Pilani Student Chapter

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Pilani Student

Chapter

1

Goa Student

Chapter

2

Hyderabad Student

Chapter

3

Corporate Chapters

and Central Updates

4

O C T O B E R

U P D A T E S

2 0 T H N O V E M B E R , 2 0 1 3 V O L U M E I , I S S U E 1

Gyan Bodh (Evening tuition in Pilani Resource Center)

3 volunteers started teaching

kids of Std. 10 & 12 in Baas, a

nearby village.

Dandiya workshop was held as

part of Joy of Giving Week

(JOGW) celebrations.

Kaun Kehlaayega Genius quiz

competition was held.

Students of Std. 8 & 9 were

introduced to table tennis by

BITS Pilani team

Utkarsh (Scholarship and Mentorship Program)

Certificates were given to

scholars by the benefactor

professors of BITS Pilani.

24 students have been awarded

scholarships worth Rs. 56,700.

Sports competitions were held

as part of JOGW 2013.

Participatory Community Development (Overall upliftment of target community)

Health camp conducted in Baas for

distribution of sanitary napkins &

creating awareness related to health.

2 public meets were held to make

people aware of their rights.

School Adoption Program (Convert backward govt. schools into model schools)

23 kids were brought to BITS

during JOGW. The itinerary

included temple visit, breakfast,

activities at Student Activity

Center and a movie screening.

Community visits to improve

parents’ participation were un-

dertaken. Children were taught

through interactive videos and

activities

Disha (Academic and Career Guidance)

Project Shilpangana, aimed at

promoting a penchant for engi-

neering in college girls, has been

undertaken in association with

ASME BITS Pilani Chapter. Its

5 phases are questionnaire, orien-

tation, hands-on activities, per-

sonal counseling and extended

help.

Awareness workshop for sanita-

tion, traffic safety and disaster

management was conducted.

Self Help Groups (Livelihood platforms for women in Khedla & Baas)

Stitching centre was inaugurated

in Baas by the village sarpanch. 8

women are currently being

trained in petticoats and kurtas.

Market survey carried out in

Pilani market for ladies kurtas

produced in Khedla.

Women empowerment session

conducted to emphasize the im-

portance of fundamental rights.

Joy of Giving Week 2013

Wish Trees, with wishes from our beneficiaries, were put up in public

areas. More than 55 of the wishes

were fulfilled.

Hour of Joy was celebrated in every

project to connect the BITSians with

our beneficiaries.

Dinner of Joy was held as part of our

fundraising endeavor.

Organ Donation Awareness campaign

was conducted in the campus with

printed donor cards being placed in

the student messes. More than 350

cards were signed.

Oasis 2013

We conducted 2 events during the

BITS annual cultural fest, Youth Sabha

and Big Fight.

The first was a policy making competi-

tion which saw participation from 26

teams in the 1st round, of which 7

qualified for the finals. It was judged by

Mr. Hardayal Singh, Retd. IT Commis-

sioner, New Delhi.

The second was a quizzing event, with

a whooping 86 participants.

We also set up a stall for the sale of

our SHG products. Nai Disha, an

NGO based in Alwar, also displayed

its products. Farhan Akhtar visited our

stall after his band’s performance.

P A G E 2

Goa Student Chapter V O L U M E I , I S S U E 1

Teach Zari (Community advancement through education)

Regular attendance from stu-

dents ranging from std. 1 to 5.

Topics like nouns, pronouns,

adjectives and singular-plural

were covered in English; and

basic addition, subtraction,

division, multiplication, frac-

tions and geometric shapes in

Mathematics.

Enthusiasm levels are high and

more students are expected in

the following month

Shiksha (Coaching for admission test of Jawahar Navodaya

Vidyalayas)

Classes were conducted regu-

larly during the first two weeks.

Classes are being continued in

the temple grounds due to holi-

days.

Decimals, fractions & factoriza-

tion were covered in Maths.

Pratham Books Grant was re-

ceived at the end of October

and shall be given to the school

in November.

Parishodh (Social innovations achieved through technology)

On going projects like Arthika

(for making budgeting soft-

ware) and The Paper Bag Ma-

chine were actively pursued.

Volunteers were contacted by a

team from Georgia Institute of

Technology for starting a Waste

Management Project in Zari.

Career Counseling (Provide information for career planning)

First workshop conducted at

the Municipal School, Vasco

with a turnout of around 50

students.

Project is primarily aimed at

the students of std. 9 and 10.

Employment Operations (Empowerment of community based SHGs)

Main focus was given to the

Waves (BITS Goa annual cul-

tural fest) stall.

Products included handmade

paper bags, wax-chip-gel &

scented candles, sling bags,

earrings, bracelets & book-

marks.

Paper for making handmade

notebooks was ordered and the

production shall start by the

beginning of January.

Health Operations (Clean Zari awareness campaigns)

Meeting with senior officials of

the Public Welfare Division

(PWD) & Pollution Control

Board (PCB) was held at the

beginning of the month to learn

about the government work

going on.

Waste Modeling system has

been planned for BITS Goa

campus to segregate waste gen-

erated.

Proposal made to CSR wing of

Zuari Industries for funding of

land for construction and main-

tenance of public toilets.

Participatory Community Development

(Overall development of target community)

Street play in Zari at 4 loca-

tions with focus on garbage

disposal, open air defecation &

sanitation, & unemployment,

The play resulted in 10-15 kids

joining our Teach Zari classes &

5 youngsters approaching us for

collaboration on health issues.

Meal of Joy (2nd October)

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti,

lunch was served by Nirmaan volun-

teers to all mess workers, lawn workers

and security staff as a token of grati-

tude for their services.

Wall Painting (3rd October)

With the help of a local social activist,

Alka Damle, our volunteers and kids in

our evening classes painted a wall &

decorated it with inspirational quotes.

Evening of Joy (4th October)

Kids from Father Agnel’s orphanage, in

the age group of 10-15 years, visited our

campus for several activities including a

career counseling session by one of the

faculty members, an origami workshop,

a computer skill learning session & a

dance workshop.

Cloth Collection (5th October)

Faculty & students donated old clothes

in good condition. SESA Goa contrib-

uted as a corporate partner, and do-

nated clothes as well as took care of

travel expenses. The collection,

amounting to 3.5 tones was dispatched

to Goonj Organization in Mumbai.

Orphanage & Old Age Home Visit(6th Oct)

Volunteers visited

Our Home, Bog-

malo and Father

Agnel’s orphanage

in Verna.

Tree Plantation & Book Binding (7th Oct)

40 saplings (Areca Palms) were planted in

Zari with local community. Also, 92 note-

books were

made from

used paper.

Joyfest (8th October)

Children from Hamara School and residents

of Our Home were treated to a cultural

evening that included performances by

Music Club, Aerodynamics Club and Dance

Club at BITS Pilani campus.

Hyderabad Student Chapter P A G E 3 V O L U M E I , I S S U E 1

“We make a

living by what

we get, but we

make a life by

what we give.”

- Winston Churchill

Tree Plantation Drive at Malkaram and Upparpally

12 volunteers carried tree plantation in the government school

in Malkaram on 23rd October. 20 neem saplings were planted

in the school grounds with the help of the students. The teach-

ers overlooked the activity.

On 22nd October, 11 of our volunteers conducted tree plantation

in the government school at Upparpally with the help of students

of grades 6 and 7. 25 neem saplings were planted, with basic ques-

tions regarding

the importance

and mainte-

nance of the

trees being

posed to the

students. The

students dug

the pits and

bunds were

made around

the saplings. The students were also given saplings to plant in their

areas of residence, to help promote the cause further.

School Adoption Program - Pothaipally

Regular classes in English, Science and Mathematics

are conducted for students of 3rd grade and above.

Recreational activities are organized after school hours

for the holistic development of the kids, under the

guidance of the respective class teachers.

Nirmaan at ATMOS 2013

Two events ‘Come, Be My Teacher’ and ‘Wish Tree’

were organized at the techno-management fest of

BITS Hyderabad. In the first event, 20 school kids

were brought on campus & the participants shared

their knowledge in various fields like arts, music, ori-

gami, maths and story telling with them.

Parishodh, our tech-

nical wing, called for

paper presentations

(Samshodh) in diverse

fields like energy, agri-

culture, resource management, construction and trans-

port. The event saw a participation from 10 teams

with the winner receiving a prize money of Rs 2500

and the runner up received Rs 1500.

“You have to

dream before

your dreams

can come true”

- A.P.J Abdul Kalam

Saakar

This is the candle making project intro-

duced by the Livelihood Operations

division. It aims at creating temporary

employment for the women of Pothia-

pally village by teaching them the tech-

niques of candle making and marketing

their products. This year we targeted the potential market during Diwali and

training was started around mid- October. A professional was employed

and raw material was procured to pro- cedd further under the guidance of the

student volunteers. The candles were marketed in various schools and town-

ships across Hyderabad, including the BITS campus where students and fac-

ulty showed interest.

P A G E 4 V O L U M E I , I S S U E 1

Hyderabad Corporate Chapter

School Adoption Program

Accelerated Learning Program

(ALP) batch of 45 students from

Kothuguda ZPHS is progressing

in English through activities like

origami, story telling and skits.

ALP was also started for class 5

in Hafeezpet Primary School.

Around 160 students were taken

to Birla Science Planetarium and

Salar Jung Musuem. 65 students

also visited the Children Theater

Festival.

Practice material for students

attempting the National Means

cum Merit Scholarship Examina-

tion was distributed among 84

students. Selected students would

receive Rs. 500 per month for 3

years.

Vocational Training Center

On the occasion of Gandhi

Jayanti, the Nirmaan ‘Threads of

Hope’ collection of bags and Ipad

& laptop sleeves was launched.

These have been specially tailored

by the women of our Livelihood

Advancement Center (LAC)

School Landscaping Project This was carried out at the Gov-

ernment Kannada School in

Ulsoor, Bangalore in partnership

with Reapbenefit.

The plan was to level the ground

and set up a garden to prevent

water logging during heavy rains.

Bangalore Corporate Chapter

Food for Change

As part of the Joy of Giving Week,

donors and companies are invited to

an evening of music, dance and

dining from some of the best restau-

rants and hotels in the city. Nir-

maan raised an amount of Rs 80000

this year as part of this event.

Newsletter Team

Mrinalini Nath (Editor)

Pooja Garg (Pilani Student Chapter)

Sarvesh Patel (Goa Student Chapter)

Asmitha Vanaparthi (Hyderabad Student Chapter)

Sreekar Rao (Hyderabad Corporate Chapter)

Manoj Papisetty (Bangalore Corporate Chapter)

Contact Us: Rajesh Tamadapally(+91-8886533325)

Visit Us: www.nirmaan.org

Follow Us

As part of our expansion plans, a new vol-

unteer group has been formed in BKBIET,

Pilani. The team is comprised of highly

enthusiastic volunteers, with focus con-

struction workers and their children. A

survey was conducted to analyze the

course of action, and it has been decided to

start teaching the kids, and gradually ap-

proach issues like hygiene and sanitation.

Lesson plans shall be designed for the

same, and a bridge program for admitting

the students to school is being worked out.

We, The People conducted a citizenship

program and anchor training workshop for

our Pilani volunteers to help in understand-

ing our constitution, legal framework and

the use of tools like RTI in our work.

As a result of this, a government interfacing

team has been instituted. One of our first

actions was to address the nagging problem

of disproportionate monthly ration in Baas

village. The villagers and volunteers en-

quired about the same at the ration shop

and required actions have been initiated.

It aims at assisting the children

(orphans, child laborers or those

from extremely BPL families)

through financial assistance and

counseling to incentivize and

encourage them to complete their

school education. NSCP Team

delivers the scholarship to the

child and assigns a mentor to run

the counseling program.

30 students have been selected

under the NSCP program for the

NSCP (Nirmaan Sponsor a Child Program)

The project, headquartered at Ranga Reddy district in Andhra Pradesh, aims to provide excellent

guidance and appropriate ways of obtaining monetary support to students to pursue the career of

their choice. Currently the project offers 2 services, toll-free tele-counseling (1800-425-2425/6) and

career counseling workshops in government schools.

The total number of calls received during October was 4337 and the total calls at VHL since incep-

tion has successfully crossed the 1 lakh mark on 3rd October. VHL expanded its services to Odisha

with support from Orissa

Cement Limited. 7

schools par- ticipated in

the Teacher Training

program for career coun-

seling.

Vidya Help Line (VHL) (Toll-free tele helpline for career guidance to students even from remote areas)

Chapter Expansion (Pilani) Active Citizenship (Pilani)