Genesis

Shri Kshethra Dharmasthala is a famous Hindu religious shrine of South India. Abhayadhana and Arftgadhana (Protection to the seekers and feeding of the visitors) are two of the many charities practiced at this "Shiva Temple" run by the Heggades (Trustees) of the temple for over seven centuries.

Padmabhushana Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade the presiding Heggade for over three decades has been an acclaimed visionary. In the year 1982, on the occasion of the installation of 39 feet monolithic statue of Lord Bahubali, Dr. Heggade, launched Shri Kshethra Dharmasthala Rural  Development Project (SKDRDP) aimed towards the upliftment of the rural poor. The project is the fondest of Dr. Veerendra Heggade's dreams realized.

Ever since, the project has encompassed various aspects of rural development to make the rural living an enjoyable process. The initiative has taken the SKDRDP to 26 of the 27 districts in Karnataka, through its community development projects. Nearer home, in three coastal districts of Karnataka - Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and Udupi, SKDRDP is engaged in intensive fight against poverty, ignorance, illiteracy, alcoholic abuse, gender discrimination, division of villages on the lines of caste, creed and money power.

Results have demonstrated that problems can be over come by participation and by optimum utilisation of resources, provided there is a vision and a dedicated team work.

Objectives of the Project:

• To work towards the upliftment of the rural poor.
• To organize the rural populace in mobilizing the rural infrastructure for a swift development.
• To utilize locally available natural and human resources for progress.
• To introduce gainful sustainable means for development of agriculture.
• To encourage farm sector and the non-farm sector activities.
• To blend morality, integrity, discipline and religion in the process of development.
• To facilitate participatory community and village development programmes.

Pragathi Bandhu Self Help Group Model

Small and marginal farmers of the project area are organised under the unique Pragathi Bandhu Model of Self Help Group. These are small groups comprising of 5 to 8 neighbourhood small farmer families. The groups engage once in a week labour sharing, thrift and micro credit. Participatory labour sharing technique has galvanised the progress of the stakeholder families and unity in the neighbourhood in the true sense. The labour sharing has helped thousands of small farmers to achieve important farm works like fencing, well digging, land leveling, house / shed construction through participatory labour. The success of the SKDRDP programme is mainly due to Pragathi Bandhu model.

Federations

The Pragathi Bandhu groups in the village organise themselves into a federation of groups. Village level federations come together to form taluk level federation. This taluk federation is an apex body, which oversees the functions of the village federations and the groups ultimately. Within the village the groups identify the needs of the village and through participation get many a community works accomplished.

The federation performs the role of a big brother in monitoring the health of the groups, participate in creation of village level community assets and study the needs of the stakeholder. The federation plays a very important role in ensuring the smooth implementation of the micro credit operations. The sub-committee of the federations study the credit requirement of each group and recommend to SKDRDP to meet their needs. They also assist in timely recovery of the dues from the members of the group.