The Kudumbashree Mission, Wayanad, is gearing up to set up a district level football team titled Gothra Sree to empower the tribal youths in the sports sector.
“The first such tribal youth club in the district was constituted in Meenangadi grama panchayat last year as a part of the mission’s intervention among tribal youths to empower them in the sports sector and tackle the increasing alcohol addiction among tribal people in the district,” says district mission coordinator P. Sajitha.
The pilot project was envisaged to curb the increasing alcohol addiction among tribal people and to tackle school drop-out by channelising the potential of the youth. The project is also aimed at nurturing their innate skills, conserving the social and cultural uniqueness of tribespersons, and bringing the marginal section of people to the mainstream, she said. The initiative was a huge success as it could tackle alcohol addiction among youths to a certain extent, and they started to engage in sports activities in the evenings after work.
“The success of the pilot project inspired us to expand the programme to other parts of the district by providing sports equipment to the youths. Now, the mission has set up 126 such clubs in various parts of the district and each club consists of 20 to 25 youths,” Ms. Sajtha said. “Alcohol consumption among tribal people, especially tribal youths in Paniya, Adiya and Kattunayakka tribal sects, is a major social issue in the district,” she said. “Many a time, the daily earnings of the majority of them are spent in liquor shops in the evenings, owing to a dearth of entertainments in tribal settlements. Though several initiatives have been taken to address the issue, the trend is going up at an alarming rate,” she said. The mission organised block level and district level football matches for the club members a few months ago and 60 good players were selected as a part of constituting a tribal football team. They were provided the services of expert football coaches and 30 from among them were selected for the district team, Ms. Sajitha said.
The team has been well trained to take part in any football matches at the State level, she said. The mission has spent nearly ₹7 lakh for the project so far, she said.
“The project has evoked a good response from tribal youths, and we are now planning to set up such clubs for tribal girls also,” she said.
The new initiative would be announced by State Sports Council president Olympian Mercy Kuttan at the municipal town hall here at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
