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Two kilometers south of our partner’s campus in Andipatti is the colony of Kothaloothu. This colony was one of the first to pioneer our successful Self-Help Group model. The same SHG of fifteen members have stayed together for over thirty years and have had great success. They are each registered with all government agencies including aadher card, birth and death certificates, voter ID, caste certificate and ration cards. Many of the new groups that our GlobalGiving page is funding are seriously lacking in registration for all of these elements and are thus lose out on the opportunity to claim the benefits they are entitled to as citizens of the modern Indian state. Two recent examples demonstrate how an experienced group like this can persevere as a untied front in the face of a fledgling Indian welfare state. The group recently received a grant of Rs. 150,000 from TADCO (the government welfare scheme for dalits) for milk cows. The group successfully paid back that loan through good animal husbandry practices. This has opened up a further Rs. 390,000. The problem is that TADCO say they have released those funds to State Bank India to be provided for the group. However, State Bank India claim that they have not yet received those funds from TADCO. The group are used to such inefficiencies and frustrations and know to simply persevere and they will get what they deserve and make further steps to develop their colony. In 2022 a rare monsoon season caused serious damage to many of the houses in the colony and 29 families were left temporarily homeless. The group united and sat in front of the District Collector’s office until they were finally given temporary shelter. Eventually the District Collector sent surveyors for house repairs. The group says that politicians will come and make a big show of themselves in the community before an election… Over a year later and most of the houses are still are waiting for what they have been promised, but they are not giving up. To donate: https://goto.gg/61393 #development #india #womensempowerment #ngo (fb)