Inspired by reciting Patriotic songs in Ekal, Sumit is now an Army Jawan

Sumit Barwal, from Himachal Pradesh, started his education from an Ekal school in Radabhankhed village in Mandi district. In Ekal he used to recite patriotic songs every day, as is the practice in all Ekal schools. From those early days in life, Sumit used to get very excited while he used to recite the patriotic songs. And then he had a vision of joining the army and serving the nation. In May 2015 he got the opportunity and succeeded in getting entry into the army. After training, his first posting was in his home state Himachal Pradesh, at the army headquarters in Dharamshala. Ekal is very proud of Sumit.

Bhoomi Puja for GRC at Hoshangabaad

On 14th March Mahendra Wadi bhoomi puja was conducted for new GRC centre by Shri Ramesh Shah (Chairman - Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of America) in Hoshangabaad Babai Sanch village.

Land donated for GRC

On March 5, for the first GRC center in Hoshangabad, Central India Division, 4 acres of land was donated in Mahendra wadi to Ekal Gramothan Foundation Trust by the family of Shri Sunil Agrawal-Kendriya Pratinidhi, MP. Smt Geeta Devi Agarwal Santoshi, Sri Suresh, Sri Anil Agarwal and Sri Naresh Jain on behalf of the trust were present. The land was donated with the faith that the rural youths from this region and other parts, together, would expand our good culture.
The memories of Pujya Sri Dadaji, established here, will continue to inspire the Ekal family for such good deeds in the future.

Wada GRC visit by Shri Ramesh Shah

• Tailoring Center – In the training center they had 12 tailoring machines and they also propose to have satellite centers to teach more students.
• Computer Lab – Village students surrounding the centre use these labs regularly
• Gau Shala – Cow dung is put on the ground to create vermin compost beds. Few cows are also providing milk
• Newly made pond for water conservation with heavy plastic base – This prevents loss of water to the ground.
• Farming area – Drip technology to farm is used. Multiple crops, fruit trees also planned but water source is a problem
• Ekal on wheels – It has very good impact on the youth in the villages and youth clubs are also planned
• Tablet Project – They had just received the tablets.

Annual conference of Ekal Arogya Prakalp

The first annual conference of Ekal Arogya Prakalp supported by Arogya Foundation of India and HFRI USA was successfully organized by Delhi chapter of AFI on 10^th -11^th, February, 2018 at Jai Ram Ashram, New Delhi. The program was inaugurated by Sri Shyam Gupt, the mentor of Ekal Abhiyan, The conference was attended by delegates & office bearers from all over the country. Sri Avineesh Matta, President AFI welcomed all delegates & guests in this conference.
 All the state committees along with our state coordinators presented their Annual Work Reports (AWR) and highlights of their achievements in two sessions. The quantity and quality of work done by them at the village level through innovative ideas to further improve different programs of AFI at low cost and with locally available resources were highly appreciated. It made all those present feel that the villages can stand on their own feet if proper awareness is created among them.
Dr. Anil Vij showed the Indian version of his Telemedicine software which he has developed. EAP is planning to start the Telemedicine Prakalp in Jharkhand based on his software.
Sri Bajrang Bagra in his scholarly speech explained the concept of Arogya Foundation of India and Ekal Arogya Prakalp and their role and areas of activities respectively. AFI’s role will be to manage the resources for Arogya activities and to keep supervision on the activities and achievements of Ekal Arogya Prakalp while EAP will concentrate on purely technical issues related to health like vision, planning, execution and analysis of different health activities to be done by EAP.
Sri Subhash Gupta, President of Advisory Board of EVF, USA delivered his speech about the role of Arogya in Ekal Abhiyan from EVF, USA perspective.

NHPC supports 100 Ekal Vidyalayas

National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) joined hands with Bharat Lok Shiksha Parishad (BLSP) to provide basic education to the underprivileged children in rural areas in neighbourhood of their project locations. Sh. B P Rao, Chief Engineer (Civil & CSR) desired that the locations of EVs are preferred in the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand, near their project locations.
Shri B P Rao, on behalf of NHPC and Shri Rajiv Aggarwal (CEO – CSR) on behalf of Ekal, signed a MoU for 100 EVs on 15^th March, 2018 at NHPC office, NOIDA

NMDC extends its support for 500 Ekal Vidyalayas

Last month Shri Kailash Bhangdiya of FTS Hyderabad signed MoU with NMDC for 500 schools for 5 years in Badtar, Sukma, Dantewada and Jagdalpur.

Dress distribution by Mahila Samithi Khargone

Mahila Samiti form Khargone visited Mandleshwar Sanch. In the presence of Smt Kiran Agarwal,  Smt Jyoti Agarwal and Smt Sarita Mahajan, dresses were distributed among teachers and karyakarthas.

Tribal Marriage conducted by Shri Hari Satsang Samiti - Surat

On 11th March 2018, 21 couples from 42 villages near Narmada got married in Maharaja Agrasen Bhaven in Surat conducted by Shri Hari Satsang Samiti.
About 500 people attended the marriage from these villages and the event started with lighting the lamp. Chief coordinator Smt Madhavi Hitesh Thakker, Chief Guest Sri Sumith Goyanka and the Guest of Honor Sri Sanjay Saravgi graced the occasion. Every couple was gifted with basic items such as utensils, clothes, food items, Rs. 5,000/- as FD, cupboard and bed to start a happy life. All the brides were gifted with sewing machine each to start self-employment in their own village.

Inspired Adishji increased his support to 60 Ekal Vidyalayas

Many years ago when Sri Adish Jain and Smt Asha Jain had visited Sammed Shikhar Ji on a pilgrimage they were shocked by the extreme poverty around and wanted to help the villagers in the region but did not know how to help them living in USA. They were then introduced to Ekal and adopted 30 tribal villages in Jharkhand around Shikhar Ji with the idea of not only providing education to the children but also to provide means for the villagers to become self-reliant.  Both Sri Ramesh Shah and Sri Bajrang Bagra were very receptive to our idea.
When they visited Shikar Ji on 5^th and 6^th March, they were spell bound on the improvements they saw. The tailoring center was doing well and the young girls and women were wearing dresses stitched by them. Likewise, in Computer training center, young boys and girls were completing their basic training such as typing, Microsoft word and excel.
Through the transformative change in the lives of the children and villagers around Shikhar Ji, they have now decided to adopt 60 villages.

Vanyatra by Shri Umesh Parwal

Shri Umesh Parwal (from Houston US) shared his experience about the vanyatra in Gavalier (MP). He was pleasantly surprised that EKAL is not restricted only to books but is covering Indian culture and ethos. He was all praise for the way kids have learnt and are performing. He donated money to sponsor one Ekal Vidyalaya.

Van Yatra to Sitapur by Dr R B Singh

On 27th March 2018, a special visit to Ekal Vidyalaya in Sitapur, Misrakh, by Dr R B Singh along with Prof Pandey, a member of Ekal family and president of Las Vegas chapter, where they had a chance of meeting all Archaryas, Samiti members and those who had dedicated their full time for Ekal, for Ram Navami. 
They were welcomed by the villagers with grace. Sewing machines were awarded to two trained tailors for opening sewing centers in their village and also examined the ‘Ekal on wheels’ bus. They had a pleasant trip and worshiped Sri Ram Darbara, in the chariot.