We will not close down our balwadis ...
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Is it possible for community video and radio to play this role?
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Activities
 
The Deccan Development society is projecting a working model for the people oriented participative development in the areas of food security, ecological agriculture, and alternate education. It is also trying to reverse the historical process of degradation of the environment and people's livelihood system in this region through a string of land related activities such as Perma-culture, Community Grain Bank, Community Gene Fund, Community Green Fund and Collective Cultivation through land Lease etc. These activities, along side taking on the role of Earth care is also resulting in Human Care, by giving the Women a new found dignity and profile in their village communities. The Society is trying to relocate the people's knowledge in the area of Health and Agriculture.
 

Dalit Watersheds
This programme was conceived as equity based model and as an alternative to area based watershed approach, with the overall objective of Creation of a new Watershed Model targeted entirely for the poor.

Health
Village Medicinal Commons - a three year balance sheet (updated 1-June, 2002)
The Medicinal Plants Project of DDS supported by Find Your Feet was started in 1996.

Balwadies
Childcare is an important area of concern. All the DDS women work during the day; spending nearly 8-10 hours every day in family farms or as hired labour in farms. Because of the taxing working hours these women have expressed a need for someone to take care of their children during their absence. The DDS balwadis cater to this need.

Food Security : Four Major Steps
A look back at the DDS work with the women and agriculture gives us a clear indication on the direction we have moved in to ensure food security for the poor and the dalits.

Education

  • Pachasaale - The Green School
    In 1993 Deccan Development Society (DDS) has decided to have a school, which is not the usual 8 to 3 school with classrooms and classes from 1 to 10. This school is not meant for children of 4-5 years but for the little Grown up 9- 10 years old, some were school dropouts and some were not fortunate enough to go to the school at the right time.

  • Night Schools
    Deccan Development Society has endeavored to provide educational opportunities to the most deprived Dalit Children in the Project Area. Since 1991 it has been regularly identifying out of school children and providing the first educational opportunity through the village night school.

  • Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK)
    The vision of Krishi Vigyana Kendra (KVK), Medak, has been developed in consonance with the organizational ethos and philosophy of the host institution, the Deccan Development Society.
    1. Krishi Magazine

Womens' Media

  • Radio Station
    Women Speak to Women: DDS Community FM Radio- the poor dalit women's (DDS sangams members) arguments are extraordinarily original and are unmatched for their logic. They have suggested that a radio of their own would provide more effectively a medium for articulating locally relevant issues, in their own language, and in their own time.

  • Video by Women : An Alternative to Literacy
    Seven women, two are students and the four are farm labour and one is a DDS worker. All of them are dalits in an age group of 16-35 years. The women chose to learn video production for various reasons…………………

Women in DDS

  • Women Sangams
    The Village sanghams, voluntary associations of the poor women, are the base of DDS. Most of these sanghams are basically formed by Dalit women but not to the exclusion of the poor women from a wide array of castes from Muslims to Gollas, Tenugus to Mangalis, Reddys to Sakalis.

  • Shelter for Single Women
    The need to set up a safe home for women and girls arose, when the sangha members shared their problems of violence against women, and forced child marriages of girls aged 10-12 years.

  • Community Media Trust
    In a pathbreaking exercise 10 Dalit women of Andhra Pradesh were trained in wielding the video camera. More importantly these women have been handed over the ownership of this tool to voice their opinions and grievances.

Campaigns & Workshop

  • Should India be Fed With GM food? The Bangalore Declaration, July 5, 2006
    Under SAGE banner a roundtable on "Should Indians be fed with g m food?" was jointly organized by CREAT, DDS and Mysore Grahak Parishad in Bangalore on 5th July 2006. This roundtable was organized in protest against the recent slew of legislations that aims at according access of genetically modified foods into Indian market and also to express the pernicious ramifications thereof particularly on health and nutrition.
  • International GM Opposition Day
    The genetic  industry’s lies continue to consume farmers’ lives.
    What do we protect?
    On the International Day of Opposition to Genetic Engineering, the Andhra Pradesh Coalition in Defence of Diversity strongly expresses its total resolve to resist the genetic engineered crops from the farms of Andhra Pradesh and genetically modified foods from the plates of consumers.

  • 50 Paisa and a Little Motivation!
    A Postcard Campaign Against National Environment Policy (NEP) and draft EIA Notification

  • CAMPAIGN AGAINST TERMINATOR SEEDS
    After leading an intensive campaign as convenors of South Against Genetic Engineering [SAGE], on 20th March, we sent the petition signed by hundreds
  • DDS OBSERVES GLOBAL WEEK OF ACTION
    An international meet of farmers, scientists, activists organised by the Deccan Development Society has said in loud and clear terms.
  • Monsanto's biggest lie of the century
    The first ever independent scientific study on bt cotton done on season long basis continuously for three years has come out with startling results.
  • Farmers' Caravan
    The two networks (SANFEC and Resistance Network, the most active network of South Asia against trafficking of women and children) organized in 1998 the SAARC People's Forum in Sri Lanka, parallel to the 10th SAARC summit held in Colombo

  • Prajateerpu : The Food Futures of Andhra Pradesh
    The Prajateerpu, a farmers jury on Food Futures in the state of Andhra Pradesh in South India was organised in the context of the currently rethinking by AP on its approach to farming, land use and marketing.

  • National Environmental Awareness Campaign (NEAC)
    The Ministry of Environment and Forests has been conducting National Environment Awareness Campaigns (NEAC) every year since 1986 to create environmental awareness among the general masses.

  • Non-Pesticide Management Programme (NPM)
    Non-pesticidal Management of Gram pod borer in pigeon pea and chick pea by farmers of the Zaheerabad region in Deccan plateau.

Biodiversity Festivals

  • Conclusion Of Eleventh Mobile Biodiversity Festival (2010)

  • People's Agenda
    Year 1999 was a watershed year for the DDS communities of Zaheerabad region in Medak District of Andhra Pradesh.. These communities in the Deccan region of South India celebrated a festival: Paata antala Panduga: the Festival of Traditional Crops. This was an unusual festival, a festival to rejoice the diversity of local crops, seeds, animals and their relationship with local culture. People flocked to the festival to re-connect with their culture and traditions, which have not only practiced ecological agriculture but also revered it for thousands of years.

  • Celebrating Tenth Anniversary of Mobile Bio-diversity Festival (2010)

  • Conclusion Of Ninth Mobile Bio-diversity Festival (2009)
    The 9th month long Annual Mobile Biodiversity Festival concluded on 13 February 2008 at Pachasaale Campus of Machnoor village, Jharasangam Mandal, Medak District.

  • The DDS Mobile Bio-diversity Festival 2008
    It is that time of the year again – time for the farmers of the Deccan diversity region to celebrate their food, seed and bio-diversity. Time for them to celebrate their identity as farmers even as others of their kind are losing hold and hope on their livelihood.

  • Eighth Annual Biodiversity Festival Culminates
    The rich ecological diversity and cultural vivacity of the Deccan region was eloquently displayed at the conclusion ceremony of the Eighth annual biodiversity festival that came to an impressive end on 13th February at Machnoor Village, Jarasangam Mandal.

  • Concluding ceremony of the Annual Mobile Diversity Festival 2006
    The sixth Annual Mobile Biodiversity Festival of Deccan Development Society, that pays tribute to the rich biodiversity, and the joie de vivre of the sangham women of the Deccan region came to an end on 12th February 2006.
  • Inauguration of Mobile Biodiversity Festival - 2006
    In a state like AP where farmer suicides are rampant and seed crises dominate the agrarian scene, could there be a place where every farmer has his or her own seeds, with their farms sporting diverse crops grown on ecologically sound principles and no farmer desperate enough to commit suicide?
  • Mobile Biodiversity Festival 2005

Eco-Enterprises

  • Vermi Compost
    The objective of this programme is both the enable women's groups to become eco-entrepreneurs as well as bridging the gaps in the availability of the bio fertilisers for use in the farmlands of the sangham members.

Research Studies

  • Study on Economics of Ecological Agriculture
    The purpose of understanding economic aspects related to different modes of agriculture viz. Ecological, Organic and Chemical is primarily to build awareness among the policy makers, scientists, academicians and development professionals of today's educated world, about the comparative long-term advantages and disadvantages of the three systems.

Organic Market

It is a cooperative venture started by the Women Sangam members living in 70 villages around Zaheerabad, with lofty ideals. This was started on 7th November an auspicious Diwali day in the year 1999. It is registered in the name of Deccan Development Society Mutually Aided Credit Cooperative Society Ltd (DDS MACCS) under MACCS Act

Café Ethnic

Café Ethnic an Organic Millet Restaurant was inaugurated on 26th January, 2004 at Zaheerabad by Prof. Laxma Goud, an eminent international artist & son of Medak and formerly Dean of Fine Arts, University of Hyderabad.

Humane Efforts

Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK)

EU Forum in Berlin June 2007

Awards