Karunah Society for Development

Registered address : Main Road, Bodkhi (Amla), Betul, MP

Office address: Nr. Ambedkar Bhavan, At Prabhat Pattan-460665, Dist: Betul, Madhya Pradesh

Contact : 9879397430 / 9998000081 / 9977714870 / 8200870603

email: office@karunahsociety.org

FB updates: https://www.facebook.com/karunahsociety2015/

About Society:

Karunah Society for Development was founded with a vision to support needy communities in underdeveloped areas of the country, focusing particularly on Madhya Pradesh.

We were registered in 2015 under the Madhya Pradesh Societies Registration Adhiniyam, 1973. The registered office of the society is located at Bodkhi Amla, Betul (MP), with a field office at Prabhat Pattan, Betul (MP).

Karunah aims to uplift socio-economically disadvantaged individuals by implementing clear, systematic processes. Our goal is to enhance community life through improved health, education, and livelihood opportunities.

With unwavering support from the Aarti Foundation Mumbai, we are able to make a positive impact on the ground. We are deeply thankful to the Aarti Foundation Mumbai for their continuous support. We are also thankful to our other donors, who supported us in difficult times like Covid-2019.

Our activities are progressing steadily, with plans for expansion underway. All our dedicated members play an active role in advancing the society's mission.

About the area:

The population of Madhya Pradesh is over 7 crore. More than 75% of the population resides in villages whose main occupation is agriculture, while the rest of the population lives in towns. The majority population is Hindu with Muslims making up the largest minority community. The tribes of Madhya Pradesh constitute over 20 % of the state's population and are mainly concentrated in southern, southwestern and eastern parts of the state.

Betul, is one of the marginally located backward southern districts of Madhya Pradesh, lying almost wholly on the Satpura plateau.

The district derives its name from the small town of Betul Bazar. Major religions are Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, Christian and Buddhist. Main Castes are Gonds, Korkus, Kurmis, Kunbis, Bhoyars, Meharas, Chamars, Banias and Rajpuths. The languages spoken are Hindi, Gondi, Marathi and Korku.

Community and status:

We started working with the Nahar community of Prabhat Pattan village of Betul district in 2015. Community is dependent for their livelihood on ‘BHILWA’ (Scientific name: Semecarpus Anacardium), a deciduous fruit/nut plant. Various parts of these plants are commonly used in the Ayurvedic system of medicine for the treatment of various ailments.

Community women collect raw Bhilwa from trees in nearby forest, waste-land and private farms. They also purchase Bhilwa from contractors/traders. They break this nut manually to get its seed, called “Godambi” in Hindi, to be used as dry-fruit. They also burn waste of nuts after removing Godambi, to extract oil out of it.

This community is very backward and not educated. Most of the adults have the habit of smoking and drinking. Women work on the Bhilwa for livelihood, the men don’t work usually. Apart from its medicinal properties Bhilwa is also poisonous without any purification. And the oil from its nuts can give blisters and painful wounds. These wounds leave marks on the body of the people who work with this Bhilwa seeds. Due to these marks, many of the children of the community do not go to school.

Here’s some facts of the community we are working with.

In Prabhat Pattan there is an entire locality of Nahar families called Nahar Mohalla.
Per day income of women from BHILWA is Rs. 100 to Rs. 120 in case s/he gets work fulltime. Monthly income of the family is between Rs. 2000 to Rs. 3000 max.
Health status of the families is below average. Some are really in bad condition.
Not more than 15% people are educated.
14-15 families own land and some also keep livestock.

Our Interventions:

Our Healthcare Initiatives

At Karunah Society, we are committed to improving community health through proactive initiatives:

Regular Health Camps: We conduct health camps on a regular basis to ensure accessible healthcare for all. Last year, we organised a mega health camp at our society office in Prabhat Pattan village. Services included eye check-ups, general medicine consultations, and blood tests. Our pioneer healthcare partner, The Padhar Hospital, Padhar, with over 50 years of charitable service, supports us in providing quality healthcare in rural areas.

Quarterly Health Camps: Starting now, we will organise health camps quarterly, maintaining comprehensive records for patient follow-ups. Patients requiring surgery will be referred to Padhar Hospital for specialised care.

Blood Donation Camps: In collaboration with the district hospital in Betul, we regularly host blood donation camps to meet local medical needs.

Upcoming Initiatives: Look forward to our upcoming de-addiction camps and awareness programs focusing on gynaecological issues and hygiene.

Stay tuned for details! Join us in our mission to promote health and well-being in our community.

Siksha Protsahan Kendra (SPKs):

Children’s learning in the classroom is enhanced by activities outside the classroom and the support of their parents and community. With first generation learners, even though parents want their children to improve their career and life prospects through education, parental academic support is not available.

Eklavya is a non-profit, non-government organisation that develops and field tests innovative educational programmes and trains resource people to implement these programmes. It functions through a network of education resource centres located in Madhya Pradesh.

Eklavya has developed community based learning support systems to assist first generation learners in their studies and help them overcome their sense of alienation from the school system. These Shiksha Protsahan Kendras (SPKs) function in a predominantly tribal area where education is a relatively new input in the lives of the people.

These learning centres, set up with community support and mostly located in spaces provided by them or Govt school, have a facilitator appointed by the community. They function for two hours in the mornings before the school begins.

At Karunah Society, in partnership with Eklvay foundation started working with the SPKs in area since 2017-18. At present 10 SPKs are functioning at the 10 villages of the Prabhat Pattan cluster. The facilitators are appointed by the organisation. Various training sessions are conducted for the Team Karunah by the Eklvaya’s experienced team.

Name of the SPKs:

(1) Pattan Indira Nagar, (2) Tiwarkhed, (3) Pabal, (4) Mangonakala, (5) Godhni, (6) Somgadh, (7) Mangona Khurd, (8) Khadki, (9) Gangapur, (10) Devgaon

Free Computer Education Centres:

In addition, we are running 2 free computer Education Centres (1) Tiwarkhed (2) Prabhat Pattan having 10 sets of computers on each centre.

Interest-free loans for Women's Groups:

At Karunah Society, we have provided interest free loans to Nahar women to support their livelihood. As of now we have supported 122 such loans worth Rs. 9.92 lakhs..