Vikas Maitri
Voluntary Development Society in Jharkhand
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www.vikasmaitri.org |
website for rural and tribal development |
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Vikas Maitri |
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Voluntary Development Society in Jharkhand |
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A workshop was organised by Diakonia India at Hotel Suryansh, Bhubaneshwar from 10 - 12 September 2009. The topics covered: Domestic Violence Act, sexual harassment at workplace, trafficking, tribal rights, dalit rights, globalisation, Public Interest Litigation, Child rights and Diability rights. Some 45 persons participated in the workshop.
Nandan Kanan Biological Park 20 k.m.
from Bhubaneshwar
Fr. Dr. Beni Alphonse Ekka the Director of renowned B School of Jharkhand, Xavier Institute of Social Service, was named the new Vice Chancellor of the proposed Kolhan University by Sri K. Shankranarayanan, the Governor of Jharkhand. The new Vice Chancellor would take charge of the office immediately and the new University would start functioning from the premises of Tata College Chaibasa. The decision to start the University had been taken by Jharkhand Government some three years ago. Fr. Ekka said his priorities would be on initiating professional courses as well under the University. 15th Lok Sabha Elections 2009 in Jharkhand Mr. Naveen Chawla, Election Commissioner is visiting Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to review poll preparations of the Lok Sabha elections 2009 today. In Jharkhand the LS elections are taking place on 16 and 23 of April 2009. On 16th votes will be cast in Khunti and Lohardaga and on 23rd voting will be in Ranchi Constituency. Altogether in Jharkhand there are 14 parliamentary constituencies. As usual during any election time, all work whether official or private is generally affected because of the restrictions in place. Public and private transport vehicles are normally requisitioned for election duty. There are restriction on use of religious places for the purpose of canvassing. The political parties are to observe the model code of conduct. The government servants are assigned the job of conducting elections. There is large deployment of police and paramilitary forces to protect the voters and polling booths. Public institutions including educational institutions are held venue for polling booths. The work of particularly N.G.Os. remain paralyzed before and during the election process. Garib Rath from Ranchi to New Delhi A new cheaper air conditioned 3 tier sleeper train named Garib Rath (Poor man's chariot) will leave now on Monday and Friday from Ranchi to New Delhi at 17.10 hours. It will reach New Delhi at 11.00 a.m. next day. The train will return from New Delhi on Wednesday and Saturday at 16.10 hours and reach Ranchi 10.25 hours next day. The fare for New Delhi is Rs. 654/- only. Ranchi celebrates World Peace Day Organized by Jharkhand Sadbhavana Munch, Ranchi celebrated World Peace Day on 21 September, 2008 at Guru Nanak Higher Secondary School.
Sardar Jasbir Singh Khurana, President of JSM welcomed the Chief Guest Dr. A.A. Khan, Vice Chancellor, Ranchi University. Fr. Dr. Alex Ekka introduced JSM and its activities. Peace messages were given by Dr. Shahid Hassan, Ranchi University, Mr. N.C. Garg, Advocate, High Court, Mrs. Vismita Tej, Addl. Commissioner, Income Tax, Shri. Sitaram Modi, Sarva Dharma Milan Parishad, Mr. C.S. Jha,Ex-CMD, BCCL and Sardar Harbans Singh Deol, President, Guru Nanak Higher Secondary School.
On this occasion cultural programmes were presented by children of St. Anne's Girls High School, Ursuline Convent Girls High School and Guru Nanak Higher Secondary School. Prizes were distributed for the best essays written by children on communal harmony. Heavy rains in Jharkhand The much awaited monsoon started in Jharkhand with a vengeance. There was a heavy downpour for more than 24 hours. Ranchi received over 130 mm. of rain, while last year the same amount of rain was recorded over a period of 15 days. Jamshedpur, the industrial city of Jharkhand received 347 mm. The whole city came under unprecedented floods in the streets and houses. The highest rainfall recorded for Ranchi was 178.8 mm. on July 22, 1958.
Unplanned growth of the city and house construction in
the agricultural land without regard for topographical characteristics have
been the major causes of flood in a city like Ranchi which is supposed to be
a hill station. On 9th June 2008, I was invited to give a talk on adivasi culture and leadership development of traditional village headmen and parha rajas at Birsa Bharti Village Centre, Dumardaga. The workshop was organized by the Munda Dishum Parha Samiti (MDPS), Khunti. The workshop was held on 8 - 9 June 2008. It was conducted by Mr. Mahadeo Munda, Coordinator of MDPS. As per the statutory provision these headmen are to play the leading role in the new panchayat system.
Mr. Dev Kumar Dhan, Ex-MLA and Minister was the Chief
Guest. The workshop was attended by some 200 leaders of different
villages. Workshop on micro insurance for poor Vikas Maitri organized a workshop for young people in rural areas from 2 - 4 June, 2008 at Birsa Bharti Village Centre, Dumardaga.
Vikas Maitri has signed an agreement with TATA-AIG which has unique insurance policy for rural areas with very low premium rates. The objective of Vikas Maitri is to provide insurance to very poor people who find it extremely difficult when the bread winner suddenly dies. Another objective of Vikas Maitri is to provide some employment opportunity to educated and unemployed youth.
The workshop was organized to clarify the concept of
micro insurance and how to make a strategy to implement the schemes keeping
in mind the rural environment. The workshop was attended by 32
participants. A letter received from Balram, Gopinath Ghosh, Gurjeet and Byomkesh of Anti repression and corruption struggle committee has appealed for support of a State level rally and public meeting in Ranchi on June 10, 2008. The rally would build pressure on the State for ordering a CBI enquiry into the Lalit's murder case. On June 11, the committee has organized a seminar on "Social Activism vis a vis Backlashes and Threats" in Ranchi. Late Mr. Lalit Mehta was the Secretary of Vikas Sahayog Kendra, a local organisation working in a few districts of Palamau. He was killed on 14 May, 2008. He leaves behind his wife, Ashrita and two children aged 4 and 2. Lalit may have been killed for raising his voice against corruption in the implementation of the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Palamau. He was 36 and was associated with the noted economist and Right to food activists Prof. Jean Dre'ze. Refresher course for mission field workers Human Resource Development Centre of the Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church has organised a short Refresher course for mission field workers from 28 - 30 May 2008. The course covers relevant Bible study, responsibility of church towards the development of marginalized people, citizen politics and awareness of rights of the common people, self help groups and preventive child health care.
The resource persons will be Mrs. Idan Topno, Bishop A.S.
Hemrom, Mr. Jayant Horo, Dr. Mrs. Ipil Topno/Champi and Mr. Dominic Bara. Central State Minister for Tourism Ms. Kanti Singh visited Jharkhand and held discussions with the State Tourism Minister Mr. Harinarayan Rai about possibility of developing Tourism in the State. For them the priority would be to promote rural and cultural tourism. Mr. Deepak Singh, Director, Tourism Jharkhand informed that the Voluntary Organisations could liaison between villagers and could provide hospitality. It may be mentioned that Vikas Maitri since many years has been entertaining visitors from abroad to show them around the development work being done by the organisation. Many cultural programmes were part of these excursions. People interested to visit Jharkhand are welcome to contact us. Caritas India undergoes renewal process Caritas India is an affiliate of Caritas Internationalis. It is also cooperating with many donor agencies abroad in assisting projects all over the country. Recently I attended the Governing Body Meeting and the General Body Meeting (from 21-23 April 2008) of Caritas India in New Delhi. Caritas India, as its Executive Director Fr. Varghese Mattamana says is at the "crossroads of transformation". It is undergoing for quite sometime the Organisational Development process lately facilitated by Mr. Martin Dietz from Caritas Germany. The staff members of Caritas India have been completely reorganised. The members were asked to choose between posts and after interview were relocated. A good number of the staff members also availed the opportunity to voluntary retire from service under the offered package. There were many new appointments. |
