Asha for Education

Objectives

1. To save the innocent girls of the Madiga community from this contemptuous evil;

2. To eradicate the superstitions, unscientific beliefs and myths promoting the Mathamma practice among the Madiga community by undertaking a comprehensive community organisation health, education and pediatric health care programme;

3. To eliminate the role of the traditional caste council (kula Panchayat) in promoting the mathamma practice and dances during festivals, etc., by undertaking social awareness campaigns.

4. To ensure effective implementation of the Mathamma prohibition Act with community support.

5. To facilitate and promote economic support programmes for the rehabilitation of Mathamma women and their children;

6. To facilitate and promote education and training of relatively young Mathamma women; and

7. To liase with the government for effective delivery of public serivces for the development of the Madiga community.

Organization description:

a.Registration:Registered under Societies Registration Act of 1860; Regd.No. 30/1987 dt.24.1.1987

b.Founder:Dr. R.Subbaramaiah

c.Objectives of MICDA

i. Empowerment of the poor in general and that of the scheduled castes (SCs), Scheduled tribes (STs) and women in particular through conscientization, organisation, social action, education and asset creation.

ii. Promotion of people?s participation in development efforts; and

iii. Provision of education, health, nutrition community services necessary for the development of the poor children, the disadvantaged and the aged.

In short, establishment of MICDA is an emotional response to the complex problems of poverty, powerlessness, lack of organisation, assetlessness, unemployment, malnutrition, ill-health, illiteracy and ignorance surrounding the vulnerable people in the drought prone Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. It is, infact, a response of a group of educated and service oriented people led by a medical doctor, namely, Dr.R. Subbaramaiah, Right from his student days, Dr. Subbaramaiah has been fighting for the rights of landless poor in the Puttur and Vadamalpet mandals of Chittoor District in the State of Andhra Pradesh, India. That relentless struggle for the landless, subjected Dr. Subbaramaiah to several harships including a series of court cases filed against him by the dominant caste groups. Dr. Subbaramaiah soon realised that a single individual had serious limitations in serving the poor and the landless. Therefore, Dr. Subbaramaiah, in association with a group of service oriented persons established MICDA in 1987.