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Newsletter November 2007 |
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Global Roundup
An article about Ekal Vidyalaya is sponsored by Copper Pages on Lokvani Website
ver 110 New Schools In Tribal AreasSaptaswar Press Release
10/03/2007
(This article is sponsored by Copper Pages)
(About Ekal Vidayalaya
Ekal movement aims to help eradicate illiteracy from rural & tribal India by 2011. The Ekal Foundation is the biggest non-governmental education movement in the world and has now reached all states in India. At present, with the help of over 23,189 teachers, 5,000 volunteers, 20 field organizations Ekal Vidyalaya movement strives to create a network of non-formal schools that will not only provide basic education but also provide health care, village development & empower education. For further information or any concerns you may have please contact Ram Nehra, VP New England area, at 401 848 2024. Last year Ram Nehra raised over 132,000$. More information at
http://www.ekalindia.org )
On the evening of 22nd September, more than 1000 people gathered at the Natick High School to witness and participate in the Saptaswar Interactive Musical Night.
This was an event of live music and dances by more than 300 artists/stage performers and was arranged by Saptaswar - our most popular New England music group, along with well-liked dance groups from the New England area.
On-stage audiovisual displays coordinated by Tej Singh & group (Video, Light and Sound Moderator) were projected simultaneously on 5 drop-down screens that were well placed within the auditorium, providing the audience a colorful and psychedelic ambience.
Bright, ethnic, high-fashion costumes with very innovative choreography were the other highlights of the evening. The recreation of Mughal E Azam settings on stage, the colorfully decorated auditorium and the lobby areas were the work of Shobha Shashtry (AlankarDecors). And the coordinated display of movie clips by Dr. Anil Chawla that accompanied some songs being performed made the entire event perfectly “bollywoodish’.
The large scale of the program was made possible by the generous sponsorships of many individuals, and such sponsorships also allowed for the release of a colorful descriptive event brochure & purchase of ultra-modern gadgets. Charitable donations from Hemant Gupta and Arun Agrawal helped acquire specialized light & sound system for the event.
The Saptaswar Interactive Musical Night was held to raise funds for the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation, an organization that endeavors to create a network of non- formal one-teacher schools (Ekal Vidyalayas) to eradicate illiteracy and educate and empower children in rural and tribal India, thus helping children from the poorest and disenfranchised population of India. Cost of adopting each Ekal school is a dollar-a-day or $365 a year, which helps support a single teacher instructing 30 children.
The music group Saptaswar, managed by Dr. Mohan Somasundaran, set the pace for the evening and performed in two segments. The performing group comprised of Christy Mathew on keyboard, Hiral Parikh on drums, Raj Alur on guitar, Roshan Alur on the saxophone, and vocalists Sudha (Lakshmi) Rao, Raghu Saranathan, Vinay Mishra, Rahul
Bharadwaj, Shikha Vajpayee and Sailashri Parthasarathy. With each performance, they had the audience enthralled and joining in as they presented some ever-green old and new bollywood numbers. Christy Mathew's innovative remix version of the popular sixties seductive number 'Roop Tera Mastana' not only surprised and fascinated the audience but had them singing along as well.
Bharati and Mitali Biswas’ group opened the dance segment with Om Nama Shivaya (Banaras) and danced to live music by the Saptaswar group for songs reputed for their heavy orchestra element like Woh Kisna Hai (Kisna) and Mitwa (Lagaan).
Jasmine Shah’s ‘Aangikam Dance Academy’ performed Barson re Megha (Guru), Rangde (Thakshak), O Sikandar (Corporate) and Mangalam Ganesham (Dev).
Swati Mukherji and Sunita Malhotra (Indian Association of Merrimack Valley) presented dances from Mughal E Azam (Pyar kiya to darna), Dil hi to hai (Laaga chunari mein daag) and Shri 420 (Ramayya Vastavayya); and a fashion show through music and enactment of Bollywood heroes & heroines taking us from the golden years of black- and-white cinema to the hip-hop beats of today.
LEHEREIN – a group of choreographers that support noble causes, brought the stage to life with nearly 60 dancers who seamlessly shuffled through a medley of songs depicting the journey of Bollywood times form the early fifties to its current days.
Darshana Jani’s ‘The Performing Arts of New England’ showcased younger artists dancing to yet another medley of more recent blockbuster hits.
The audience was also uplifted by the immense energy of Bhangra dance & music that was performed by two groups. Reshma Singh’s ‘Bhangra Beats’ had many adorable children dancing with vigor to bhangra hits from old and new films.
Rohit and Priya Bhambi’s ‘Boston Bhangra’ item was an interactive one, with the audience participating with great enthusiasm as Rohit skillfully involved and guided them through the various Bhangra vocals and moves.
And under the able hands of the emcee, Swathi Subramanian, this program of interactive dance & music was perfectly knit together while keeping the audience drawn in.
A large group of dedicated volunteers (Amit Roy, Nikki Khatra, Ruchi Munshi, Sadhna Gupta, Vaibhav Dabade, Bikash Verma, Dilip Verma, Sukumari Mohan, Rishi Kapoor, Vishvajit Puri, Himani Chawla and others) along with few Natick High School staff & students ensured that there were no hiccups and glitches with any segment of the program.
Good, sumptuous food, catered by Gourmet India was served under canopies.
The success of the program was seen as the audience continued to cheer all through the evening while simultaneously reeling in sponsorships for Ekal Vidyalaya schools. An astounding 110 EKAL schools were sponsored by truly altruistic members of the audience, bringing the collection to over $40,000 by the end of the night. This was an enormous achievement which was also largely in part due to the extremely benevolent & philanthropic hand of Smt. (Dr.) Savitri & Shri. Prabhu Hingorani of Massachusetts who unwaveringly matched every school sponsored during the program.
The Interactive Musical Night by Saptaswar under the dedicated & sound leadership of Dr. Anil Chawla & Dr. Mohan Somasundaran, provided a memorable and unique experience for New Englanders. And the coming together of this group has helped in funding education for over 3500 tribal children in India, a success that is gladly shared & celebrated by all who participated in this event.
For further information on EKAL or SAPTASWAR please visit www.ekalindia.org and
www.saptaswar.org
Ekal Foundation hosted by Dr BK Modi with Zee TV Chairman, Subhash Chandra
Tuesday, 10.16.2007, 10:59pm (GMT-7)India Post News Service
BEVERLY HILLS: India's biggest television network, Zee TV, had its Chairman Subhash Chandra on Sunday October 14, as a champion of India's largest literacy program. With opening remarks by MCorp's President, Bhuvan Lall, and an introduction by Navin Doshi, former chair of the Ekal Vidyalaya Advisory Board, Subhash Chandra spoke poignantly at the Beverly Hills residence of Dr BK Modi about his own personal experience with Ekal Vidyalaya.
"We call Ekal Vidyalaya a 'people's movement' because that's what it truly is," emphasized Chandra. "Dr Modi and I have sat together in India and planned by the year 2012 to have 100,000 Ekal schools teaching in the remote villages of India. There are about 132,000 villages in India where you find India's tribal population, so we have a great challenge," he said, adding that it is ironic with the new economic wealth in India; so much of the country is still living in great poverty. "India is not a poor country, my friends," commented Chandra.
"We may say we are poor to receive money from the World Bank, but if I spent my whole time speaking with people from other nations who are now in India to do business or who now want to do business in India I would be spending 12 hours a day just meeting with these people," he said. Chandra related his own personal experience of visiting some of the poor tribal villages in India where the people transformed him by their hospitality and ability to feel they were in some ways richer than he was in spite of his prestigious success as a businessman.
This experience has lingered with Chandra and has helped embed his commitment to the "Ekal Movement.""Ekal means 'one' and these schools are sometimes held in a person's house or in a village field," Chandra related to his audience.
"These schools are truly something that makes India better now and will make India great in the future," he said. Chandra underscored that the goal of educating the nearly 400 million illiterate in India is a daunting task. But when he and Dr. Modi discussed what they would do when they finally achieved literacy in India, Dr. Modi and others proclaimed that they would then take the Ekal movement to other nations, like Africa, where teachers would also empower villages there to become literate.
A brief question and answer session allowed Chandra to answer questions about the Ekal program. One person inquired how the Ekal program might reduce "conversions" in India and how it is able to deal with the political corruption in India. Chandra responded that because India is a free country "conversions" would always occur but that the Ekal Vidyalya program does not attempt to change any of the villager's religion whether it is Hindu, Muslim or Christian.
"Many of these people (missionaries) who are trying to convert Indians to a particular religion actually have good intentions because they believe they are trying to help our people go to heaven. However, we find that by educating our people and helping them to take ownership of their culture and lives, through literacy, that they are not as prone to outside conversion.
We also hope that through literacy the people will also begin to be informed about political issues and vote for good leaders and not encouraged to vote for corrupt ones," he said.India's Oven on Wilshire provided Indian appetizers and tea for the evening.
Also on hand was director Vinod Chopra, who after a seven-year respite at the helm, directed Eklavaya, the now controversial Indian entry for this year's Best Foreign Film nominee at the Academy Awards. Chopra said he was humbled to be part of the evening's event. "But please vote for my movie," he said enthusiastically.
- Greg Heffernan
http://indiapost.com/article/communitypost/1213/
Corporate social responsibility Report of the event of Shri Subhas Chandr'a Visit to Washington DC
see the Final Report of the Event of Dr. Subhash Chandra's Visit to DCFor details click here
News from home
Arogya Training Camp
Arogya training camp was held on 6th & 7th October 2007 at Masanagudi, Nilgiri district.15 full time workers from Karnataka,13 from Kerala and 12 from Tamil Nadu participated in the varg.Doctors from Bangalore Dr. Latha Venkataraman, Dr.Kumudini,Dr. Jaya and Dr.Shrimani participated in the varg
The karyakartas were taught to fill the survey form, blood test and advice required iron tablets to the women (13 to 45 yrs age group).and practical training in 3 nearby villages
It has been decided to conduct Pilot survey in 100 villages each in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamilnadu covering 30,000 women by December 2007. Second survey and blood test will be conducted after 3 months of medication. Depending on the result and efficacy of the program we will extend the same to all other operational villages
Naipunya Varg (Trainer Training Camp) were held Under Gram Vikas Yojana
Four Naipunya (Trainer's Training Camp) Vargs were held under Gram Vikas yojna .One at Delhi SriKrishna Gousala, Sultanpur road Bavana, 26 participants from Uttarpradesh, Uttaranchal, Himachal,Jammu, Punjab, Hariyana where benefited. The inaugural function was very inspiring and high spirit. Sri Premji Goel blessed the karyakartas on the occasion and Sri Subhas ji Agrawal (Action Group) Sri Satya Narayan Bandhu ji, Sri Naresh Jain, all from BLSP, Sri Gouri Sankar Gupta of Gram Vikas spoke with many other dignitaries present on the day. Indeed it was electric on the field. Sri Srinivas panda Sri Anirudh Dindore, Sri Pradeep Swain Sri Mohan Joshi, and Yudhistir Katoch were the main Trainers in this camp.
The Second Naipunnya varg was held at Bharatia Khust Nivaran Sang Champa (Chattishghar) from 24th to 26th ofSep.--07 with very holy and peaceful atmosphere. Sri Sudhir Dev and SriSridhar Kale were the inspiration for all the 29 delegates from Madhya Pradesh Maha Koshal and Chattishghar. Here too Sri Srinivas panda Sri Anirudh, Sri Pradeep Swain, Sri Mohan Joshi, Sri Viswanath Bogi, Sri Hemant Sinha were guided all the participants.
The third camp held at Dhanbad, Jharia Gousala, from 29, & 30th Sept. and 1st Oct. In the inaugural function Dr. N. M. Das, Dr. Arun Das of BCCL were the main speaker and in the concluding function Sri Hari Ram gupt and Mr. Sharma of BCCL, were the dignitaries on the dais. Altogether 42 Participants from Uttar Assam, Dkshin Assam, Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand, were Trained by Sri Anitudh Dindore, Sri Pradeep swain, Sri Mohan Joshi, Sri Vishnu Bhagat, Sri Visvajit Mahato, Sri Digant Goud,
The fourth camp held at Ratan Lal C Bafna gousala, Jalgoan, Maharastra from 10th to 12th Oct.
Sri Ratan lal Bafna blessed the delegates at one session. 27 participants from Bihar, Gujrat, Maharastra, Andra Pradesh, Tamilnadu were participated. Here too delegates were Trained by Sri Anitudh Dindore, Sri Pradeep swain, Sri Mohan Joshi, Jetti Ramulu, Yesvant Kode.
Prant (Kshetra) Orientation Course at Belgaum
Visit to Gram Vikas Kendras:On 30.09.2007 (Sunday) Sri. Anilkumarji, and Su.Sri.Sudhadidi along with Sri. Suresh Hundre Pr. Ekal Abhiyan and local activists visited grams where Gram Vikas Yojana is implemented under Khanapur (Belgaum) Anchal .
On hearing the sad demise of Nirmala Patil (upasanch pramukh),they visited her house and consoled her family members.
Abhyas Varg:
Abhyas varg for office bearers/members of Ekal Abhiyan, Branch unit Belgaum, Mahila Vibhag and Anchal level ekal vidyalaya yojana karyakartas was held between 10.00 am to 4.30 pm on 30.09.2007 at Belgaum District Productivity Council Hall. More than 50 people participated in the varg.
The Varg began with omkar followed by homage to Nirmala Patil.
In the pre-lunch session Su.Sri. Sudhadidi said that Ekal movement was ‘the Milan of Prathibha (professionalism) and Pasina (Hard work)’ of urban and rural people and explained the finer aspects of Vanayatra and Karyakramas in her lucid style sharing her own experiences at various places.
Every participant was given an opportunity to share his/her views in the feed back session.
In his feed back Sri. Suresh Hundreji suggested that the subjects being new and exhaustive some more such sessions, at varying intervals are welcome. Among other things qualitative improvement in ‘vanayatra concept’ would be taken on high priority.
In his inaugural and concluding speech Sri. Anilkumarji emphasized on ‘Emotional aspects’ of Ekal working and aims. ‘Vishwas Jagaran of tribal/rural youth is a must if the country’s security is to be ensured. Karyakartas in the field need love affection and moral support and patting, a kind of care and concern from the urban brothers and sisters, which go a long way in building their confidence and professional touch in regular functioning.
Ekal Updates - Schools
Ekal updates - Ekal Vidyalaya
Current: Number of Ekal Schools: 23,189 Number of Children: 695,670Upcoming Events
Seminar of Ekal Sansthan
Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of India's R&D Wing - Ekal Sansthan, is going to organize a Seminar - 'Empowerment of Tribal & Rural Bharat', at following venue on 8-9 December, 2007:Chinmaya Mission
89, Lodhi Estate,
New Delhi - 110 003
We hereby invite academicians, educationist, experts in Social and preventive medicine, Experts in RTI and other allied subjects relevant to the activities of the Sansthan and theme of the seminar willing to participates as a speaker, please register your expression of interest: Register Now
Advertisement and sponsorship opportunities are available for advertising on web site, souvenir, venue and literature being published on the occasion. Sponsorship opportunities are available for whole event, kit, lunch hoardings etc. Please register your interest and we shall be pleased to discuss it with you: Register Now
Fore more please visit the website: www.ekalsansthan.org
Ekal Marathon - USA
Next Ekal Marathon is to be held in Houston.
For Houston Ekal Marathon write to Sri Ramesh Shah at his email id - ramesh@ekalvidya.org or call at (281) 933-6169 cc to Smt. Meera Kapur at - meerak@prodigy.net
For more please visit the website: www.ekalmarathon.com
Ekal Global Learning (EGL) Tour 2008
Here is an Ekal Global Learning (EGL) opportunity to participate the great Ekal Movement in a well-known way. This year the EGL Tour is scheduled (as given below) for incredible part of India - North East, where the Life moves at a serene pace. The North-East is India's chief tribal area. It comprises of the 7 states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, which collectively is called 7 Sisters. These beautiful states make for a rich and colourful study for any anthropologist. You are cordially invited to plan your vacation in India along with your relative ones. For more, please write to us at sangitaagupta@gmail.com or contact at - 91-11-09811076073. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Misc
Ekal updates - Arogya:
Current: Number of Arogya Sevikas and Centres: 11,324 |
