'Colors of India' in Ekal Dubai
Silver Jubilee Celebrations
Ekal Support Group UAE Chairman Sri Harshad R Mehta along with President Smt. Geeta Chhabra, and VPs Sri. Ashit Gandhi, Sri Sunil Sharma and the managing committee decided to organize Parthiv Gohil and Janvi’s music program and dance by DansMe on 18th October to celebrate the 25th year of Ekal along with 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. The packed Sheikh Rashid auditorium, Dubai, was the fruit of their effort. The audience include members of various social groups like Jain Social Group, Soni Samaj, Gujarati Samaj, Tamil Ladies Association, Telugu Association, Mercantile Hindu Community of Thatha and others. The program lived up to its theme – ‘COLORS OF INDIA’.
Ekal Souvenir entitled ‘Glory to Education’ was released by the Chief Guest, His Excellency Sri. M.K. Lokesh, Ambassador of India to UAE in the presence of Guest of Honor Bollywood actress Smt. Juhi Chawla. The other distinguished guests were Dr. Juma Al Matrooshi and Engr. Abdullah Al- Khashrami and Guests from India, Sri. Pradeep Goyal , President of EVFI and Smt. Sangita Gupta, Global coordinator of Ekal.
There were smiles on the face of the sponsors, Sri. PNC Menon of Sobha Group, Sri. Naresh Mehta of Diamond Village, Sri. Paresh Bhai from Brilliant Diamonds and Lead sponsors Kiran Gems, Shreya Life Sciences from Mumbai and Unique Maritime Group from Dubai, as the program drew large crowd.
Success of the event goes to the Organizing team of Sri. Sameer Mavani, Sri. Arvind, Smt. Aparna, Sri. Jagdish, Sri. Dinesh duo Sri. Kailash Mutha, Smt. Meena Kumari, Sri. Pathmanabhan, Sri. Krishna Kumar of Aryaas, Sri. Ashok Dasani, Sri. Rudra, Smt. Babita, Sri. Gunjan, Sri. Paresh, Sri. Sufiyan Badshah and the team from Rosy Blue, Sri. Ravi samarokone, Sri. Shankar chellaram, Sri. Vernon, Kum. Suma, Kum. Vimala, Sri. Dheeraj, Kum. Preethy - the list goes long and the contribution of Ekal Support Group UAE to Ekal is remarkable.
Chapter at NEW VALLEY, USA
Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation held their first Musical Event at Royal Delhi Palace in Canoga Park on Sept. 29, attended by a sold out crowd of over 200 guests to mark the inauguration of a new Chapter to serve areas north of Los Angeles .
At THOUSANDS OAKS, CA, as part of the inauguration of the new Chapter and to mark the Silver Jubilee celebrations, Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation held their first Musical Event at Royal Delhi Palace. The duo of Bader Iqbal and Mosami Shah regaled the audience with old and new Bollywood hits. Anis Chandani provided able support on the key board and flute while Rishi Thakar on the tabla.
The event was coordinated by the Los Angeles Chapter of Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of USA, a non-profit organization based out of Houston, Texas, with a mission to eradicate illiteracy from rural and remote tribal villages of India. Sri. Suresh Iyer, Member of Board of Directors, EVF USA, officially inaugurated the new chapter of Ekal Vidyalaya in San Fernando Valley. This event was also to commemorate Ekal Vidyalaya’s Silver Jubilee celebrations, providing 25 years of continuous service with the above noble objectives, he said.
The music program went on till late night to the delight of the audience. Sri. Iyer highlighted the mission and objectives of Ekal Vidyalaya and their efforts to provide a holistic education to make the villages economically self-sufficient and in improving literacy rates. As of July 2013, Ekal had educated over 1.5 million children through 52,000 schools almost doubling in three years. Sri. Iyer mentioned that just $365 would support an Ekal school of 25 to 30 children for a whole year.
SVO meet at New Delhi
On September 14 and 15, the meeting of State Voluntary Organizations’ (SVO) of all states of India was held at Chandiwala, New Delhi. Discussions were mainly on the expansion and vision of the SVOs and formation of District Headquarters. The need for creating Care-Taker Families at Cluster level and organizing a get-together program of these families once a year was suggested. The importance of Teachers’ training at district level for 2 nights and 3 days was also discussed. A proposal was made to group 25 lakh village support families by March 2015.
Ability Unlimited
The Friends of Tribals Society (FTS), Erode Chapter in Tamilnadu was inaugurated on Aug 3, 2009. Since its inception, it is supporting 120 schools of Gobi Anchal in the hills of Thalavady. This year, Erode chapter celebrated 3 functions at a time; 150th birth year of Swami Vivekananada, 25 years of FTS and 4th Annual Day of Erode Chapter on September. For the first time, local Tamil speaking elites of Erode participated in large numbers with great enthusiasm to support the cause of Ekal. A Rath with Swami Vivekananda on it, was on show at the venue of the event. There was a stunning dance show by physically challenged youth on Wheel Chair. These dancers were trained by ‘Ability Unlimited Foundation’. It was really ‘Miracle on Wheels’. FTS Erode had done a great job.
Mahila Groups On the RISE
In Punjab, Ekal Movement started in 2004 from Fazilka district situated along the border of Pakistan. Ekal schools are running in most of the border villages. The future plan of expansion is to have schools in all the districts of the Border Belt from Ganganagar to Pathankote. The Mahila Varg was held on 24 & 25 Aug 2013 in Pedi Dharamshala, Fazilka. The inaugural session was graced by Sri. Jagath Singh Jyani, Retired High Court Judge of Rajasthan and a domicile of Fazilka.
The newly formed Mahila Samiti under the guidance of Smt. Saroj Kaushal and Smt. Mridula Sharma actively participated in the Varg. The highlights of the Ekal Movement explained by Prof. Manjushree covered the significant role of women, both rural and urban by Ekal. Women from Fazilka, Ferojpur, Amritsar, Jalalabad and Abohar districts participated.
In the two day workshop, different sessions were taken by Priyanka Dihingia, Mahila Pramuk and Monica Burnwal, Pramukh of North Zone. The participants expressed their joy after two days of training and felt enriched by this experience. The Varg ended with very inspiring and encouraging notes.
Ekal Impact
Sri. Madhusudan age 21, Jharkhand State, Dhanbad District, Cempather village, studied in Cempather village Ekal Vidyalaya between 2000 to 2004.
He participated in ‘Baal Mela’ conducted by Ekal Vidyalaya, which he enjoyed very much. Ekal vidyalaya gave him motivation and interest towards education. In 2008 he became a teacher in the same school. He cleared his matric exams and joined Ekal as a full time worker. He was initially ‘saha sanch pramukh’ then became ‘sankul pramukh’. In 2010 he finished his higher secondary exams and joined college. He says “being a boy from a Village like Cemapather, a place literally unknown to the world, I finished my primary and secondary education and presently in college only because of Ekal Vidyalaya”.
“ATHITHI DEVO BHAVA”
On 22nd September, 2013, forty five members visited Barvatoli Village consisting of 21 Udham Bheel families. They were received with garlands, thilak, a welcome song and dance by the village folk and Ekal School children.
Though the 21 year old Ekal Vidyalaya teacher Ms. Sugan Kumari’s mother in law had died just a week ago and the village was under deep grief and sadness they didn’t show and covered it with a smile in front of the visitors… showing the true sprits of “athithi devo bhava”.
The sponsors were Ranchi’s Sri. PV Parival and Sri. Jhunjhunwala. The visitors enjoyed bhajan singing by the children and an interactive session with them. The children exhibited their intelligence which impressed the visitors; the visitors gifted the children with new clothes, bakery and confectionery products.
Sri. Prem Prakash Arya, Sri. Manoj Tulsayan and Sri. Sanjay Podhar who arranged the Vann Yatra provided a rejuvenating experience for the visitors and children.
Ekal Updates - Ekal Vidyalaya
Current: Number of Ekal Schools: 51,848 Number of Children: 14,93,172
Closing Ceremony
Whole of this year, there were events, workshops and many programs throughout the world to mark the Silver Jubilee of Ekal and 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.
Closing Ceremony will be organized by FTS on January, 2014
The event will gather members of all Chapters of FTS, BLSP, EVFI and SVOs of all states of India under one roof on a single day.
Date : 5th January, 2014 Venue : Kolkotta
For additional information, contact: nirmalya@ftsindia.com
Ekal at a Glance - Ekal Abhiyan Trust
For effective implementation and management of Ekal Program, an umbrella organization was formed in the name of EKAL ABHIYAN TRUST. The organizations that are working for Ekal like FTS, BLSP, EVFI and all SVOs have been affiliated to Ekal Abhiyan.
The aim of EKAL ABHIYAN -
• developing collective wisdom among different societies and trusts working for Ekal Movement
• to make them feel and behave as a part and parcel of one family
• to formulate broader policies on financial discipline and transparency
• to supervise and guide the movement on expansion and quality aspects along with Donor Relation Working (DRW)
• to provide general guidance on national policies and discipline
Various groups have been identified for administration, review and field working.
Sri. Sajjan Kumar Bansal, Industrialist from Kolkotta will be the Chairman of the Trust. The other Trustees are Sri. Sajjan Bazanka (Industrialist - Kolkotta), Sri. M.L.Jain (Founder Member - Ekal Movement), Sri. Ramesh Saraogi (Entrepreneur - Kolkotta), Sri. Pradeep Goyal (Industrialist - Mumbai), Sri Jithendra Bansali (Industrialist - Mumbai), Sri. S.N.Kabra (Industrialist - Mumbai), Sri. Rameshwarlal Kabra (Industrialist - Mumbai), Sri. Vijay Maroo (Publisher, New Delhi), Sri. Naresh Jain (Entrepreneur - New Delhi), Sri. Shyam Sundar Damani (Entrepreneur - Chennai), Sri. Ajeya Kumar (Social Worker), Sri. Madhawendra Singh (Social Worker), Dr. Satheesh Kumar (Social Worker).
The Executive Committee comprises of Sri. M.L.Jain, President, Sri. R.L.Parekh, Vice President, Sri. Ravidev Gupta, Vice President, Sri. Madhawendra Singh, General Secretary, Sri. K.E.N. Raghavan, Joint General Secretary, Dr. C. Satheesh Kumar, Joint General Secretary, Sri. Ajeya Kumar, Organizing Secretary, Sri. D.P. Poddar, Treasurer, Sri. Prashant Sahoo, Office Secretary and the members are Sri. Sapan Mukharjee, Sri. Virendra Sharma, and Smt. Manju Shree.
