VIDHA

Banguwan Village Becomes Violence Free Village

Banguwan village, situated about 15 km away from Jhansi city, in Baragaon development block was made violence free village with the untiring efforts of Vidha. The then District Magistrate of Jhansi, Jagannath Singh, held a meeting in the village on July 21, 2003, and declared the village to be the first violence free village in the country. Nearly 2,500 women and men were present on the occasion and they vowed to keep the village violence free.

Now Women Hand Pump Mechanics

Visha has promoted a team of women hand pump repairing resource persons. These teams have imparted training to the rural women. Now women hand pump mechanics are a common sight in the villages. Apart from boosting the morale of the women, this activity is also earning them some financial gains too.

Family Counselling Centre

A Family Counselling Centre (FCC) is being run since 1997 with support from Central Social Welfare Board, New Delhi. Cases related to women exploitation, dowry deaths, family disputes, etc., are solved through able and efficient counsellors. The cases which are deemed fit for judicial and police intervention are taken to the police and family courts through District Police Advisory Committee, nominated by the Ministry of Home Affairs. FCC is run under the direction of District Sub Committee, which includes City Magistrate (president), Convenor of Vidha, Secretary of Mahila Sansthan, two legal advisors, in-charge of women's police station and two representatives of voluntary organisations.

Participation of Women Gram Pradhans in Panchayati Raj

A study titled Social study on the Status and Role of Women Gram Pradhans in Panchayati Raj System has been undertaken with support from IGSSS. Contacts, interviews and discussions with 350 former women gram pradhans were done in all the seven districts of Bundelkhand Jhansi, Lalitpur, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Banda and Chitrakoot. To further understand more clearly the status of panchayats and women gram pradhans, one-day workshops were organised of former women gram pradhans, panchayat secretaries and local voluntary organisations in each district. A total of 370 panchayat representatives and 20 voluntary organisations participated int he workshop. Study report is available on request.

Confederation of Rural India

Confederation of Rural India (CNRI), a confederation of voluntary organisations, has been established at the national level with support from Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART), New Delhi. A total of 26 voluntary organisations from Jhansi division are member of CNRI, Jhansi division. The Vidha Convenor is the convenor of Jhansi division CNRI. In a nutshell CNRI provides organisational strength to the organisations engaged in social work.