<p>TEDx, the much-awaited dialogue and idea-sharing meet, opens today at NIT, Surat. And by the time you’ve read this, a feisty woman from Bangalore would have told her youthful audience compelling stories of breadwinner wives, braveheart artisans and bright kids in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, who have triumphed over debt, displacement and daily drudgery.<br /><br />Padma Shri Anita Reddy is clearly no stranger to the challenges that inspire change. <br />In her 33-year-long struggle to ensure that the marginalised have a right to a life of dignity, she has been hounded and harassed. But nothing —not even being doused with kerosene by goons — has stopped her from taking on the land mafia and other nexuses that seek to drive away the poor from the cities which they help to build.<br /><br />“We cannot imagine life without our ayahs, cooks, drivers or watchmen. Yet we won’t give them space to live. These are the people who make garbage piles liveable by building homes on them but they are declared squatters and driven away, while that very land is later reclaimed for malls,” she says, rubbishing the argument of non-availability of land for rehousing the poor. “If land is unavailable for the poor, then from where are developers getting land to build at such an exponentially pace?” she asks.<br /><br />‘Community is all’<br /><br />Anita’s work has been in the urban slums of Karnataka, as also in the villages of Andhra Pradesh. She promotes model rehousing projects for those who have been displaced by development; establishes pre-schools and activity centres for their children; forms women and youth groups for creating awareness about towards self-help and community health, encourages adolescent girls towards becoming self-reliant, and promotes skill-training programmes and income-generating schemes.<br /><br />Acceptance has not come easy. She recalls the time when she was asked by cynical slum dwellers whether she was out to contest elections! “They said, ‘Give us electricity and water or we’ll chop you to pieces and bury you in the graveyard nearby’,” she says. <br />Today, those very people are the harbingers of change. They have played a leadership role in several rehousing projects in Bangalore. The Lakshmipuram Rehousing Project, near Indiranagar, even went on to win the National Habitat Award.<br /><br />That she thinks nothing of driving off in the middle of the night to a slum, where an “accidental” fire has broken out, reflects her fearless spirit — a personality trait she attributes to her upbringing and education, at Rishi Valley School in Madanapalle and Women’s Christian College in Chennai.<br /><br />“Opportunities, including education and skills-training, must be created early enough for change to happen in a community,” she says. <br /><br />What gives her a sense of fulfilment is not the awards lining her shelves but small kids like 10-year-old Ahmed, at one of the centres that her organisation runs. Ahmed has not allowed an alcoholic father kill his appetite for learning and poetry.<br /><br />It is to help kids like Ahmed that Anita has ambitious plans for the DWARAKA Foundation. As Managing Trustee of the Dwarakanath Reddy Ramanarpanam Trust (DRRT), which supports DWARAKA, she is working on development projects for women, children and rural artisans in Sri Kalahasthi and Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, and Chikballapur in Karnataka. <br /><br />The projects aim at reviving traditional inherited wealth like kalamkari art and wood carving, providing certificate courses for the youth and schooling for the children. <br />“You need not wait 25 years for change to happen. Once you become a tool for action, change can happen every day,” she declares with quiet conviction.</p>
<p>TEDx, the much-awaited dialogue and idea-sharing meet, opens today at NIT, Surat. And by the time you’ve read this, a feisty woman from Bangalore would have told her youthful audience compelling stories of breadwinner wives, braveheart artisans and bright kids in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, who have triumphed over debt, displacement and daily drudgery.<br /><br />Padma Shri Anita Reddy is clearly no stranger to the challenges that inspire change. <br />In her 33-year-long struggle to ensure that the marginalised have a right to a life of dignity, she has been hounded and harassed. But nothing —not even being doused with kerosene by goons — has stopped her from taking on the land mafia and other nexuses that seek to drive away the poor from the cities which they help to build.<br /><br />“We cannot imagine life without our ayahs, cooks, drivers or watchmen. Yet we won’t give them space to live. These are the people who make garbage piles liveable by building homes on them but they are declared squatters and driven away, while that very land is later reclaimed for malls,” she says, rubbishing the argument of non-availability of land for rehousing the poor. “If land is unavailable for the poor, then from where are developers getting land to build at such an exponentially pace?” she asks.<br /><br />‘Community is all’<br /><br />Anita’s work has been in the urban slums of Karnataka, as also in the villages of Andhra Pradesh. She promotes model rehousing projects for those who have been displaced by development; establishes pre-schools and activity centres for their children; forms women and youth groups for creating awareness about towards self-help and community health, encourages adolescent girls towards becoming self-reliant, and promotes skill-training programmes and income-generating schemes.<br /><br />Acceptance has not come easy. She recalls the time when she was asked by cynical slum dwellers whether she was out to contest elections! “They said, ‘Give us electricity and water or we’ll chop you to pieces and bury you in the graveyard nearby’,” she says. <br />Today, those very people are the harbingers of change. They have played a leadership role in several rehousing projects in Bangalore. The Lakshmipuram Rehousing Project, near Indiranagar, even went on to win the National Habitat Award.<br /><br />That she thinks nothing of driving off in the middle of the night to a slum, where an “accidental” fire has broken out, reflects her fearless spirit — a personality trait she attributes to her upbringing and education, at Rishi Valley School in Madanapalle and Women’s Christian College in Chennai.<br /><br />“Opportunities, including education and skills-training, must be created early enough for change to happen in a community,” she says. <br /><br />What gives her a sense of fulfilment is not the awards lining her shelves but small kids like 10-year-old Ahmed, at one of the centres that her organisation runs. Ahmed has not allowed an alcoholic father kill his appetite for learning and poetry.<br /><br />It is to help kids like Ahmed that Anita has ambitious plans for the DWARAKA Foundation. As Managing Trustee of the Dwarakanath Reddy Ramanarpanam Trust (DRRT), which supports DWARAKA, she is working on development projects for women, children and rural artisans in Sri Kalahasthi and Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, and Chikballapur in Karnataka. <br /><br />The projects aim at reviving traditional inherited wealth like kalamkari art and wood carving, providing certificate courses for the youth and schooling for the children. <br />“You need not wait 25 years for change to happen. Once you become a tool for action, change can happen every day,” she declares with quiet conviction.</p>
