Relief Projects India was founded 12 years ago with the aim of protecting female rights and promoting female education and gender equality.
We work in villages in Usilampatti Taluk, Madurai District, Tamil Nadu. This is an impoverished area that was infamous a few years back for ending the life of their female infants or discarding them altogether through abandonment. Whilst the problem with infanticide has greatly diminished, gender discrimination has not, and infanticide is often replaced by foeticide due to more modern technology that is available such as ultra-sound scans.(Even though they are illegal in India.)
The 2011 census reports a sex-ratio of children under the age of 6 as shockingly low--only 885 girls for every 1000 boyss, and a 58% literacy rate for girls, compared to 74% for boy. Girls are often seen as a financial liability. Other problems in the area are low birth-weight babies, and high rates of TB and HIV.
We attempt to find solutions to the causes of these problems. This includes dispelling previously conceived ideas of gender preference, providing educational assistance to children of impoverished families, assisting girls to remain in school, helping the community to combat health issues such as anaemia, high maternal death rates and infant mortality, as well as finding ways to improve the economic status of villagers.
