ANNUAL REPORT (2015-16) BOLPUR MANAB JAMIN Registered under West Bengal Societies Registration Act , XXVI 1961 Donation Exempted U/s 80G of I.T. Act, 1961 Our Mission Mission of Bolpur Manab Jamin is to actively serve vulnerable communities specially women, girls, children, disables, senior citizens, indigenous people with encouraging innovations for developing collective and inclusive social change in West Bengal . Our Vision Bolpur Manab Jamin envisages a society where people cooperates, empathies, trusts and become sustainable to protect social, economical and cultural interest of every living being and environment. From the desk of Secretary: Did we help the community? After every small step taken towards development processes either it be community meeting or observance of important day or implementation of a project, the big question knocks into our mind. But certainly there are long-term impacts of some programmes that we implemented today. We are very happy to see the glitters into the eyes of the children taking the nutritious food in the village centers. We are happy to see the faces of the farmers seeing their pulse field and the seed growers taking their part of profit after selling their lentil seed to Farmers Club and Bolpur Manab Jamin. We are also very happy to see the satisfied expressions of the mother and the father of an un-well child after getting treatment at no cost. The smiling face of the Donors, when their project has been implemented successfully gives us a feeling that we are flying high into the sky. The appreciations and small gesture of thanks giving toward our team makes us happy and help us forget the scorching heat, the high voltage thunderstorm, the quivering wintry weather and many more odd situations we have to face during field works. And this feeling gives us an immense power to continue our development process. We are very happy to draw an overview through our Annual Report of our activities done in the year 2015-16. Let’s work together to ensure development in our households, workplaces, schools, institutions, and community. Secretary Bolpur Manab Jamin CONDOLENCE MESSAGE LATE SUNANDA MUKHOPADHYAY Born: 18th July 1939 Passed Away: 2nd January 2016 “Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.” ~ Rabindranath Tagore Sunanda Mukhopadhyay or we can say our beloved Sunandadi was one of the kindest, most caring people we knew, and always went out of her way to help friends, neighbours and society. She used to watch over our programmes especially Education Support for tribal students who are very much needy. We have many cherished memories of Sunandadi and will always remember her ready smile and open heart. Bolpur Manab Jamin extends its condolences with affection and deep sympathy to her Sons and the rest of her family. CONDOLENCE MESSAGE LATE GOPAL CHANDRA DE Born: 18th April 1948 Passed Away: 10th May 2016 “Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower, we will grieve not; rather find strength in what remains behind.” ~ William Wordsworth Bolpur Manab Jamin offers deepest condolences on the recent passing of our Societies Advisory Prof. Dr. Gopal Chandra De. To say Prof. De was a larger than life character would be an understatement. He will always be remembered as an immense activist. His on the field experience and proficiency were only surpassed by his incredible positive influence and enthusiasm for life. May God bless and comfort his family. ACKNOWLEDGMENT Bolpur Manab Jamin would like to express special thanks of gratitude to all the Government Departments, Banks, local youth clubs and their leaders, Eco Group members, villagers for their support. We have taken efforts for different projects. However, it would not have been possible without the kind support and help of Shining Eyes, Germany; International Center for Agricultural research in Dryland Areas (ICARDA); Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi, Institute of Agriculture, Palli Shiksha Bhavana, Visva Bharati, National Child Labour Project of Birbhum District, Asst. Labour Commissioner Office, Bolpur; Consumer Affairs and Fair Business Practices, Regional Office, Birbhum; Central Board for Workers’ Education, Asansol and many individuals and organizations. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all of them. We would also like to express our gratitude towards Sri Chandranath Sinha (Minister of Fisheries, Govt. of West Bengal), Sri Bikas Roy Choudhury (Sabhadhipati, Birbhum Zilla Parishad), Dr. Monika Golembiewski, Dr. Ashutosh Sarker, Dr. Kuhu Chatterjee, Dr. Brajesh Jha, Dr. Thiagu Ranganathan, Dr. Ram Ranjan, Society for Equitable Voluntary Actions, AHIMSA Trust and PRI representatives for their kind co-operation and encouragement which help us in completion of different projects. Bolpur Manab Jamin is thankful to all the well wishers, visitors and guest who enriched the programmes of ours time to time. INTRODUCTION Bolpur Manab Jamin, a Non-Governmental Organization was established with the motivation to take an active role in the civil society development through different programme keeping in mind sustainable development concept. It is situated in a dry zone area that has Laterite soil and Vindhya Alluvial soil. The area has mono cropping with rice, which is entirely rain fed. The project area is near Santiniketan about 161 km from Kolkata; however, the area is underdeveloped and has a large population of landless farmers. It is Schedule Tribe and Schedule Caste majority area. We are dedicated towards different programme like sustainable agriculture, upliftment nutritional status, environmental protection, education support, right based approach, skill development training, etc. which will strengthen sustainable future and lead towards social and economic improvements of the social communities at national level. In order to achieve this, BMJ is committed to work with different range of stakeholders in order to foster cooperation and joint work for the purpose of achieving sustainable future. As a result of our continued intervention there are 1200+ FARMERS engaged in pulse cultivation, 300+ FARMERS have formed Farmers’ Club, 250 CHILDREN are being provided nutritious food and nearly 800 CHILDREN & MOTHER are getting health checkup facilities & medicine free of cost. Presently BMJ is working at 51 villages of 5 Blocks (Bolpur-Sriniketan Block, Dubrajpur Block, Khoyrasole Block, Illambazar Block and Mayureshwar 1 Block). Programme Objectives: • To improve Food Security • To upgrade the Nutritional Status of families • To reduce school dropout • Improve financial inclusion • Involve more people in Income Generation Schemes. • Increase environmental awareness ON GOING PROGRAMMES: Pulse Seed Production cum Demonstration Programme Bolpur Manab Jamin (BMJ) with the support of International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) focused on training, information dissemination, technical and financial assistance for rural sharecropper and marginal farmers to cultivate Lentil for generating alternative income based on market economy & marketing, combat malnutrition and to improve soil fertility. Apart from increasing the production and productivity of Lentil by the participating farmers another purpose is to inspire other farmers in the adjoining areas to accept these technologies for the betterment of development and sustainability. Increasing food legumes productions by small farmers to strengthen food and nutrition security through adoption of improved technologies and governance within South-South cooperation are the main aims of the programme. The impacts will be: Increase in Lentil production Increase in household income Increase in cropping intensity Increase in Legumes consumption Combat Malnutrition Increase soil fertility This year Bolpur Manab Jamin with the technical support of Visva Bharati Universtiy provided training to the farmers of 28 villages regarding Lentil cultivation before harvesting of paddy. 476 farmers participated in this programme. 2556 kg of special Variety certified seeds had been distributed. Each farmer got special variety of Foundation and Certified Seeds of Lentil (Subrata, Moitree, Ranjan) to demonstrate this programme. Average Yield Record of this year: Bolpur-Sriniketan Block 940 kg/ha., Illambazar Block 915 kg/ha. & Nanoor Block 975 kg/ha. Activities done by Bolpur Manab Jamin in the year 2015-16 includes both men and women farmers who are enriched by the programme. There are 5 nos. of training programme where 143 beneficiaries participated, 5 nos. of Farmers Field Day where 70 farmers particiapted and 6 Awaness Programme which includes 172 beneficiaries. The enhance the knowledge of the farmers and develop their sense of sowing seed according to the soil character this year we have tested 200 soil samples from different fields. The soil samples have been done at Samhita Krishi Kendra, Bankura. The outcomes and recommedation have been distributed to the respective farmers which may be beneficial for them in near future. Sesame cultivation programme Sesame seed is one of the oldest oilseed crops known, domesticated well over 3000 years ago. Sesame has many species, most being wild and native to sub-Saharan Africa. Sesame indicum, the cultivated type, originated in India and is tolerant to drought-like conditions, growing where other crops fail. Sesame seeds are extremely beneficial for health, but are often overlooked, and they include the ability to prevent many kinds