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REFULGENCE'09: AN ALL-INDIA SOCIAL BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION

4th-5th April'09

It is an All India Social B-plan Contest seeking ideas that can change the future of the country. A platform for students to dream big..

Ideas….

That can build a prosperous India
That help create basic livelihood opportunities in rural India
That provide knowledge and technology to “employ themselves”
That will be applicable to the larger Indian community
That are implementable, sustainable and scalable.
That are innovative and solve contemporary problems.

Sponsored By: Colon K- http://www.colonk.com/

For more details refer-: http://nirmaan.org/refulgence-2k9/home.html

Nirmaan at APOGEE – 2K9, BITS PILANI

APOGEE (23rd - 27th march), A Professions Oriented Gathering over Educational Experience is the annual academic festival of BITS-Pilani. Nirmaan is conducting 3 major events this APOGEE.

The India Quiz -The India Quiz is a platform for testing you IQ (Indian Quotient). This has been the event which saw the highest participation of 270 teams in APOGEE – 2K5, 305 teams in APOGEE – 2K6, 321 teams in APOGEE – 2K7 and 331 teams in APOGEE - 2K8.

E – SolV - Engineering Solutions for Villages, this is a contest to show-case the engineering skills and at the same time make a difference to the people living in rural INDIA. We present the potential problems of rural INDIA. The contestants have to apply their engineering skills and should come up with an effective, efficient, feasible and economic solution without any compromise on its workability.

Techno Vision - We invite innovative models and imaginative approaches in the application of technology and in solving problems that plague INDIA in the form of Paper Presentation.

For more details about each event click APOGEE2K9

Workshop on SocEntrepreneurship

Nirmaan, BITS Pilani has organized a workshop on Social Entrepreneurship that comprised of making the students aware of the concepts to make a Business Plan, Social Entrepreneurship.

Eminent speakers from all-over INDIA had delivered their talks on these issues in a highly energetic session. Following are the brief profiles of all the speakers. For more information, please visit http://refulgence2k9.blogspot.com/

Sri. SUNIL HANDA: Professor at IIM-Ahmadabad and Founder of the Eklavya Education Foundation- a no-profit no-loss endeavor, is both an entrepreneur with a difference and a teacher with a purpose

Sri. V K DESAI: V K Desai is a mechanical engineer and a law graduate. After working for fourteen years he left his job in 1982 and founded TINYTECH PLANTS. From then onwards he is deeply engrossed in development of small and simple technology for creating and strengthening local economy.

Mr.KAVIKRUT: Mr. Kavikrut is Business Manager, Piramal Group. He was Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Mobile Medics, being responsible for leading the operation at Pilani. He graduated in MSc Tech. Finance program from BITS Pilani. In 2006, Mr. Kavikrut was named one of 30 BITSians under the age of 30 for outstanding leadership

Rs one lakh worth Nirmaan merit cum need scholarships awarded to 12 students

Nirmaan has awarded its merit cum need scholarships to its first batch of scholars on 27 Dec 2008 at Hyderabad. Twelve students pursuing their professional degrees who are meritorius and in need of financial support were chosen for the first batch of scholarship through a rigorous scrutiny of applications and were awarded by Prof V S Rao, Director of BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus in a program arranged at Hyderabad. As a part of Nirmaan scholarship program, students would be eligible to get financial support and also full time mentorship from a qualified professional throughout their academic career. Dr V S Rao, talking to the students has advised them to perform well in their academic career with the help of Nirmaan scholarship and mentorship and asked the students to take forward the scholarship program to help many more eligible students once they enter the professional world. He also appreciated the efforts of Nirmaan members in helping the eligible students in pursuing their education. On this occassion, Nirmaan has taken the opportunity to thank Two Cents of Hope, USA and other donors for their generous support to the scholarship program.

WARDS-Nirmaan Charity Sale 2008

The Welfare Association Of Rehabilitation of Disabled Society, in collaboration with Nirmaan, Bangalore, geared up to the festive occasion of Diwali yet again this year. The Charity Sale held this season brought out an abundance of creativity and potential of the special children at WARDS. Several established corporates in Bangalore evinced interest in marketing the items produced by them. To name a few, organizations like Empower Research, HCL Technologies, Mysis and Sun Guard extended a hand of co-operation, providing WARDS with suitable channels to market these products and reach out to the masses. A week long sale was set up in their premises and drew forward a lot of employees who were attracted by the skillfully crafted products that displayed the artistic finesse of the children. Consequently, the sale emerged successful, raking in an unprecedented amount of revenue. The magnificent display of diyas, greeting cards and several other decorative items, not only signified hidden talent and capability but also highlighted the relentless efforts put forth by the faculty at WARDS, who have served as a beacon guiding the children to their dreams. Their involvement in this charity sale and their role in its success is truly laudable. Nirmaan volunteers played their part with a lot of zeal, offering able guidance to the children and galvanizing the team with their presence and motivation. They efficiently utilized their ties with several organizations and served as able mediators between WARDS and the corporates, leading to a successful and fulfilling charity sale.

Nirmaan proves its mettle during cultural Fest at BITS-Pilani

Oasis at BITS, Pilani is the most awaited time of the year.More than 150 colleges from all over the country converge to Pilani to take part in the fest. At Nirmaan, we see Oasis as a platform to showcase our ideas, their and our accomplishments and to make people aware of the work we do. This Oasis, Nirmaan stall was inaugurated on 21^st October, by the Vice Chancellor, Prof.L.K.Maheswari, Raghurama and R.K Mittal along with Nirupama Prakash and few other professors.The stall had products of the NGOs- Sohard, Asha ka jharna and Zila Paryavaran Sudhar Samithi along with the SHG articles. A wide range of products comprising utility articles, decorative items, textiles, toys etc. were put up for sale. The sales were very impressive, indicating the quality of the products. The two potential SHGs in Khedla and Harinagar maintained by Nirmaan have gained considerable profits and benefited 15 women. Thanks to BITS for supporting us through all the activites and helping us make them a success and also to the villagers who are driven towards a change. We convey our special regards to THE BITSAA Kolkata Trust for their continous encouragement and support.

INTER SCHOOL QUIZ COMPETITION HELD IN PILANI

Nirmaan successfully conducted the Inter School Quiz Competition -2008 on 23rd oct. Nirmaan took up Interconnectivity of Schools(ICS) projects in 4 schools namely Sabu , Goenka, Bal Niketan and Dhandar Public School, after two months of extensive survey. The first event which is an Inter School Quiz Competition was held in Sabu School. IMS institute sponsored the prizes apart from offering free spoken English classes for all the 12 students selected. Mrs. Uma. S. Dubey, lecturer BITS-Pilani, chief guest for the event gave an inspiring speech. There were few cultural events also. Students from Dhandar public school won the first prize. The management of all the schools appreciated our volunteers for taking up this initiative and agreed to support the project. An article was also published in the local news paper about the event.

Mumbai team takes on the initiation

After a three months long surveys and visits to schools and slums in Mumbai suburbs, Mumbai team decided to initiate the projects. With a team of twelve members, the team has been working from past few weeks with full enthusiasm and dedication to initiate the projects and help the unprivileged. After visiting a good number of Government schools, the team is determined to take up Malad school as a part of SAP and improve the conditions in the school. Some of the volunteers have started teaching English and maths for classes VII and VIII. Few others believe that the children need moral values and discipline than anything else and so they have been working on this through extra curricular activities and narration of stories.

Chandrashekar, who is leading the Mumbai team says that in their recent meeting, they have decided to provide scholarship at least to two students pursuing professional courses. He adds that the ground work that has been done in last three months in the suburbs has helped us know the ground realities and the needs of the people and that would help us in the long term to design the projects as per the needs.

NIRMAAN Training Center inaugurated successfully at Harinagar Colony, Pilani

With the success of Nirmaan training centre (in stitching) at Khedla, a step has been taken towards forming a network of training centers in and around Pilani. The second Nirmaan training center was inaugurated on 14^th September at Harinagar Colony. Mrs.Surekha Bhanot, Chief, Electronics and Instrumentation Unit, Mr.Rajesh Agrawal, President of Zilla Paryavaran Sudhar Samithi, an NGO in Jhunjhunu district and few other prominent members of the colony were the chief guests. The training centre was inaugurated by Mrs.Surekha Bhanot, who, while talking to the women on the occasion, quoted instances from her own life and inspired them to work. Later Mr.Rajesh Agarwaal spoke about the NGO he is working with and also briefed them about SHG’s activities like savings, bank account, income generation etc. The turnout of the women was 25 and that was very encouraging.

If you have any comments, suggestions or any ideas that can be helpful to us regarding SHGs, please visit http://shg-hn-nirmaan.blogspot.com/

Updates from Pilani

The projects at Pilani chapter started officially on Aug 15th.Coming to the last semester, the stitching center by SHG went on well.The Solar Lamps Project took a shape and the product is about to be launched this semester.Coming to Village Knowledge Center, the libraries were handed over to the village community marking the successful completion of the project.The School Adoption Program is awaiting the permission from the Govt. to adopt the school and the Inter Connection of Schools is planning to organize a science fest this semester.For more details regarding Pilani chapter, please go through the newsletter.

School Bags Distribution at Kotthaguda School, Hyderabad

The school development program at Kotthaguda School, Hyderabad had a very good begin with distribution of school bags to VI standard children sponsored by Flagstone Reinsurance on Indian Independence Day, August 15, 2008. This occasion was graced with the presence of few employees from Flagstone Reinsurance, Nirmaan Volunteers, Village Committee of kotthaguda and other invitees. The event was well received by the school staff and the students were happy with the new school bags. Students had staged a cultural program on this occasion.

School Bags and Shoes Distribution in Ulsoor School

The school adoption program at the Govt. Kannada Higher Primary School at Ulsoor, Bangalore, saw it's first phase of the project being implemented with providing basic necessities for the students of the school. Sponsored By Modelytics India Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, all students of the school were given School bags and shoes. A small function was organized for this purpose. The occassion was blessed by the presence of Swami Satyavidananda from RamaKrishna Mission, Ulsoor. The Block Education Officer and School staff were also present for the distribution.

Students had staged a cultural program on this joyous occassion. Nirmaan believes that students should feel a sense of value attached to the education which they gain at school and also enjoy and respect the entire ecosystem of the school. This will enhance their interest in education, and will be a driving force in shaping his/her life as a disciplined and knowledgable student.

School Development Program Inaugural at Kotthaguda Zilla Parishad High School, Hyderabad

Nirmaan - Madhapur team of Hyderabad Chapter organized an inaugural event at Kotthaguda Zilla Parishad High School on 28^th June, 2008 launching the School Development Program.

From 21^st June, we organized various sports to the children and distributed the prizes to the winners on the inaugural day. Scholarships were given to three of the 10^th class school toppers of 2007 - 08 academic year as an encouragement for their performance and also to improve competitiveness among the present 10^th class students.

We have participated in Back To School (Badi Bata) program i.e., convincing the parents of the children below 14 years of age who are not going to the school to join them in the school. We have worked for one week and about to convince 19 children to enroll into the school. We have enrolled few children into the school on the inaugural day. Read More

Nirmaan Scholarship Program

The aim of this program is to monetarily help and guide the meritorious, socially Committed/responsible but financially distressed students in pursuing their professional degrees, to develop them as the best citizens of the nation and thus make them a part of the nation building process. This program is done in collaboration with Two Cents of Hope. Students who have passed 10 + 2 examinations or pursing graduation degrees (like BE/ BTech, MBBS, B.Com, BSC, BPharm, Defense or any other equivalent degree) in India are eligible to apply for this scholarship.

Applications for scholarship program have been closed. Selected candidates will be contacted individually.

To know the eligibility criteria click Nirmaan_scholarships

To apply for scholarship please fill the Application Form

For further information please mail to damerlavarun@gmail.com or contact on 09986027369

Career Guidance Program, Pilani

Pilani: A career guidance program was organised by the Nirmaan members of BITS,Pilani in the high school of adjacent village, 'Khulhariyon Kaa Bhaas'. The students of the school were made aware of the various competitive examinations and employment opportunities. The Sarpanch of the village had helped in organizing this awareness program.

What is the significance and symbolism of the Nirmaan logo ?

The Nirmaan logo depicts the evolution of a transformed society, as envisioned by the members of Nirmaan. The logo portrays 4 people (represented by 4 different colors) and a flame on the letter 'I' of Nirmaan. The four people holding each other’s shoulders depict a diverse nationwide community which endeavors to bring about a difference in the society they live in and are willing to work for the common cause of the betterment of the country. It stands for the selfless involvement of members hailing from distinct parts of the country. The flame on the letter ‘I’ depicts the intense determination, and burning desire of the Nirmaan member, to make India a beautiful home, not just for a few, but for every Indian who deserves equal opportunity as anybody else. Nirmaan Organisation acknowledges the efforts and contribution of Vamsi Krishna and Sandeep Gummadi of the Art n Dee department, BITS,Pilani for designing the logo.

Why 12 Jan is celebrated as National Youth Day? What is the message of greatest patriot to the youth?

National Youth Day in India is celebrated on 12 January which is the birthday of Swami Vivekananda .In 1984, the Government of India declared and decided to observe the Birthday of Swami Vivekananda (12 January, according to English calendar) as National Youth Day every year from 1985 onwards. To quote from the Government of India's Communication, 'it was felt that the philosophy of Swamiji and the ideals for which he lived and worked could be a great source of inspiration for the Indian Youth. Swami Vivekananda's lectures and writings, deriving their inspiration from Indian spiritual tradition and the broad outlook of his Master Sri Ramakrishna, are a source of inspiration and have motivated numerous youth organizations, study circles and service projects involving the youth. For his message to the youth, please click here

Why Should we adopt schools?

Majority of Indians are the products of Government schools. These schools are a linchpin of the Indian educational system, accounting for 50-60% of Pre-Primary and Primary Schools and Secondary Schools. They have a great penetration into the very interiors of our country. We find them in hilly areas, unreachable islands, tribal areas and everywhere. In Karnataka alone we have 43,447 Government Primary Schools and 3,029 Government High Schools. Read More

Sales of Diwali candles prepared by disabled children in corporates at Bangalore

Corporate professionals are amazed at the creativity of the disabled children. The variety of candles and the decorative items that the kids had prepared were sold within hours in every corporate where we had sales. The variety of candles includes waxed diyas, empty diyas, temple diyas, plain candles, spiral, apple, cylinder, elephant, tower, square, glass candles and floating candles. Decorative items like pen bag and flower pot were also sold. Sales sessions were successfully completed in corporates like HCL, Modelytics, GE Health care and ANZ IT.

Govt schools closes for summer vacation

All the Government schools have given a long summer vacation to the children and therefore our visits to the adopted schools at different places have come to a halt. Planning for next academic year's SAP and visits to other NGO projects to learn from them have been placed on our priority list for next one and half month.

School Adoption Program resumes in Bangalore

After the re-opening of the Govt schools after the summer vacations, students at the Telugu and Kannada Govt. Schools at Ulsoor are back to school with more enthusiasm. With equal zeal and well planned schedules for the project, Nirmaan volunteers at Bangalore have eagerly started the implementation of the new plan for this academic year. The academic schedule this year would include teaching Maths, Computers, Practical Science and Moral Science and the extra curricular schedule includes sports, arts and crafts, competitive events like elocution, debates and public speaking. All these modules have been scheduled on one of the weekdays and on saturdays so that the regular schedules of the teachers as well as the students are not disturbed. With the support of more number of Bangloreans willing to participate in this project, Nirmaan is looking forward to adopt a few more govt. schools in the coming weeks. Hoping that the new wings of fire would lighten up many more minds across the city! If you are interested to know more and wish to be a part of this project in any of the govt. schools or even willing to adopt a school on your own, we would be glad to guide you through. Please mail to swetha.chikoti@gmail.com

Farewells to Nirmaan vols at Pilani

All the Nirmaan volunteers who have been the dedicated members during their BITS life have been given a grand farewell by the Nirmaan juniors. Its like the any other assocs farewell with usual write ups, momento distribution and dinner. But something speacial is seen in Nirmaan farewell. Graduating Nirmaan vols share their exciting experiences while working with the beneficiaries, their friends in villages, their team members, handover all their responsibilities to their juniors and motivate the juniors to take the charges. This tradition that started in Nov 2005 has been successfully continuing and everyone involved in this process takes pride of it. About 15 dedicated volunteers who have been instrumental in shaping Nirmaan have been given the farewell at Pilani and the numbers have to be confirmed from Goa.

Successful completion of workshops and the Annual General meeting for the year 2007

The annual general meeting for the year 2007 that's scheduled to happen on 22-23 Dec at the JBIET auditorium, Hyderabad was successfully completed with everything got executed as per the plan. The meeting witnessed a presence of 103 members from different parts of the country. Meeting started with the an auspicious ganesh prayer on 22nd morning at 9:15 AM and ended on 23 Dec 2007 at 6:30 PM with a snap session. Please go through the AGM 2007 link to know about the happenings of the AGM and workshops and go through link Mission 2008 to know the mission that is drafted for the year 2008

TechnoVision

Technovision, a paper presentation with a theme to envision an empowered nation –science and technology for societal transformation, received a good number of entries from all over the country. Out of the 60 entries, 7 papers were selected for the finals after careful scrutiny by some experienced faculty of BITS, Pilani. Many innovative ideas with great vision and scope for implementation came up. Some of them are the pie system, energizing empowerment, hybrid electric engine etc. After each presentation there were questions from the judges and the audience which made the event even more interesting and fruitful. The paper on Energizing empowerment based on carbon credits by Abhishek Humbad, Tanpreet Singh Sehgal and Gaurav Gupta won the first place.

IQ Tested succesfully

The Indian Quiz, commonly known as IQ, maintained its status as one of the largest crowd pullers of APOGEE, even this year. The interesting rounds, and the questions covering the length and the breadth of our country, its glorious culture, mythology, sports, current affairs etc, were a real test to the Indian Quotient of the participants. There were over 500 participants for the elims, of which 6 teams of 3 members each got qualified for the finals. The various audience prizes (t-shirts, cds, chocolates etc), excellent organization of the event by the quiz masters and a splendid performance by the finalists kept the audience excited and the event lively till the end.

The team comprising of Shailesh Jha, Varun Pandey and Vineet Pandey clearly dominated the entire quiz and emerged as the winner.

E-Solv

E-Sol’V, a presentation of solutions to the potential problems aimed at developing the villages has been a great success this year. Eight very good questions relating to the village problems like desert vehicle, drainage system, underground salt water purification etc were posed. There were 30 entries from all over the country, out of which 7 were selected for the finals by the esteemed faculty of BITS-pilani. During the final event, participants came up with many innovative solutions for the questions. Each presentation is followed by firing questions from the jury and audience regarding cost analysis, feasibility etc. Hariharasudhan, I.Prakash and R.Prakash from PSG College Coimbatore won first prize for their presentation on desert vehicle. All the ideas will be worked upon and implemented depending on the feasibility.