Nirmaan Completes 8 Years of Selfless Service

It's on this same day Feb 12th in 2005 at Pilani, with a quest for selfless service to my bothers and sisters in rural areas, I am fortunate to have taken this initiative of setting up an organization called My India which we now call as Nirmaan. The way it was started, the way it was promoted, the kind of culture that was built, the ideals with which we worked, the selfless goals that we had in our minds has made My India a popular and a favorite one for many. With a strong dedication and passion of the team over the last 8 years, Nirmaan has grown multifolds and today Nirmaan is part and parcel of the daily lives of hundreds of Nirmaan soldiers and Nirmaan beneficiaries.

8 years of sustenance and service, a popular platform for many passionate people, hundreds of volunteers, operations at multiple places, around a lakh of beneficiaries, around 10 + full timers, office space, lakhs of rupees spent on projects with minimal administration costs, possession of most essentials such as NGO registration, 80G exemption, FCRA registration, collaborations with Government and corporates are testimonies for what we have achieved in last 8 years. Its the culture of freedom of thoughts and actions, the self sustaining team mechanism, selfless service attitude, team work, passion for the organization which led Nirmaan to achieve this. Its people who are pillars of Nirmaan. Be it a volunteer at Pilani, be it a member of Zuari team at Goa, be it a member of SAP at Bangalore or be it the president of Nirmaan at Hyderabad, everybody's efforts counted and resulted in what we were able to achieve. But how much ever we achieve in terms of service to people, its always less. We need to achieve more and more not for our sake but for the sake of people. This is the ideal which we all stand for.

WE HAVE ONLY ONE PASSION

THE RISE OF A GREAT NATION

15 Effective Ways to Tackle Corruption

It's an inspiring documentary that I watched today on the way Subash Chandra Bose and his Azad Hind Fouz who sacrificed their lives in the struggle for freedom and in the struggle to see a glorious which makes to write this post. The freedom fighters dreamt of a nation which is self governed and which fulfills the wishes of people. Yes, with the sacrifice of great leaders like Bose, Bhagath Singh, Gandhi, we are able to achieve freedom and we are able to govern ourselves. But if we ask ourselves the question whether the wishes of the people are fulfilled. We cannot confidently say YES. And this  is mostly because of the rampant corruption that prevails in our society. Recently I attended an elocution competition that was organized by a high school on a topic "The Enemies of Our Nation". Out of the 15 speakers, at least 12 out of them said corruption is our first enemy. The rest said terrorism. That speaks a volume about the the way corruption is haunting common people.

The India against corruption movement led by Annaji has given an excellent opportunity for India to thoroughly discuss this pestering problem and lay down concrete steps to tackle corruption. The movement was very successful but only to the extent of bringing corruption issue to the center stage. But unfortunately the movement got so much obsessed with Lokpal that the whole nation got dragged into Lokpal debate as if that alone will solve our problem. We lost an opportunity to debate on several steps that can lead us to a corrupt free India. It's important that the common people and the nation debate the ways in which we can get rid of corruption over a period of time. Obviously, its neither politicians nor the Government officers who are the root causes of corruption. It's we the common people who are the root cause. For our convenience, for our comfort, for our hastiness we offer money and it just starts there. Only with our awareness and participation, Government can tackle corruption.

Here are the 15 ways which I think are effective means of tackling corruption:

1. Making strict laws and enforcing them strictly: Make strict laws addressing the loop holes which can put the corrupt to harsh punishments and strictly enforce the laws without any tolerance just like the way US or China does it so that people get scared of getting involved in any kind of malpractice.

2. Speedy Justice: Speed up the justice process so that corrupt cannot game the system anymore.

3. Large scale application of Science and Technology: Large scale application of science and technology can be of great help in detecting misuse and malpractices of corrupt people by its ultra modern devices and advanced gadgets such as CCTV cameras, spy cameras, satellite detectors, lie detectors etc.

4. Relax Taxation and mark up the salaries of public servants to the market: Heavy taxation by the Government on both the individuals and corporates and giving unreasonably low salaries for competent public servants, government employees is forcing lot of good people to get corrupt. Government should review this and relax taxation and give reasonable salaries.

5. Avoid redundant documentations and procedures for common man: Asking the common man for unreasonable and redundant documentation by the government offices forces the common people to offer bribe and get out of the hassles. Asking employees to submit medical bills to get medical allowance of 15k is the finest examples. Why not just give 10k or 12k to every employee as medical allowance which is free of tax? Why to force them to get fake bills? 

6. Promoting e- Governance and e-banking on a large scale: Computerize the governance and banking for common people as much as possible. Applying for any kind of certificate from the government, for any kind of benefit from any Government policy should be made online. Benefit distribution should be made online as much as possible. Gujarat is a role model for e-governance. We can get our learnings from Gujarat. Cash transfer in certain schemes is a good beginning in this direction.

7. Active citizen ship: Citizens continuously putting the government under pressure for better laws, for stricter enforcement of laws, for transparency and accountability in the conduct of Governments, public servants, business houses can help in a big way to put the system on track.

8. Compliant Box System: Introduce a compliant box system where the citizens can drop in their complaints anonymously which would be tracked, enquired and reported by an independent agency

9. State funding of elections: Government should fund the election expenses of all contesting candidates of atleast the top 10 recognised political parties. This would help in not forcing the public representatives to grab money from government programs to fund their election expenses.

10. Remove limits on raising funds for political parties: Putting unreasonable and impractical limits on raising funds by political parties is encouraging political parties to get involved in huge scams. Removing the limits, having some reasonable limits and then stringently asking the political parties for disclosing their accounts can bring a change in the way political parties raise funds.

11. National parties to voluntarily reject giving tickets till the accused is free from charges: National parties like Congress, BJP, CPI, CPM etc. should voluntarily reject tickets to the accused till they come clean and stand as example for regional parties to follow them. Communists are usually a lot better in this case. Other parties have to follow them.

12. Incentivise and encourage unanimous elections in local bodies: Give good incentives and encourage the local bodies as much as possible so that the public representatives like surpanch, MPTC, ZPTC, Cooperative society members etc are unanimously elected without elections. This will bring out the best possible workers, politicians who can take everyone along with them and provide good governance.

13. Promote Moral Values and ethics through better education system: Education system focusing on promoting moral values, ethics and law abiding behavior from childhood stage can possibly bring a great change in mindset of the people.

14. Role of teachers and parents: It's mostly teachers and parents who mould our personalities. Parents and teachers should play a key role in tackling corruption. They should be role models for children in terms of good conduct and they should teach the children the importance of maintaining high moral standards for themselves and for the society.

15. Promote spirituality: Spiritual perspective always makes us evaluate our actions whether they are good or bad. It creates a sense of responsibility and  loyalty for doing good and being good. The government in particular and society in general has to promote spirituality consciously.

Let's remember the fact the corruption is so rampant in our country that it can't be eradicated in a day or in an year. But it can definitely be tackled slowly to gradually eradicate it by following certain logical steps both by the government and the citizens.  

Arise Awake and Stop not till the Goal is reached.

Yes, he can do it for us!

Following are few excerpts from Modi’s speech at Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University:

• Let’s focus on “Skills, Scale and Speed”  to make India a global power
• P2 G2: Prop People - Good Governance is what I believe in
• Legislation shouldn’t be reactive to the problems. Legislative should be forward looking.
• It should aim at visualizing situations and creating a conducive environment by crafting innovative strategies.
• Government has no business to do business. Minimum Government Maximum Governance is needed.
• Let us make “Made in India” a global brand
• Usually there are two ways in which people view a glass half filled with water. 1. Half empty, 2. Half filled, But, I see it in a 3^rd way – The glass is filled, half with water and half filled with air
• Labs to land, Farm to Fibre, Fibre to Factory and Factory to Fashion is my textile policy which benefits my farming community
• Development is solution for every problem in our country
• Country is spoiled by vote bank politics. Developmental politics alone can bring a change in the country.
• Don’t see youth as new age voters. Let’s see them as a new age power who can help India realize the glory Vivekananda has envisioned.
• I see two main challenges before the nation: To utilize the best possible opportunity of being a nation the most number young people in the world people, To utilize the enormous natural resources that the country has. We need to tackle this to see a nation of our dreams.
• The world needs millions of teachers. We export everything. Why not teachers? Let’s export teachers to the whole world. A business man doing business abroad captures wealth but a teacher can address several issues.

Friends, I am sure that this is one of best speeches that we can hear in our life time from our leaders. The speech made by Modi at SRCC is sufficient enough to say why India desperately needs Modi to tackle all the main challenges before us and to emerge as super power. He has a clear vision, he has clarity in his ideas, he understands the pulse of the people, he can inspire them for the cause and he is someone who can face the challenges. No other leader in contemporary politics possesses such qualities. A time has come when the political parties and people at large to keep all the politics aside and for once unite to choose a leader with such qualities. He can do wonders. He did it in Gujarat and he can do it in the whole of the country. He can create an India of our choice.

Modi, the Only and the Best Choice for an Aspirational India

India is more aspirational than ever before in its history. People in the country want to lead a better quality of life, want to become more educated, want to get rid of casteism and social inequalities, want to become more technologically advanced, want to become more prosperous, want to be more secure, want to have proper systems in place and want to be more proud of being part of this nation.

A farmer wants better irrigation facilities. He wants sufficient power supply for his water pumps. He wants quality seeds for his produce to go up, better market opportunities for his income to go up. The poor want to meet at least the basic amenities. They want more opportunities for their welfare. A Government school student wants better facilities in her school, sufficient number of teachers to teach the subjects, she wants better opportunities for higher learning. A scientist wants better opportunities for research. An unemployed wants employment opportunities. A corporate employee wants more growth opportunities for him. A business man wants better infrastructure in place for him to grow his business. He wants better policies which can aid his business. Citizens want corrupt free systems in place. They want their rights to be exercised freely. And not just that. People in the country are not only aspiring for better living standards, better opportunities and better facilities but people are also aspiring for their country to be in a powerful position on a global stage.

Friends, these are the aspirations of people in this new era. In a democratic country, Its the aspiration of people that drive the country forward. Democracy will be highly successful in terms of taking the country towards their dreams when people not only know what they want but also when they make a right assessment on who can take the country close to that of their dreams. Fortunately or unfortunately, currently our country is in a situation which can be rightly described as "Either Now or Never" because of several reasons like the global political, economic and demographic conditions that we live in. Either we prove ourselves now or we can never prove ourselves. 

 It's high time that we evolve ourselves into a much more matured democracy by choosing a leader who not only lives in his own ideology but also understands the aspirations of the people, who not only mechanically runs the Government but show the countrymen a vision for the country, who not only talks but also acts and delivers, who not only points out the problems but who also provide solutions, who not only expresses grief over the brutality at borders but also who can be bold enough to teach a lesson at borders and more importantly the one who can be highly decisive in nature. Then alone we can achieve an India that we all aspire for. Then alone our dreams can be realized.

As a voter, if we look for a leader who possess the qualities that I described, the best and the only choice available for the country is Modi. Media channels say that Modi is the best choice and the only choice available for BJP. But I would slightly disagree with the media and say that Modi is the only choice and the best choice available for the country. Who else can match his extraordinary leadership qualities at the national level? Who else possess such a proven track record in governance? Who else has such an impeccable corrupt free record in public life? Who has else has such a popularity among people inspite of such a huge negative propaganda driven by the Congress sponsored and the foreign sponsored English Media?

When all the political parties in Andhra are competing with each other by promising that they can give 7 hours power, 9 hours power every day to the farmers if they come to the power, Modi has given 24 hours to everyone in Gujarat way back in 2008. When political parties promise TVs for free and fans for free in their manifestos, he promises that he will provide wifi everywhere in Gujarat in his manifesto. When all the other states are talking about a minimum price for framers produce, Modi makes a record by recording double digit agricultural GDP in his state. When national GDP is around 6%, he records double of it in his state. While we see several cabinet ministers from central Government moving to jail one after other for their involvement in massive corruption, Modi is winning several awards from the same central Government for providing a corrupt free Government in his state. When all other states gives free power, free land, free water etc for corporates to set up their offices in their states, he says he will charge more but will create a conducive environment for business. While most leaders appease a certain caste or a certain region or a certain religion for vote bank politics, Modi again and again says "appeasement for none and justice for all" is his policy. While most of his competitors talk about their grand fathers, their grand mothers achievements for getting votes, Modi speaks about his Government achievements for votes.

One can clearly observe the difference that Modi has in his attitude towards politics and in his delivery style for the people when compared to the rest of the leaders. Well, as we all know that when we talk of Modi, the English Media and his detractors try their best to undermine all his good work and they are just interested in saying only one point, that Modi is communal. They have been doing this false prpoganda on a huge scale from last 10 years. But have they proved him being guilty? Have the courts made any statement stating that he is involved in riots? Is there any single FIR filed against him? No. Nothing. Then how justified are they in leading this false campaign? How long will they do this? They may think that a false becomes true if they chant it a numerous times. People in Gujarat have never accepted this. They have rejected this bogus campaign and accepted Modi's good governance for the third time in a row.

Gujarat has set an example before the country that an effective leader through his Governance can alter the things so unimaginably that even the prestigious TIME magazine publishes about him on its cover page. I think now the country needs to follow Gujarat's example and give a chance to Modi to lead the country. We are no more in an era of Lalu's and Shibu Soren's to just fall into their trap of caste politics or minority vote bank based politics. It's time for us to get away from the traditional caste based, heridatory based useless politics. We need to move into a delivery based politics that Modi is practicing day in and day out in Gujarat. Friends, I would go to the extent of saying that Modi is the pioneer of the phrase "Good Governance" in this country. It's Modi's governance which brought this phrase "Good Governance" into limelight, into the center stage of politics. Prior to Modi, have we ever heard of this in politics. Politics and elections were all about castes, all about money, all about welfare schemes. Modi has changed this and gave a new direction to politics through his governance. I hope the countrymen cutting across the political parties, regions and religions unite to give a chance to Modi in 2014 to take our country to that of our dreams and aspirations.

                                                                          JAI HIND

Republic Day, Isn't Just Another Holiday For Us

Friends, Independence Day and Republic Day are the two most important days for all of us. We grow up from our childhood by celebrating these two days with a great feeling of being an Indian and living as an Indian. I still remember those days where we as kids used to wake up early in the morning at 5 AM, take bath and get ready by 7 AM, apply Tilak on the forehead and go to the school with a great enthu. Going to the school without carrying schoolbag on our shoulders on these days used to make these days much more joyous :)  As soon as we enter the school gates, we used to pin the Tricolored flag to our shirt pocket and that moment and that inner feeling we experience when we pin the flag is something that cannot be expressed in words. One can only experience that but not experiment to put it in words.

That experience was so special that we didn’t want to miss that feeling even while at college. We continued that tradition of wearing flags in C lawns at BITS from 2006 onwards through Nirmaan. While there are always few tech geeks who play computer games throughout the night and sleep during flag hoisting time in the hostel rooms but there used to be a good number of people who religiously used to take part in flag hoisting ceremony. I remember that after we started launching a massive campaign for increasing attendance for flag hoisting, the attendance has gone up drastically.  I always proudly claim that is one best thing that I have done at BITS :)

After coming out of BITS, I started celebrating these two days with school children at nearby Government schools where we work as a part of our school adoption program. This tradition still continues in Nirmaan. Nirmaan volunteers across different places take part in republic day and Independence Day celebrations in a large number along with their friends and colleagues. As I write this blog, am sure at least a 100 or 150 members of our Nirmaan army might be participating in 10 to 15 different schools creating a great sense of patriotism among the kids in those schools.

From last few years, it’s almost become a tradition that every year I travel to my village for August 15^th to take part in Independence Day celebrations. As a part of it, we conduct a huge rally in our village with school children shouting patriotic slogans and singing patriotic songs to create that feeling of being part of this great nation. Then we assemble at Government School ground and conduct a meeting where we talk about what the day means for us from a practical stand point. Following that, as a personal contribution, I distribute “Dr Abdul Kalam Grama Ratna award” for best performing student of the village choosing students from nearby villages. I also give away Dr Abdul Kalam Merit Scholarships to the top three best performers in each class of our Government school. I started this initiative few years back to identify and encourage the merit students in rural areas and to show them as examples or role models for the rest of the students to follow those awardees in terms of doing well in studies.

This time I neither took part in celebrations at my village nor at Bangalore. Rather I have celebrated the Republic Day here in US with our Indians who have either settled here or who are going to work from here for few years. Celebrations here in no means are so less important. People may not hoist flags here the way we do in India but the Indians over here have that great feel of Republic Day on 26^th Jan. In fact when we are outside India, we actually realize what India stands for and why our country is so great for all of us. On this important occasion, around a 15 of us who are staying in nearby places of San Francisco came together on a purpose of discussing ways in which we can contribute back to the deserving people in India. It was a great feeling for all of us to meet after a long time.

After we were all done with our personal conversations over the awesome lunch in an Indian restaurant called Dosa Bawarchi, we moved to the nearby Cisco office and quickly jumped into our serious discussions on how we will contribute back to people in India through Nirmaan. First I presented about Nirmaan and its activities and then we discussed not only the ways by which the team here can support the projects in India but also run the projects in India. Everybody gave inputs on how we can gather people staying here in California, organize events and activities and convert the team into a full-fledged chapter supporting the projects in India in a big way. We have also agreed on the point that the US team would act as ambassadors for Nirmaan in abroad especially in setting up partnerships with TANA, ATA and other Indian associations here in US. I could see the passion and enthu among the participants to sincerely take part in activities that could help people in India. I am confident that this passion and enthu would take this initiative a long way in terms of meeting the objectives of this meet. Singing Jana Gana Mana together in US on the eve of Republic Day has made the day so special. Thanks for everyone coming in and making the meet a great success.

 

Overall, it was a great feeling today. We met on a great purpose. Republic Day is not meant to be just another holiday. This day should remind us that it’s our collective responsibility to ensure that the oppressed, disabled people and people belonging to financially backward classes are accessible for opportunities be it educational or employment or basic amenities. We need to do whatever is needed for that.

Friends, this event of Republic day is a culmination of our people’s long suppressed aspiration for freedom and for self-governance. Let’s pay our homage to all the martyrs of the Freedom Struggle. Let’s bow our heads before Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and all other great leaders who led from the forefront for the aspiration of crores of Indians. Let the glorious legacy of our freedom struggle continue to guide us in the making of India into a Global supreme power. On this day, let us salute our soldiers, jawans of paramilitary forces who laid down their lives in protecting our republic at borders in all adverse conditions.

Let our commitment towards the principles of secularism, social justice and non-violence remain firm as ever. Let us rededicate ourselves to the noble principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity on which the Republic of India was founded.

Jai Hind

Swami Vivekananda, The Role Model and The Revolutionary Inspiration

Friends, Jan 12th occupies an important place in our Indian calendar. If there is one date which has become as significant as Jan 26th or Aug 15th or Oct 2nd for the people of India, it's Jan 12th. Over the last few years, Jan 12th is being celebrated as the National Youth Day in a grand way across the country, not just in cities but even in in the interior parts of the country. As the youth population in this country is growing, Jan 12th is becoming more and more relevant and more prominent.

Jan 12th of this year becomes even more special as the country is celebrating the 150th Jayanthi of the greatest patriot of this country, the great philosopher, the revolutionary saint, the intellectual, the leader of leaders, a strong inspiration for many movements and for many achievers, and the role model of the Indian Youth , Swami Vivekananda. If the country remembers Swami Vivekananda so much and If the country talks so much about him, I am sure that there should be something great about his contribution and his message which makes the countrymen his ardent followers.

 As someone who is one such ardent follower of Swami Vivekananda, If I am asked to summarize his contributions and his message to youth, I would summarize it in the following way:

 1. Swami Vivekananda through his deep understanding of India, Indian values and ethics and India's contribution to the world and humanity conquered the whole world through his historical Chicago speech at world's Parliament of Religions and made the whole world know what India stands for and brought a great pride for our mother land.

2. Swami Vivekananda awakened the countrymen from the ignorance with his strong magical oratory and inspired them to fight for relieving the mother India from the colonial rule and gave birth to the extraordinary fighting spirit of great leaders like Subash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh etc.

3. Swamiji through his conviction and his imagination power asked Indians to put the 3 crore Gods whom we pray aside and asked them to start serving the Maa Bharath for 50th years and exactly after years India became Independent.

4. It's Swami Vivekananda for the first time in the history of colonial India who strongly opposed untouchability and slavery as a human crime and said one who practice untouchability is not a true Hindu.

5. Vivekananda gave a new definition to religion and spirituality. He said religion is nothing but being Good and doing Good. He asked us to see Lord Shiva in a poor man and asked us to serve the poor man rather than spending huge amounts and time in rituals.

 6. Swamiji simplified and brought back the teachings of Vendanta and Upanishads to the common people through his simpler wordings and interesting illustrations. His explanation of Advaita Philosophy, that God is present everywhere both in you, me and everyone else and that one can manifest the Godliness only through a principled life has become an eye opener for many.

7. Swami Vivekananda emphasized the importance of science and education for Indians and advised Tata to invest in science and scientific research and Tata followed his advised and built Indian Institute of Science (IISc), which later on became the No 1 Science Institution of India.

8. Vivekananda initiated Rama Krishna Mission at Calcutta and dedicated the mission for the service of humanity which later on became a Pan Indian organization with extra ordinary service for human excellence and inspired lakhs of people to dedicate their lives for the country through its teachings and through its service.

9. Swami Vivekananda extensively promoted the idea that God is one and he can reached by different paths and he strongly opposed the conversions in the name of God to prove the superiority of religions and advised the religious organizations to channelize their efforts in making a Christian a better Christian, a Muslim a better Muslim and a Hindu and better Hindu rather than converting people from one religion to other religion.

10. Swami Vivekananda openly opposed the materialistic elements of western culture and while touring in Europe, he warned Europeans of their materialistic aspirations and said the Europe would collapse because of their quest for materialistic aspirations and Europe collapsed with two world wars.

11. Swamiji emphasized the women empowerment for the empowerment of society and encouraged women education. He inspired and encouraged Sister Nivedita to work for the empowerment of women and their education.

12. Swamiji asked the youth to channelise their complete energy towards their goals and asked them to reject anything weak as poison and emphasized the point that strength is life and with strength, they can win the whole world.

The above mentioned are some of the major milestones of Swamijis Life, his invaluable contributions and deeds for the country. His life itself is a great massage for all of us, his contributions are great pointers for what as a country we need to do, his remembrance itself is a great source of energy for all Indians. And that is the reason why we all are celebrating Jan 12th, Swami Vivekananda Jayanthi across the country in a grand way. My blog is my personal tribute on the occasion of 150th Jayanthi for what this great saint has contributed to the country and to me personally. If I am what I am today, If my thoughts are what they are today, it’s primarily because of the massive influence of Swami Vivekananda's ideology on my personality which I am very proud of. And It is true for many of us. And that's the reason why we call him "The Real Role Model and a True Revolutionary Inspiration".

Nirmaan Scholarship, a Navigator of Dreams

Most often, the best solutions emerge out of the worst experiences of a problem and Nirmaan Scholarship and Mentorship Program (NSMP) is one such solutions emerged from a painful experience. Friends, getting an admission at BITS Pilani was my dream as it was and is for many of us. Fortunately, I got an admission at Pilani in 2002 and I was asked to pay Rs 17,500 Semester tuition  fee and Rs 10,000 for admission fee along with another Rs 5,000 for mess advance to get an admission.

Rs 32,500 was a big amount for us at that time. It was the time when the drought for consecutive years has pushed the farming community into the mire of debts. It wasn't obviously affordable for my parents to gather such a big amount to get me an admission ay Pilani but in spite of all that, they have unturned every stone to make it happen. But they couldn't succeed. I approached most of the banks in my nearby locality and explained my case and requested for loans but they had nothing to offer me except their sympathies as we don't possess any lands or buildings or other assets in cities which we can offer them as a guarantee for the loan. We almost lost hopes that I would even see the gates of BITS and It's during that difficult time, one of our villagers named Venkataiah one of the close friends of my father understood our difficulties and my aspirations and whom I regard as my God, sold his own land and gave me Rs 28,000 because of which today I am writing this post today. He was not a well educated person. He also doesn't understand what an admission at BITS mean but what he understood was my aspiration to get good education and succeed in life. He was not even a rich person to do any philanthropy for us but he had that kind heart with which he sold an acre out of the three acres of land he had and helped me travel long miles from there.

It's that suffering that I have gone through when I had my ambitions but I didnt have enough money to even think of it and its that experience of how a kind heart of Venkataiah could help us realize my dreams compelled me to initiate a program like Nirmaan Scholarship and Mentorship Program to help the students like me who are in need of financial assistance to pursue the studies that they dream of. From day one when we started Nirmaan, It was a dream to make such an initiative which can help students who are meritorious but do not have sufficient money to pursue the studies that they dream for. And with God's grace, In 2008 we launched this program by providing scholarship of Rs 8,000 each to 8 students. From then onwards, the program has grown exponentially and this year we were able to provide 63 scholarships of Rs 10,000 each. In total, till date we were able to award around 180 scholarships with approximately Rs 17 Lakhs. 

               

Once a student is selected through a merit cum need basis for the scholarship, Nirmaan provides scholarship to the student till the completion of his/her studies. As a part of NSMP, we not only provide financial assistance but we also provide mentorship by which we try to impart skills that are required to succeed in placement interviews and in life. We conduct one skill building session every year for all the scholars and we also assign each student a person from the corporate world as a mentor who will be constantly in contact with students and mentor them. Around 25 students who received Nirmaan scholarship have graduated till now and out of them around 90% of the students are placed and are currently working for prestigious MNCs like Infosys, Wipro, TCs etc. The best success for the program was felt when some of the Nirmaan scholars after their graduation approached us and came forward to contribute back to the program to help the students like them.

The program has been so successful in terms of meeting its objective primarily because of the generous contributions from the donors and secondly because of the passion and the dedication of people like Varun, Naresh, Puch, Mayur, Sridhar, Tejaswini and many other dedicated soldiers of Nirmaan in the past. And currently the project is led by a new passionate team comprising of Chethan, Rajesh, Ravindar, Naresh, Rudra Verma, Sagar, Sharath, Meena and many other volunteers who want to direct the program to a level where it can help more and more number of students with diverse needs and to realize their dreams through both financial support and through mentorship.

I am sure that the NSMP team can succeed in its efforts only with a greater participation and generous contributions from people around us. After going through this blog post, I am sure you would be compelled to take part in NSMP and would like to know ways to do so. The two major ways in which you take part in program are: 1. Monetary contributions for the scholarships. 2. Be in regular contact with one of our scholars and mentor him/her. Why to wait then? Please contact either me at rakesh.anugula@gmail.com, +91-9686036488 or Chethan at murarichethan@gmail.com, +91-9731821003 to take part in this noble cause.

      SPONSOR A SCHOLARSHIP, SHAPE A STUDENT'S FUTURE

Educate is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

Let Society be a Part and Parcel of Our New Year Resolutions

If there is something in this world that keeps moving all the time, that is nothing else but TIME. As we grow, we see old years passing by and new years coming into our lives. And it's always our hope and wish that new year brings us happiness, peace and prosperity. This is what almost everybody believes in. What we sometimes fail to understand is one cannot live a peaceful and a happy live unless the society around us is happy and peaceful. As human beings we are social and hence the society determines standards of our lives to some extent or the other.

Along with the personal goals and wishes that everyone likes to aim for in a new year, unless one takes up resolutions that makes society and the nation a part and parcel of their resolutions and goals, the years keep passing, and our hope of peace and happiness remain as a hope and nothing changes except the mere numeric year. I am sure we all do not want 2013 to be a mere numeric year for us in our lives but we want 2013 as an year that brings a changes in our lives. And as I said, the real happiness can be experienced only when the whole society around us experiences happiness. Let's resolve to undertake the following in 2013:

1. I will spend time and resources for serving the poor, downtrodden, old and those handicapped by physical and mental challenges to what ever least extent that I am capable of.
2. I will cast my vote in every election that comes in my constituency be it local, state or national elections.
3. I will not go by what media says but I will consider what media says and go by my own judgement and come to an opinion on any issue.
4. I will not get involved in any kind of corruption that is possible either as a giver or a taker
5. I will respect all the fellow beings and women as our family members and strengthen India's culture of treating everyone as a part of our own family. "Vasudaiva kutumbakam"
6. I will execute all my fundamental duties such as paying taxes, keeping my surroundings clean and neat, protecting public property etc.
7. I will stand up and question any Government authority when I find them not doing their job or when they behave carelessly with the citizens.
8. I will do my bit in protecting our Indian culture, arts and folk which we are proud of and which makes us very unique in the world and I will strongly protest the westernization of our culture.
9. I will keep reading good literature of at least 1 to 2 pages everyday and learn and live by the good thoughts and values
10. I will live by the attitude of "Nation First and Self Last"

I am sure that the above 10 things are not sufficient enough to make our society a very happy and prosperous one but I am sure you would agree with me that if all of us can follow at least the above mentioned ones, we can see 2013 as an year of Change.

Be the change that you wish to see in the world. - Mahatma Gandhi