Sewa Sandesh

SEWA INTERNATIONAL
DELHI PUBLICATION

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Circulation Only

I S S U E 1 2 8 8 M A Y 2 0 1 0

From Editors Desk

INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:

Vanvasi Kalyan 1 Any selfless effort in Bharat will receive unconditional support from the Hindu
Kendra society at large. We have a reason to reaffirm the above statement. Last sum-
mer, some youth decided that the Kshipra river flowing through the holy city of
Ujjain needs some de-silting. The group decided that they would clean the river
Sewa Sangam 3 bed that summer for a length of close to 1 km. Every morning the youth started
cleaning up the riverbed and remove the silt. To start with they were just a
small group of 15-20. But soon, the watchers and morning walkers started join-
ing hands. Crowbars and shovels came in, baskets and tractors came in, finance
Nanaji 6 poured out of market, everyone joined hands to make this a peoples move-
Deshmukh
ment. Ultimately, the state government could not avoid funding without applica-
tion.
Haiti Experi- 9 The same exercise is being carried out this summer also in Ujjain, proving the
ence point beyond doubt that charity is part of Hindu ethos.

Food for 9
Thought
Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra (VKK), Jharkhand
Contact
Organises Gram Vikas Training Camp
9

Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra, 29 karyakartas including Prakukhs) 4 district

Jharkhand organized a 10 women from 15 dis- level, 5 divisional level
state level village devel- tricts of Jharkhand and 3 and 3 state level karya-
opment workshop from karyakartas from Purulia kartas. Sri Ramji Oraon
18th March to 21st district of West Bengal (full time karyakarta)
March at Lohardaga participated in the event. who was trained at De-
Centre, Jharkhand Among them, 17 were valapar Goshala near
block level (Mandal- Nagpur gave the training
 PAGE 2

Vanvasi
in Panchgavya. Na- Farmers are the food huka juice from fresh
tional Vice President giver like God but mahua flower through
V.K.K. Ma. M. S. Purti, chemical fertilizers are charts & Audio-Visual.
State Gram Vikas Pra- poisoning their land. He also distributed the
Methods of mukh Sri Raghav Rana, At Patratu, he has samples of chocolate,
preparing Vermi who looks after 599 started Kalpataru powder, jam etc.
SHGs, State Joint Or- Trust which prepares Mr. Morensingh Purti,
compost (from ganising Secretary Sri ladoos of Amalak, and who presided over the
cow dung), Satyendra Singh, Jam of raw Papaya. Sri event, said, Mixed
guided the workers. raghav Rana demon- farming & organic
Kamdhenu The training pro- strated the preparation farming are not merely
Ark (from cow- gramme was spon- of tomato ketchup & essential but also bene-
sored by NABARD, told about Organic ficial. Some bad habits
urine), Malish oil, Jharkhand The Tide Farming. of drinking which
Keet-Niyantrak Trust of Mumbai has Sri Chandra Sekhar spoils the whole life is
been supporting the Agrawal a retired en- a challenging problem
(pesticides), SHG activities since gineer from HEC, Ran- before us. Our work
Danta Manjan the last two years. chi gave the informa- aims at transforming
Methods of preparing tion of installing small the lives of the vanva-
(tooth powder)
Vermi compost Gobar-gas plants & sis. The experiences
from cow dung (from cow dung), Solar heaters. The shared by the trainees
Kamdhenu DDM of NABARD, also support that.
were practically Ark (from cow- Lohardaga, Sri Samrat Kumari Roshini Dis-
demonstrated. urine), Malish oil, Mukharjee provided trict Incharge of
Keet-Niyantrak the details of Kisan Womens Activities of
(pesticides), Danta Club, SHG scheme & Lohardaga, conducted
Manjan (tooth pow- village development the function Sri Raghav
der) from cow dung activities supported by Rana introduced the
were practically dem- NABARD. He also ap- guests & Sri Suresh
onstrated. Shri preciated the work of Lohra proposed the
Siddhanath Singh, Ma. Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra. vote of thanks.
Kshetra Sanghchalak of Dr. Satyendra N.
R.S.S. told about the Nayak, HOD of Cen-
methods of preparing tre for Rural Develop-
Amrut Pani & Amrut ment & Tech. of IIT,
Mitti. Speaking on the Delhi put forth the de-
occasion, he said, tails of preparing Mad-

SEWA SANDESH
 ISSUE 128
Sewa Sangam in Bengaluru II
By Shyam Parande
How youth get the inspiration
to serve instantaneously when
they have an opportunity on
hand? Without much search, I
could understand the phe-
nomenon during the Sewa
Sangam. The band of youth
which was taking care of the
delegates-serving them the
food, helping the delegates
with whatever they need-had
all the youth from the engi-
neering college hostel, the
venue of the Sewa Sangam.
Most of the NGOs look up to
the national governments or
international aid agencies to
fund their projects. Apart
from the governmental finan-
cial support, some of the
NGOs raise funds through
fund raisers, sales of the
goods produced by the disad-
vantaged groups and services
provided, and lastly through
public donations. Everyone is
aware that several govern-
ments of the developed coun-
tries are funding NGOs in the
developing and underdevel-
oped countries.
The corporate sector has
started investing good amount
of funds through its Corpo-
rate Social Responsibility pro-
grammes for supporting the
NGOs. To some extent this
has come as a relief to the
NGOs as national govern-
ments have started reducing
on their funding to the
NGOs. Ask any non-
governmental organisation
(NGO) about need of a vol-
unteer and you can expect an
affirmative answer in most of
the cases. Volunteers contrib-
ute in a big way though
through smaller tasks. Many
tasks in the non-governmental
sector do not call for a full
time paid person. Every or-
ganisation seeks volunteers
for such tasks and interface
with the local community.
Language is important to
some extent but more than
that it is the heart-to-heart
relationship that volunteers
easily build and connect the
organisation with the local
community. Familiarity with
the local situation is also im-
portant apart from the grasp
of local social traits. Simpler
tasks are executed efficiently
and economically by the vol-
unteers. The more the volun-
teers, the better would be
interaction with the benefici-
ary and local community.
Orienting, training and de-
ploying volunteers is a consid-
erable task for many and
needs some sort of specialisa-
tion. It is always simpler to
handle employed staff than
handling volunteers. Profes-
sional staff fails to achieve the
results sometimes that the
well oriented and trained vol-
PAGE 3
unteers can achieve. Of
course, the professional staff
will fare better in many given Apart from
situations and demeaning their
the
importance can be avoided.
Not all people who work in government
the NGO sector are volun-
teers. Volunteers are not al-
al financial
ways philanthropic as some of support,
them have their own benefits
at the back of their mind while some of the
they serve. They bring immedi-
ate benefits to themselves as
NGOs raise
well as the community they funds
serve, including skills, experi-
ence and contacts. through
However, Youth for Seva in fund raisers,
Bengaluru city or Seva Sahyog
in Pune engaged only the vol- sales of the
unteers who were out just for
goods
serving selflessly and did not
expect even a certificate from produced by
the organisations they were
engaged through. Hindu soci- the
ety has a splendid tradition of
disadvantag
sewa and getting volunteers at
a modest call is enough in ed groups
reaping good response from
the society, especially the and services
youth. It is amazing to under-
provided,
stand that girls are outnumber-
ing boys if figured out among and lastly
the young students and profes-
sionals. through
Engaging large force of volun- public
teers is where the Rashtriya
Sewa Bharati (RSB) affiliates donations.
have an advantage. The funds
available are spent mostly on
the beneficiaries and less on
the salaried staff in all these
 PAGE 4
Sewa Sangam
projects. or voluntary action earlier, I
How- found out. This was sponta-
ever, neous response from the
there is a students as they saw some
disadvan- other volunteers, who were
tage part of the Youth for Seva
where programme, making arrange-
the ments for the delegates. The
weakness local students cooperated in
of these organisations is the best way they could,
exposed sometimes. The including offering their own
volunteers do not match rooms for the delegates,
the schedules for the re- shifting themselves to some
The volunteers porting as well as quality of friends room. Astounding, is
do not match the reports so produced it not?
the schedules through volunteers fails to Funding for NGOs
for the match the one through the
It is vital for any voluntary
reporting as professionals, I feel.
group to raise funds, particu-
well as quality How youth get the inspira- larly when these organisa-
of the reports tion to serve instantane- tions are not trying to get
so produced ously when they have an funds from governments or
through opportunity on hand? international funding agen-
volunteers fails Without much search, I cies. Most of their energy is
to match the could understand the phe- utilised for raising funds and
one through nomenon during the Sewa naturally the other part-
the Sangam. The band of youth effective implementation-is
who were taking care of less taken care of.
professionals, I
the delegates, serving them
feel. Most of the NGOs look up
the food, helping the dele-
to the national governments
gates with whatever they
or international aid agencies
need, were all from the
to fund their projects. Apart
Engineering College hostel,
from the governmental fi-
the
nancial support, some of the
venue of
NGOs raise funds through
the Sewa
fund raisers, sales of the
Sangam,
goods produced by the dis-
and had
advantaged groups and ser-
no expo-
vices provided, and lastly
sure to
through public donations.
the sewa
Everyone is aware that sev-
activity
SEWA SANDESH
eral governments of the de-
veloped countries are fund-
ing NGOs in the developing
and underdeveloped coun-
tries.
Though these organisations
are called non-governmental
organisations meaning inde-
pendent of the governments,
most of the topmost interna-
tional NGOs depend on the
government funding heavily.
The famous Christian relief
and rehabilitation organisa-
tion, World Vision, receives
goods worth millions of US$
for their projects while OX-
FAM, receives millions of
US$ support from the British
and EU governments.
"Medicines without Fron-
tiers" (Mdecins Sans Fron-
tires), the Nobel Prize win-
ning NGO receives close to
50 per cent of their annual
budget through various na-
tional governments, it is said.
Distinctly different
One needs to be very unam-
biguous here in comparing
the voluntary bodies with
the NGOs. Most of the
above said NGOs spend at
least 35-40 per cent of their
budget on the administration
while the voluntary organisa-
tions spend less than 10 per
cent on administrative ex-
penditure which speaks a
great volume of the differ-
 ISSUE 128
Sewa Sangam
ence. It becomes essential
here to state that the NGO
sector has become a major
sector for employment in
some of the countries world
over.
The corporate sector has
started investing good amount
of funds through their Corpo-
rate Social Responsibility pro-
grammes for supporting the
NGOs. To some extent this
has come as a relief to the
NGOs as national govern-
ments have started reducing
on their funding to the NGOs.
Observers have also stated
that the CSR funding is being
utilised by the corporate com-
panies to pre-empt the NGO
run campaigns against some of
the corporate companies. The
logic here is simple, if the cor-
porate is supporting an NGO,
the NGOs will not work
against the corporation. This
logic similarly applies to the
governmental funding and the
supported NGOs. That is mu-
tual interest being protected
on both sides, biding a good-
bye to the interest of the
beneficiary society.
In many cases, monitoring and
control is being utilised effec-
tively by the funding agencies,
be it governments, interna-
tional aid agencies or corpora-
tions, in safeguarding their
own interests to the extent of
curbs on the NGOs or the
beneficiaries, it is understood.
PAGE 5
Paradigm shift stirring. A volunteer has to im-
There is a paradigm shift when I prove on his own quality for
tried to compare the above providing quality service and
with the voluntary organisa- this becomes an obligation for
tions attending the Sewa San- every volunteer.
gam. During the valedictory The beneficiary can never be
session of the Sangam, Shri looked down and serving him
Bhaiyaji Joshi, Sarkaryavah of can best be defined as serving
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Divinity by serving his mani-
assured the conference that festation before ones own
there would be no dearth of eyes. Swami Vivekananda wants
funding for sewa projects and the youth of this country to
that the society would support serve the manifestation in a
any creative activity worth its best way possible when he de- A volunteer
purpose provided they are fines the beneficiary as Daridra has to
done with a pure heart and Narayana. improve on
mind. "Go out and seek the Every delegate at the Sewa San- his own
person, not just the money," he gam had a bagful of experiences quality for
elaborated, "A person is more to share as almost all of them providing
important than the money." had started as micro efforts in quality
Shri Bhaiyaji Joshi further said serving voluntarily and have service and
that, "the numbers are impor- grown into huge projects with this
tant as RSB is serving the soci- large expanses. For every en- becomes an
ety through more than 1.5 lakh deavour had a goal set before obligation
of programmes and projects them, not just serving the soci-
for every
but this alone is not important. ety but to bring in metamor-
volunteer.
More significant is the quality of phosis in the society, the Pari-
the programmes and projects vartan-as it was all the time
through which sewa is being being talked about. "Sewa San-
offered. Qualitative growth of gam" was an earnest effort, I
the karyakarta has to be im- could understand, at bringing
proved for enhancing the qual- the Parivartan in the minds of
ity of the sewa. One has to of- all the beneficiaries, the volun-
fer the best one can and not teers and benefactors as well as
just whatever one offers is the society around!
best." (The writer is International Coordi-
Mahatma Gandhi had stated nator of Sewa International and has
an experience of three decades in
this very emphatically, saying, the voluntary sector. He can be
"It is the quality of work that contacted at shyam-
pleases the Creator, not the parande@gmail.com)
quantity." This is something
 PAGE 6

Inspiring Personality: Nanaji Deshmukh

Early childhood Sarsanghchalak Shri out social restructur-
Nanaji Deshmukh was Guruji sent him to ing programme in over
born on October 11, Gorakhpur (U.P) as 500 villages of both
1916 in Kadoli, a small Pracharak. He rose Uttar Pradesh and
town in the Parbhani to be the Saha Prant Madhya Pradesh states
District of Maharashtra Pracharak of Uttar of Bharat. He also pub-
to Late Shri Amritrao Pradesh. lished the journal
Deshmukh and Late Social work Manthan (introspecti
Shrimati Rajabai Amri- on) which was edited
After retirement from
trao Deshmukh. by K.R. Malkani for
active politics Nanaji
many years.
Nanajis long and then served Deendayal
eventful career was full Research Institute that Nanaji did a lot of so-
of strife and struggle. he himself had estab- cial work in Gonda and
He did Beed the most
He lost his parents at lished way back in
pioneering work an early age and was 1969. He wanted backward districts of
brought up by his ma- Deendayal Research U.P. and Maharashtra
towards the respectively. The
ternal uncle. Institute to be devoted
anti-poverty and to strengthening the motto of his project
His family had little
movement for con- was: Har hath ko
minimum needs money to pay for his
structive work in denge kaam, har khet
tuition fees and books,
programme. Bharat. ko denge paanee.
but his keen desire to
learn encouraged him He did pioneering He finally settled down
Other areas of
to work as a vendor work towards the anti- at the picturesque Chi-
his work were and sell vegetables to poverty and minimum trakoot, a holy place
raise money to fund needs programme. on the borders of U.P.
agriculture and and Madhya Pradesh. It
his education. He lived Other areas of his
cottage industry, in temples and re- work were agriculture was in 1969 that
ceived a higher educa- and cottage industry, Nanaji Deshmukh vis-
rural health and ited Chitrakoot for the
tion at the Birla Insti- rural health and rural
rural education. tute in Pilani. education. Nanaji as- first time. He was
sumed chairmanship of moved to see the pa-
Though born in Ma-
the institute after relin- thetic condition of the
harashtra, the fields of
quishing politics and society in the karmab-
his activities were Ra-
devoted all his time to hoomi of Sri Ram the
jasthan and Uttar
building up the insti- place where Ram spent
Pradesh. Seeing his de-
tute. He was also in- 12 out of the 14 years
votion, the then RSS
strumental in carrying in exile. He sat by the

SEWA SANDESH
ISSUE 128
Inspiring Personaliy
holy River Mandakini, and
resolved to change the
face of Chitrakoot during
his life-time. While in ex-
ile, Lord Ram started
working for the upliftment
of the downtrodden here.
With this important his-
torical and inspiring back-
ground, Nanaji made Chi-
trakoot the centre of his
social work.
He chose to serve the
poorest among the poor.
He used to remark jok-
ingly that he admired Va-
navasi Ram more than
Raja Ram and so would
like to spend the rest of
his life in Chitrakoot
among the vanavasis and
most backward sections of
the society. He kept his
vow to his last breath.
He also established Chi-
tarkoot Gramodya Vish-
wavidyalaya in Chitrakoot-
Bharat's first Rural Univer-
sity and was its Chancel-
lor.
Deendayal Research
Institute (DRI)
Deendayal Research Insti-
tute (DRI) was founded in
1972 by Nanaji Deshmukh
to validate the philosophy
of Integral Humanism pro-
pounded by Pandit Deen-
dayal Upadhyaya (1916
1968). Integral Humanism
gives us a vision for Bharat
that, with an approach to
man and his relationship
to society that is integral
and complementary, could
transform Bharat into a
self-reliant and compas-
sionate example for the
world to follow.
Nanaji Deshmukh devel-
oped a model for the de-
velopment of rural areas
on the basis of Integral
Humanism. After initial
experiments in Gonda
(U.P.) and Beed
(Maharashtra), Nanaji fi-
nally fine-tuned an inte-
grated program for the
development of rural ar-
eas that covers health, hy-
giene, education, agricul-
ture, income generation,
conservation of resources,
and social conscience, that
is both sustainable and
replicable. The basis of the
project is 'Total transfor-
mation through total de-
velopment with people's
initiative and participation'.
The project, called the
PAGE 7
Chitrakoot
Project or
After initial
the
'Campaign experiments in
for Self-
Gonda (U.P.) and
Reliance',
was Beed
launched on 26 January
(Maharashtra),
2005 in 80 villages around
the Chitrakoot area in the Nanaji finally
border of Uttar Pradesh
fine-tuned an
and Madhya Pradesh. The
aim was to achieve self integrated
reliance for these villages
by 2005. When complete program for the
in 2010, the project hopes development of
to make the 500 sur-
rounding villages self- rural areas that
reliant and serve as a sus- covers health,
tainable and replicable
model for the Bharat and hygiene,
the world. education,
DRI has association with
agriculture,
the following important
institutions among others. income
The Wadia Group, Apee- generation,
jay Education Society
(AES), Indian Council of conservation of
Agricultural Research
resources, and
(ICAR), Khadi and Village
Industries Commission social conscience,
(KVIC), India Develop-
that is both
ment and Relief Fund
(IDRF), Madhya Pradesh sustainable and
Council of Science and
replicable.
Technology (MPCST), In-
 Inspiring Personality
PAGE 8

dia Development will find its way to the courts. The dif-
Coalition of Amer- ferences will be sorted out amicably in
ica (IDCA), De- the village itself. The reason given by
partment of Ele- Nanaji Deshmukh is that if the people
mentary Education fight among each other, they have no
(DEE), The Sir time for development,". "I consider
Dorabji Tata Trust, that this model may be propagated in
Ayurveda Yoga & many parts of the country by societal
Naturopathy Unani organisations, judicial organisations
Siddha and Ho- and governments," Kalam concluded.
moeopathy Praising Nanaji Deshmukh for his sin-
(AYUSH) and Sewa gle-minded devotion to the uplift of
International (SI) the people, Kalam said What the oc-
Appreciation and recognition togenarian leader was doing at Chitra-
He was awarded Padma Vibhushan in koot should be an eye-opener for oth-
1999. ers.
DRI is a unique Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Mahaprayan : Nanaji died on 27 Feb-
has lavished praise on Nanaji ruary 2010 at 4.45 p.m. the premises
institution
Deshmukh and the organization of Bharats first rural university, Chi-
developing and started by him, the Deendayal Re- trakoot Gramodya Vishwavidyalaya,
search Institute, for giving the nation that he established. He was unwell for
implementing a some time due to age-related ailments
the litigation-free model he had de-
village vised for resolving disputes. The then and had refused to be taken to Delhi
President said "In Chitrakoot, I met for treatment. He had willed that his
development body be donated to Dadhichi Dehdaan
Nanaji Deshmukh and his team mem-
model which is bers belonging to the Deendayal Re- Sanstha of New Delhi which accepted
search Institute (DRI). DRI is a unique and sent his body to All India Institute
most suited for of Medical Sciences for medical re-
institution developing and implement-
India. ing a village development model search.
which is most suited for India,".
- A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
"Apart from all the development ac-
tivities, the institute is facilitating a
cohesive, conflict-free society. As a
result of this, I understand that the 80
villages around Chitrakoot are almost
litigation-free". "The villagers have
unanimously decided that no dispute

SEWA SANDESH
 SEWA INTERNATIONAL DELHI
PUBLICATION

We have, I think, developed an inferiority

Plot Number 49, complex. I think what is needed in India
Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg, today is the destruction of that defeatist
New Delhi-110002, Bharat
spirit. We need a spirit of victory, a spirit
Phone: 0091-11 23232850
that will carry us to our rightful place un-
Fax: 0091-11-23517722
E-mail: sewainternationaldelhi@gmail.com der the sun.
Web: www.sewainternational.org -- C.V. Raman

Sewa Hi Parmo Dharmah

(Service to Mankind is the Supreme Dharma)
Sewa International
a registered international charity

My Haiti Experience
Vinayak Joshi
I am back from a very memorable
volunteer work. Volunteering is
not new for me as Sangh have
taught that to me from childhood
seeing Latur and Moravi physi-
cally. But Haiti brings a unique
case with a combination of pov-
erty, lack of inland commerce and
infrastructure.
95% of homes in the town of Leo-
gane are at ground zero level. Peo-
ple have all their life savings and
after 20 years of settled life they
will have to start from beginning.
Worst than rich to rag stories.
And on the top they have lost their
loved ones.
During my visit I did see a lot of
presence from UN soldiers and
many of Indian soldiers represen-
tation. Hats off to them. We also
have a Indian peace force in Port
Au Prince. The tweeter minister
had been there some time back !.
I was accompanied with my 2
daughters Saie (13) and Tanvi (17).
Many have warned me against go-
ing to Haiti myself leave aside tak-
ing them due to security and psy-
chological challenging conditions in
Haiti. But this was exactly the rea-
son for me to take them with me.
Having them was very useful as we
did conduct games , conduct family
events and visited hospitals in Haiti.
Saie and Tanvi played a crucial role
in organizing get together session
(can call it Shakha) and have lead
the Bal Vibhag. It started with 10
kids and within short time reached
to 150 kids and total upasthiti at
200 plus.
For that time families laughed, kids
exhausted themselves competing
for Rassikhesh and soccer like
games. Everybody forgot the
memories of past 2 months.
Along with this heart building ac-
tivity we all participated in cleaning
the city and rebuilding activities.
While leaving my daughters felt
that all their hearts were left in
Haiti. Same was true with Haitian
kids when we departed. The real-
ity of life has made me insensitive
to these events but I was also
touched to see how soon we have
crossed color, race and language
barriers.
My 13 year old wrote I think I
might have actually lost more
than I gained on this trip to
Haiti. Firstly, I lost weight. I lost
my pride. I lost my materialism. I
erased the walls of a comfort
zone. I became a humanitarian.
My 17 year old who secured ad-
mission to GW College of medi-
cine wrote Working in Haiti
has further solidified my ambition
to become a borderless physician