Friday, December 29, 2017

Vikasnagar campus

I discovered (I am very ignorant about plants and flowers!!) that you dont need to buy flower plants every season. If you just take care of the old ones, they drop the seeds which come up next season. And that is what happened in our campus: see the picture below.
But let me not give you a wrong impression: this approach "just let the flowers grow by themselves" - does not save you from all the hard work of gardening, done by Dhaneshwari!! She has got a very productive kitchen garden too, going on, on our campus. Happy new Year to all of you, dear readers.

Poly pond built!

 Polypond in Banpur, completed!
 Women gather for a SHG meeting in Donri.
 Villagers inspecting the polypond in Banpur.
 SHG meeting in Banpur
Cheque being given to community for the Water tanks built in Jhitad.

Friday, December 15, 2017

Seven Tanks are complete in Jhitar Banpur area!

Making the best use of seasonal cycle and he lull in the farm work, the local team has completed the seven water tanks well in time. Here are some pictures in various stages of preparation and USE! We congratulate women, community, Mangat Ram ji and Shri Sohan Singh ji for participation and good tempo! Let us maintain it...




(notice the pipe for taking the water out to the farm below)




 A Community meeting in Tiuni (2 Nov)

MMR vaccine in Chakrata

Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR)
vaccination is offered for free by the government health team at our Primary school near Chakrata. 37 out of 40 kids, received this benefit in the second week of December 2017. Three left out kids, were subsequently covered in their village- Majhgaon. Rubella can be very important for pregnant women, later in life, as it can save their baby from serious birth defects.

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Monday, December 4, 2017

Smta school has immunization camp...

The school had a visit from state health team which offered immunization to all our children for free. We sincerely thank the team, parents and children. Well done Chain Singh ji and Kedar Singh ji!

General Body meeting


We clubbed Governing body and general body meeting on the same day: 18th Nov 2017. Rachit, Rekha, Maggi, Sultan, Kundan, Manju, Dhaneshwari, Satyendra, Sohan, Belam - we all gathered and had a very fruitful time. Here is the brief progress report (May-Oct 2017):

1.           The FCRA renewal for next 5 years, after some effort, was successfully received on 10th June as an online update on the FCRA official website. The Retrieving Women’s Pride (RWP) project began from the very next day and the Manos Unidas was promptly informed accordingly. Manos had requested the their funds back if SMTA could not start the project soon.
2.           He shared about ongoing activities - Minority scholarship program and Open University, Uttarakhand. These two initiatives are progressing as before. There is a public notice from UOU,  that new courses will be offered now only to educational organizations. Under Minority scholarship scheme, this year, the ministry has made it necessary for the schools to verify their students through the online portal. Many schools have no clue and therefore students are suffering. SMTA has explained the process to the schools which have requested for help.
3.           The new proposal for Saarigad watershed was submitted to NABARD in May 2017 but we have not heard anything yet. Rachit suggested that since selection committee must have met in Sept/Oct, we should now find out about the outcome. It was done and nothing has been heard so far. We will be sending another reminder soon or do a follow up visit.
4.           We were informed by NGO friends in Dehradun about an EOI from Swajal in June 2017; SMTA applied for it and was selected as an empanelled agency for Swajal in the state, for Dehradun district, based on our past experince. But recently, we discovered that due to a subsequent ‘political’ decision, this state level empanelment was cancelled. Now, we are waiting for the district level announcement from Swajal regarding EOI etc.
5.           SMTA explored PMGDISHA program, which offers free basic IT training for rural communities to promote cashless transactions, like using OTP, online commerce etc. Like many government programs, people’s response has not been good yet. We may have to rethink it.
6.           SMTA is exploring with social organizations/NGOs in Dehradun, to rent out our halls, for office and/or social development purposes – in consonance with SMTA’s values and principles. This will promote better work environment and upkeep of the Vikasnagar campus, besides generating opportunities and synergy.
7.           Jakhadhar primary school is doing well, especially after the joining of Shri Chain Singh, our old teacher, in May 2017. At present 40 students from the nearby villages are enrolled. Some old students have returned. Recently, it was provided with new sports goods and two computers, which are being used by students.

8.           A blog has been started, which is being updated regularly with news, developments and photographs. It offers updates under RWP (Retrieving women’s pride project) too, as a separate tab. It can be accessed easily at :  https://smtachakrata.blogspot.in .

Please keep checking this space for developments and news!
Peace!