It was a dream come true for 25-year-old R. Maheswari, a resident of Kadavalam panchayat near Ambur, when an opportunity to learn self-defence knocked on her door.
The mother of two children-aged five and two years-had to discontinue her karate classes after a year when she was in school. On Wednesday, she was among the first batch of 63 women from rural Vellore to learn self-defence techniques through a training initiative launched by Pudhu Vaazhvu Project (PVP).
“I went for karate classes for a year when I was in class IX. After that, I stopped training owing to board exams. This is a second chance for me to learn self defence techniques as it is important for our safety,” Ms. Maheswari said.
Under this initiative, 4,457 women members of Village Poverty Reduction Committees (VPRC) and Panchayat Level Federations (PLF) of PVP will undergo self-defence training in Vellore district. All 207 village panchayats in five blocks will be covered under this initiative in the district.
Collector R. Nanthagopal launched the training for the first batch of women at Madhanur block on Wednesday.
The Minister for Municipal Administration and Rural Development had announced in the Assembly that the project would conduct self-defence training in 4,174 village panchayats in Tamil Nadu to reach out to members of the VPRCs and PLFs.
The State government had allotted Rs. 4.5 crore for the initiative. All 26 districts implementing PVP had completed the preliminary activities and are ready to roll out the training programme.
R. Padmamani, district project manager of PVP, Vellore, said that the training would be conducted continuously in other blocks too. It will be organised at the panchayat level, with 21 members in each panchayat.
“Women in urban areas have the opportunity to learn self defence unlike their counterparts in rural areas. This training is to enable rural women to protect themselves when in need and when there is nobody around to help,” she said.
Such trainings will help in eliminating fear among women and psychologically provide a boost to their self-esteem, she added. Women will be trained on basic exercise, karate and judo techniques.
It will be held for six days, covering two hours a day, Franklin D. Vijayakumar, assistant project manager (Monitoring and Evaluation), PVP said.
Officials said it would help women to develop confidence, be strong enough to face challenges and learn the art to safeguard them in any vulnerable/dangerous environment.
