Prelude

Bihar Diwas is celebrated every year on March 22nd, marking the formation of the state of Bihar. It was on this day when the British carved out Bihar state from Bengal Presidency in 1912. This Day is observed as public Holiday in Bihar. Apart from India, it is celebrated in countries including United States, Britain, Australia, Canada, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Trinidad and Tobago and Mauritius.

This year Chief Minister Nitish Kumar inaugurated the three-day (22nd March- 24th March) Bihar Diwas celebrations at a ceremony attended by large number of people at the historical Gandhi Maidan at Patna. The three-day Bihar Diwas jamboree marked 103rd anniversary of the foundation of the state of Bihar. The closing ceremony was addressed by Hon’ble Governor of Bihar Shri Kesari nath Tripathi who admired Bihar’s contribution in national independence movement.

• Theme Jeevika Haat for Bihar Diwas

The theme of Bihar Diwas,Jeevika Haat 2015 was “Women Entrepreneurs – Inspiring, Creating and Achieving”. Since women entrepreneurs in Bihar have proved themselves as a major source of innovative ideas, created job opportunities and have enhanced their economic and social growth through Community Business Organisations. It has also resulted in enhancing their entrepreneurial potential and leadership quality.

• Infrastructure

This year an area of 15000 sq ft was given to JEEViKA at Gandhi Maidan for demonstrating our work and achievements. The area was named JEEViKA Haat which displayed Enterpreneural skills of women artisans, Journey of JJEViKA and the process adopted by different themes within JEEViKA to achieve the current output.

 

• Main Entrance- Entry to Jeevika Haat depicted the icon of women entrepreneurship. It was decorated with Bamboo made soop and mithila painting on each side. Entry and exit point of the gate was decorated with flowers.

• Exhibition Gallery- Exhibition Gallery was one of the main attractions as it carried the Tagline “जीविका की गौरवशाली यात्रा”. This gallery displayed expansion of Jeevika in the state, theme intervention details, achievement of Jeevika, collage displaying awards and recognitions and a wall displaying success stories of our Didis with tagline “दीदी की कहानी उन्ही की जुबानी”.

 

 

• Enterpreneur Gallery

It had six stalls of SHG members/artisans who displayed different edible items/hand made products.

The First stall was used by Sujani Sangh from Bochaha block of Muzaffarpur district to showcase/sale the products made by Sujni embroidery.

The second Stall displayed Katrani chura and Katrani Rice from Bhagalpur marketted by Jagdamba SHG of Bhagalpur.

The third Stall displayed the Mithila painting products produced by the Shilp sangh producer group of Ranti, Rajnagar of Madhubani district.

The fourth Stall displayed Sikki hand made products for demonstration cum sale. The products were hand made by SHG members of Jhanjharpur, Madhubani.

The fifth stall was displaying Madhubani painting products from Kalakriti Sangh,Madhubani.

The sixth Stall demonstrated the Vermi compost produced by SHG members of Allauli Block, Khagaria.

JEEViKA Gallery-

In this JEEViKA Haat, Five stall of ongoing activities of JEEViKA exhibited the different activities carried by them to achieve the objective of livelihoods generation for target population.

Stall 1: Institution building/Capacity building Activities

This stall was comprised of a slanted platform where with the help of flaxes, the entire process of SHG formation to VO formation and subsequently women getting involved in different activities had been shown.

Stall 2: Off farm Livelihoods Activities

This stall was comprised the different activities of off farm livelihoods activities like Poultry and Dairy with the help of flexes and live display of poultry unit.

Stall 3: Micro Finance

This stall displayed activities related to financial inclusion and also coverage of Micro finance in the state.

Stall 4: Farm Livelihoods Activities

This stall displayed mobile based mobile based agro advisory and community knowledge centre. Several interventions of agriculture were displayed through pico- projector.

Stall 5: Social Development and Health & Nutrition

This stall displayed the project interventions of SD like food security programs and health risk programs. It also displayed various interventions about entitlements. Demo of solar light and chulha were also displayed.

In H&N stall display was regarding cycle of CHNCC activities and displayed the healthy food for pregnant and lactating women. In this stall CHNCC members also gave proper information to the visitors.

 

• Innovators Gallery-

In Bihar Diwas 2015 event Jeevika invited some awardess of Grass root level innovation and High impact innovators from District Innovation Forum and Bihar Innovation Forum II.

In this innovation gallery the innovation displayed were from two High Impact Innovators namely Husk Power Systems Pvt Ltd. and ITC ltd. Six grass root innovators also displayed their innovations such as Indra Mohan singh for Mushroom cultivation, Upendra Prasad Yadav for Herbal colour, Anand Gaurav for Automated water overflow check system, Rishikesh kumar for Hearing Aid device, Yogilal singh for Cycle Mounted plough and Jai Shankar kumar for Integrated Pearl farming.

• Display area

A display area was made in the centre of the premises which displayed the rural women doing some livelihood related activities. Activities like bamboo work, Madhubani painting etc were displayed.

On each corners of display area hut was made with bamboo and grass which was decorated by pots and bamboo made soops.

• Other facilities-

Guest Room - A V.I.P. lounge equipped for a warm welcome and refreshment for esteemed guests was there being managed in coordination with dedicated team of organizing committee.

Drinking Water-Free pure drinking water was available in the premise.

Sanitation facility – Two standard size toilets was available for Male/Females with proper gate, light & water. Proper cleanliness was ensured through across check team of organizing committee.

Reception -Enquiry & Feedback counter was available for entertaining queries of visitors.

Security Arrangements- Four security guards were deputed in three shifts for monitoring the movement of visitors inside the premises.

Media Coverage:-

 

 

 

 

 

Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (JEEViKA) under Rural Development Department, Govt. of Bihar has organised a mega event at Srikrishna Memorial Hall, Patna, on the occasion of “World Toilet Day” on 19th Nov. This programme aimed to reduce “Open Defecation” in Bihar with the help of members of Self-Help-Groups through strategic behavioural change and women participation. Bihar government is highly ambitious about implementation of this sanitation plan for next coming year as three department ministers: minister of Rural Develelopment, minister of Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) and minister of Panchayati Raj have come on same platform to make effective model with proper synchronization with different departments. This programme was also focused on community based total sanitation plan rather than toilet construction,JEEViKA with GoB, aimed maximum coverage of toilet accessibility and ensure usage of toilets by all SHG’s families.

Honourable, Chief Minister of Bihar Shri Jeetan Ram Manjhi, Rural Development Minister, PHED Minister, Panchayati Raj minister, representatives of different partner agencies; BTAST, Global Sanitation Fund, JagranPahal, and PSI were present on this occasion. This programme has larger coverage more than 2000 participants participated including more than 1000 SHGs members from 15 districts of Bihar, all project managers of district and block level of JEEViKA, all Block welfare officers of Govt. of Bihar and state level staffs of rural development department have actively participated. CEO BRLPS Dr. N. VijayaLakshmi has welcomed all the guests and dignitaries came from different ministries and departments of Bihar. She announced that JEEVIKA will take this sanitation challenge in Bihar to change “Open Defecation” status in India. She clarified about strategy to implement sanitation programme these are:

• Each Block has 100 Community Resource persons (CRPs), will be selected from community institutions and trained on Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS). These Community Resource Persons(CRPs) will act as triggering agent to behaviour change on sanitation in the
• In each block 50 women masons will be trained on constructing low cost toilets, will also be trained on sanitation to provide service of toilet construction of SHG households.
• Rural sanitary mart will be established in each Block by the CLF/VO, potential community person will be trained on sanitary mart function and its operations in rural areas.
• In each Village Organization (VO) Health, Nutrition and sanitation committee will be formed to monitor sanitation performance (toilet construction & personal hygiene) with different stakeholders & actively participate in sanitation awareness programme. These committee members will promote to make “Open Defecation Free” villages.
• Partnerships with different development agencies which are engaged in sanitation promotion & awareness, best practices can explore up to community level.
• SHGs will also ensure smooth delivery in incentives of toilet construction and use of it.

Honourable Chief Minister of Bihar has officially transferred 2831 SGSY buildings to JEEVIKA’s community Organizationfor training and marketing, he also inaugurated movie of “HamaraGaonHamariYojana(HGHY)” developed by Rural Development department, JEEVIKA is also supporting to implement this schemes in every districts of Bihar.

In this occasion Panchayati Raj Minister Shri Binod Yadav addressed to participants and told that each Panchayat have ample funds has been parked at panchayats, this fund also be used in the construction of personal toilets or community toilets. Panchayat has vital role in village strengthening & sanitation awareness. Panchayati Raj institutions and community institutions are the platform where common issues related to health and sanitation can address properly.

PHED Minister Shri Mahachandra Prasad emphasised that there should be “Single Window” system for fund transfer for toilet construction it must be hassle free and easy to access. He also focused on construction of “permanent toilets” rather than temporary toilets. He also clarified the role of PHED and JEEVIKA has strength to achieve the target of toilet construction and ensured that collaboration with JEEVIKA process of toilet construction can be simplified.

Rural Development Minister Shri Nitish Mishra formally announced that JEEViKA will act as one of the potential agency for “Sanitation Movement” in Bihar. He was thankful to all Govt. departments and development partners who have shown their interest in vital issues that “Sanitation and Open Defecation Free Bihar”. Mr. Mishra also pointed that Govt. of Bihar is progressive towards sanitation and putting their effort to collaborate with departments to pave the path of “Swatch Bihar” through SHG’s members.

Honourable, Chief Minister of Bihar, Mr. Jitan Ram Manjhi has addressed the participants of this event and explained upcoming plans of sanitation and implementation strategy in Bihar. He clearly said that sanitation is very essential for all rural people are most suffering due to poor sanitation in villages. He focused that Govt. departments and NGOs should have to work together for this “Sanitation Mission”. He mentioned that as India’s literary rate has improved 17% to 67% from 1947 to 2014. Honourable chief minister of Bihar said that earlier Bihar had target to construct 20,00,000 ( twenty lakh) toilets but now target has escalated to 1,65,00,000(one carore sixty five lakhs) toilets till 2019, to achieve this target all public representatives from panchayat and district level whose numbers are 2,70,440 (approximately) each representative has to construct at least five toilets per year and four lakhs self help groups will also help in construction of toilets. This can be viable targets to achieve the goal. At the end he congratulated JEEViKA, who has organized this mega event coordination with Rural Development dept., Panchayat raj Dept, and PHED Dept., they have come on common platform for “Common Cause” that is open defecation Free Bihar.

A formal inauguration of Aajeevika Skills Program in Bihar was done by Honourable Chief Minister of Bihar, Shri Jeetan Ram Manjhi, on 17^th November 2014 in Samvad Bhawan, CM’s Secretariat Patna. The purpose of the event was to create awareness about the Aajeevika Skills Program (DDU-GKY) in the target group through media coverage.

Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (BRLPS) under Rural Development Department, Govt. of Bihar, JEEViKA has very rich experience in skills training & placement program. Skills Training & Placement program in JEEViKA started way back in 2008 with program being piloted in two districts. The Program was expanded to 6 districts after the success of the pilot program. JEEViKA hired 9 PIAs to implement the skills & placement program on QCBS method.

Designated as SRLM Bihar, JEEViKA has started executing Aajeevika Skills program (now known as DDU-GKY). Bihar being Annual Action Plan (AAP) state, Invited online application form the prospective Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs) to implement the Aajeevika Skills Program. JEEViKA has done MoU with 41 PIAs to train & place one lac eight thousand seven hundred ten rural youth.

On the occasion of Inaugural function, C.E.O BRLPS Dr.N.Vijaya lakshmi, welcomed the guests and emphasized the importance of skill training & placement program. She asked all the PIAs to follow the guidelinesof Aajeevika skills development program (ASDP) and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of Aajeevika Skills.

Secretary Rural Development Department, S. M. Raju announced that BRLPS will follow the ASDP & SOP guidelines in full and hence the 1^st instalment of 25% of total project cost will be paid to the PIAs as per the guidelines of the ASDP & SOP.

Honourable, Minister Rural Development Department said that as only 3% youth (18-40 years old) in Bihar have training & certification as compared to national average of 15 % the PIAs should try to execute the skill training & placement program in given time frame. He also emphasized the need of quality training as per the ASDP & SOP guidelines so that when the trained youth go outside the state of Bihar to work, are treated at par with the others.

Representative from NSDC also shared his views. Representative of two PIAs shared the project implementation plan and two trained youth also shared their experience.