Veltur, where every woman is a Durga.
A prayer.
This the sonorous chorus of voices, that echo in the air on the Fifth day of every month exactly at the stroke of 10 in the morning.
An Oath.
A trend setting village.
Medak district, 25 kilometers away from Sangareddy, in the sate of Andhra Pradesh a nondescript village named Veltur is a place with a population of 2000' where there are 500 families. All of them are poor. All of them are leading lives through their hardworking . Through shedding their sweat.
A different prayer. A different Oath.
About 50 leaders of women welfare associations of the village Veltur, assemble at the stroke of 10 in the morning of 5th of every month. The meeting takes place with such an impeccable regularity that no festival, no public holiday even a death in the village can stop.
Late arrival of a member attracts penalization. No one is above rules.
The same strictness and adherence to discipline is seen in the administration of all the women welfare organizations of Veltur.
Their strength.
Every woman is a Power Centre.
It's like Chandi, the goddess, who's an incarnation of peace and love. But changes herself and changes her Avatar as an incarnation of Shakti or power to curb the evil forces in the society.
Akin to this every woman in Veltur village became an incarnation of power to annihilate the evils in the society.
Origins of women welfare associations in Veltur.
Erstwhile schemes like DWACRA, Development of Women And Children in Rural Areas inspired and lead in the formation of Women's thrift associations in Veltur. The first thrift association, Madina women's association was formed on March 4 in the year 1999.
Thereafter , other women's Associations like Sarala and Parameswari associations followed the suite. After the formation of these women's associations, more an more associations formed. Today there are about 50 associations functioning in the Veltur village.
Subsequent government brought all the women's associations of Veltur under one umbrella, under the scheme ' Indira Kranti Padam' scheme. Erstwhile DWACRA have become SHG, self help groups.
It was in the year 2014 on February 23, Grama Mahila Samakhya, village women's association was formed In the year 2008, under the Andhra Pradesh mutually aided cooperative societies act, it was registered as ' Veltur village women mutually aided cooperative thrift and credit society federation limited-1 '. An executive committee also has been formed.
During its long journey, this women's society brought many positive changes in the lives of the Veltur villagers.
It's not Literary knowledge.it's objective knowledge.
The women of Veltur are great worshippers of Goddess Lakshmi and goddess Saraswati. According to Hinduism, goddess Lakshmi symbolizes wealth and prosperity. And Goddess Saraswati symbolizes,knowledge and wisdom. The women associations invariably adore these two goddesses .
One can see the characteristics of Goddess Saraswati in the women of Veltur.
Illiterate literates.
Though none of the women of Welfare associations are literates, their literary qualities are conspicuously visible. Their managerial skills are in no way less than business school graduates. Their accounting acumen is in no way less than a well trained Accountant.Their maintenance of accounts are impeccable, clean and mistake free.
Not a single paisa is left unaccounted.
Not a single paisa is wasted. There is no scope for cheating. They have imbibed all the qualities of Goddess Lakshmi who never tolerates waste and embezzlement of money . Owing to this reason, the prime capital money of the thrift society has touched a mind boggling amount of Rs. 2Crores.
Catering to the livelihood needs of the women of Veltur.
- A woman takes the loan to revive her Barren land.
- A woman takes a loan to buy a sewing machine to add an extra buck for her family maintenance.
- A woman applies for a loan to purchase an Auto rickshaw for her son or her husband.
- A woman takes a loan to buy a buffalo.
- A woman asks for a loan to clear her old loans. .
- A woman applies for a loan to start a business or to develop her present business.
By catering to their livelihood needs the thrift society could bring revolutionary changes in the lives of the Veltur families. Could help improve their financial status in a big way.
Those who lead lives of inadequacies, those who could not have three square meals a day, those who lived In hutments are now building their own houses. Buying paddy fields. Educating their children. Getting their children married.
A war on liquor.
Many or almost all the men are liquor addicts in the village of Veltur. The hard earned money of the women is being stolen by the men folk and being spent on liquor. The women with a great resolve and fierce determination attacked the liquor shops. They search every nook and corner of the shop and break the bottles of liquor.
The liquor barrens threatened the angry women of dire consequences. Women care a heck of the warnings and carry on their mission.
A similar attack on gambling.
Woman Associations formed a network to eradicate another social evil Gambling. With the cooperation of police department They inform the police when they receive an information through their network about an incident of gambling. The informers in the network will be duly rewarded for their information on gambling dens. Police will plunge in to action on receiving the information. In no time the gambling in the village of Veltur Came to an end.
Judiciary.
The thrift society is not lagging back in settling the disputes related to individual and personal disputes, domestic violence, land disputes and even settling the child labor cases.
Won appreciation from the National and international organizations..
Government organizations that visited Veltur were pleased with the development of the village in every sphere through the Women’s welfare associations. A delegation from Britain after seeing the amazing results and expressed its intention to start such thrift associations in Britain. Similarly a delegation from Indonesia and Indian states like Jharkhand, Odisha and many other states evinced keen interest in the functioning of women’s associations of Veltur.
Self reliance.
The success stories of Women’s welfare associations in Veltur clearly underline the importance of Self reliance especially in women. A society where a woman is emancipated and plays a pivotal role in the welfare activities of the society will stand as an example for ideal society.
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