| Awesome! Great to hear such testimonials from people. Archana --- On Sun, 2/28/10, Prime Point Srinivasan <prpoint@gmail.
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dear friendsPlease see the photos athttp://www.action2020.co.cc/ 2010/02/educatio n-loan-task- force-eltf- launched. html
India Vision online group and Action 2020 Team have been getting frequent requests from many meritorious poor students appealing for funds, as they could not get any bank loans for higher education. All along, partner groups of Action 2020 team have been supporting few of them, collecting funds from the members. On further examination, Action 2020 team found that all these students hailed from very poor families and the banks did not respect them properly for their demands.Corporate ezine PR-e-Sense Jan 2010 issue carried the model scheme from IBA for education loans, along with the interview from RBI Deputy Governor. The core team of Action 2020 team decided to form an "Education Loan Task Force (ELTF)" to take up such cases where highly deserving poor students were harassed. In the Feb 2010 alone, the Task Force took up 5 genuine cases with the different banks and all the problems were resolved within two days.This encouraged Core Team to make the ELTF formal and wanted to train volunteers of Action 2020 Team to spread the awareness across the State. The first ELTF meeting was held at Thakkar Bapa Vidayalaya, Chennai (Mahatma Gandhi stayed in this campus and he inaugurated this Vidyalaya in 1945).Around 40 volunteers from the partner groups participated in this meeting. Senior level officials from State Bank of India, Indian Bank, Canara Bank and Inian Overseas Bank participated in this ELTF Meeting. Many eminent personalities of the City like Mr Desikan (Founder, Consumers Association of India), Mr Maalan (Well known journalist and Editor), Mr Rajasekar (Mg. Trustee, National Agro Foundation), Dr Santhosh Babu IAS (Mg. Director, ELCOT and Director, E-Governance of TN Govt.) and many senior journalists participated. Com. T K Rangarajan MP sent his representative to observe the proceedings and to brief him back.The interaction between the volunteers and the Banks were really fruitful in a cordial atmosphere and enable to understand each others problems.Some of the problems faced by the students from banks:
- Students are asked to go to pillar to post by the Branch officials and they are not given proper response;
- Demanding of collateral security / guarantee even for smaller amount;
- Insisting on payment of interest every month, before completing the studies;
- Branch officials not aware of education loan procedures and giving scant respect to the students with poor background, etc.
Some of the problems faced by the bankers:
- Students from unaunthorised colleges and unauthorised courses demand education loan;
- Students demand loans for courses, which can not provide employment (Eg. teachers training
courses); - Since banks are lending funds, some of the colleges inflate their estimates to get more money, which will ultimately make the students as heavy borrowers. Even many colleges send the estimates as Rs.3,99,500/
- to avoid offering collateral security. Banks are unable to confirm the genuiness of the proposals.; - Some of the students, who availed edu loan from banks shift their places without informing the bank and do not even repay the loans. this causes lot of difficulties for the banks and the officials;
- The colleges do not give estimates on admission. Without estimates, banks cannot process the loans.
There were suggestions from the bankers whether the University certificates of the students could be marked with 'Red strip' to indicate the Edu loan. This would caution the employers to remit the dues to the banks concerned.Dr Santhosh Babu IAS, Director E Governance, Tamilnadu Government offered to provide a software interfacing between the banks, colleges and the district collectors. If this is implemented, this will be the first of its kind in India and would remain as model for other states. Shiva and Ravi, coordinators of Action 2020 Team and ELTF will coordinate this software project.The Action 2020 finalised the template for supporting the students. It was also resolved to help minimum of 100 highly deserving, but poor students to avail education loans from banks. All such students will be allotted with a mentor who would guide him through the studies and also create awareness about the bank rules, prompt repayment etc.If any information is needed on ELTF, send a mail to taskforce@corpezine.com SrinivasanModeratorConvenor, ELTF
Development Innovation Fund (DIF) DFID's White Paper, "'Eliminating World Poverty: Building Our Common Future'", outlines DFID's approach to working with civil society. It highlights the fact that DFID recognises that the work of governments alone will not be enough to eliminate world poverty and that to achieve further and faster poverty reduction, governments must work closely with citizens and civil society groups. BackgroundThe White Paper states that over the next few years DFID will increase its work with organisations in the UK and overseas who play an important role in development. This will include groups with who do not currently benefit from DFID support. Many of these groups are involved in supporting very small scale, often localised activities which do not meet the criteria we have for our existing centrally managed civil society funding schemes, such as the Partnership Programme Arrangements (PPA) and Civil Society Challenge Fund (CSCF). To address this, DFID is establishing a new funding stream aimed at community based organisations involved in providing specific small scale, one-off support that directly targets poverty in the developing world and includes a significant development awareness component in the UK. The Fund will be operational for an initial 16 months from 2010. The Fund is intended to offer funding opportunities to not for profit organisations but is not intended to replace or overlap with other DFID funding mechanisms. Details of the Fund and application processKey elements
ApplicationsWe understand the need to keep the administrative burden on small organisations to a minimum - but at the same time we must ensure that the decisions we make are based on sound rationale. For this reason we insist that all applicants MUST complete the application form. Applications must:
What else must I submit with my Application?
What can't be funded under this Fund?
What kinds of activities might be supported under this Fund?
ProcessWhat is the application process? You must submit a completed application form together with the additional documentation requested in 2.2 (above) to the Fund Manager at dif@dfid.gov. The Fund Manager will acknowledge receipt of your application and provide you with a unique reference number within 3 days of receipt. The Fund Manager will also inform you of which Funding Round your application will be considered under. Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their applications within a week after the relevant funding round. What happens if my application is rejected? If your application is rejected the Fund Manager will write to you letting you know why. Can I appeal against the decision? We have set up fair, open and rigorous appraisal an decision making process and will provide all unsuccessful applicants with detailed feedback on why we have not offered support. We do not feel that there is any value in managing an appeals process. However, you can re-submit an application taking on board the feedback you have received - but only once. Do I have to report on the activities? Yes. A standard reporting format will be developed. As part of the arrangement, applicants will be expected to submit their reports within 1 month of completion of the activities. Additional detailsWho can apply to the Fund? The Fund is targeted at any not for profit organisation or group working on small scale project(s) aimed at improving the lives of poor people in the developing world. How do you define small organisation? Small is any organisation or group with an average annual income over the past 3 years of less than £500,000 Why small scale applications? DFID already has a number of other centrally managed funds which are open to not for profit organisations. However, all have criteria which make it very difficult for small scale organisations and applications to compete. Will a certain amount of the £7m budget set aside for any particular part of the world or any particular type of project or groups? No. We expect applications to cover a wide range of activities in a range of countries, regions and continents. Therefore, we don't think it would be helpful to divide up the Fund's resources into rigid pre-determined allocations. How are 'developing countries' defined under the Fund? Applications can focus on work in any low or lower-middle income country as defined by the OECD DAC, excluding EU accession countries. An application based Fund? Any organisation wishing to be funded must send an application (using an agreed format to be developed). When can I send an application? You can submit an application at any time. However, we will inform you which of the 3 funding rounds your application has fallen in to. What do you mean by 'Raising Awareness of Development in the UK'? One of the strengths which small scale organisations and small scale projects can have is their ability to reach down to the very grassroots level here in the UK and raise people's awareness of international development issues. This will be an important part of the criteria for assessing applications. Applications must be very clear about what will be done in the UK to raise public awareness. This could be through appropriate articles in the local media, through talks or presentations to recognised clubs, local library, faith groups, community or other groups. Your application must also set out how you plan to recognise DFID's contribution to your work. If you have any questions about any aspect of these guidelines please e-maildif@dfid.gov. http://www.dfid. From:-   Mr.Siddanagouda. S. Biradar (IGF). PhD Scholar Department of Crop Genetics and Breeding College of Agronomy North-West A & F University 3 Taicheng Road, Yangling-712100 Shaanxi , P R China Email:- siddureddy2988@ yahoo.com Cell: 0086-15249220150 Join hands to develop Crime-Free India: |
AAZRAYA ANNIVERSARY 2010
Finally came a time for celebration
With fun and jubilation
Friends and kids all around to inspire
With no time to stand and respire!
The bright festive occasion dawned on the 21st of February. But the preparations had begun much earlier. Competitions and fun games were conducted weeks before the anniversary. Dance rehearsals were meted out to kids and it was heartening to see that the kids were so receptive to such extracurricular activities. The anniversary was marked with special events throughout and we would like to thank Mrs.Lalitha & Mr.Swamy of NEWLIFE for having gladly agreed to serve as the host place for Aazraya anniversary.
The anniversary saw the gracious presence of Mr.Aum Murugan,Founder, Chairman , AUM Edcation Seva Trust, Mr.Balasubramanian, Nallore Vattem, Mr.R.N.Muthuram, Founder, Trustee, Suyam Charitable trust and Dr.V.Uma, Founder, Managing Trustee, Suyam Charitable trust. We would also like to thank Mr.Srinivasan who served as the guiding source of light and helped us set the stage for the Anniversary.
The anniversary kick started with lighting of Kuthu Vilakku by the chief guests, the traditional way, followed by inspirational speeches by every distinguished personality and chief guests on the dais. This was followed by the annual report of AAZRAYA which jotted down on the various projects that had been flagged by AAZRAYANs through the year. The highlight of the event was the dance performances by the cute little kids of Newlife and Saradha Sevashram and some surprise performances by the AAZRAYANs too kept the audience hooked on to the event. Prizes were then distributed to all the winners of Newlife and Saradha Sevashram and the beaming faces of the kids while being at the receiving end was heart rendering. The event would not have been a success without the members from the supporting NGOs who had gladly stayed on till the end of the occasion.
Hope AAZRAYA spreads its branches of service far and wide across seas and borders and wish AAZRAYA should scale many more anniversary celebrations successfully, with the lines of support and morale from other NGOs and driving inspiration from its volunteers.
Photos of our celebration:
http://picasaweb.
With Regards
Vinod
AAZRAYA CHARITABLE TRUST
| (Moderator;' Hello Dr Sharma I am Shipra from Rajasthan Patrika ( the group newspaper is named Patrika in MP). I am located in Jaipur and incharge of newspaper's social project division, recently created to explore possibilities to collaborate/ partner with the social sector to identify areas and offer newspaper support for the areas of mutual interest. We have launched in the past many campaigns for reader awareness, social change and policy making. I read you mail and using this opportunity to identify areas of common interest. Patrika has gained ground in MP and soon will be in the Gwalior region, though the edition is already available there. Warm Regards Shipra Mathur Division Head Media Action Group Rajasthan Patrika, Jaipur +91-9928015504 --- On Sun, 21/2/10, Dr.B.K.Sharma <Gwalior.Hospital@
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