Tiruvannamalai, one of the most backward districts in Tamil Nadu, is undergoing a silent transformation, thanks to innovative and well-conceived programmes and schemes worked out by the District Collector.
“The district was known as home to Lord Annamalai Temple and the ashram of Ramana Maharshi. Other than these two unique institutions, Tiruvannamalai was known only for child marriages, foeticide, illegal termination of pregnancy and malnutrition,” said Kattumannarkoil Kannan, vice president, Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association, Tamil Nadu.
Being one of the most rain deficit regions in the State, Tiruvannamalai’s contribution to the State economy was negligible. There are no industries worth mentioning and this resulted in many poor men opting to work as illegal wood cutters in the Seshachalam Forests of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. Most of the wood cutters allegedly killed in “encounters” inside the forest were from Tiruvannamalai. All these could turn out to be old stories as the district in making big strides thanks to K S Kandasamy, the district collector.
Since the day he took over as collector in September 2017, Kandasamy went into action. He was greeted by unprecedented problems crying for drastic solutions. Quacks operated in various parts of Tiruvannamalai performing selective abortion of female children. Women were afraid of delivering female children as they knew life of girls would be a horrid affair.
“Infanticide, school drop-outs, child marriages, malnutrition, lower educational status, high maternal mortality rates, were some of the issues haunting us. The maternal mortality ratio was 111.1 for the year 2017-2018.We brought it down to 54.36 by 2018 to 2019,” Kandasamy told The Pioneer on the eve of his departure to New Delhi where he is being honoured on Thursday by the Prime Minister.
Along with the MMR, Kandasamy succeeded in bringing down the infant mortality rate which stood at 11.9 in 2018. “This is lower than the State average of 17. But we are working to bring it down to zero. There are many factors for this phenomenon and this needs multi-pronged strategy,” said the district collector.
Since early marriages and teenage pregnancy are the root cause of the higher order birth, Kandasamy and his team have decided to eradicate child marriages. “During 2017-2018 we had stopped 168 child marriages. And during the current year and up to December 2018 we have stopped 166 child marriages in our district and legal actions were initiated. All the children secured are being given training, counselling and career guidance,” he said.
A simple but majestic event held at the initiative of Kandasamy turnd out to be the game changer in the attitude of women and men towards girl child. “All rural women took a pledge by holding burning camphor that they would not marry off their kids below the age of 18. This has paid rich dividends,” said Kandasamy.
Vijayasree Ramesh, a social activist from Chennai is optimistic about the future of Thiruvanamalai. “The collector has taken the women community into confidence and he himself has become a role model in driving home the lesson that women should be respected. He had integrated schemes lile Beti Bachao Beto Padhao with the local issues and this has paid good results,” said Ramesh, a lawyer-turned-girl child activist.
One of the private colleges in the district came forward to implement the “Role Reversal Activity” suggested by Kandasamy. An equal number of boys and girls were selected for the mission. For one day, they had the roles reversed. Boys became home makers while the girls had fun.
We cooked and cleaned and served them food of their choices. And the girls had fun playing games, dance, chit-chat, drive a battery operated car. It was a different experience and our perspective about women got changed,” said Arun, one of the students who took part in this mission.
These are few of the innovations being implemented by Kandasamy and team. He is confident that by the time he has to move out, an irreversible process of change would have set in Tiruvannamalai.