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)