India Nirman Sangh, a PanIIT Alumni India-supported initiative, is engaged in a slew of developmental and community projects in the backward Palani Hills region of the state of Tamil Nadu.
Led by David Barun Kumar Thomas (IIT K-1977), India Nirman Sangh is registered under Section 25 as a not-for-profit company. The purpose behind the program is:
- To help some of the most deprived persons in the society in specific and immediate ways.
- To use the opportunity of having direct contact with some of our poorest countrymen and women to raise their awareness about society, the political structure and the need for change
Starting And Supporting Savings Group
India Nirman Sangh helps to form small thrift and savings groups and then arranges micro credit through local banks. The group uses this money to give loans to their own members who may need the loan for a variety of reasons, including repaying loans taken from moneylenders at exorbitant interest rates, sickness in the family, festivals, education fees, buying fertilizer, wedding, etc. Peer pressure among the members ensures a near 100 per cent loan recovery rate.
Today, more than 4,000 women are members of the savings groups that was started and supported by India Nirman Sangh. The women hail from villages and small towns, spread over 14 panchayats, and include a number of women from tribal communities and other deprived sections of the society.
Community Projects
INS is also working with local people and the Government in a slew of community projects.
Addressing local issues: Over time, the members of the saving groups has begun to take up local issues such as sanitation, drinking water supply, problems in the local ration shop, etc.
Implementation of Government welfare schemes: The group ensures proper implementation of Government welfare schemes and collectively resist both hooliganism and police high-handedness.
Helping build toilets: Due to lack of sanitation, open defecation is a major problem in rural India. In 2007, members of INS-led savings group came forward in three panchayats to take up and implement a Government scheme to build toilets for each home and thus eliminate open defecation. Today, more than 600 toilets have been constructed by the group members under this scheme.
Incubating business ideas: Some of the groups have also started tiny businesses like running grocery shops, ration shops, tea shops, distilling and bottling eucalyptus oil, processing and packaging Kodaikanal coffee, manufacturing inexpensive sanitary napkins and running a carpentry workshop. India Nirman Sangh incubates these businesses and helps them run profitably and professionally.
