Newsletter

Newsletter May 2020

Special Bulletin

Ekal has of late been at forefront of supporting and providing relief to communities in state of any crisis. Be it flood in Kashmir or Kerala, earthquake in Nepal or any local crisis. The challenge thrown by present crisis, Covid 19 Corona  pandemic, is totally different both in nature and in proportion. Whole humanity is overwhelmed and has been meeting the challenge at all levels. For a country of size and diversity of Bharat, it is not possible for Governments alone to overcome the crisis. Social organisations have joined the mammoth efforts of Govt. But most such efforts are localised to cities and Metros leaving countryside largely unattended. Ekal has stood up and assessing the needs of times has embarked upon various remedial measures, from spreading awareness to providing masks and guarding villages. Providing food relief to vast number of people from villages stranded in cities and towns has been another way Ekal has taken up in hand all over county.
This bulletin seeks to keep Ekal family of volunteers and supporters abreast of these efforts based on reliable and verified data collected from ground. I am sure this sharing the information would keep volunteers and supporters encouraged in equal measure besides promoting them to suggest ways and means to improve upon the relief measures further.

Ekal's fight against Covid - 19

Statistical report as on 25th April 2020
  • Food packets distributed (Number of persons) : 224,712
  • Ration (raw materials) packets distributed (Number of families): 75,713
  • Cow feeding: 14,930 cows and two truck loads of fodder
  • Number of volunteers in towns and cities: 39,000
  • Face Masks distributed: 346, 580 (made at 28 skill centres and also at various levels by bhag and anchal samitees) 
  • Village guarding against entrants without quarantining - 89,000 villages
  • Awareness for Corona fighting measures like hygiene, washing hands, distancing, Kadha with local herbs etc - 108,000 villages
  • Number of volunteers in villages: 219,000

Ekal children doing their bit in spreading awareness their own way

Corona awareness in Ekal villages

Food packets distributed by Ekal to the needy

Home remedies to boost immunity

Disinfectant sprayed in Ekal villages

Mask made by Ekal karyakarthas distributed to public, villagers, government staffs, health workers, police, vegetable vendors, old and needy...

Masks being produced in GRC Tailoring Training Centres and by karyakarthas

Masks distributed to Ekal children

Ration distribution

Ekal corona warriors

Media

Ekal's fight against Covid - 19

Statistical report as on 30th April 2020
  • Food packets distributed (Number of persons) : 1,364,763
  • Ration packets distributed (Number of families): 200,885
  • Cow feeding: 41,214 cows
  • Face Masks distributed by Gramothan Skill Centers and by local Samities of Gram Sangthan: 739, 275
  • Prant covered: 26

Distribution of masks by types of beneficiaries:

Corona warriors like Police, health and administration staff: 44%
Masses, inmates of old age homes, small shopkeepers, villagers: 37%
Volunteers of Ekal, teachers, Anganwadi & Asha workers etc: 19%

Vichar Kranti Campaign

A new initiative has been undertaken during the Corona lockdown period termed VICHAR KRANTI. The present organisation structure of Gram Sangthan and Nagar Sangthan has been converged to harness the respective capabilities and commitment, till Ekal resumes its usual activities and for a period beyond that. The newly converged structure seeks to provide support to rural communities, in a war like crisis, in varied manner, such as:
  • Mobilising general masses from villages called Gram Sainiks
  • Spreading awareness about measures to keep safe from the virus, mostly sourced from Government advisories like Health and Ayush, downloading of Arogya Setu, wall writing etc.
  • Guarding villages against new entrants from outside and returning from cities without test and support administration in their quantization coordination of community with various agencies of Administration

Awareness campaigns by Ekal Yuva

- Neha Mittal, Ekal Yuva

Ekal Yuva, the youth wing of Ekal Abhiyan has its primary objective in creating awareness. In the current scenario, with the world facing the Pandemic, Covid-19 and all of us under Lockdown, these are a few campaigns we did:
1. Created easy to understand, graphic posters in Hindi providing instructions for our village folk on how to stay safe from the novel Corona virus. This was circulated to all our Ekal Villages.
2. During the first phase of Lockdown, we circulated motivational quotes on social media along with safety measures to be followed.
3. During the second phase of Lockdown, Ekal Yuva shared videos on learning new skills made by members on topics such as, mask making, cooking, yoga and fitness, using technology to work from home, soft skills, making disinfectants etc.
4. We also made a team to carry on work towards data collection and analysis from various sources on topics provided by Shri Shyamji regarding strategies of prevention and treatment used by various countries.
5. For the benefit of our own members and to maintain the connect amongst each other, we had a few video conferencing sessions on subjects like Finance and economy post-covid, relationships during Lockdown and moral story telling for children.

Just like our seniors, we do hope to mobilise women in cities to start making masks from home.

Paintings by Ekal kids creating awareness in their area

Masks production underway

Nice gesture by Shri Ravi Gupta, Ekal Samithi

Quarantine zone created in Shahgad sanch by Ekal samithi Shri Ravi Gupta (VKP) in Lashya degree college, owned by him, for the people coming back from Delhi Maharashtra Haryana and other states. It was inspected by government workers.
Sambhag - UP
Bhag - Ruhailkhand
Anchal - Puranpur

Ekal is playing a pivotal role in nations safety. Halls or Educational institutions or even temporary huts at village entry point are converted as quarantine house for those entering the village from outside.

Home Remedies to boost immunity

Ekal's fight against Covid - 19

Statistics as of 5th May, 2020:
  • Food packets : 15,24,597 persons
  • Ration packets: 3,02,885 families
  • Cow feeding: 80,496 cows and 17 truck loads of fodder
  • Face masks distributed: 13,92,041 (Tailored at Ekal Gramothan training centers and satellite centers and by regional Samities)
  • Wall writings for awareness: 741 villages
  • Arogya Setu App download: 2,699
  • States covered: 26 

Vichar Kranthi

Support to villagers, stranded in other states
Workers, students, fishermen etc from Ekal villages across India and Nepal were stranded at various places away from their home due to lockdown. The Nagar Sangthan volunteers and regional volunteers of Ekal established links with these people and extended their support. The requests were from Ekal volunteers belonging to various districts of Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha and Bengal besides Nepal. The support  required was two fold, first and immediate was to provide food and secondly to support them in returning to their native places. The network of Ekal institutions spread all over India rose to the occasion and immediate relief was arranged. 
A few examples of such relief arranged are noted here:
1.  Group of 38 workers from Bhagalpur (Bihar) supported in Rajkot (Gujrat)
2. A student from Bihar, supported in NOIDA
3. 7 Fishermen from Odisha supported in Sindhudurg (Maharashtra), Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh
4. Workers from Lohardaga (Jharkhand) supported in Delhi
5. Team of 5 workers from Odisha supported in Mumbai
6. Group of 13 workers from Jharkhand supported in Nellore (Andhra Pradesh)
7. Group of workers from kaimur (Bihar) in supported Mumbai and in Mathura
8. Group of 11 workers from Malda (Bengal) supported in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra
9. Workers from Latur (Jharkhand) supported in Kandivili (Mumbai)
10. Workers from 24 Parganas (Bengal) supported in Chennai and in Maharashtra
11. Workers from Giridih (Jharkhand) supported in Surat
12. Workers from various places of Nepal supported in India

Quarantine facility created by Ekal volunteer

A labour migrating back from Mumbai was checked in makhupura check post and authorities granted permission for him to go home - youth volunteers of Ekal Abhiyan along with their parents made a special provision for him near his house for quarantine with all facility including food water and bath facility - the government authorities when saw the arrangements appreciated Ekal workers for their great work

Quarantine zone in Madhya Pradesh - Guna anchal

Rangoli for creating awareness

Ekal Abhiyan Rajasthan, sambhag Ajmer, sanch Kishangarh, Dhani Vidyalaya gram, acharya creating awareness through rangoli (traditional Indian decoration and patterns with ground rice and colours) in the main streets of the village.

Mumbai samithy gesture during Lockdown

One of Ekal's Anchal gatibidhi pramukh, Shri Debdut Ghosh, was in Mumbai. He could not get food while in Mumbai for treatment for cancer. Mumbai samithies immediately came to his rescue and provided him with food.

Success story

This is the success story of Sunita Kumari, a resident of Silli block, Ranchi, Jharkhand. She started her studies in Ekal Vidyalaya and was a regular student in the beginning. Later when she completed her graduation and cleared Jharkhand Academic Council examination, Sunita took training for nursing, as she wanted to dedicate her education and skills to social service. She is now serving in the MGM Medical College & Hospital, Jamshedpur, as a staff nurse and thanks Ekal for bringing the change in her life through motivation and inspiration.
#EkalAbhiyan #SuccessStory #ChangingLives

Media - Ekal Arogya