatened school children with permanent disorientation in cyclone affected areas. With schools destroyed, books lost and parents focused on finding relief, children had nowhere to go. CYSD quickly responded by: Reviving schools by erecting makeshift shades and structures under the FFW programme. 49 schools were thus restarted within weeks of the cyclone. Midday meals were provided for about 1 week in 45 primary and high schools, and until the government resumed interrupted delivery of the Mid Day Meal (MDM) scheme. Book Banks were formed in 246 schools with 10 sets of books provided for each class. In view of loss of study days, examination guides and test papers were also distributed in these schools, and special coaching classes were held in 19 villages. Learning materials were supplied to existing Non Formal Education Centres (NFECs) and women’s groups were helped to establish 16 new NFECs.

Restoration and Rehabilitation :

 Once the immediate response and relief work came to an end, CYSD shifted the focus of its support to longer term restoration and rehabilitation. The population in the cyclone-affected areas faced a bleak future and were threatened with endemic food insecurity. Restoring livelihoods was of paramount importance, with agricultural regeneration given top priority.

Relief and Restoration :

• Repairing Agricultural Infrastructure through the Food for Work (FFW) Programme was planned.
• Relief and rescue operations carried out in 411 villages and 13 urban slums
• 366 community kitchens were run in 305 villages and 13 urban slums, benefiting a total of 47,506 households (229,992 people)
• Health check-ups conducted in 411 villages and 13 urban slums, 90 health camps organised and 25,062 patients treated
• 49 makeshift school structures built and 246 schools provided with educational material support
• 139,155 person days of work created through the Food for Work programme

Agriculture Regeneration Programme

Kitchen gardens, summer crop, monsoon crop carried out in 144 villages benefitting 6,000 farming households.

In January 2019, a community monitoring process was done by CYSD at five villages of Nuniapalli Panchayat of Bolangir district, revealed that many fold issues were faced by the communities related to basic health services and benefits of pregnant women, lactating mothers and pre-school children. First and foremost was that the malnutrition rate was high in these villages. Second issue was related quality VHND as the pregnant and lactating mothers were not attending it regularly. Third issue was that the ambulance driver was asking for money for picking up for delivery and dropping off after delivery from the families of the pregnant women. Even the hospital staffs i.e. doctors and nurses were asking for money after delivery. Fourth issue was that the sub-centre was never opened and people were not able access health services. Fifth issue was that the cash benefits under JSY and MAMATA schemes were not received by and distributed to the beneficiaries regularly and evenly. The sixth issue was that the quality and quantity of the chhatua was not good and owing to this, the beneficiaries do not prefer to have it.

In five villages of Nuniapalli Panchayat (i.e. Khaliapali, Amaramunda, Laxampali, Nilachpali and Jhakarpali) , there is a total number of 69 pregnant women, 48 lactating mothers, 342 adolescent girls, 248 children in the age group of 6 months to 3 years and 208 children in the age group of 3 years to 6 years.

During a panchayat level community monitoring process, it was identified that the pregnant women and lactating mothers are severely malnourished and most of the mothers are identified as high risk mothers (red card holders). Due to lack of appropriate information regarding importance of VHND, they were not attending the VHND sessions regularly. Around 20 per cent beneficiaries did not receive the monetary benefit of JSY and MAMATA scheme even though they are eligible. In this circumstance, a panchayat level action plan was organized by covering all these villages of Nuniapalli panchayat. To grace the occasion, the CDMO, the BDO, CDPO & block chairperson of Agalpur block along with the Sarpanches were called off.

It was commonly agreed that, kitchen garden will be promoted at each and every household of these villages to promote healthy and organic eating habits; all PRI members took the responsibility to monitor VHNDs; ASHAs were promised to ensure participation of pregnant women and lactating mothers at the designated VHNDs; ANM was agreed to make herself available at the Sub-center; CDMO, Block Chairperson and CDPO have jointly promised to  ensure regular and evenly distribution of cash benefits under JSY and MAMATA scheme. Along with this, quality and quantity assurance of Chhatua was promised too.

At present, link is established with the horticulture department to mobilize seeds for household level kitchen garden. While other PRI members are visiting the VHNDs to ensure full attendance, Sarpanch is monitoring the entire process. The cash benefits under JSY and MAMATA is now being received regularly and distributed evenly among the beneficiaries after successful intervention from these administrative officials such as CDPO and CDMO. After facing threats from local people ambulance driver, nurses and doctors are not asking for money for pickup and delivery respectively. In addition, good quality Chhatua is being provided to the beneficiaries after successful intervention by the Block Chairperson of Agalpur block.

Dasami, aged 38, belongs to the cultivator’s family of Bhujabal village in Kolnara block of Rayagada district. She used to help her husband in agricultural work. Both the couple was happily managing a six-membered family including 3 sons and a daughter with the earning out of cultivation. Unfortunately, Dasami lost her husband in a road accident 11 months back. Being widow, the entire burden of earning and educating the kids was on her shoulder. There was no other way for her than going out in search of job as daily wage labour. But as she belongs to Gouda (milkman) caste, her community did not allow her to work with the people of lower castes. Even she was warned, if she violates the social norm, her family will be isolated from the community.

With the intervention of CYSD Child Development Project team and after several rounds of discussions with the community leaders she was allowed to work outside, but she was scared of the isolation. Hence, she got herself engaged in household cultivation and in the fields of her neighbours as agricultural labour. During the last Ravi Season, she was provided with input support, like capacity building, vegetable seeds, Poles, G.I. wires and fencing materials to start intensive vegetable cultivation following Trellis method. She worked hard and abled to manage her family out of the income from vegetable crops.

During the Corona Pandemic, it was a great challenge for Dasami to maintain her family as the vegetable garden, the only source of income, was unattended owing to lock down. Due to lack of irrigation and non-availability of labour to look after, the vegetable plans dried up. Seeing her misery, she was facilitated to make job demand under MGNREGA. Immediately Dasami was provided work in village road construction which was indeed a great support to address to save her kits from starvation.

In the ongoing Kharif Season she has been supported with Paddy Seeds, Organic Manure and Vegetable Seeds for cultivation in her own land. Besides, she is linked with Odisha Livelihoods Mission (OLM) and MGREGS for developing Nutrition Garden under ‘Mo Bagicha’ programme.  By now, she has completed transplanting of paddy.  By selling vegetables in local market, grown in her own land, she is earning Rs.500/- on every alternate day. She has also completed 36 man-days work under MGNREGS and received the total labour payment.

“I am indeed thankful to CYSD Programme Team for extending timely support to my family, motivating the community leaders to allow me for working as a daily wage labour getting out of gender barrier and providing input support to carry forward household agriculture and vegetable cultivation”, shared Dasami cheerfully.

Forty-seven years old Jamuna hails from Sialijoda of Saharapada block in the Kendujhar district. She happens to be one of the members of Om Shanti SHG established by CYSD in 2010. She is having a family of five members, comprising of her husband Mr. Upendra Mohanta, a married son, daughter-in-law, and 3 years old granddaughter. Academically, Jamuna has only learnt to put her signature. The family was dependent largely on agriculture for their subsistence. The erratic monsoon and other factors lead to an inadequate yield from their limited land of 2 acres. Approximately they had an income of Rs.12000 to 15000/- per year which happens to be meagre for a family of five. And it was insufficient for managing the year round food and other expenses. As an alternative income, Jamuna was rearing some chicken and ducks too. But, the uncertainty of survival of the poultry birds was an alarming issues since the increase in epidemics affected the survival of the birds. 

Jamuna being a regular attendee in the monthly meetings of SHG, she was keenly interested in the discussion related to business promotion, though initially she lacked confidence to initiate a bigger venture.

 In one of the meetings, the Livelihood Expert of CYSD discussed about the income enhancement plan through duckery and poultry farming. He explained the preventive steps required for the protection of birds from diseases and other essentials, like availability of duck shed, water points, etc.  Jamuna made up her mind to get more number of ducklings and develop a farm house for birds. With this intention, she took a loan of Rs,10, 000/- from SHG and bought 200 ducklings. With proper care and protection the ducklings started growing rapidly and after 3-4 months she started selling the ducks. In total she earned a profit of Rs.18000 from the investment of  Rs.10000/-.

Jamuna says “Ducks do not get attacked to epidemics easily. Only they need some feed and water to swim. I have prepared a shed for them in consultation with the local veterinary doctor. The ducklings are ideal pets and I get immense happiness to be with them.”

With this amazing profit she decided to continue the duck rearing activity. As she had to procure husk for ducks regularly, hence subsequently opted to set up a rice processing unit to collect the husk. For this purpose she applied for a loan from Indian Overseas Bank and ultimately got the machine installed. Out of the rice processing and duck rearing she was able to repay the entire loan. Her husband was engaged in the rice processing unit, while she herself concentrated on the duck raring. This added to her confidence level to continue duck rearing for consecutive five years, then after she has started a broiler farm last year. Her son and daughter-in-law are looking after the management of chicks.

CYSD-Plan project has been promoting the SHG and building the confidence of the members to be successful entrepreneurs like Jamuna. Now, Jamuna has become a role model in her SHG and the family members often consult her for any new business endeavor. The Bank Manager of BOI expects Jamuna would continue the spirit of entrepreneurship and the bank would also continue supporting her with financial assistance for initiating any venture in future. A life of dignity is the right of every citizen. Jamuna’s life has been changing through a gradual empowerment process.   Self-employment is a significant step towards sustained income to get out of the shackles of poverty.

In the month of January 2019, a community monitoring process was conducted at the Biranarayan Pur village of Kotapeta panchayat of Rayagada block. During the process the beneficiaries of Birnarayan  Pur AWC revealed that, the pre-school education was practically inattentive along with the nutritional aspect of children in absence of a fully functional Anganwadi center.

Biranarayan Pur is a village coming under Rayagada block of Rayagada district. There are a total of 153 beneficiaries in the AWC. Of them, 7 are pregnant women, 10 are lactating mothers, 20 are adolescent girls, 38 children are between the age of 6 months to 3 years and 38 children are in the age group of 3 years to 6 years.

A community monitoring process was done by CYSD at Rayagada district on basic health  services along with the nutritional aspects of pregnant women, lactating mothers, adolescent girls and pre-school children reveals that the most basic ground level institution i.e. AWC of Biranarayanpur village is not able to function well in absence of its own functional building. The Anganwadi Worker (AWW) is neither able to store the food grains properly nor able to do the pre-school activity effectively. As per the AWW she not able to keep the learning materials and books safely as the building is deteriorating day by day. In rainy season the situation worsens. During the process, the beneficiaries, i.e. pregnant women, lactating mothers and adolescent girls were interacted and they too revealed the same situation.

During a plan of action to smoothen the service of Anganwadi centre, the Anganwadi worker explained about the difficulty she is going through in providing the services and issue was considered as a priority subject. However, in the same interface it was decided by the service users that the mothers and adolescent girls will be taking the issue forward and the Ward Member was very spontaneous to help them out in this regard. In the course of action plan, it was commonly agreed that an application is to be submitted to BDO through CDPO for construction of a new Aaganwadi centre with proper and basic facilities. The Adolescent Girls Club took the responsibility to write the application and give it to BDO through ASHA and ANM. As a part of the action plan the application was written by Sanjukta Saraka, a member of the Adolescent Girls Club, and was given to BDO.

At present, the construction for a new Aaganwadi centre has started at Birnarayanpur Anganwadi Centre.

The tribal-dominated district of Malkhangiri, a conservative and reserved zone, is as affected and ridden by Child Rights violations. It was a preconceived and stereotype notion that the children are safe in Malkangiri area because of rich cultural and societal practices, but the veracity of the ground situation was exposed after CYSD started its Child centric programme intervention in the district and motivated the communities to raise and register such child rights violation cases with the appropriate authorities.

Within the two and half years of intervention, the programme team has observed that cases like illegal migration of children to other states, early marriage, sexual abuse/harassment, sexual exploitation and child labor are rampant in Malkangiri. As per National Family Health Survey (NFHS), Malkangiri district accounts for the highest rate of child marriages in the State where 39.3 percent of girls are married off before they attain the legal age of 18 years. Because of huge school dropouts & irregular education in the district, children and young girls are falling in the trap of marriage, migration, child labor, exploitation & sexual abuse. CYSD realized that these issues can only be tackled in a strategic manner, especially close coordination of the community, administration and civil society organizations. So the organisation started its intervention in 9 GPs under 3 blocks of Malkangiri by organizing children, youth and elders at the community level and established networking and coordination with district child protection unit as well as likeminded CSOs at the district level.

As a result of above intervention at grassroots level, the cases of child rights violation are being taken seriously by the administration. It has triggered motivation among members of Child Protection Committee at the Panchayat and Block levels, as a community driven effort, to deal the menace of child rights violation. At the same time, the organization has also built the capacity of child club, youth club, and adolescent girls club, traditional leaders of the village & SMCs of school on child rights / protection & available mechanisms. Because of taking a lead role for the cause of children in Malkangiri, CYSD became the member of different forums across the district like, Committee for Child Care Institution Monitoring, District Sponsorship & Foster Care Committee, and Committee against Child Marriage.

Simultaneously, the cases of child rights violation reflected increasingly in CYSD’s operational area either by the community or children registering the cases in ChildLine service, police station and child welfare committee for support service. Approximately, 10 cases per month have been registered at the above institutions for appropriate solution. Some successfully resolved cases are highlighted hereunder:

• In Mathili block, a girl child aged about 14 eloped with her classmate. As both were minor the case was informed to ChildLine by a member from adolescent group. The ChildLine team with the support of ICDS staff traced the eloped children & managed to bring them back home. Both were counseled by the ChildLine members & reached in a conclusion that both will restart their school and after attaining the legal age they might choose to marry. Now the children are in school and regular follow up counseling is taking place with the support from ICDS.
• A boy child (15 years) from Khairput block suddenly found dead in a nearby forest of his village. The investigation team found that on the day of death, the boy was called by his girlfriend (14 years) to that spot. The administation could conclude that it was honor killing. But to generate concrete evidence, the police took that girl child into custody without taking any legal steps enshrined in the POCSO Act. The matter was brought to the notice of   ChildLine and which could release the girl. The case is yet to be resolved, but the girl child is kept under the custody of   ChildLine service.
• A girl child (16 years) from Khairput block became pregnant when she was at a School hostel in Nabrangpur District. Knowing the health status of the girl, the teacher sent back her to home. After coming home she was feeling awkward and with suspicion the local AWW made the pregnancy test the girl and found positive. The matter was informed to CYSD frontline worker by a PLCPC member. It was decided to produce the girl child before the CWC for immediate support. The girl child was counseled for mental health support and she got convinced to stay in the ‘Shakhi Home’, a short stay home for 5 days. Then she was taken care by the medical team and completed all tests and immunization process. After getting order from CWC, the police investigated the case, arrested the boyfriend and sent him to the correctional home at Berhampur. Now the girl child is living with her parents. Meantime, the CWC has processed for victim compensation benefit to the girl. Also, the PLCPC has been lobbying with police to bring back the boy child from correctional home to negotiate and sort the matter.

These are some of the resolved cases for the children’s best interest, but still there are some challenges in the ground level and need further engagement towards policy level changes and sustainability.  What will be the future of that pregnant girl child? Who will take care of her child, pre-natal & post-natal care? What about the societal and family acceptance?  If she does not get any compensation from CWC than how will she manage her life? How to resolve the life threatening cases of those frontline workers. These are some emerging challenges still unresolved, however, CYSD has been constantly in process to do more study and research in this field to bring more child friendly rules and policies in place.

In Thakurmunda area, while a number of villagers are desperately migrating to nearby towns due to lack of job opportunities during this lean season and Covid-19 pandemic,  Kasturi Mohanta, a 45 years old farmer, has created job in her village by utilizing available resources like rainwater and degraded land. “I am not interested to go outside for my livelihood and in exchange invite Coronavirus, says Kasturi”.

Kasturi lives in Bhairanibeda, a remote village in Khandabandha GP under Thakurmunda block of Mayurbhanj district with her husband, one son and one daughter. Her family was leading a miserable life in spite of having around 4.5 acres of cultivable land. Five years ago, both the husband and wife were doing daily labor and sometimes collecting Sal leaf to stitch plates, but the total income was hardly meeting their family needs. But, Kasturi had a special interest on vegetable cultivation from her childhood. After completion of 10^th Standard education, she used to support her father and brother in vegetables cultivation.

In 2004, CYSD’s Child Development Project intervene in Bhairanibeda village including other adjacent villages of Khandabandha GP. Taking into consideration the poverty situation of the people along with the exploitation by money lenders, CYSD strategized to empower the women on priority basis and promoted formation of Self-Help Groups and Farmers Groups imparting capacity building programme and providing input support, like seeds and plants.

Kasturi, after initiating several experiments for a sustained livelihood, like stitching Sal leaf plates, goat rearing, poultry farming, etc. did not get satisfied result.  In 2005, she joined as a member of ‘Duarasuni SHG’ and got the opportunity to undergo various training programmes on vegetable cultivation in phases conducted by CYSD.  Next year, she availed a loan of 5,000/- from the SHG and started vegetable cultivation and benefited to a great extent.  Her husband supported her to enlarge the vegetable cultivation continuously for couple of years and gradually they got out of the poverty shackles. Last year, she was able to earn Rs. 70000/- from Brinjal cultivation. “In current year, we have covered 4.5 acres of land under vegetable cultivation and as of now we have earned 39000/- from the crop having a target of earning around Rs.200,000/-“, said Kasturi. From her profit, she has develop some essential infrastructures like digging of a bore-well for irrigation purpose and installion of a motor pump for lifting of water. Presently, brinjal, cucumber, bitter guard, rich guard & maize cultivation have become her major source of income.

Kasturi’s innovation in cultivation and dedicated effort has brought glory to her as a leading farmer in vegetable cultivation.  Seeing the prosperity of Kasturi, around 30 families have followed her path and seeking regular guidance from her. Now, Khandabandha Panchayat has become a centre of vegetable cultivation and trucks of maize, brinjal, pumpkin, ladies finger are being supplied to different destinations of Orissa. Kasturi’s leadership quality, honesty and hardworking has brought her a great success. Kasturi, being a successful ari-entrepreneur, now her family leads a happy and joyful life with dignity breaking the cycle of poverty.

A recently conducted Community Monitoring process in Nuagaon village of Boipariguda block in Koraput district reveals that unavailability of designated Anganwadi Centre is depriving the pre-school activity and facilities. For a long time, the Anganwadi Worker runs the AWC on the veranda of her rented house where she is not able to do the required pre-school activity properly. She faces problems in storing the food grains, records and pre-school materials. Situation worsens during rainy season of every year.

Nuagaon Anganwadi Center falls under the Haladikund panchayat of Boipariguda block. It serves a total of sixty beneficiaries. Of the 60 beneficiaries, there are 23 children aged 6 months to 3 years, 25 children between the age group of 3 to 6 years, 2 pregnant women and 10 lactating mothers.

During a Community monitoring process initiated by CYSD at Nuagaon village, it was found that the Anganwadi Centre of the village has got damaged for nearly six years. In absence of a designated place to run the Anganwadi, the Anganwadi Worker runs the centre on her rented house veranda where she is staying. It is very difficult in her part to ensure the safety in keeping the records, registers, food grains and pre-school materials. It is mostly during monsoons, she faces hurdles in running the centre.

As part of Community monitoring, a village level interface was organized between the service providers and service users where Ward Member of that village was also present.  During a plan of action to smoothen the service of Anganwadi Centre, the Anganwadi Worker explained about the difficulties she is passing through in providing the services. However, in the same meeting it was decided by the service users that the mothers will take the issue forward, and the ward member was very enthusiastic to help them out in this regard. Within a week the ward member wrote an application and the mother participants endorsed to take it up to the appropriate authority. Then they submitted the application to the CDPO and BDO of Boipariguda block and continuously made follow up and negotiated with them to sanction a new Anganwadi Center.

Soon, the efforts brought fruition and a new Anganwadi Center was granted for Nuagaon village of Haldikund panchayat. The construction work was started and got completed soon. Now the Anganwadi Centre is functioning hassle-free. Monsoon is no more a hurdle for running the centre.

Darabada Village is located in Gadiseskhal Panchayat under Kolnara Block of Rayagada District. The village consists of sixty-six households with a total population of 245. The major issues of the village include unavailability of drinking water to all households and due to limited sources of water, it becomes difficult for the village people to access use of individual toilets as well.

With the intervention of CYSD in Darabada village, a water sanitation committee was formed in the village. Last year, the VWSC members with the involvement of community and the program management team of CYSD proposed to prepare the water, sanitation and garbage disposal management plan for the village.

The major issues like, water, sanitation and hygiene facilities of the village were identified jointly by the VWSC and the community through social mapping exercise and conducting meetings at  regular intervals. Among the above issues, it was revealed that the village has only four tube-wells including the one situated at the school premises. Out of three community tube-wells, one was found defunct for long time whose water cannot be used for drinking purposes. The village people decided to make it functional by installing a solarised pump set.

Rounds of combined meetings of CYSD team, VWSC and youth group were conducted to arrange resources for bringing a tangible solution to the above issue. The VWSC members and youth group were facilitated to write an application to the Block Development Officer (BDO) through J.E, RWSS for installation of a solarised pump set in the community, thinking the administration would sort out their problem. The VWSC members regularly made follow up with the block administration for the same. Within a short period of time the construction work was started by youth group of the village, with due approval and financial sanction from the concerned BDO for installation of solarised pump-set in the village.

Finally, solarised pump-set got installed with the pipelines. The people of the community were elated with immense joy as the daily burden of fetching water from the bore-well was solved and through pipelines their house would be directly supplied with drinking water. The VWSC members are extremely grateful to the CYSD for their intervention and regular support and facilitation.

“Life is not a bed of roses, it’s a journey adorned by barbs & bristles” and only few people have the courage and will to walk through it. Here is the story of a young girl who not only was a dreamer but had the gut to be the doer too.

Stitha Prajna, a girl from a normal middle class family of Jagatsinghpur district completed her graduation in Agricultural Engineering from OUAT and later Agribusiness Management also. Like all other girls she was also in search of a suitable job and was looking for the opportunities. After some days she also managed to find a kind of work for herself which was suited her skill base i.e. agriculture.

Adjustment and satisfaction are two different things. One pays off and the other fills you with peace and happiness. In the world of competition very few people has the courage to choose the second one. This was the decision of Stitha when she was just 25 years old and she resigned from her job. The reason behind was not to be an entrepreneur but the corporate politics.

Days passed by and her happiness were slowly replaced by tensions and pressure. “One moment while turning the pages of a newspaper my eyes glued at something. It was a column about agri-entrepreneurs & agro-industrialists. I wonder if they can, why can’t me?

That was the moment when her mind struck the idea of doing something different and independent. She started scouting more and more. Her knowledge of agriculture from the time of graduation and experience of job started cultivating ideas of business as livelihood. And finally her idea took the place of dream when she came to know about AC&ABC (Agri clinics & Agribusiness Centres) Scheme by Govt of India through which they can get financial support for their start-ups in Agri allied sectors. She searched websites and advertisements and finally came to know about this scheme from CYSD, a 38 years old organisation which works for the betterment of youth and society, their livelihood and their rights too. The major hurdle in the path of her dream was finance and planning for start-ups and this scheme was the key to her success. She joined the AC&ABC training, came across the resource persons who could guide her throughout her zigzag journey.

After the numerous trenches & crests, she could finally see her dream manifesting into reality. Finally, on 8^th April 2019, she started a joint venture with Mr. Debasis, another trainee from AC&ABC, as “COINAGE Agri Solutions Pvt. Ltd”, a consultancy firm, which gives demonstrations, marketing facilities to FPOs and scientific cultivation of silage. Now their company has 50 large scale farmers directly as their client and many more small scale producers. It did take a rough whole two years and the work is still in progress, but what is here to focus upon is the ‘progress made’. Apart from financial constraints, being a girl, her family was not in favour of doing business. But her spirit and ambitions never took a snap unless she achieved what she yearns for.

Her company got awarded among top 20 start-ups in India. They have been recognised by the Start-up Odisha as “Innovations in Agriculture” and from IIM, Kolkata as “Social Entrepreneurs”. All these keep her growing and dreaming. She is thankful to the entire team of the ACABC for giving her direction at dilemma like a lighthouse.