Back to the Sea in Nellore
by Brunda Kattekola

The brunt of the tidal waves swept away many of the means to earn a livelihood in the villages of Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh. These coastal villages were left with a few scattered boats that were ready to collapse any time. Even after two months of the tsunami, people depended on the government for food for unlike Tamil Nadu, there were few NGOs to provide aid. With the government rehabilitation package being much delayed, the survivors began to borrow sums as large as Rs. 25,000 at exorbitant annual interest rates of 36-48 per cent.

And there were numerous socio-economic problems that predated the damage done by the disaster.  For instance, the fishermen did not have pattas or legal papers for their house plots,  the women of the villages did not participate in decision making and so forth. Consequently, the task at hand was not limited to simply  providing boats and nets to the villagers.

NISARGA is a grassroots group  with a long-standing presence in these coastal Andhra villages with a long term vision of working with these fishing communities to organize and strengthen their capacity. With monetary support from AID, NISARGA and other groups, the Chaitanya Jyothi Welfare Society (CJWS) took up rehabilitation work in 31 villages of Nellore district. Women from affected families were organized into self -help groups (SHGs). The formation of SHGs has allowed for the participation of women in decision making. The interest collected from the fishermen is being deposited as seed money with the SHGs for use by the women based on the village's needs.

The fishermen were given loans of Rs 5,000 to be repaid over a period of 2 years at annual interest rates of 6 per cent. NISARGA and CJWS volunteers established a transparent and accountable process for using the loan money: to either buy the nets or to repair the boats. The families that secured the nets shared them with the families that got their boats repaired and vice versa. This mechanism helped to organize the communities.

Fishermen from some of the villages have already started repaying the principal amounts. A part of the principal is being utilized to form and empower federation groups to act as full fledged independent cooperatives. In the longer run, the remaining part of the principal will be used for the empowerment, education, and support of fisherpeople by NISARGA and AID. These grassroots groups are slowly but surely taming the destruction wrecked by the killer waves!