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| Bihar Dalit Vikas Samiti (BVDS): A Dalit Movement |
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who are we?
We are a confederation of groups forming a social movement whose goal is to achieve equality, justice and dignity for Dalit people throughout Bihar state and all of India.
mission
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In India today, there are numerous institutional and social structures that support and perpetuate discrimination based on gender and caste. These semi-official policies and rules and unofficial values and customs, which include forced child labor, threats of violence, environmental degradation, and the criminalization of politics work to keep Dalits in poverty. Through concrete educational and health programs, community organizing, and broad based political activity, we seek to eradicate discrimination and exploitation and create a just society in exploitation of the kind that exists today is not longer possible. |
example projects
Economic Development: We have recently started forming self-help groups based on the model of Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. Each group, which comprised of 10-20 members, elects its leaders, and opens a bank account in the name of the group in which periodic contributions from group members are deposited. Gradually, group members are given small loans from the group deposit. BVDS helps to organize the process by conducting meetings, assisting in the development of micro-enterprise business plans, and overseeing the distributions of loans and loan repayment.
Health and Housing: Our communities face problems relating to health and housing, including a lack of information about health related issues, limited funds for medicine, a shortage of clean drinking water and too little sturdy housing stock. To address these problems, BVDS groups have repaired 42 hand pumps, bought 55 new pumps and drilled two new wells. 85 one-day health education camps have been conducted; 2004 people have been assisted in buying medicine; and 872 people been assisted in reaching the hospital. In our housing work, member groups have built 13 new community halls and 78 new housing units.
Education: In addition to health education, we also carry out a variety of training programs and provide education on legal issues and accounting. To strengthen community involvement in education, we have created what we call 'open hostels'. In a hostel a teacher, takes care of children with the help of village members. Small children are cared for in a crèche, while older children are supervised in their studies and play time. For those children already attending formal schools the supervision focuses on their homework, keeping track of their progress in school and after-school activities. As of March 31, 2003, 42 open hostels have developed into full time schools.
Regions of operations in Bihar state: Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Samastipur, Saharsa, Khagaria, Patna, Nalanda Sheikhpura, Munger, Jamui, Nawada, Jehanabad, Gaya, Lukhisarai.
Director: Dr. Jose Kananaikil
Contact us: 0612-2590522 (phone), bdvs@satyam.net.in or bihardalit@sancharnet.un (email) or Post Box-57, G.P.O., Patna-800 001, Bihar, India (mai
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