Trust built on vision

The Aravind eyecare organisation, which does 1,000 surgeries and 6,000 consultations every day, was inspired by the MacDonald’s model of efficiency and affordability.

After coping with myopia (near-sightedness) from the age of 7, I grew more than a little careless because my eyes didn’t seem to be getting any worse after years of heavy computer use. In my 40s, however, I needed an additional pair of reading glasses. Then things started going wrong. That was when I encountered Aravind, the world’s largest eyecare service provider -- in terms of surgical volume and number of patients treated. Aravind is a trust situated in the heart of Madurai, Tamil Nadu.

What is unusual about Aravind is the manner in which it was set up and how it grew. And the model it follows to keep healthcare within reach of almost everyone. It remains a mystery as to why Aravind’s efforts are well known to the outside world but barely acknowledged in India. Indeed, there is more information on Aravind on the Stanford networks and inspirational TED talks than there are articles in the Indian media.

Madurai, known as the temple city, is also said to be the oldest inhabited city on the Indian peninsula. This city of 1.2 million people is the second largest city in Tamil Nadu. And it draws eye patients from all over India thanks to the dream of a retired doctor.

* * *

It was just past 6 am when an enthusiastic rickshaw driver dropped me at the hospital where patients were already beginning to queue up. In the clean, orderly reception area -- there is a crowd, but no pushing -- a notice board spells out the hospital’s mission: ‘To eliminate needless blindness’.

By the time I left Aravind, after eating a Rs 20 simple rice plate, I was impressed by a number of things including the efficiency, scalability, respect with which the hospital treats its patients (even the poorest), and above all, the organisation’s logic and deep insight into how to make things work in a resource-poor, talent-rich country.

If only other non-profits and trusts were like Aravind, there would be serious hope for change in our country. No longer would the business of doing good simply mean tiny, well-funded projects with insignificant impact and lack of scalability.

* * *

Aravind calls itself “the largest and most productive eyecare facility in the world, in terms of surgical volume and number of patients treated”. Besides its hospitals, it has a manufacturing centre for ophthalmic products, an international research foundation and a resource and training centre “that is revolutionising hundreds of eyecare programmes across the developing world”. Aravind says its focus is to reach people who need eyecare but don’t seek it as many live far from a doctor, or treatment is too costly.

Aravind’s figures are impressive: “From April 2006 to March 2007, including the work done in the managed eye hospitals, over 2.3 million outpatients were treated, and over 270,444 surgeries were performed.” (Source: http://www.aravind.org/)

These are phenomenal numbers given the small network of hospitals (in Madurai, Theni, Tiruneleveli, Coimbatore and Pondicherry, and three ‘managing’ hospitals including one in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, and Kolkata). Aravind started out as an 11-bed hospital in 1978!

Without any sense of false pride, Aravind’s leadership team member Thulasiraj Ravilla (59) says in a TED talk: “I’ve come here to share with you an experiment, of how to get rid of one form of human suffering.” Ravilla is executive director of the Lions Aravind Institute of Community Ophthalmology. (See the talk here: http://tiny.cc/aravind61)

The video explains “what it means to be blind” by letting a Tamil-speaking village woman talk of her plight. Consider the figures: one in five Indians (a staggering 200 million) would need eyecare. Today, Aravind reaches about 5% of this figure, with 4,000 beds in five hospitals, 33 primary eyecare centres, and its managed eye hospitals.

On a typical day, they do about 1,000 surgeries, see 6,000 out-patients, hold five or six outreach camps, and offer 500 “telemedicine” consultations, apart from training doctors.

The inspiration to do all this every day, “and to do it well”, comes from Aravind’s founder, Dr Govindappa Venkataswamy (Dr V). Born in 1918 in a small village, Venkataswamy got a medical degree in 1944 and joined the Indian Army Medical Corps. But he was forced to retire in 1948 after severe rheumatoid arthritis left his fingers crippled.

This changed the course of his life. Venkataswamy continued in ophthalmology, training himself to hold a scalpel and to perform cataract surgery. He conducted an estimated 1 lakh successful eye surgeries.

Journalists who met him a short while before he passed away, were surprised to learn that Aravind’s eyecare model was inspired by MacDonald’s. Venkataswamy wanted to offer eyecare with the same efficiency as MacDonald’s, and build a “franchisee model” that would continue to grow.

At the OPD, everyone is treated with dignity and respect. And the charge is a mere Rs 50, except when additional tests are required.

Aravind’a reputation comes, apparently, from some smart thinking. It works to minimise downtime. Physician time is maximised by focusing on judgement-oriented activities, leaving other tasks to specially-trained “ophthalmic technicians”.

These technicians are young women who have passed high school and have undergone a detailed two-year training course in ophthalmic techniques. Four to five of these girls support each doctor, taking some of the pressure off the doctor. The ones I encountered at Madurai were capable and smart enough to run the patients’ arrival centre, taking rudimentary eye tests and preparing patients to be checked by doctors, etc.

“My eyes have been dilated,” I told the young lady who was peering into my pupils with a torch. “They’re only semi-dilated,” she replied politely but firmly putting a couple more drops into them.

Aravind’s global reputation also comes from software-assisted formal outcome monitoring, improvement programmes -- what it calls “standardisation without stifling innovation”, and collaboration and exchange programmes.
(See this audio interview http://sic.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/)

What’s important is that the organisation believes its work can be replicated in other eyecare ventures, and beyond. Oddly, there wasn’t “any plan to become what we are”. But vision and orientation played a crucial role. Together with caring for the needy, there is a private practice component that helps generate revenue. Free eye camps for the poor though have been operational right from the start.

Aravind has always tried to live within its means. This has made them cost-conscious and “very efficient in what we do”; something most non-profits and NGOs can learn a lot from. Every activity has been put through a sustainability test.

Online interviews call this “compassionate capitalism”. Others see it as socialism in action -- you pay what you can afford, and get the treatment you need. Nobody is forced to pay, though those who pay get better facilities and private rooms. The treatment remains the same.

Aravind has made real attempts to reach out to people who can’t afford to come to them; those not yet “part of the market”. They have worked with Lions and Rotary clubs, churches and temples, to extend their reach to villages.

As Ravilla says in interviews, they quickly realised that ‘free’ eye camps weren’t really free at all. Unless a really poor person gets his transportation costs to the hospital, food whilst under treatment, and medication for the post-operation period, he still will not be able to afford the so-called ‘free’ treatment.

Entry costs at Aravind are low; the consulting fee is just Rs 50. And that could last for three visits or three months! Costly equipment too is kept in use for much of the day, allowing them to earn and also finance their expansion.

Doctors, operating theatres and high-end equipment are never kept idle. Though I didn’t experience it myself, in the operating theatre a doctor has two operating tables ready for him, saving on time between operations.

Another small miracle is how Aravind manages to lower the cost of ophthalmic equipment by taking up some of the production in India. Aurolab (http://www.aurolab.com), the manufacturing division of Aravind Eye Hospital, offers ophthalmic consumables at affordable prices to other developing countries. Since 1992, Aurolab has supplied more than 7 million lenses to its customers in India and over 120 countries worldwide. Established in 1992, Aurolab has set up manufacturing facilities to produce intra-ocular lenses (IOLs), suture needles, pharmaceuticals, spectacle lenses and hearing aids.

Outcomes are monitored carefully and every attempt is made at standardisation. Collaborations with global institutions help.

Aravind has shown that being not-for-profit and being a trust does not mean one has to be small!

By Frederick Noronha a Goa-based writer.

Source:http://infochangeindia.org/201012248651/Health/Stories-of-change/Trust-built-on-vision.html

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Speak up, speak out

As the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan completes over 20 years, a story of the songs and street plays created by the people’s movement to demand accountable governance, confront administrations and inspire communities.

It is late-afternoon. There are sounds of marching from the white, single-storey building of Barefoot College in village Tilonia in Ajmer district of Rajasthan. In a dimly-lit room, a group of 10 men dressed casually in dhoti-kurtas and traditional local tie-and-dye turbans, march like a military squad, pause to ask a question, and then march on – “It is not my wages being cut, why should I bother? It is not my hut that is the house they set on fire, how does it matter?”

They go on till the one marching with triumphant indifference at the front looks back to realise that everything happening to those around him has become his fate as well, and the corollary, that nothing will change or get better until he works with everyone else to demand justice and rights.

The military-like formation dissolves, two men stoop to pick up a dholak from the floor, and the group breaks into a song:

Sona chaandi main nahin maanga,
Mahal maaliyan main nahin maanga…
Muster roll ki nakalaan, main maanga…
Panchayat ka kharcha, main maanga soochna ka adhikaar main maanga!

(I want no gold or silver, no palace, no gardens; I demand to see muster rolls, accounts of my village council, I demand the right to information)

The plays being rehearsed are Aman (Freedom) and Mazdoori (Labour), and the motley group rehearsing them are members of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), Union for Empowerment of Farmers and Workers, a social movement that began 20 years ago in central Rajasthan. The demand for accountability these farmers and workers boldly voice in the song is one which they surprised officials with during their dharnas outside government offices in the 1990s; it is a demand with which they won the Right to Information in Rajasthan in 2000. MKSS members have gathered in this village in Ajmer to recount their stories and recreate and record the street plays and songs that became a powerful means to confront an apathetic administration and rouse the community in a struggle of 20 years.

“We were denied minimum wages for our labour at a famine relief worksite in Dhadhirapat. When we approached officials, they turned us out; we had to communicate what was going on to others in the village, so we picked up a dholak and a shankh and performed on village streets and panchayat squares,” says Shankar Singh (56), a founder-member of MKSS, describing the incident that led the group to first protest and mobilise others in their villages in 1989 (see box).

Most members of MKSS have not studied beyond class VIII; some have not seen even the insides of a classroom. The songs they have penned and the plays they have scripted are born out of their lives and struggles. For instance, in the play Mazdoori the group enacts how a drought forces several farmers of a village to migrate to a city for paltry earnings and a life in slums. It describes long hours at a stone quarry, in factories. It portrays workers’ helplessness in the absence of any support or security. Interspersed is a song, Pardesa su aayo bhayaa (‘My brother returned from a distant place’) that imagines an ideal turn of events that allows the workers to return home and find a means of livelihood in their own village.

“We pieced together what we had experienced working at a stone quarry in Bijoliya; those in the audience who had worked at similar quarries would watch and nod in agreement,” says Mohan Meghvanshi (75), or Mohanba as the others address the oldest member of the group, who wrote the play and composed this song with others in the group.

He describes how the group performed the first of these evocative street plays. “We carried a week’s supply of flour and moved to a forest near Tila ka kheda village to rehearse; Uma Shankar ji encouraged us to exchange our stories, to think of the plays as a conversation,” he says, referring to an impromptu workshop that Uma Shankar, a Kannada playwright, held for the group when he visited Devdungri village in 1989. Shankar had visited out of curiosity about the work being done by Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey, social activists supporting the demand for payment of minimum wages to workers at Dhadirapat work site. He stayed a month. Later, he and playwright Tripurari Sharma helped MKSS direct plays and give form to other ideas and protests.

Farmers in the group recall the oddities of attempting to act for the first time. “Uma ji would ask us to do exercises for our throats, what a sight it used to be to watch 15 of us barking and roaring every morning!” recalls Chunni Singh (52), a farmer from Palona village. Singh narrates how another obstacle at that time was caste – who belonged to which community and what were the implications of opening up to those who seemed separate. “I feared being judged by my community for what I was doing; when they would ask me who I was with, I would mention only Lal Singh, Shankar Singh, to draw attention away from those in the group who were from other castes,” he says.

Among the over 20 songs that the group created, songs such as ‘Pardesa hu’ are a lyrical narrative of many workers’ lives. There are others in their repertoire that are masterpieces of political satire. MKSS’ workers created them line by line during several weeks of sit-ins outside government offices. Poking fun at corruption and brimming over with irony and humour, ‘Choriwado ghano hogyo re’ laments that corrupt officials are eating even cement and gravel (pocketing funds for public works) and exhorts ‘koi to munde bolo’ (someone speak up); ‘Nyuntam mazdoor’ thumbs a nose at the administration and declares, not a paisa less than the minimum wage); others such as ‘Main nahin maanga’ asserts the right of citizens to see bills, vouchers, accounts for all public works.

“These songs and plays are powerful social critiques, they attract others in the community with their simplicity and humour without ever trivialising an issue,” says Nikhil Dey, a founder member of the movement.

The chai break is over, Mohan ba and Chunni Singh exchange turbans to prepare for new roles in the next play; the show, and the struggle for accountability, goes on.

By Anumeha Yadav is a journalist,reporting from Delhi, Rajasthan and Gujarat. She has volunteered with MKSS.


Source: http://infochangeindia.org/201101118666/Right-to-Information/Features/Speak-up-speak-out.html


Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Saving India's children

A year of scams and scandals is over. Can we expect 2011 to be different? If one had a wish list for 2011, topping mine would be a wish that the government make tackling child malnutrition in India one of its topmost priorities.

Everyone knows the glaring contrasts in India — between some of the richest men in the world and some of the poorest who also inhabit this country, between a high economic growth rate and increasing disparity and inequality, between unchecked consumption in our cities and the absence of basic survival needs of people in the villages and our forested areas.

What stands out as the worst statement about the state of India today is the fact that 46 per cent of our children are stunted because they simply do not get enough to eat. How can we accept this and at the same time boast about having moved up from the company of the poorest countries in the world into a middle-income country?

I began 2011 by looking again at the data on child malnutrition in India and it was like a cold shower. Sobering. Shocking.

India has more malnourished children than neighbouring Bangladesh which, until a decade back, was considered something of a basket case. Even African countries like the Congo, Lesotho, Tanzania and Rwanda are better placed than us.

Fundamental issue

v Why be so concerned about this one issue? Because the very fact that almost one out of every two children in this country goes to bed on an empty stomach is shocking in itself. Malnutrition is the principal cause of child deaths. Half of all child deaths in India could be prevented if this one issue was tackled. Children die because malnutrition lowers a child's resistance to infection. As a result, they become vulnerable even when they have eminently treatable conditions like diarrhoea and respiratory infections.

What is worrying is not just the high percentage of children who are malnourished, but the fact that the rate is going down so slowly as to be virtually negligible. Between 1998-99 and 2005-06, the rate only came down by one per cent. At this rate, the challenge of cutting down on the prevalence of malnutrition in children by half by 2015, a part of the Millennium Development Goals, will be impossible.

So why is this happening in a country where there is an enviable economic growth rate? Development economist A.K. Shiva Kumar points out in a recent article that the belief that malnutrition automatically comes down if the per capita income improves is not necessarily true. He points out, for instance, that 28 out of 37 sub-Saharan African countries have a lower per capita income than India's and yet also have lower rates of malnutrition. Within India, Manipur has a per capita income of only Rs. 8,114 (1997-98), yet its child malnutrition rate is 28 per cent. By way of contrast, Gujarat has a per capita income of Rs. 16,251 and its child malnutrition rate is 45 per cent.

Dr. Shiva Kumar's contrasting data on two Indian states, Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh also brings out another important angle to malnutrition, that of gender.

Sikkim has 13 per cent children born with low birth weight; MP has 24 per cent. Sikkim has 11 per cent ever-married women with a BMI (Body Mass Index) of less that 18.5 (considered very low); MP has 38 per cent. The 0-6 years male female ratio in Sikkim is 986; in MP it is 929. The age of marriage for women in Sikkim is 22; in MP it is 19. Female literacy in Sikkim is 62 per cent; it is 50 per cent in MP. In Sikkim, 89 per cent of girls in the age group 6-17 years are in school; in MP it is 71 per cent.

Vital link

In other words, women in Sikkim marry later, are more educated and are in better health. As a result, there are fewer children born with a low birth weight. The link between women's status — both in terms of access to education and health — and under-nutrition in children is obvious. Women who are themselves malnourished, anaemic (56 per cent of women in India suffer from some form of anaemia), and become pregnant when young, give birth to low birth weight babies who never catch up.

Interestingly, the National Family Health Survey – 3 (2005-06) that gave the latest data of anaemia in women also shows that while 56 per cent women were found anaemic, only 24 per cent men had the same problem. Clearly, there is a gender dimension even to anaemia. Also, 47 per cent of girls in the age group 15-19 years are anaemic. Furthermore, 59 per cent of all pregnant women in India are anaemic.

These might seem like a set of numbers. But translate that the next time you read about children dying in a village, or even in a slum in your city. Last month, people in Mumbai woke up to the rude reality that living in a fast-moving metropolitan city in India does not mean that poor children have better chances of survival. The story of 15-month-old Sahil Salim from the Shivaji Nagar slum in Govandi, who weighed just 9 kg and died from “fever and cold”, was a stark illustration of how hunger haunts the poor in city and village. Indeed, although the rate of malnutrition in children in urban areas is better than in rural areas, it is still unacceptable — 32 per cent or one in three children.

This is not the India we like to think about. Yet the numbers tell us that this is the India in which half of our women are anaemic, where just under half of our children have diminished chances of survival.

What do we do to change this? The government has to make this a priority and look again at programmes like the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) that was designed to deal with this issue.

But we need more than that. The media has run campaigns to save the tiger. That is a valiant campaign. I would suggest that India's children are also endangered. That they too need an active campaign by media, schools, colleges, politicians, corporates, anyone who cares, to see that we break this circle of poverty and hunger.

Email the writer: sharma.kalpana@yahoo.com

Source: The Hindu : Magazine / Columns : Saving India's children

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Social duty first for Pune youth

What does it take to quit a well-paying corporate job and do nothing but teach children for two years? Just a firm belief that education can genuinely make a difference!

City professionals are increasingly taking a break from their jobs to impart quality education to children from low-income communities by being a part of various NGOs. Divesh Kumar, an engineering graduate from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, is a fellow with Teach for India (TFI) initiative and is teaching at a municipal school in the city.

It was not a one-day decision for him to join this movement. In college, he was working with an NGO called Dream a Dream which focuses on developing life skills through its plethora of after-school programmes.

“I wanted to be a part of the current education system and eliminate inequity. Just after completing my engineering, I joined the Teach for India fellowship. There was a month-long initial rigorous training where one is not only exposed to the idea of teaching but also to the current education system,” says Kumar.

Chaitali Sheth, city director, Teach for India, says, this nationwide education model has been a success because the youth today are socially-inclined. “These young professionals have a strong passion and they are working within the system to make that change. This is just like another freedom movement and TFI is the first step towards eliminating the inequity in education,” she says.

Ishpreet Bhatia, 28, who was working as a project lead with Infosys for five-and-a-half years, decided to seek satisfaction through teaching. Soon after completing her engineering in IT from Bharati Vidyapeeth College in 2004 she joined Infosys. After working in Pune for the first two years, she moved to Atlanta in the US and worked there for three years. “My life had become stagnant. I had two things on my mind—one was higher studies and the other was working in the social sector. I was more curious to know about the current education sector and wanted to be a part of the education system at the grass-root level,” says Ishpreet.

So it did not take much thought before she decided to join the TFI programme. “When I joined TFI, I used to think it’s no big deal but when we actually got into the technicalities of teaching, it was not easy. You have to not only make lesson plans but also need to understand the children’s psychology, what background they come from and what their parents think.”

There is a spark on every fellow’s face and all have come out of their comfort zones to be a part of this movement. Archana Bhat, who worked with Axis Bank before joining this movement and is now a TFI fellow says, “There is so much satisfaction in working for the children and giving them the opportunities to learn. We need to think and plan strategies and continuously aim at improving their performance.”

A brush with the education sector has turned many of these youngsters into believers. Kumar for instance sums it up by saying, “After my experience in teaching, I would love to continue working in the social sector—it is a powerful tool of change. It could be anything, if not just teaching.”

Source :http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_social-duty-first-for-pune-youth_1492210-all

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Try thinking young to stave off ailments of old age

Those who think and dress in a youthful manner are healthier than those who act their age, researchers at Harvard have claimed. Mind over matter, it seems, can improve everything from blood pressure to arthritis and eyesight.

Even the development of heart disease and cancer may, at least to a degree, be staved off by refusing to grow old gracefully.

The intriguing claims come from researchers at Harvard University, who reviewed a series of studies into how the mind influences the body, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

Read More:
Try thinking young to stave off ailments of old age: Wonder Woman - Who are you today?


Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

“Maharashtra is the worst state to start an NGO”

Gautam Shah, chartered accountant and expert working with charitable institutions, asks non-government organisations to be scrupulous about the rules, if they want to avoid harassment at the hands of the authorities .

Civil society organisations have come to play an increasingly important role in our lives. While the government struggles to implement laws and schemes, non-government organisations (NGOs) have, in many cases, effectively filled in these gaps. From cleaning the neighbourhood to taking care of stray dogs, educating slum children to providing relief during calamities, they are everywhere. But while NGOs ensure effective implementation of rules and help other people, their own affairs are often alleged to be badly managed.

The zeal for charity is not enough. Institutions should be equally diligent with their financial accounts and must comply with laws to be more effective and inspire trust in the public. This was the advice of Gautam Shah, managing partner of Gautam Shah & Associates, Chartered Accountants, to NGO workers at a workshop hosted by Moneylife Foundation on Saturday.

“We feel very good when we donate something for a noble cause, but is it enough,” Mr Shah asked the participants attending the programme. “We have to see that the money is utilised properly, and have to ensure that the support continues even when the donor is no more. Moreover, not some family member, but the public at large should be the beneficiary. That defines the purpose of a charitable institution. And for a good NGO to continue you have to stick to every norm, notify the authorities of every single development and most importantly, maintain detailed verifiable financial records. ”

Mr Shah began with the process of setting up a charitable institution. While elaborating on the mechanism for formation and registration, Mr Shah explained why a Section 25 company was an ideal format over a charitable trust and society. He said, “People think that setting up an NGO is an easy thing. It is not. Several clauses are to be included in the constitution and many documents and certificates are required. If these are not in place at the registration, the institution will be unable to make any amendments in the future and could face many problems.”

He gave an example of a charitable trust which had two persons as trustees. It did not mention what was to happen if one of the two quit or died. As a result, the trust suffered much difficulty. Many institutions face similar difficulties because of a lack of technical knowledge.

NGOs should not only get registered under Section 12(a) and get an 80G certificate, they should also know how to channelise funds properly. NGOs who accept contributions from abroad, should source the money from an NRE account (non-resident external) and get registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). “Just think”, said Mr Shah, “if the Tirupati temple does not have an FCRA registration, it cannot do anything with the huge amount of donations it gets from NRIs and foreigners. Then, the only other way is to convert this money to ‘white money’, which is definitely not preferable.”

Also, it is very important to have proper accounting in a fixed format. Mr Shah recommended that accounting should be intensive and done by professionals, and that it is a must to have at least four meetings annually as well as maintain a minute book to present to the supervisors.

Mr Shah warned that the proposed Direct Tax Code (DTC) “is going to be very bad for NGOs.” Earlier, NGOs could accumulate 15% of their funds for some future big project, for five years. But that feature is to be changed considerably under the DTC. The new rule will only allow for 15% of surplus or 10% of gross earnings (whichever is greater) to be accumulated for five years. Also, exemptions will be more basic in nature, like that of individual tax exemptions.

While sticking to the rules is good in itself, it also helps to avoid many legal hassles and interferences from the authorities. In Maharashtra, NGOs are to be formed under the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950, and are under the scrutiny of the charity commissioner. “The charity commissioner is the Supreme Court,” Mr Shah said. He mentioned the elaborate red-tape process and an astonishing amount of paperwork that an NGO has to suffer before, during and after the registration. Every financial and administrative detail is to be notified, otherwise, the NGO could be threatened with de-registration and may even be closed down.

Mr Shah gave the example of an exclusive high-end association which had to undergo a lot of trouble because it had not notified the charity commissioner of some changes. To their horror, they were told that they had conducted “illegal activities” for a decade, and their work was suspended. They were unable to get relief even after many phone calls to higher-ups. After meek submission and several apologies (and some payments), the association was allowed to operate again.

Mr Shah described how some of these officials abused their position for personal gain. The law, while making many procedures mandatory towards ensuring accountability, is giving NGOs nightmares. “We do good for society, and then we are harassed. The process should be such that the authorities should be accountable and NGOs should be allowed to function freely,” Mr Shah said.

Mr Shah had some specific advice: “Do not start an NGO in Maharashtra. Get it done somewhere else. That way, even if your operations and property are in Maharashtra, the charity commissioner cannot interfere with the operations.” This sparked the question, about the ideal place to start an NGO. “New Delhi,” Mr Shah answered promptly. “In Union territories Central laws are applicable, which are more simplified and the process is hassle-free. Delhi, being the capital, will provide the best infrastructure and ensure better access to resources.”

Questions from NGO representatives attending the workshop ranged from tax exemptions to legal issues and validation certificates. Mr Shah answered most of the questions and promised to answer more on email.

For Mr Shah, social duties comes before private gain. He holds a PhD in business finance for which he submitted a thesis on “Management of Charitable Institutions—a Financial Perspective”. His association utilises 80% of the funds to help NGOs with their finances. “For me, charity is not a hobby. I am where I am because of somebody’s contribution. And so, I think it is very important to help other people.”

It all started for him many years ago, when he decided to sponsor the education of his maid’s daughter. He decided to establish his association about a decade back, when a school with more than 600 students approached him for help with their accounts. The charity commissioner had threatened to close it down because the accounts showed discrepancies. Mr Shah helped the institution out, and decided to start an association which would help charitable institutions with financial management and legal advice.

The workshop was second such programme for NGOs held by Moneylife Foundation. The first was held in July.

Source: “Maharashtra is the worst state to start an NGO” - Moneylife: Personal Finance Magazine : http://www.moneylife.in/article/78/12455.html


Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Violence and Abuse against Senior Citizens on Rise in INDIA, We can’t be mute spectator

Nearly every day we hear case of Elder Abuse. There is increase in Atrocity against Senior Citizens in India the country of so called ‘Joint Family’ & Culture and Tradition. See this s the way we treat our Elders.

Its Abuse of Human Right. A Human Right Violation against Human Being, but our Government is mute spectator, NO LAW TO STOP ELDER ABUSE. NO organized mass civil society movement to STOP Abuse AND Neglect of Our Elders.

REQUEST ALL SOCIAL ACTIVIST , SENIOR CITIZENS , ORGANISATION WORKING FOR & WITH SENIOR CITIZENS , HUMAN RIGHT ACTIVIST TO COME AHEAD and STOP ELDER ABUSE.

THIS IS SHAME TO OUR CULTURE AND SO CALLED TRADITION. WAKE UP AND RAISE YOUR VOICE !!!!!!!!!!!!! TAKE ACTION .

Wake up Senior Citizens, Jago Senior Citizens and RAISE YOUR VOICE against this growing cruel incidents of Elder Abuse by Civil Society and Governess agency .

We demand Government should take action on concern Police Station, SP Police , District Collector ;whenever there is any such incident occurred.

Silver inning Foundation demand an inquiry by National Commission of Human Right and Ministry of MOSJE to immediate initiative action and also demand UN department of Aging ,INPEA to ask Indian government to protect Elderly and give show cause notice - why it has not implemented Madrid plan of aging and International convention which country is signatory.

See some case of Elder Abuse:

108-year-old raped by neighbour and then Victim starves self to death : http://silverinnings.blogspot.com/2010/12/108-year-old-raped-by-neighbour-and.html

Mother, shall I put you to sleep? MERCY KILLINGS - STOP Killing our Elders:
http://peopleforsocialcause.blogspot.com/2010/11/mother-shall-i-put-you-to-sleep-mercy.html

Senior citizens age 81 yrs suffering from Dementia ,waiting for the hangman since 1996 : http://silverinnings.blogspot.com/2010/06/senior-citizens-age-81-yrs-suffering.html

Senior Citizen age 75yrs hanged to a tree to get confession by Rajasthan cops : Elder abuse by Law protector: http://peopleforsocialcause.blogspot.com/2010/06/senior-citizen-age-75yrs-hanged-to-tree.html

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Fight against dementia: Awareness programs in Mumbai

Sailesh Mishra gave up his well paid marketing job in the corporate sector in 2004 to work full-time in the area of elder care, Alzheimer’s and development of less fortunate children. He is based in Mumbai. Because of his passion to work with elders he has started a social enterprise, Silver Innings, and later formed an NGO called Silver Inning Foundation, and also began a forum called People for Social Cause. Sailesh is actively involved with ARDSI and is Founder Sec. of ARDSI Greater Mumbai Chapter. He is also a consultant and advisor to other NGOs.

Sailesh utilizes his marketing and PR skill to market the issues of our elders through various forums and ICT /social Media. In this way he tries to reach the young and the old to sensitize and empower civil society with regards to elder care. As he works in elder care, he is very concerned about dementia and conducts regular awareness programs for it. He describes some of his experiences in the interview below.

For whom do you conduct these awareness programs?

Every year, in September, we go in for highly visible programs for a week to coincide with the World Alzheimer’s Day function. But this is not enough for the “Fight against Dementia.”

In addition to that, we try to arrange programs all through the year at various locations over Mumbai. Our target audience is mainly the elderly and their family members.

To effectively reach this audience, we work through local associations that have a sizable number of senior citizens, such as senior citizen clubs, bhajan mandals, and mahila samitis. Many of these associations are part of FESCOM (Federation of Maharashtra Senior Citizens), and our organization, Silver Inning Foundation, is also a member of this federation.

Many associations are very active and meet every week or every month. We volunteer to come for these meetings and present topics related to the elderly. We get audiences that range from 20 persons to as many as 120 persons.

Please describe the structure of your program.

Typically, our program spreads over two hours.

We use the first hour for an interesting audio-visual presentation where we explain Alzheimer’s and dementia to the audience. This includes showing them the excellent story prepared by Dr. Samuel which describes a case of an old lady who starts showing the symptoms of dementia.

The next hour is reserved for audience questions. If some of the persons present are interested, we also conduct a mini-screening for them. We also distribute reading material to the audience, and set up any further meetings for those who want them.

Read More: http://dementia-care-notes.in/sailesh-interview/

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Workshop on Good Governance for NGOs: Getting your Activism and Advocacy Right

Today, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are playing an increasingly important role in crucial areas of our day-to-day lives. From initiating activities to improve our neighbourhoods, to leading initiatives to help disadvantaged sections, even raising the flag about wrongdoings by government departments and business entities, NGOs have made a significant difference in several areas. As the activities and influence of these groups grows, it is crucial that they adopt rules and practices that will help them to be more effective and transparent in their work. Dr Gautam Shah, a practicing Chartered Accountant who has dealt with charitable institutions for several years, will give a financial perspective on accounting, tax, audits and related areas for NGOs at a workshop hosted by Moneylife Foundation.

This will be conducted by Dr Gautam Navin Shah . Gautam Shah is a 46-year-old practising chartered accountant. He also holds a PhD in Business Finance where the topic of his thesis was "Management of Charitable Institutions - a Financial Perspective". He is Managing Partner of Gautam Shah & Associates, Chartered Accountants. His key areas of practice are tax, audits and issues related to charitable NGOs.

This workshop will benefit all NGOs as well as their employees and volunteers. This is our second workshop for NGOs, after the one in July which was a resounding success. You might want to share this invitation with friends in other NGOs so they could benefit from this initiative also.

Admission: FREE

Date: 18th December 2010

Time: 3:30 – 6pm . followed by high tea

Venue: Moneylife Foundation Knowledge Centre,305, Hind Services Industries Premises, Off Veer Savarkar Marg, Near Chaitya Bhumi, Shivaji Park, Dadar Mumbai 400028

RSVP: Dione/ Pritika/ Judith on (022) 2444 1058 – 60 or mail us at mail@mlfoundation.in

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.