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Chennai slum Dwellers and the Effective NGOs

By: Mo Bradley


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Chennai is the 4th largest city of India. It was known as Madras during the British era and is recognized by the outstanding and distinctive Madras curry still named like that today. The city prides itself of sprawling beaches, a magnificent Marina, remarkable Temples and advanced Universities, Cultural centers and more. The flip side is that 25 percent of Chennai’s population lives in the slums.

Relating to the Census of India, the classification of a slum is "a compact area of at least 300 in population or about 60-70 households of poorly built, congested tenements in an unhygienic environment by and large with lacking infrastructure and lacking proper sanitation and drinking water conveniences." More than 30% of the households in these slums have no drainage systems. These inhabitants are exposed to waterborne illnesses like Malaria due to the lack of civic amenities. The residents of slums are continually gripped in the fear of knocking down of their homes due to urban development activities.

The slums are normally huts built with materials like plastic or tin sheets in a disorganized manner without appropriate access, congested and overcrowded. The need of educational, health and recreational facilities in the slums make their lives inferior, plunging them into problems like unemployment, crime, and drug and alcohol abuse. The women and children are the worst affected and they are mostly deprived of the crucial necessities of life.

There have been perpetual efforts and developmental work by the government and voluntary service by Non-profit organizations and NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) to meet the increasing needs of the ever escalating slum populace. These efforts directed by various welfare schemes are aimed at forming awareness about hygiene, and to educate them about their human rights and on how to improve their lives.

Here are a few NGOs that are concerned in helping the slum populations to diminish poverty, illiteracy and unemployment.
ANEW (anewindia.org) This is an association for Non-Traditional Employment for Women. ANEW is a non-profit charitable organization headquartered at Chennai. It was established with a mission to enrich the socio-economic status of young, underprivileged women by empowering them with self confidence and required skills to enable them to become independent and contribute to family and society. ANEW is dedicated to helping young women have access to handy job skills and good paying full time jobs. Commonly, employment choices for women from underprivileged families in India are restricted to "traditional" jobs in agriculture and low-skilled handicraft work. In many cases these women are exploited or underemployed. Over the last few years ANEW has furnished women of the underprivileged section of society with the training necessary to become home nurses, computer operators, car drivers and Auto rickshaw drivers.
Karunakarya (Karunakarya.org) has been doing laudable work serving slum dwellers of Chennai (formerly Madras) to integrate into society. Karunakarya motivates and makes it possible for children to secure admission to state run schools, presents various after school programming and seeks to equip young people in obtaining professional training. Karunakarya supports the poorest of the poor in slums and villages with medical aid and relief. They also offer awareness programs for slum-dwellers where they find out about their civil rights and develop problem solving skills. Their techniques are designed to enrich and empower the poorest in society so they can take dependability for locating options to the evils in their own communities.

We salute these NGO’s for their kind and valuable contribution to the future of generations to come. It is said that once the cycle of poverty is shattered it never again returns

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

anewindia.org and Karunakarya.org This article is sponsored by Peachtree Ink, the best place online for Discount cartridges

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