Relief and Aid for Extremely Disadvantaged Communities
Sanchi Integration Association (SIA) is deeply committed to providing relief and aid to the most vulnerable and marginalised communities across Maharashtra. We have distributed essential supplies during natural disasters and supported the most marginalised groups during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our Mission
SIA’s Relief and Aid programs are designed to support communities that are often overlooked, including nomadic tribes, migrant families, and marginalised groups such as transgender communities. Our focus is on providing immediate assistance during crises and long-term support to help these communities recover and rebuild.
Key Activities:
Supporting Nomadic and Migrant Families:
Large number of families of Nomadic Tribe and the De-notified Castes and Tribes and other most deprived groups migrate to Pune and Mumbai from different parts in search of livelihood and most of them still practice their traditional occupations and stay in miserable conditions. Their subsistence and livelihood issues are complex and interwoven in complex and extreme social, cultural, psychological, educational and economic backwardness.
Most of these families frequently change their place in search of livelihood through traditional occupations /practices like begging, playing the dombarya instrument, performing magic tricks, going from house to house with Nandi bulls for alms, entertaining by adorning different dresses and masks etc, for their daily meals and subsistence. They have innumerable problems including illiteracy, child marriage, no family planning, high mortality of children and pregnant women, abuse of adolescent girls, tobacco/liquor/drug use, extreme poverty, hunger, superstitions, extremely unhygienic living conditions, children mostly engaged in begging or selling articles on road.
Such families that were already living in dire straits in open places, under plastic shelter and not having even the basic facility of potable drinking water, got stuck at certain places during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions as these people were not able to go out, of their sheltering places, for earning any subsistence. It severely aggravated their hunger and crisis.
We collaborated, joined hands with other NGOs, particularly the Sadhu Vaswani Mission and distributed a large number of ration kits among those staying in the open, nomads in and around Pune city and the poor tribes in Ambegaon, Junnar and Khed talukas.
COVID-19 Relief Efforts:
SIA was established in Nov 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Obviously, the immediate task and challenge before us was to provide relief to such neediest among the most marginalized and deprived groups during this period, post the first wave and during the second wave of the pandemic.
SIA remained on our toes and provided relief material to such families of Nomadic Tribe and the De-notified Castes and the Tribes, and the Transgenders during Covid. During the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, SIA responded quickly to the urgent needs of marginalized families, distributing over 1,930 ration kits, clothes, blankets, and essential hygiene products. Our relief efforts were targeted at some of the most vulnerable groups, including nomads, tribes, and transgender communities in areas like Pune, Ahmednagar, and Ambegaon.
By appealing to the people for their generous help to these most disadvantaged groups during the pandemic; we collected as much as possible material including food grains, ration kits, clothes, mattresses, blankets, bedsheets, nutrition kits, hygiene material, and distributed among the most affected and neediest families of such Nomadic Tribe and the De-notified Castes and the Tribes. Many of these groups suffering from extreme hardships and hunger got big relief because of our such drives on a regular basis. While doing so, we also availed the opportunity and educated such most deprived families on the importance of health, hygiene, education and family planning.
Cyclone and Flood Relief:
We provided relief and distributed 213 ration kits and other materials including mattresses, blankets, bedsheets, etc. to the cyclone-affected tribal families at Bhorgiri near Bhimashankar and adjacent tribal helmets village in Ambegaon Taluka in Pune district.
In response to devastating floods in Chiplun (Konkan, Maharashtra) in July 2021, SIA provided immediate relief to affected families. We distributed over 500 blankets, mattresses, and essential supplies to those who lost their homes and livelihoods due to severe weather events. It was done by handing over the material to the concerned Government authorities.
Aid for Transgender Communities:
Problems of the Transgenders are known to us. They also remain on roads, every day for their daily meals and subsistence. They also were stuck up and not able to go out for daily earning any subsistence during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. They were also starving and in need of our help.
During the pandemic, transgender communities faced heightened discrimination and a lack of access to essential services. SIA distributed materials including food grains, ration kits, clothes, mattresses, blankets, bedsheets, etc. among such neediest Transgenders groups who were suffering from extreme hardships and hunger.
Diwali and Post-Diwali Aid Drives:
SIA has made it a tradition to provide special aid packages during Diwali and the post-Diwali period, targeting the poorest families in slums, nomadic communities, and those living under plastic shelters. In 2021 alone, we distributed over 656 ration kits, 475 sweet boxes, and 320 nutrition kits to ensure that even the most marginalised could celebrate the festival with dignity.
Our Impact So Far
Thousands of Ration Kits Distributed: Since the start of our relief work, we have distributed thousands of ration kits, reaching over 5,000 families across Maharashtra. Each kit contains essential food items such as grains, pulses, oil, and nutrition packs, ensuring families have enough to sustain themselves during crises.
Support for Marginalised Groups: Our aid initiatives have reached a wide range of marginalized groups, including nomadic tribes, transgender communities, and families living in slums or roadside shelters. These efforts have provided critical support during times when they were most vulnerable.
Collaborations with Local NGOs: Through partnerships with local NGOs like the Sadhu Vaswani Mission, we have been able to expand the reach of our relief work, particularly in rural and remote areas, ensuring that aid reaches those who need it most.
It was difficult to keep an account of such relief drives and materials distributed in such extreme distress. However, from some of our limited records, maintained at that time, we can say that apart from miscellaneous reliefs in the form of smaller ration kits in large quantities, the distribution was much more than 2,190 big ration kits (each containing food grains, flour, rice, pulses, edible oil, masala, sugar, tea, nutrition items, etc. to suffice for at least a month to an average family of about 6 members) and clothes among the neediest families of such Nomadic Tribe and the De-notified Castes and the Tribes, Transgender communities staying at Shrirampur (Ahmednagar District) and some other places, Pardhi community staying at certain villages in Shirur Taluka and other places.
