A dream come true at last

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Source: The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com/2010/01/19/stories/2010011954840200.htm)
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A dream come true at last


Correspondent



Tribal man runs multipurpose cooperative society successfully



Members are allowed to take loan on their repayment capacityMembership target of the cooperative society put at 1,000


KORAPUT: Successful functioning of the regional multipurpose cooperative society at Padua in Nandapur block of Koraput district was one of the many dreams that Dharmananda Guntha , a 65-year-old Gandhian from Balda in the block that transformed into reality. It was the result of relentless effort of Mr. Guntha, a tribal man from the Kondh community and hundreds of his fellow in the region that could bring together at least 595 men and women to become members of the society.
The society receives at least Re. 1 a day extending the higher limit to any amount of deposits depending on the capacity of the individual, he says.
Members are allowed to ask for a loan only after completion of six months of association with the society and allowed to take a particular amount on the basis of their paying capacity and deposits. Till now more than 30 members have been granted loan and most of them are regular in paying back the debt.

Gandhian principle


The society, based on the Gandhian principle and facilitates the members to stand on their own, is keen on creating more and more rural enterprise so as to realise gram swaraj. While it is an ideal condition when the members reach the office of the society for any kind of transaction, the core members of the society also make arrangement to reach out to the members by opening special camps at the weekly markets at grassroots.

Long journey


However, it was a long journey for a poor tribal like Mr. Guntha to reach this stage of achievement. At the age of 15, he was motivated with gram swaraj movement in 1959 when he attended a training camp near Rayagada and since then he had not looked back. With barely two acres of land for maintaining his family, Mr. Guntha walks out every morning to some destination or the other to motivate tribal men and women to save the forest, develop living skills and self entrepreneurship in them.
Looking at his commitment and the drive to bring changes in the lives of people in the community, civil society organisations like Pragati have come forward to support by providing a revolving fund for the society. The dream to reach the target of one thousand members is not far-off, he says.






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