#LokSamiti observes #Fasting for #CommunalHarmony in Bihar

06 April 2018, Patna: In wake of growing incidents of communal unrest, Bihar Pradesh Lok Samiti has observed 12 hours goodwill fasting at the premises of Bihar State Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Congress Maidan, Patna. Also a symposium was held on this occasion and noted Gandhiaite thinker Mr. Girija Satish (President, National Lok Samiti) has expressed deep concern over violent clashes between two communities at several places in Bihar under cover of religion. We have a rich tradition of peaceful co-living, communal harmony and respect for each other but vested interests can spoil our inclusive culture if get free hand, he warned. Mr. Girija Satish called communalism as an enemy for development and appealed to support humanity, the core value of every religious faith.

Mr. Vijay Kumar (President, BPLS) has presided the meeting and said about ideology of Gadhi, Vinoba & JP that allows for nonviolent protest to divisive forces and to work in favour of social synchronization. Mr. Kaushal Ganesh Azad (National Coordinator, Lok Samiti) asked youths to know about the aim of religion and to contribute for peace in public life. Most of us want to live together, we need sharing of happiness or grief collectively and we all are made for each other, he said. Mr. Shivji Singh (General Secretary, BPLS) reiterated the very conviction of Lok Samiti to promote communal harmony and non-violence.

This token fasting program was attended by Mrs. Kranti Rashosh (State Coordinator, Women’s Lok Samiti), Mrs. Pushpa Kumari, Mr. Saudagar Das (State Coordinator, Lok Samiti), Mr. Chandra Bhushan (Secretary, National Lok Samiti), Dr. Umesh Prasad, Er. Mahendra Yadav, Mr. Vidya Bhushan (Ex-MLA), Mr. Ramayan Singh, Mr. Satyendra Kumar and Mr. Mitihilesh Kumar.

Farewell to Trainees of #SkillforLife @WeareSwades @HSBC

31 March 2018, Amrit Nagar (Hazaribag): 9th batch trainees of Skill for Life program have received their course completion certificates and support kits on the very last day of their two months residential training. On this occasion, Mr. Prabhu Nath Sharma (Treasurer–cum-Program Director) said that learning is a life long process and if we do a work or learn any new skill with interest, success must come. Good behaviour and prompt service through the skill you learnt here can provide a plenty of opportunities for livelihood and personality development, he addressed the passing out trainees. Mr. Sharma has distributed certificates with support kits among youths completed their two months training  during February – March this year in the trades of BCA (Basic Computer Applications) / GDA (General Duty Assistant) / Mobile Phone Repair and conveyed them his best wishes.

Mr. Kirti Rawat (Placement Officer, Skill for Life) has informed that 18 out of 20 trainees in GDA, 9 among 11 trainees of Mobile Repair and 9 from 14 learners of BCA course will get their placement soon. Most trainees of Mobile Repair prefer for self-employment, private nursing homes/hospitals employ GDA pupils and BCA students have prospect at business organizations and BPO sector, he pointed out. Its remarkable that placement ensured for 36 out of total 45 trainees at the end of their courses under Skill for Life program.

During farewell ceremony, all the trainees have introduced themselves and talked about their future plans. Messrs Sandhya Kumari, Subodh Kumar Chanchal, Rohit Kumar, Md. Asif and Vikram Kumar (Program Faculties) have contributed in the observance.

#Farmers’Training upon #AgricultureDevelopment & #FoodSecurity @bread4theworld

28 – 30 March 2018, Amrit Nagar (Hazaribag) : 3 days training upon Agriculture Development and Food Security for farmers was held under the Program of Support to Small NGOs with help of BFW, Germany. 62 women – men farmers from Churchu, Tatijhariya, Vishnugarh, Simariya and Domchanch blocks of Hazaribag, Chatra and Koderma districts have participated in this training.

They were updated towards innovative / profitable agriculture, animal husbandry, advanced seeds, organic farming – pesticides, crops cycle and their safety measures etc. Also they shared farm experience and planning for coming days. Mr. Rajeev Singh (Program Manager, NBJK) said that our partner organizations work with villagers upon advance farming that enabled around 700 – 800 farmers to achieve food security in Hazaribag Commissionary. The program has checked migration from many remote, backward areas and tribal youths in Tatijhariya, Vishnugarh blocks now take interest in agriculture, he informed.

The training was participated by farmers from villages like Simargundi, Katiyo (Domchanch block), Hathibaar, Bedam, Budbariya, Jababaari, Paraiya (Vishnugarh, Tatijhariya blocks), Choupe and Birhu (Simariya blocks) from all these three districts.

The farmers are associated with partner organizations i.e. Jan Sahyog Kendra (Churchu, Hazaribag), Stri Shakti (Sadar, Hazaribag), Rashtriya Jharkhand Sewa Sansthan (Satgawan, Koderma) and Lok Prerna Kendra (Simariya, Chatra). Messrs Surendra Ram, Ramchandra and Azad were resource persons while Shankar Rana has supported for local logistics.

#Outing for #DeafblindChildren @senseindia

21 March 2018, Hazaribag: An outing for children with deafblindness & multi-sensory impairments was organized at Cafeteria premises under the program of their education & training with support of Sense India, Ahmedabad. The event was participated by 16 deafblind children and 6 adults with their parents or carers from different villages of Sadar, Katkamdaag, Daroo blocks and urban pockets like Korra, Matwari, Pagmal, Hurhuru etc. of Hazaribag.

Md. Nayeem (Program Coordinator) has informed about such outing or picnic for DB/MSI children in every three months to make them acquainted with feelings like entertainment, courage, participation and freedom. Generally such children don’t get exposure due to their physical, mental constraints and they enjoy these events naturally. During the picnic, these children met each other, played together, had swings, made drawings and conveyed their happiness over the feast.

The parents have shared about progress of their children and praised the project activities as a morale booster for them. Mrs. Sadhna Mishra (mother of Mona, a blind girl child) from Korra said that Mona couldn’t see but becomes happy if she touches trees, plants or even leaves. Mrs. Azmat Tara (mother of Musharraf Alam, a DB boy from Matwari) admits that NBJK workers have taught my son about Activities of Daily Living and drawing making. She was anxious for her son as the program is to be closed in June 2018. This picnic makes my child happy and a mother can feel that glee, Mrs. Sarita Devi, another mom from Meru has pointed out with poise.

The team of Messrs Paras Nath Mahto, Rashmi Parween, Indu Gupta, Tanuja Khatoon, Payag Mahto and Dr. Mukesh Suman has arranged for the outing. In Ramgarh, a similar outing for DB children was held on 17th and at Kuju (Ramgarh), a DB youth Aman started off own shop of bike lubricants & spare parts on 19th March.

#LokSamiti Demands for #LiquorProhibitionAct in #India

18 – 19 March 2018, Delhi: National Lok Samiti has called 2 days Anti-Liquor Convention in Tagore Hall of Gandhi Darshan at Raj Ghat, New Delhi. The convention was participated by more than hundred delegates & representatives from different state units of Lok Samiti and other Gandhiaite organizations. The program was chaired by Mr. Girija Satish, President, National Lok Samiti and anchored by Mr. Kaushal Ganesh Azad, National Coordinator, Lok Samiti. On this occassion, Mr. Ashok Sharan (Coordinator, Sarvoday Mandal) said about the need of a complete ban over liquor across India to save our young generation from this evil and Mr. Sajjan Kumar (Secretary, Delhi State Lok Samiti) has honored National President of Lok Samiti by infusing him with a shawl for his tireless efforts towards Anti-liquor / anti-drug movement in India.

In the convention, Mr. Girija Satish has opined that India must frame a strong law to curb liquor completely and referred Mahatma Gandhi who considered liquor intake as more damnable than thieving and prostitution and as the parent of both! He said that 85% of anti-women crimes and 70% of road accidents in India are caused by liquor only. Also he mentioned about Lok Samiti’s advocacy campaign against liquor in Bihar where state government has made it illegal and ensured for a socio-economic transformation. Our central government must follow such an example to make India liquor free, Mr. Girija Satish opined.

This anti-liquor convention was addressed by Mr. Sanjay Singh (Secretary, Kendriya Gandhi Smarak Nidhi) also who termed liquor as a complex problem for India and appealed for awareness campaign by Lok Samiti with other likeminded organizations. The very greed for revenue from liquor can’t be justified as its spoiling our young generation and women must be supported to oust this evil from India, he maintained. Mr. A. K. Manjhi (Advocate, Supreme Court) has supported the idea to make an anti-liquor law for India and stressed upon people’s education to boycott it. Mr. Vijay Kumar (President, Bihar State Lok Samiti) has opposed not only liquor but all types of addiction. Mr. N. D. Pancholi (Advocate, Supreme Court) raised the issue of laborours’ rights alongwith liquor prohibition.

The program was graced by Messrs Agam Kumar Layak (Odisha), Jagdish Jee (Gandhi Smarak Nidhi), Saloni Hembram (General Secretary, Jharkhand State Lok Samiti), Ray Sunder Dev Sharma (East Champaran District Lok Samiti), Vidyabhushan Singh (Ex-MLA, Bihar), Chandra Bhushan (Secreatary, National Lok Samiti), Vinod Ranjan (Mantri, Bihar Gandhi Smarak Nidhi), Devendra Bharti (General Secretary, Delhi State Lok Samiti) and many others who supported the resolution to Prohibit Liquor in India. At last, Mr. Sajjan Kumar (Secretary, Delhi State Lok Samiti) has thanked all and appealed to work together against liquor massively.

#SanitationFortnightAwareness Campaign by #FamilyCounsellingCentre @MinistryWCD

14 March 2018, Churchu (Hazaribag): A workshop with villagers was organized on Toilets-wash & Hygiene at Charkatua in village Oriya of Churchu block by Family Counselling Centre, the programme of Central & Jharkhand State Social Welfare Board executed by NBJK.

Initially Mrs. Meera Gupta (Counsellor, FCC) and Mr. Alok Toppo (Sanitation Staff, NBJK-Churchu) have visited the village, drawn the village map on ground and pointed out about the need of voluntary contribution by people for cleanliness drive, their personal hygiene, hygienic habits among children & adults along with freedom from open defecation for all. They focused upon sanitation for all members in a family to keep sound health and to retain body immune. Mr. Sanjay Kumar (Counsellor, FCC) has insisted for soap washing of hands after toilet and before meal every time. Open defecation is always hazardous as human excreta spreads disease carrier bacterias through flies and intake of contaminated food can make us sick easily, Mr. Alok Toppo added.

Ms Solma Kumari Kisku (a school girl of the village) has demonstrated about 8 stages of hand washing with soap before the villagers and impressed them about need of personal hygiene categorically. There were other demonstrations like waste collection, their sorting as biodegradable / non-biodegradable and management like organic compost making or proper disposal.These activities were carried out by Messrs Meera Gupta, Sanjay Kumar, Mahesh Murmu, Preeti Besra and Sheela Hembram.

Many villagers like Messrs Jeewan Murmu, Ganesh Manjhi, Jhari Manjhi, sukhdev Kisku, Malti Devi, Parvati Murmu, Kiran Devi, Surajmukhi Devi, Manju Hembram, Kiran Tudu, Anshu, Mahesh Murmu etc. have explained about their village during map drawing process and participated in the workshop actively. Mr. Alok Toppo and Mr. Arun Kisku (Sanitation Staffs, NBJK-Churchu) have provided their vital support to organize the workshop.

#NBJK/AVIPartnersForumProgram @ActionVillageIn

05 – 13 March 2018, Hazaribag: United Kingdom based Gandhiaite Organization Action Village India has called it’s Partners Forum meeting at NBJK, Hazaribag. NBJK is one among it’s partners in India with ASSEFA (Karnataka), Stri Shakti (Jharkhand), CRUSADE (Tamilnadu), DAC Trust (Tamilnadu), Ekta Parishad (Odisha) and Kerala Gandhi Samarak Nidhi (Kerala). AVI supports varoius community development projects being implemented by these VOs and partners with NBJK for Rights to PwDs programme in 5 districts of Jharkhand and Bihar.

AVI Partners Forum meeting was initiated with welcome address by Mr. Girija Satish (President, NBJK) who briefed about NBJK activities towards integrated development with Education, Health, Livelihood, Support to small NGOs, Advocacy-networking & governance. He said that schemes or issues by government/funding agencies needs people’s views instead of imposing ideas. In India we need a strong anti-liquor law, less rituals, gender equality, irrigation & price support to farmers, simple regulations for non-govt. input to education & health and other systemic reforms, he explained.

Later on all the partners have presented about their activities including AVI supported programs. There was a special session led by Mr. Anand Abhinav on CSR in India, related law, fundraising from individuals and other concerned aspects. The representatives of AVI and partners have visited villages and small VOs covered under programs like Rights to PwDs, Support to Small NGOs, Girls Education Sponsorship by NBJK and Stri Shakti. AVI team members have visited LNJP Eye Hospital at Chouparan and Lord Buddha Home for Chilldren at Bodhgaya also. They were greeted warmly by orphan children at LBHC and impressed by the cultural program staged on this occasion.

This meeting became important with the farewell ceremony for Mr. Ivan Nutbrown (Head, AVI), now replaced by Ms Anna Griffiths and Ms Esther Trienekins from his active role. He was presented a memento from all partner organizations. The people present in this partner forum meeting were Messrs Stefan Lugo Labiejko, David Smith, Bishnu Priya Swain, Umakant Mahanty, R. Shakthivel, C. Thiyagarajan, V. Tamilselvi, Andy Rutherford, Dr. R. T. P. Rani, S. Radhika, A. Vasantharasan, S. R. Jothi Ramalingam, Rakesh R. S., Caroline Beatty, Libby Blake, Bimla Chandrasekaran, Filman Bakhla, Rajiv Ranjan Sinha, Sujata Prasad, Rajiv Singh and others.

Workshop on #BetiBachaoBetiPadhao By #FamilyCounsellingCentre @MinistryWCD @MoHF_INDIA @HRDMinistry

08 March 2018, Hazaribag: On occasion of International Women’s Day, a workshop was organized over the theme of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (Save Girl Child, Educate a Girl Child) by Family Counselling Centre (FCC) at Amrit Nagar High School. The FCC is run by NBJK with support of Central & State Social Welfare Boards and intervenes for reconciliation in family or marital disputes to safeguard women or girl children.

Mrs. Sheela Kumari (Secretary, Stri Shakti) has chaired the programme while Dr. (Mrs.) Kiran Rana (Associate Lecturer in Deptt. of Economics, VBU) was the chief guest and Mrs. Veena Kumari (CDPO, Sadar, Hazaribag) has graced the function as a guest of honour respectively.

In course of introducing the programme, Mrs. Meera Gupta (Counsellor, FCC) expressed her deep concern over the issues like female foeticide, rape, atrocity and imbalanced birth ratio against women in India. She applauded the campaign of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao by the Honourable Prime Minister and called this as a responsibility to be carried by each & every citizen. Mrs. Emeltina Ekka (In-Charge, Women’s Police Station, Hazaribag) has focused upon proper functioning of our family system in favour of daughters and to make them educated, awared and self-reliant. Ms Anu and Ms Komal (students of AN High School) have stressed upon change in the scenario of declining population of girl children and their poor educational status to empower girl children.

Mrs. Veena Kumari (CDPO) has mentioned about benefits of Laadli, Sukanya, Mukhyamantri Kanyadan schemes by the government and appealed all to reject child marriage as an enemy to opportunities for girl children. Our time asks us about real progress, genuine freedom for women and these are our rights to be realized soon, Mrs. Usha Bahen (Anupam Mahila Chetna Samiti, Hazaribag) opined during her address. Dr. Kiran Rana has assured the audience about ladder of education for a bright future and said that Indian women know well to make a balance between home and career. From the chair, Mrs. Sheela Kumari has appreciated all the views came forward on this occasion and insisted for control over anti-women crimes.

The workshop was contributed by Mrs. Manisha, Mr. Sanjay Kumar, Mr. Paaras Nath Mahto and concluded with vote of thanks by Mrs. Meera Gupta.

District Level #MediaWorkshop on #ChildProtection Issues @Plan_India

28 February 2018, Amrit Nagar (Hazaribag): A workshop with media persons upon Child Protection issues was held at NBJK Coordination office under the programme of Child Centred Community Development with support of Plan India, New Delhi. Mr. Tribhuwan Sharma, the resource person has discussed about child rights to survival, to protection, to participation and to development. He focused upon the right to protection for every child (0-18 years) and said that our children need protection from mental/economic stress, physical abuse, health hazards and domestic violence. There are vulnerable groups of children and media can support for their safety or rehabiltation, Mr. Sharma told. He appealed media persons for cooperation as communication, privacy and ethical reporting to make a child friendly society.

Mr. S. P. Singh (Chairperson, District Child Welfare Committee) has referred about a recent case of honour killing in a local college and it’s consequence as the sufferer girl was not allowed to appear in examination. He accepted that the case was not dealt properly by CWC or other agencies. Mr. Sanjay Prasad (District Child Protection Officer) has called for support from all sections of society to protect children and accepted good result for many cases due to pressure from media. Now special Juvenile Police Unit, Juvenile Justice Board and Child Welfare Committee provided safety measures for children with systemic support system, he opined.

The workshop was participated by Messrs Murari Singh (Dainik Bhaskar), Arvind Rana, Raman Kumar (Dainik Jagran), Md. Arif, Umakant Sharma (Prabhat Khabar), Shadwal Kumar (Deshpran), Krishna Gupta, Ashok Ram, Ajay Pandey (Dainik Aj), Bablu Kumar (Sanmarg), Kaushal Ojha, Neelkanth (Hindustan) and they shared their experiences towards child friendly jouranalism.

On this occassion, Mr. Girija Satish (President, NBJK) has shown deep concern over children’s security and lack of people’s awareness regarding different child friendly laws. Our media can bridge the gap and the Government should empower it’s agencies in terms of resources and rights, he pointed out and thanked all to make the workshop fruitful. The team of Messrs Ranjan Kumar (Programme Manager, CCCD), Bhaiya Anshuman (Asst. Project Officer) and Parmeshwar Rana (Field Worker) had pivotal role behind the event.