subject: Morarka Foundation: Spreading happiness through innovation [print this page] Morarka Foundation: Spreading happiness through innovation
MORARKA FOUNDATION: SPREADING HAPPINESS THROUGH INNOVATION
Sanjha Choolah Program
Environment Sustainability in Villages
M.R. Morarka-GDC Rural Research Foundation is a not for profit voluntary organization was set up by Mr. Kamal M. Morarka in 1993 to create wealth for the nation through innovations in resource management and capacity building of the people. From being a successful grass-root level implementing agency for 10 years, today it is also being recognized as a leading resource organization offering solutions for sustainable agriculture in the world.
Unlike other voluntary organizations Morarka Foundation is into more than just the conventional areas of voluntary actions. We more often than not take the lead to venture into new areas such as Organic Farming and Certifications, Agriculture Extension, Tourism Promotion, Waste Management, Vermi Compost, Conservation of Heritage etc.
For the implementation of an intervention The Foundation restricts its role to that of a catalyst, coordinator and facilitator, encouraging necessary participation of the rural community and entrepreneurs.
The journey that began in 1993-94 has gone a long way in the efforts to create wealth for the nation. Beginning from Nawalgarh, a small town located on the edge of great THAR-DESERT in Rajasthan, India covering about 10,000 target population, today with ITES (Information Technology Enabled Services) becoming the backbone, it is serving a combined population of over one million households.
Morarka Foundation has introduced an innovative concept of Community Kitchens' in Nawalgarh. "We are providing gas connections and cooking range free of cost to a family who is living below povert line and the women of these house will be responsible for managing the community kitchen and also earn a livelihood' says Mukesh Gupta, Executive Director of Jaipur based Morarka Foundation.
Mukesh adds that "the concept is to identify a woman who has facility to install the gas stove and cylinder in a separate area in her house which can be shared by other group members. We attach a small group of 4-6 families who live in 50 meter radius who can use the kitchen facility and pay nominal amount of Rs. 5/- for a family size of 5 or Rs. 10/= for a family size of more than 5 to cook one time meal for her family."
It is better we understand it in this way that the earning per member per family to use gas (2 times a day) comes out to be Rs. 10 x 30 = Rs. 300 per month.
Suppose this service is provided to four families. The total earning per month from four families to use gas comes out to be Rs. 300 x 4 = Rs. 1200 per month
Cost of cylinder (approx. 1 cylinder per month) is Rs. 350 x 1 = Rs. 350 per month
Thus the family is able to earn Rs. 850/- per month. It's a work of co-ordination and time management for allocating the gas for cooking purpose to a family. Since the women belong to same caste there is good understanding between them. They jointly decide the leader of their group who maintains the record of gas usage and money collected.
In villages for cooking purpose every family has to buy wood, shrubs, stick, cow dung etc. Which is equivalent to 2 trees or 15 plants and cow dung of 2 cows? All these costs the family Rs. 6000 7000/- per month.
The community kitchens have been found to be useful in a number of ways:
The women have to travel long distances to collect fuel wood, losing a lot of time and energy, which is saved through the community kitchens.
The choolahs in their houses are very smoky and as a result, after prolonged use, the woman suffers from a number of respiratory and eye diseases, however the cooking range is smokeless.
The women will get more time for conducting economic activities or taking care of her children.
As of now Morarka foundation has already installed the Sanjha Choolah in 29 women's places. Thus One hundred twenty families are using the facility and benefitting in a big way and saving time and able to avoid hard laborious work by cooking using conventional choolah. A smile in the face of Smt Manohari Devi while cooking her food for her family gives a big satisfaction to Morarka Foundation's field workers who are managing this project.
