and we have done it – together we raised 10 lakhs and in fact more (10,41,443.00) and its still going strong.
We had contributions from people belonging to different parts of India, different countries in the world, speaking different languages, having different beliefs and faiths, all coming together to stand in solidarity and give a simple message to the farmers “We are with you”.
The campaign also gave us an opportunity to highlight not just issues but also solutions. The samwad yatra undertaken by Kishore ji and his team helped reach farmers in district across almost 35 villages.
Also Kishoreji’s active role in criticizing government’s policies, their in actions, finally yielded results. he know is appointed by the Maharashtra government to look into the farmers issues (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Tiwari-to-head-panel-to-curb-farm-distress/articleshow/48208959.cms)
Lessons from the campaign
- Small contributions from a large number of people is more effective than large contributions from a select few
- There are many concerned individuals around us and the challenge is to simply reach out to them
- Providing financial help is important as an immediate relief
- Questioning the government’s in action is also equally important
- Understanding the underlying issues leading to the distress is a must
- If we 275 of us can help contribute to a 10 lakh fund, then imagine what 2000 of us can do
The campaign also helped us reach to thousands of people and helped us highlight the issues – Thanks to Milaap for providing the platform, thanks also to TheBetterIndia’s (http://www.thebetterindia.com/23841/us-based-indian-helping-indian-farmers-vidarbha-suicides/) coverage for highlighting the issues.
So whats next?
Provide updates from the families who had received financial help
Continue to work with Kishore Tiwariji
Work on creating awareness not just about the farming crisis, but also about the various government policies that were created to benefit the farmers
Work on bringing technology closer to the farmers
Other Updates on the project:
- https://sureshe.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/samvad-yatra-vidarbha-project-phase-ii-update/
- https://sureshe.wordpress.com/2015/03/11/vidarbha-action-plan-march-2015/
https://sureshe.wordpress.com/?s=vidarbha
The Milaap Campaign: https://milaap.org/campaigns/help-the-vidarbha-farmers
The campaign will end on July 31st. A big thank you to all the donors and to all the friends and their friends in helping us realize that together we can do small things that can have a big impact.
The entire money has been sent to Kishore Tiwariji as of today i.e. July 26th 2016
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