Darbar Sahitya Sansad

Districts : Khurda

State : Orissa

The history of Darabar Sahitya Sansad (DSS) dates back to early nineties. A group of adolescent boys used to flock around a rural library in village Nischintapur, reading books and magazines and discussing on literary development. Two consecutive floods during the year 1980 and 1982 devastated the area . The boys could not keep quiet, they helped the govt. machineries in evacuating the people as well as distributing the relief materials. This small taste of social work prompted them to come to a common platform 'a society' which could provide them the strength and the opportunity for youth work and social development. Finally a society was formed during 1982 with the name 'Darabar Sahitya Sansad' (DSS) - a people's court for social justice, on a platform of young and literary people.

Off late DSS has focussed on livelihood promotion for poor women, farmers and youth in coastal parts of Orissa. Besides that Disaster management has been another area of intervention in recent past since the coastal Orissa has experienced consequitive floods and cyclones.

DSS works in around 150 villages in 3 districts viz Khurda, Puri and Balasore focussing on Livelihood promotion and disaster management. The programmes like micro financing, SHG promotion, enterpreneurship development, training and capacity building, disaster relief, rehabilitation, disaster preparedness, weather education at school, promoting agro based women cooperatives, dairy cooperatives, handicraft cooperatives etc have been taken up in recent past.