State Level Workshop on #RPDACT2016 @CBMIndia @ActionVillageIn @BigLotteryFund @CarersWorldwide

26 July 2017, Ranchi: A state level workshop on Rights of People with Disabilities Act 2016 was held at Project Bhawan, Dhurwa under the joint auspices of NBJK, CBM-Bangalore, AusAid and the Department of Women-Child Development & Social Securities, Government of Jharkhand. This was inaugurated by Mr. Satish Chandra (State Disability Commissioner, Jharkhand) in presence of Mr. Chittaranjan Kumar (Add. Secy., Dept. of WCD & SS, Govt. of Jharkhand), Mr. Nirad Bag (SPO, CBM-Bangalore), Mrs. Kanchan Singh (DSWO, Ranchi) and Mr. Girija Satish (President, NBJK).

The State Disability Commissioner has said that after introducing 21 types of disabilities, there may be 5-7% population of PwDs and they need support from the law. Mr. Prasaana Kumar Pincha (Ex-Chief Disability Commissioner, Govt. of India & currently Special Rapporteur with National Human Rights Commission) was the resource person for this program.  He explained about the RPD Act including its background, features, classification, structure, central rules, benefits, monitoring etc. Also he suggested for state rules and discussed about Disability Assessment Guidelines to be issued by the central and state governments.

Initially Mr. Anand Abhinav (Program Director, NBJK) has welcomed all the dignitaries, participants and said that the new law over rights of PwDs seeks proper understanding and rules on part of Jharkhand. This workshop will facilitate towards elements of the law and we may reach to a consensus for future course of action accordingly, he mentioned. Mr. Girija Satish has briefed about NBJK programs and requested the state government to frame disable friendly rules to avoid delay in required services.

Mr. Nirad Baag has stressed upon inclusive development of PwDs and their CBR to ensure dignity for them. We are proud that CBM has completed 100 years of its existence and support differently able people in 59 countries, he informed. Mrs. Kanchan Singh has called for empathy instead of sympathy for PwDs while Mr. Chittaranjan Kumar has assured for rules on part of the state government, restructuring of DDRCs, Online registration of PwDs and initiative for disable friendly building construction. He said that a separate directorate for PwDs affairs can be constituted soon.

Mr. Dilshad Azmal (Program Manager, NBJK) has anchored the dais and the workshop was concluded after vote of thanks by Mr. Vivek Singh (Disability Activist). There were more than 150 participants in the workshop from NGOs and DPOs (Disable People Organizations) across 21 districts of Jharkhand.

#MotivationTalk to Skill for Life Trainees @WeAreSwades @HSBC

24 July 2017, Amrit Nagar: A local young writer and teacher Mr. Manoj Kumar Kushwaha has shared his motivation clues with the trainees of Skill for Life program with support of Swades Foundation, Mumbai. The program provides skill development training to rural youths in the trades of Basic Computer Application, Mobile Repair and Bed Side Patient Attendant while Mr. Manoj Kr. Kushwaha has written a book “Safal Kaise Banen” in Hindi and offers inspiring classes among students.

He organized the day with different sessions and explained about many subtle concepts like introspection, self-confidence, interview, time management, awareness, enthusiasm, patience, discipline, wisdom, thought process, duties-rights, interest, curiosity, self-respect etc. before the youths. He motivated them about their personality development when learning new skills for livelihood purpose. This is a lifelong progression and adds something vital to us, he said during the talk. Mr. Kushwaha has warned the participants about risk of getting rights only without performing duties and said that merely rights may spoil our output to address any problem. My duties are equally important to balance the system and enable it to perform in a positive way, he clarified.

The young teacher has talked about Yoga also and said that any knowledge needs practice to get its significance. There were questions from the youth trainees through question-answer session and the teacher has tried to satisfy such queries smoothly. Total 45 youths (24 females) have participated in this special class.

#NBJKPresident addresses #Colloquium at #AzimPremjiUniversity @azimpremjiunive

21 July 2017, Bangalore: Mr. Girija Satish (President, NBJK) was invited by Azim Premji University to deliver his lecture in a colloquium. This was held at the university campus and more than 200 students, their faculties and directors of schools have participated in this seminar. Mr. Subrat Kumar Mishra (Faculty, Field Practice) has anchored the program and introduced Mr. Girija Satish before the audience. Mr. Mishra has briefed about the background of NBJK, its philosophy and practices under the guidance of Mr. Girija Satish, a follower of Gandhi, Vinoba and JP.

Mr. Girija Satish has recalled the year 1966-67 when he joined drought relief work in villages of Kalahandi district in Orissa and other places of Bihar. Also he shared about the activities for promotion of Gandhian thoughts in the campus of BIT Sindri, a premier engineering college then where he studied and formed a group of likeminded friends, who played significant role to start NBJK later. In 1970, all they met JP and decided to begin NBJK as their future course of life. NBJK president has talked about students’ movement in Bihar, imprisonment, nationwide emergency and initial support by Oxfam to Food for Work program. He talked about Lok Samiti, issues of land reform, women empowerment, social evils and campaigns like Right to Work (1989), Bihar Jagran Yatra (1992) to make the system sensible towards development.

Mr. Girija Satish has stressed upon integrated approach of development, NBJK believes in and follows through a number of programs in the areas of education, health, livelihood, support to small NGOs, people’s organization and advocacy. He mentioned about such programs, their implication and said that development doesn’t mean increasing production or providing sufficient health & education facilities merely but this happens by individual development and makes us with positive mindset. He appealed the youths to be value focused, to avoid liquor/drugs and imitation of West. Mr. Girija stated that caste, communalism and regionalism are enemies of freedom required by our youths and women. Practically all religious faiths disseminate the universal message of love, non-violence and truth but communalism hampers our development deeply, he pointed out.

NBJK president has opposed liquor, superstition and said that Building India comprehends some vital aspects like adequate employment, health, education, agro/small industries, thrust over individual scheme, guaranteed price for farmers’ products, rational mechanization and promotion of private sector intervention to run schools or health centers. The colloquium was much live and students have asked several questions addressed by Mr. Girija Satish.

#FamilyCounselingCenter Sub-Committee Meeting @MinistryWCD

21 July 2017, Hazaribag: Central Social Welfare Board, New Delhi and Jharkhand State Social Welfare Board, Ranchi supported Family Counseling Center (FCC) by NBJK has organized it’s Sub-Committee meeting at the premises of Women Police Station, Hazaribag. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Rajiv Ranjan Kumar (Circle Inspector of Police).

The Sub-Committee members have suggested for proper investigation of the cases at FCC, their reconciliation in presence of police officer-advocate and process documentation with needed signatures to reach a judicious end for any family dispute. Mr. Rajiv Ranjan Kumar has offered for continuous support by Women PS to FCC if needed for any difficult case. Mrs. Meera Gupta (Senior Counselor, FCC) has presented the quarterly status report of FCC for May-July 2017 before the members.

She said that total 31 cases have been registered at FCC during the period and 11 of those were settled with our effort. These cases are of different natures like extra-marital relation & polygyny (4), In-laws dispute (3), dowry (1), land dispute (1), alcoholism (8), property encroachment (1), marital dispute (7), neighborhood dispute (2) and others (4), Mrs. Gupta has explained.

The meeting was participated by Mrs. Emeltina Ekka (In-Charge, Women PS), Mrs. Swarnlata Kujur (Sadar PS), Mr. Tulsi Dubey, Mr. Arvind Jha (Advoctes), Mr. Chandan Kumar, Mr. Sachin Paswan, Mrs. Meenu Hansda (Social Workers) and Mr. Sanjay Kumar (Counselor, FCC).

Orientation Course for Counsellors of #FamilyCounsellingCentre @MinistryWCD

4 – 6 July 2017, Lucknow: 3 days Orientation Course on Counselling was organized for Counsellors working at Family Counselling Centres (FCCs) run by VOs with support of Central & State Social Welfare Boards. The training was provided by Lucknow based Regional Centre of National Institute of Public Cooperation & Child Development and NBJK was represented by Mr. Sanjay Kumar, Counsellor at FCC.

There were 23 trainee Counsellors from FCCs in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkharnd as participants of this programme and they have been oriented towards the topics like Violence against Women in India, Draft National Policy on Women 2016, FCC: An Overview and Resource Persons have facilitated a discussion on problems of FCCs. Also they provided a comprehensive idea over counselling and guided the trainees about their roles & responsibilities with effective functioning of FCC in context of any family dispute. There were sessions and Role Plays on Stress/Anxiety/Depression Management, Maintenance of Records & Case files and Effective Counselling also.

Dr. N. Khan (Assistant Director, NIPCCD), Shri Mukesh Kumar (Asst. Director, NIPCCD), Dr. Rakesh Kumar Tripathi (Associate Prof., KGMU), Ms. Preeta Srivastava (Secretary, SSWB, UP), Ms. Namrata Chauhan (Clinical Psychologist) and Shri R. B. Pandey (Counsellor, CBCID) were resource persons for the programme.

#SkillForLife Trainees Gets Job @WeAreSwades @HSBC

April-June 2017, Hazaribag: Skill for Life program’s short term courses on General Duty Assistant, Basic Computer Applications and Mobile Repairing & Maintenance have trained 59 (26 males & 33 females) youths during 4th batch of April-May and 40 (17 males & 23 females) among them have secured placement, Mr. Prabhu Nath Sharma (Program In-charge) has briefed to organization’s media cell and said that parents meeting, alumni meeting and exposure visits at work site have supported the trainees in terms of confidence building, work place knowledge and development of problem solving attitude.

The program has trained 222 youths in four batches from October’16 to May’17 and 168 have been placed till the month. This has achieved 76% placement against set target of 70%. For 5th batch of June-July’17, 50 youths (24 males & 26 females) have been enrolled already, Mr. Sharma updated. He branded the program as successful one that creates human wealth in the sectors of Health Care, IT & ITES and Electronics & Hardware with high placement ratio despite stiff competition from Government sponsored skill development training programs.

The program offers two months residential course of skill development for youths of rural background at the cost of Rs. 1000 only. Earlier placement of girls outside domestic circuit was a challenge but regular tie ups with local employers and deliberation of motivational skills amid such trainees have enabled them to be placed in both domestic and non-domestic circuits, Mr. Kirti Rawat (Placement Officer) has added.

Training for #VOs on #RightsofPwDsAct2016 @ActionVillageIn @BigLotteryFund

27-28 June 2017, Hazaribag: Two days training on Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 was held for voluntary organizations working in different districts of Jharkhand. This was organized under the program of Disability Rights with support of Action Village India & Big Lottery Fund, United Kingdom.

Mrs Sujata Prasad (Program Manager) has introduced the theme and explained about the expanded domain of this new law that includes 21 types of disabilities. She has briefed about all such types and said that some of their sufferers can avail 4% reservation now. All the children with disabilities have right to get school education free of cost and the law instructs the government to set up district level committees to resolve local problems of PwDs as well as advisory boards will work at state and central levels like policy making bodies for their affairs, she informed the participants. Mrs. Sujata has discussed about roles & responsibilities of the Chief Disability Commissioner, Assistant Commissioners and State Disability Commissioner, about state government’s welfare schemes for PwDs and appealed to get rid of disability related myths prevailing in people’s mind.

Mrs. Neelam Sharma (Field Staff) has shared about the procedures, officials/offices and necessary documents to get disability certificate, pension and other entitlements meant for them. Local organizations/self-help groups of PwDs & their carers proved helpful to get action for cases in bulk, she mentioned while talking about realization of disability rights. There were 28 representatives in the training from 15 VOs from Hazaribag, Koderma, Dumka, Ramgarh, Gaya, Bokaro, Saraikela, Ranchi and Giridih districts.

Symposium on Respect for All Religions & Dawat-e-Iftar

20 June 2017, Hazaribag: A symposium on Respect for All Religions followed by Dawat-e-Iftar (Evening Dine for Rozedars during sacred month of Ramadan) was organized under joint auspices of NBJK and Hazaribag District Lok Samiti. The very theme of this symposium was introduced by Mr. Girija Satish (President, NBJK) who has placed main characteristics of Sanatan/Hindu, Islam, Chirstianity, Sikh and Jain sects. He said that all the faiths support Oneness of the God, compassion, mercy, non-violence, purified heart, respect to women and reject superstition, liquor, gambling, bad companion to establish a humane society. Any hatred in the name of religions should be refused as Indian constitution treats all the faiths equally and makes us responsible, NBJK president has reminded.

Mr. Lalan Prasad has charged colonial mindset for communalism in India and appealed to correct this for national unity. Sardar Jaswant Singh has praised the very month of Ramadan for cleanliness of soul & body. We don’t fight for religions rather we want supremacy, fulfill our vested interst while any religious faith is meant to uplift humanity only. Mr. swarup Chand Jain elaborated the idea of Live & Let Live as the real message of all religions.

Also Messrs Arjun Yadav, Bateshwar Mehta, Shamsher Alam, Abdul Mazid Ansari, Ghulam Zilani, Santosh Pandey have expressed their views in the symposium. Mr. Shankar Rana (Coordinator, Jharkhand State Lok Samiti) has conducted the dais and thanked all for their presence. Soon after Dawat-e-Iftar was participated by around 200 people including women and children. A similar event was organized at GP Sah Sadan, Dumka also on 21 June and many important members of Chamber of Commerce, Bar Association, bureaucracy, local community were present in the symposium-Iftar headed by Mr. Girija Satish.

2 Days Training for #SelfHelpGroups @HDFC_Bank

19 – 20 June 2017, Koderma: 27 group members/office bearers of 5 Women Self Help Groups namely Kamla, Gangotri, Devi, Bajrang and Gita Mahila Mandals from Pahridih, Dasgharwa, Charadih, Buchitaand villages of Jaynagar and Koderma Sadar blocks have gone through an orientation training under Holistic Rural Development Program (HRDP) with support of HDFC Bank. They have been introduced towards the very concept of group formation and its role in their socio-economic development.

The trainees have learnt about the objective of any SHG, rules & regulations, selection of office bearers and their duties. They came to know about benefits of regular meeting, saving and actions required during such dealings. Mr. Santosh Kumar Sinha (Block Credit Officer, SHGs) and Mr. Ashutosh Mishra (Asst. Program Coordinator, SHGs) were resource persons for the training and they facilitated the trainees regarding necessary documents like Group/Individual Passbook, Ledger Book, Meeting Register, Saving Register, Internal Transaction Register etc. They have conducted a collective game to show group sustainability. Later all the groups have presented their learning and demonstrated for meeting.

Also Mr. Subhash Pandit, Ms. Gulnaz Ayesha, Mrs. Sudha Devi, Mrs. Rina Devi (all community mobilizers), Mr. Rahul Saw (Asst. Prog. Manager) and Mr. Raunak Rituraj (Office Manager)  from HRDP team have participated in the training organized at NBJK Coordination Office, Hazaribag.