The meeting started with a welcome note by Mr. Ramswarup, President, NSVK, Hazaribag. In his speech he welcomed and encouraged the NSVK field staffs who are directly involved with the community. Through this meeting, he said, the organization should identify the weak areas and improve in the process for an overall sustainable development. He raised the slogan of Ekta Parishad “Chalo Gaon Ki Aur”.
The meeting was attended by the NSVK staff (district coordinator, block coordinator, animators). They came from the 9 districts (Bokaro, Chatra, Gumla, Giridih, Palamu, Hazaribag, Koderma, Dhanbad, Simdega), who are actively involved in the issue of MGNREGA and FRA in the districts including the chief functionaries and the members of the governing body of NSVK.
Mr. Birendra Kumar, Secretary NSVK, stated that Sacrifice, Innocence and Hardworking are the keys to success. NSVK utilized its profit for the development of the village,”Swalabhi Gaon” or “Gram Swaraj” or “Self Reliance”. NSVK should develop a strong network team, to provide support to the local institutions (SHGs, Mahila Mandal, SEGs and women). The meeting was organized for the community’s development in all aspects (socially, economically and politically).
Further, Mr. Praveen Suchit Bazray, Programme Manager, NSVK, PACS, shared about the aim of the meeting and the two sessions;
“The main aim of the meeting was to build capacity of the field staffs who are actively engaged in the field with the community’’.
The first session of the meeting began with the song “Jai Jagat Jai Jagat” by Mr. Chunnulal Soren, District coordinator, Bokaro. Followed by the introduction of the participants and sharing. During this session Mr. Ramswarup shared about the Ekta Parishad and NSVK. Ekta Parishad is a people’s organization and NSVK is a civil society organization and a registered body. The people’s organization and the CSO, both are equally necessary for raising the voice of the common people. In 1999, NSVK was established and Mr. Birendra Kumar had to struggle a lot in its progression. During this period, it was realized that people should come together under the issue of “Jal Jangal Jameen.” He concluded, saying that there should be no negotiation for the sake of Jal Jangal Jammen. Further, Mr. Birendra had added that NSVK is working both as a“Sansthan” and as a“Sangathan” and Ekta Parishad is the largest people’s organization in the world.
The next session provided a brief description on the organizational structure of NSVK. There are equal responsibilities for all the staff members of NSVK.
Mr. Birendra added, that there will be various committees formed for effective coordination in all aspects. The committees are:
- Local Fund Raising Committee.
- Human Resource Committee.
- Economic programme Committee.
- Documentation and Internal Evaluation Committee.
- Information Technology and Project Writing Committee.
- Ekta Mahila Manch Committee.
An open house discussion was organized for the participants;
- Mr. Rajkumar Pandey suggested for a youth committee.
- Mr. Prakash Verma & Mr. Saumiya suggested, there should be transparency in all aspects and see that the works of the committees doesn’t get overlapped.
- Mr. Baijnath: Members of the Steering committee of Ekta Parishad should define their role and responsibilities. They should provide information about the meetings organized by them.
- Mr. Rajneeti: The role and responsibility of the NSVK staff should be assigned to them. The NSVK staff working in the same area should have an exchange of ideas and skills among themselves.
- Mr. Rameshwar asked for valid reasons, to let people join Ekta Parishad.
- Mr. Chunnulal Soren: The concept of Ekta Parishad is not emerging in the organization. Culture of Ekta Parishad should be developed among the staff.
- Mrs Emilia Hansda: Sangathan and Sansthan both are same. NSVK should think and work together for making a village “Swalamban”.
After lunch, the Session began with a song, sung by Mr. Ramadin “Shanti Ke Sepahi dekh gaon gaon ja rahe hai”.
This session was facilitated by Mr. Saryu Prasad, Treasurer NSVK. He discussed about the Village Development Plan (VDP). Mr. Birendra prepared a village map and explained about the process for preparing a VDP, and further to organize a Gram Sabha and apply for its approval. During the discussion, he quoted “Gaon ka Mitti Gaon Mein aur Gaon Ka Pani Gaon Mein.”
Mr. Baijnath discussed on MGNREGA and its main objective, which is to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household, whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. MGNREGA has helped in providing a strong social safety net for the vulnerable groups (STs and SCs) and providing a fallback employment source, when other employment alternatives are scarce or inadequate. He discussed on 18 types of work that can be done through MGNREGA and shared about social audit and its necessity.
Mr. Praveen S Bazray formed 7 groups and assigned topics for group discussion. A team of 15 members were the members of the newly formed committees.
The topics assigned to the groups were:
1st Group: Process for the formation of Swalambhi Gaon.
2nd Group: Samjik Suraksha (role of community based organization).
3rd Group: Local Fund Raising (How to be done).
4th Group: Economic Generation Activities
5th Group: About MGNREGA.
6th Group: About FRA.
7th Group: Sangathan (people’s organization).