When a large scale natural disaster like Cyclone Gaja (2018) causes physical destruction and the recovery process becomes emotionally and financially expensive, humanitarian organisations like Caritas India reaches out to the affected who need a transition from the status of victims to dignified citizens. In the operational area of Caritas India partners, a total of 23108 families have totally lost their livelihood due to the impact of Cyclone Gaja. Of this affected population, 79.2% were living in Thanjavur and Nagapattinam. The preliminary assessment study conducted by Caritas India on the caste wise distribution of affected people showed that Most Backward Castes was the worst affected population with 32% followed by 30% Backward Caste falling under Below Poverty Line communities. Scheduled Caste communities constituted 28%.

A total of 12298 livestock was lost in the cyclone mainly impacting  8.2% of  SC community people who were sustaining their lives mainly through goat rearing.  They live in the coastal villages in and around Vedaranyam block of Nagapattinam district where Cyclone Gaja hit first. With the intention of securing their means of income, the livelihood rehabilitation project focused on the concept of harnessing people’s potential to take timely and appropriate actions so as to reduce the impact of natural hazards through a process of livelihood enhancement and behavioural change.

Raising goat is part of agriculture since ancient times. For small and marginal farmers, goat rearing can be turned into a lucrative business with a small investment. Hence a large segment of the population in rural areas prefer this income-generating activity.

As a multifunctional animal, goats can easily survive on available trees and shrubs and can thrive well on a wide range of thorny bushes, weeds, crop residues etc., They are prolific breeders and best suited for mixed grazing.

According to 20^th  livestock census, the goat population in the country in 2019 was 148.88 Million showing an increase of 10.1% over the previous census. About 27.8% of the total livestock is contributed by goats. With 9.89 million goat population, Tamil Nadu ranks 7th among the Indian States. Compared to the previous census there is a growth of 21.43% upward change.  When the agriculture sector is shrinking, the increase in goat population shows that more farmers especially the marginal and landless are venturing into rearing goats for the assured returns. Possession of goats is like having a debit card in hand and the market demand is like Automated  Teller  Machine.  The goat sector alone contributes Rs.38,590 crores annually to the Indian economy in which the share of Tamil Nadu is 6.02% approximating Rs.2,323 crores.

Caritas India Livelihood assessment tool was used in 13 villages of Thalainayar and Keezhayur blocks of Nagapattinam district to identify beneficiaries and goat rearing was opted by 108 persons and  137 persons wanted poultry farming. When Fr.Suhsil, Administrator of Caritas India visited the field in November 2019, the beneficiaries under poultry scheme said that they did not want that project instead requested to give at least one goat. Respecting their request, they were included in the goat scheme.  Therefore 245 persons are supported with a total of 353 goats. An amount of  Rs.11,46,450/- is spent for this purpose that included vaccination and insurance cost.  Caritas India with the support of United Way Bengaluru/Chennai played the catalyst role. Thanks to the generous contribution of Mphasis. Caritas India response was led by its manager, Dr. John Arokiaraj along with Mr.Vijay Senthilkumar of United Way Chennai. The accompaniment support of field officer Chellapandi helped in capacitating the local communities on Participatory Disaster Risk Assessment (PDRA) tool. The periodical accompaniment and feedback of Mr.Mahesh, Senior Manager, United Way Bengaluru gave impetus to this project.

In order to promote the local economy,5 goat vendors were identified from the local area itself. According to their capacity, they were allocated the specific number of goats to be supplied. This ensured timely supply, quality assurance and better adaptability of the goats to the existing climatic conditions. In the absence of middlemen, local goat farmers also had better bargain while selling their goats to the local vendors who were sourcing from them. The vendors signed the purchasing order with Caritas India specifying the number of goats to be supplied, the average weight of goats, names of individual beneficiaries to be supplied from the allotted villages and the time duration for distribution from the date of receipt of project amount. It was approved by the Village Livelihood Monitoring Committee which assumes the responsibility for entire co-ordination starting from identification of beneficiaries, distribution process and monitoring the maintenance of goats by the beneficiaries. Local Veterinary doctor has been identified for vaccination and certification of all goats distributed.

In the project villages, the landless, small and marginal farmers who had their cultivation in leased land could not get fair compensation for crop damaged during Gaja cyclone since crop cultivation was not properly registered and documented with Village Administrative Officers. Added to this, the presence of deep-rooted caste-based inequity and access to services and entitlements for Dalits and unorganised are seen to be in vogue. The animation process needs to be carried out with sustaining strategies to change the hegemony of caste dominance and bring in systemic change. Livelihood assistance for economic stability through the distribution of goats is one such strategy towards empowering animation.