Andrewspalli Centre for Integrated Development (ACID) is a non-profit organization registered in 1997 with its Headquarters in Andrewspalli, Santiniketan, West Bengal.
The plan of this organization was initiated way back when a group of friends and associated with social work, decided to provide nourishment to the malnourished, poor, deprived and socially backward people. ACID was their way out. With the passing of time, some of these members went out to pursue further studies and established themselves in different fields....
Cyclone YAAS has devastated the lives of vulnerable and extremely poor communities in Hingalganj and destroyed
infrastructure, thousands of houses, agricultural field, assets, life and livelihoods. People - men, women,
elderly and children are homeless with empty stomach, looking for safer places. Saline water has come inside the
villages and agricultural fields due to breach of embankments in several locations. It’s a very upsetting and
painful scenario; we stand in solidarity with these families and communities..jpg)
Chanda Mondal, her husband and their six years old daughter, live in Dakshin Gobindakati village of Hingalganj
block in North 24 Pargana. Her husband lost his low-salary job and returned lately, since lockdown started.
On the night of the cyclone Amphan they were in their mud-house and at around 1:30 AM, they shifted to a nearby
concrete building to take shelter for the night as the thrashing wind shook their house and the over flown pond
water reached their door-step. Next day morning, they found, their mud house in a crumbled situation. They have
lost most of their belongings along with their daughter's books and essential documents. Now they are living in
a tent made out of tarpauline and can not avail any aid from local government authorities since they have lost
those documents.
A national workshop "Problem of Accessibility in Primary Education by Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward
Classes: A Study in Hingalganj Block" & "Impact Study on Sponsorship Programme of FADV: A Study of their Partner Organizations
in West-Bengal and Assam" organized by the Department of Social Work, Visva-Bharati in association with Fondazione l'Albero
della Vita (FADV) and Andrewspalli Centre for Integrated Development (ACID) on 17th August' 2016 at Conference Hall ,
Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan. Participation from FADV partner organization, save the children, Students and Professors from
Visva-Bharati University, UNPECT international and other national level NGOs are presented in that workshop. The study report
was also published in this workshop written by Dr. Sukumar Pal and Mr. Neelmani Jaysawal.
A team from Italy namely The Goodfellas Travel Team had visited in our project area from 10th to 11th August to see our livelihood
and sponsorship projects, interacted with project beneficiaries and communities to acquire first hand knowledge on how people are
getting benefited from the interventions. They interacted with the 'Padmabati' Self Help Group in Jogeshganj village and also their
activities like fishing, vegetable cultivation, livestock farming etc. They also visited in our Samsernagar tuition centre, interact
with students and suggest them to learn English for better communication with them.
Mrs. Samprita Sengupta, Programme Managar of the Sponsorship project made monitoring visit in Hingalganj project area. She visited 50
new children house and filled up the bio data form and also taken photographs in Gobindakathi village. She interacted with parents of
the Gobindakathi tuition centre and talk about importance of parental care at home. In Madhavkathi tuition centre she observed teaching
learning method using puzzle, games, and local resources. She taught children spoken English and how they should interact with newcomer.
She had meeting with Sponsorship project team of ACID and set plan of action for the year 2017.
Dr. Maity and Dr. Mondal made monitoring visit of their research project on demonstration of resilient livelihood activities in saline
soil collaboration with ACID. They conducted training on rice and vegetable production in Jogeshganj project site office of ACID. They
organized a demonstration programme on rice seed purification by using water and salt to increase the production of rice. They also made
field visit and interacted with farmers to solve problems regarding vegetable cultivation. They had also conduct meeting with DRR project
coordinator and discuss about vermicompost kit and agricultural survey in the 12 villages of Hingalganj Block.