Rotary launches ‘happy village’ project

Rotary Happy Village Project was jointly launched by TVS Srichakra Limited, Arogya Welfare Trust and Rotary International District 3000 in four villages on Wednesday. District collector S Natarajan inaugurated the project in Manickampatti village, Melur block, symbolising the launch in the four villages – Manickampatti, T. Vellalapatti, Kathapatti and Musundagiripatti at Rs 46 lakh.

Primary contact for the project, R Raja Govindasamy, said “Happy Village project covers our four key areas of focus that includes disease prevention and treatment, mother and child care, literacy and local community development.” Based on Rotary’s proposal, TVS Srichakra made a grant of 32,000 US $, which was matched by Rotary Foundation. The total grant of 64,000 US $ converts to a little more than Rs 46 lakh with which various projects would be implemented over a period of one year. The scheme could then be renewed or extended to other places based on the implementation of the project in these four villages.

The organizers said that the villages where the project was implemented were primarily agrarian with paddy and banana cultivation being among the prime sources of income. Skill training to enhance employability of youth (especially among dropouts) and stopping them from falling prey to alcohol and substance abuse would be the project’s priority. Vocational training would be provided to women to grow, harvest and sell jasmine flowers, prepare homemade sweets and tailoring to help them improve their standard of living. An important aspect of the project was establishing smart classrooms in government elementary schools and improving facilities there to create study-friendly spaces.

Establishing village knowledge centres, health care, building community toilets and improving water sources are other aspects of the project. A health camp was conducted at the inaugural function. Additional collector, district rural development agency, S P Amrith, rotary international district 3000 governor R V N Kannan and former district governor P Gopalakrishnan also spoke on the occasion.