Social development in Tamil Nadu
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Education in a rural community radically changes society in rural Tamil Nadu and makes communities self-dependent
The Murugappa Group of companies is promoting social development in the villages of Tamil Nadu. The founder of the company, Diwan Bahadur AMM Murugappa Chettiar, set aside a large fund for charity, which was used to launch the AMM Foundation in 1953.
The Murugappa Group is the leading engineering company and the market leader in products like steel-strips, steel-tubes and bicycles. The company operates 13 manufacturing plants in six states -- Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana.
The foundation provides assistance in the areas of education, medicare and research in rural development. It also provides entrepreneurial efficiency to trainees enrolled in their development programme.
The foundation runs four schools in Ambattur, Kotturpuram and Thirovottiyur near Chennai, where around 9,000 boys and girls are given education till the senior secondary level. These schools are equipped with facilities such as libraries, advanced laboratories and playing grounds.
Since 1958 the organisation has been running a polytechnic institute. Accommodating almost 1,000 students annually, it provides a perfect conjunction for education and industry, which is still a new concept in India. The institute has been given projects by the Government of India and the World Bank.
The foundation has set up three hospitals in areas where there was a dearth of good and cheap medical facilities. One of them, the Sir Ivan Stedeford Hospital, situated in the industrial belt of Tamil Nadu (around Chennai), houses excellent facilities in specialised areas of medical care. The hospital has X-ray endoscopies and ultrasound facilities besides an intensive care unit. The other two hospitals run by the company are located in the remote regions of Tamil Nadu.
The AMM Murugappa Chettiar Research Centre, Chennai, tackles problems in rural areas. The centre comprises people from multidisciplinary backgrounds, ranging from the social sciences to molecular biology. It has played a pivotal role in commercialising technology, and the staff at the centre has trained people -- from the nomads of the Kumaon hills (Uttaranchal) to the fishermen on the Coromandal coast -- in the fields of fodder, forestry and agriculture. The foundation has adopted a number of villages where villagers have been encouraged to take up self-help schemes.
The MCRC centre has developed HDPE rafts for de-weeding and insect control in the waterways of Chennai. It has also reclaimed agricultural land and used it for high-density cultivation of casuarina, which is a source of fuelwood.
The centre has trained rural women in the state to grow the Spirulina algae in their own backyards on a commercial scale. The algae are a good source of essential aminoacids, vitamins, nutrients and other minerals that are deficient in processed food.
It has also promoted solar energy, vermi-composting, organic farming and the use of micro-organisms in paper-making and natural dye extraction.
All these measures have enabled the organisation to earn the prestigious Jamnalal Bajaj Award for Rural Development.
Contact: The AMM Foundation
'Tiam House' Rajaji Salai
Chennai:600001, Tamil-Nadu
India
Tel:91-44-512 665\511 591(Extn: 403)
Email:
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