Integrated Rural Development Society (IRDS) Update Activities January to March 2025
On February 22, the Integrated Rural Development Society (IRDS) organized a consultation with young people to explore ways they could make use of their education to create employment opportunities within their own villages, support their families, and help improve the community. A total of 45 young leaders, consisting of 31 females and 14 males, participated in the consultation.
During the discussion, two main ideas emerged. The first proposal was to collect organic produce from local farmers, clean it, and directly exchange it with consumers. The second idea was to form collectives of young people to establish milk cooperatives using traditional cows and sell the milk directly to consumers.
The participants also requested IRDS to arrange a meeting with officials from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Department officials to discuss with them to support the young people’s collectives from the Government fund which is meant for directly supporting the Dalits. Despite pressure from Dalit movements, these funds have not been given to Dalits. IRDS has decided to contact the relevant officials and schedule a meeting after the school and college examinations, which are expected to conclude by mid-April.
On February 26, IRDS hosted a meeting with officials from the Labor Department to discuss how the department can support Dalit unorganized workers. The discussion focused on linking workers to various Labor Welfare Boards, such as the Agricultural Workers Welfare Board, Sanitary Workers Welfare Board, Construction Workers Welfare Board, and Domestic Workers Welfare Board
Through these connections, workers can access benefits like scholarships for their children’s education, marriage support, housing assistance, funeral expenses, old age pensions, and milk cooperatives.
The officials agreed to attend the meeting, which took place throughout the day. A total of 50 members from IRDS’s unorganized worker groups participated in the session.*
