CHENNAI: On its 25th anniversary, Srinivasan Services Trust is looking to expand its village development programmes across 5,000 villages over the next few years.
According to Venu Srinivasan, chairman, TVS Motor, the trust's village initiative currently covers around 1.5 million people in 2,500 villages with another 100-200 new villages being added every year.
SST focused most of its efforts on fighting the Covid-19 pandemic in the last two years spending around Rs 80 crore on oxygen concentrators, PPE kits, meals and water for frontline staff. "This caused a bit of a hiatus in our other work but now we are reviving it slowly," said Srinivasan.
The biggest difference, though, has been the employment of women. The project covers100,000 women who now collectively earn Rs 130 crore a year. "Women were encouraged to be financially independent through animal husbandry, handicraft and others," said Srinivasan. This supplemented the family income.
"Tamil Nadu already has very good delivery of social welfare and with a little help it has made a difference," said Srinivasan.
