Under the guidance of Sanjeevani Kelkar, women came together and started an organization, and a movement called ‘Mata Balak Utkarsh Pratishthan’ for the development of women and their families in Sangola taluka of Solapur district.
In 1973, Dr. Sanjeevani Kelkar came to Sangola in the Solapur district from Pune after her marriage. She had an MBBS degree then, but she did not know much about the plight of people in rural areas. There was no female doctor in Sangola taluka, hence, women couldn’t consult male doctors, until Dr. Kelkar started her practice in this district.
Gradually, the women of the taluka became aware of their diseases post proper diagnosis. Dr. Kelkar’s relationship with the medical profession began to change with the women in rural areas. With an open-minded approach, the doctors began to notice that the women who visited the hospital faced domestic issues. Therefore, in addition to healing from physical illness, these women needed mental support as well. Healing begins with strong willpower and hence, the doctors realized that the process of healing them will have to begin with giving them the courage to face the outcome and come out of it.
Dr. Kelkar narrated such vulnerable stories that a helpless mother, who had to sell the remaining two kilos of sorghum at home to take her HB-deficient daughter to the hospital. At the same time, Keshar Dudhwali, a victim of her husband’s skeptical nature, left her home at night to sleep in order to survive. Kelkar took a closer look. Actions were taken looking at the terrible situation these women were in.
The doctors asked women to come forward on an open-conversations. The origin of the NGO ‘Mata-Balak Utkarsh Pratishthan’ working in various fields in Sangola started from here. The first initiative of the organization was started in the year 1978. Through the initiative ‘Mahila Sahavichar Kendra’, for the first time, discussed and exchanged ideas among the women in the rural areas, took place through the role of friendship. Gradually they came up with the idea of a Sanskar class for the children in the rural areas. A fundraising event was organized under the auspices of the organization to finance the Balwadi Balak Mandir. A fund of Rs. 22,000 was raised through this show.
With the help of this fund, in 1983, a children’s temple was started in a room in Kelkar Hospital. The little ones were taught value education from the Balak Mandir. But what about the education of these children after kindergarten? The parents of these children were completely clueless. With their request, Utkarsh Vidyalaya was started in 1984 in Sangola. Today, it stands as an ideal school in Sangola, and new classes were added one by one. Today, the school is up to class X and the number of students in the school is more than one thousand.
The ‘Mata Balak Utkarsh Pratishthan’ is a movement for the development of women and their families by bringing women together for the transformation of the rural society in the drought-stricken Sangola taluka. The organization has been carrying out water conservation works in rural areas since 2005 for drought relief. Sangewadi, Watambare, Gardi villages in Sangola taluka have become waterlogged due to various activities like dams, deepening of streams, and tree planting. The total number of beneficiaries in the last 43 years of the organization’s journey is more than fifty thousand. The organization runs 100 women’s self-help groups in 24 villages of Sangola taluka. Through these self-help groups, efforts are made to provide credit to women through various skill-based training.
Utkarsh Vidyalaya is run by the organization to provide quality education to students in rural areas.The fifth to tenth grades in the school do not get government grants. In addition, 25 per cent of the students in the school are from the surrounding villages and are from low income groups. As a result, students cannot pay tuition fees. A large amount of funds is required for teachers’ honorarium and school materials.
The organization also runs “Skill Development Centers” for women empowerment and financial independence in rural areas. Under this Skill Development Center, various skill oriented and employment oriented training courses are conducted for women in rural areas. These include Fashion Designing, Tally ERP, Computer Training, Beautician Training, English Conversational Arts, Singing-Playing Classical Music, Mehndi Training, Cloth Bag Training, Spice Making, Goat Breeding Training, Snack & Food (Diwali Faral) Preparation, Jam – Courses include jelly making, sky lantern making and rakhya making. As women in rural areas have been trained in such employment oriented courses, women have become financially self-sufficient by running their own businesses. So far, the institute has trained nearly 4,000 women in rural areas, of which at least 2,000 have started their own businesses. The organization wants to train more women in various vocational trainings under the “Skill Development Center”. It costs a lot of material resources and other things. And the organization needs the collective help of all of us to accomplish this task.
The NGO “Mata Balak Utkarsh Pratishthan” has no government grant. The organization is run with the help of generous people in the community and some organizations. Sakal Media Group’s “Social for Action” digital crowdfunding platform will provide information on the activities of “Mata Balak Utkarsh Pratishthan”. Generous individuals in the community, information technology companies, CSR companies and foreign-Indian citizens can visit the website https://socialforaction.com/ and learn about the initiatives run under the organization “Mata Balak Utkarsh Pratishthan” by clicking on the Donate Now button directly on the website. Each donor who donates through this crowdfunding will get a donation receipt and a certificate of 80G with 50% discount in income tax.
For more information WhatsApp number: – 8605017366
Donate Now – https://socialforaction.com/campaign/65/empowering-of-our-women-empowerment-project
Post a Comment