Invitation for ‘Right To Information’ Awareness Program.

How many times we must have felt helpless dealing with government offices. How many times we thought we should question corrupted politicians but stepped back. How many times we silently accepted when so called our representatives are taking us for granted. 

If you want a day to come when u can walk into any government office as if you are walking into a corporate bank,
If you want a day to come when our MLAs and MPs truly represent the needs and aspirations of the people of that constituency,
If you want a day to come when every rupee u r paying in form of taxes is accountable,

You have to know about this powerful weapon to every citizen of India – Right to Information.

As the name suggests RTI is our right to demand any information from state and central governments, independent bodies affiliated to Government and NGOs which get grants from government.  As per specific clause in this act, government should take initiatives to spread awareness about this act. Unfortunately, our chief ministers and prime ministers publish pages of advertisements about vote bank programs like Rajeev Gruhakalpa etc… But never works towards giving questioning power to citizens. I am sure no other political party, barring exceptions like Loksatta, will work in this connection.

In this scenario, only civil societies and few NGOs are working towards this cause. In fact, this act is a result of unrelenting struggle taken by social activists and civil societies.  As an educated citizen, it is our responsibility to know and exercise RTI wherever needed and work to empower every ordinary citizen to demand for his rights. As a part of our initiative to spread awareness about RTI, we are conducting an interactive seminar this weekend.

Date and Timings  : 23rd December, 10 AM -12.30 AM
Venue                      : KMRR Center, above Srinagar Colony Post Office, Near Chanti
                                    Mess, opp. Big Byte Bakery Lane. Those who come from Punjagutta
                                    side, it is the next lane to Andhra bank ATM.
Agenda                    : To explain about the potential of RTI, nuances in filing 

                                    RTI Petitions followed by Discussion
Speaker                   : Rakesh

Target Audience    :  Any Citizen.  

Rakesh used RTI effectively to bring out so many disturbing truths relating to farmers suicides. In spite of his supposedly hectic schedule in IT sector, he struggled for the victim families in mahboobnagar to ensure that they get compensation which they deserve. He recently made a citizen journalist presentation in CNN-IBN focusing this issue. The video is available in the following link
http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/53925/cj-fights-for-andhra-debtridden-farmers.html 

I request all readers to make use of this opportunity and encourage us to arrange this kind of programs further.Please confirm your participation by sending a mail to u.ravishankar@gmail.com  or prasanthi.uppalapati@gmail.com Please confirm ASAP as the venue fits only for 40 to 50 people.      Warm Regards,  Ravi.

http://tomakeadifference.net

www.bhumi.in

ఎవడైతే నాకేంటి – స్పందన

గత కొంతకాలంగా సినిమాలు చూడడంలో ఆచి తూచి వ్యవహరించడం వల్ల ఒక చూడదగిన సినిమా మిస్సయ్యాను. అదే ఈ ‘ఎవడైతే నాకేంటి ‘.నేను లోక్ సత్తా గురించి కొన్ని వీడియోలు చూస్తున్నప్పుడు, ఒక దాంట్లో JP గారు ఈ చిత్ర యూనిట్ ని ఆహ్వానించి ప్రెస్ మీట్ పెట్టి దీనిని అభినందించారు. దాని వల్ల ఆసక్తి కలిగి ఈ చిత్రాన్ని చూడడం జరిగింది. బహుశా JP గారి మద్దతు వల్ల ఇందులోని లోపాలు కూడా పెద్ద లోపాలుగా అనిపించలేదు.

ఇక సినిమా విషయానికొస్తే అవినీతి అన్యాయాలతో కుల్లిపోతున్న సమాజాన్ని బాగుచేయడానికి తపించే ఒక నిజాయితీపరుడు సమర్దుడు అయిన వ్యక్తి కధ. సమకాలీన రాజకీయ వ్యవస్థకు తర్పణం పట్టేలా వుంటుంది. నిజాయితీగా రాజకీయాలలోకి రావాలనుకునే వాళ్ళకి స్ఫూర్తిదాయకంగా ఉంది. ఈ సినిమాలో ఒక డైలాగ్ నాకు బాగా నచ్చింది. ‘ Leadership is not a possession it’s an action’. వ్యాపార విలువలకోసం కొంత వరకు అర్దంలేని డైలాగులు అసంభవమైన సన్నివేశాలు మూసధోరణిలో వచ్చే పాటలు ఉన్నా ఈ సినిమా ఒక సారైనా చూడవచ్చు అని నా అభిప్రాయం.

Blanket Distribution

During Last week, while chatting with my friend sandeep, he proposed this idea of distributing blankets to the needy people who sleep in streets without any shelter. Rest of us thought why not?? While working on this two quotations striked my mind which are worth mentioning.
These two inspired me to shed my hesitancy and uneasiness.  First one is ‘There is no wrong time to do a right thing’. This came to my mind when i was postponing the activity continuously. The second quotation is ‘Thinking is such a waste of time (CBZ add..)’. This helped me when i was feeling little uncomfotable to approach people with this cause.

Initially we planned to collect old unused blankets from colleagues of us. We had sent mails to all contacts in our reach. I did not get much response for various practical reasons. Sandeep was given donations from his office to purchase blankets and distribute. while we are on a look out for a cost effective deal we came to know that in our group TMAD(http://tomakeadifference.net), there are plenty of blankets which are meant to be distributed to needy people.  After talking to Prasanthi and Dr.Sundar from TMAD, we planned to donate the collected money towards TMAD and take up the task of distributing blankets.

Five of us(Sandeep,Raghu,Amith,Pradeep and me) assembled on friday night and collected the blankets from Dr.Sundar’s home. Dr.Sundar suggested few places where we can get our customters . He suggested to go in the late night as it will be easy to identify people who are actually in need of them. Amit’s four wheeler made things easy to distribute. At around 12′0 clock midnight we started from Ameerpet and moved towards panjagutta. After crossing Hyderabad Central we find many people sleeping below the ceilings of the shopping complex. As they were sleeping we thought it will be easy to identify people who are not having blankets. but, one lady woke up and made all others wake up. Then it was little difficult for us to control people. As we were aware of this possibility, we were able to manage to give things only for needy people. There itself we had distributed about 18 blankets. Later we moved toward necklace road, Raj Bhavan road and Begumpet but we din’t find any one. Then we moved to balkampet temple where we find so many people. There also we searched for the deserving people and finally left with 2 blankets.

It was a touching experience i had that night. Most of the people, out of their shivering, inadvertently pulled the blanket when we unfolded upon them. All these comforts have been granted for most of us with our birth but there are so many people who are devoid of these basic amenities.

My Visit to Sphoorti.

For friends who can’t read telugu i’d written about my visit to sphoorti again in english. 

_____________________________________________________________ 

This weekend i visited an orphanage called ‘Spoorthi’ in charlapally, Hyderabad. I used the word ‘Orphanage’ only for the understanding purpose of the readers and i have some reservations in using that word especially when i refer to this particular organization. I am sure the kids there are going to be very purposeful to the society because the culture in which they are being brought up.

When i entered their home i was welcome with somany beautiful innocent smiles which overwhelmed me. I got instant energy after meeting those energetic kids. Every kid came to me and introduced himself/herself with name and class etc.. Currently forty five kids are living here. The kids range from kinder garden to sixth standard. They are being given good education in a private school near by and daily they study for two to three hours after home. In addition to that they play daily for about one and half to two hours. They also are being encouraged towards painting,dance etc.. keeping the all round developement of kids in view. They have a television and dvd player so as play education related movies once in a while.  Being in the growth phase of their lives, no compromise has been made in providing nutritious food to them. Occassional nutrition checkup are also being conducted. It’s surprising to hear that happening in a charity organization. Here is the link for the diet plan being followed there.

www.sphoorti.org/dietplan.html

The person behind this organization is Mr.Srivyal who gives all his energies towards this noble cause. He is single handedly running this organization without compromising on any aspect of the child’s developement. This started in august of 2006 with 3 kids and now it’s capacity reached to 45. There is a general impression that only rich and affluent people run this kind of trusts but just with a will to do something for under privileged people, srivyal started this foundation. It inspires me when i meet people like him. I felt very nice when all kids are fondly calling him ‘maamayya(uncle)’. I decided to work the developement of the organization.

Now we are looking forward to expand it’s capacity to 100. For that we need to raise funds. Srivyal has a proposal called ‘Sponsor A Child’ under which a donor or group of donors will be sponsoring the average expenses of one child. The average expenses are Rs.12,500/- per annum. Their academic reports and their well being can be continuously monitored by the donors. This will provide the transparency and accountability for the donors. As per my experience, this doubt hinders one to donate for any good cause. This kind of transparent mechanism encourages interested individuals to contibute more towards society. In addition to the monetary help, the donors can visit kids regularly and look after their well being. Let’s all join our hands to prepare purposeful individuals for the future generation!! I will be glad to share more details about the organization and like to hear any innovative ideas to develope the organization.

u can visit sphoorti on www.sphoorti.org

Ravi.

_______________________________________________________________

స్ఫూర్తి నిచ్చిన ‘స్ఫూర్తి ‘

కేవలం సోషల్ వర్క్ వరకు ప్రత్యేక బ్లాగు రాయమని ప్రశాంతి ఇచ్చిన సూచన మేరకు ఈ బ్లాగు మొదలుపెట్టాను. ఎప్పటినుంచో  స్ఫూర్తి ఫౌండేషన్ ను దర్శించాలని అనుకొంటూ ఉన్నాను.నగరానికి కొంచెం దూరాన వుండడం వల్ల తరచూ వాయిదా వేస్తూ వచ్చాను. చివరికి గత శనివారం సాయంత్రం ఆ అవకాశం కలిగింది.

కేవలం నేను ఏమన్నా సాయం చేయగలిగితే చేద్దాం అని అనుకొని వెళ్ళాను కాని అంతకు మించిన ఆనుభూతికి లోనయ్యాను. చాలా మంది పిల్లలు తమ స్వచ్చమైన చిరునవ్వులతో స్వాగతం పలికారు. అంత చిన్నవయస్సులో ఏమాత్రం బిడియం లేకుండా అందరూ తమను తామే పరిచయం చేసుకొన్నారు. నాకు అనిపించింది సిగ్గు, బిడియం లాంటివి మనకు మనమే సృష్టించుకున్నవి అని. వారందరినీ కలిసిన తరువాత నాకు కొత్త ఉత్సాహం వచ్చింది.

 సహజంగా ఒక ట్రస్టును అనిపించాలంటే చాలా డబ్బు అవసరం అని కొంచెం స్ఠిరపడిన తరువాత ఆలోచిద్దాం అని అనుకొంటాం. కాని శ్రీవ్యాల్ తన తోటి వారి కోసం చేతనయింత చేయాలి అనే సదుద్దేశంతో ఆగష్టు 2006 న ముగ్గురు పిల్లలతో దీనిని ప్రారంభించారు. అప్పటినుండి దినదినాభివృద్ది చెంది ఇప్పటికి 45 మంది పిల్లలను చేరదీసింది. కేవలం పిల్లల సంఖ్య మాత్రమే కాకుండా వారి పెంపకంలో ఎక్కడా రాజీ పడకుండా నడిపిస్తున్నారు. చదువుతో పాటు ఇతర కళలలో కూడా వారిని ప్రోత్సహిస్తున్నారు. వారి పొషణకు కావలసిన ఆహరాన్ని అందిచడంలో కూడ ఎక్కడా రాజీ పడకుండా నడిపించడం విశేషం.

ప్రస్తుతం దీనిని విస్తరించి 100 మంది పిల్లలను చేరదీయాలనే ఆలోచనలో ఉన్నారు. దీనికి మనలాంటి ఎంతో మంది వ్యక్తుల సహకారం అవసరం. తీరిక సమయంలో ఒక సారి స్ఫూర్తి ని దర్శించమని పాఠకునికి మనవి. ఇది నగర శివార్లలో చర్లపల్లి వద్ద వుంది. దీని వెబ్ సైటు

www.sphoorti.org/joinus.html

ఈ ‘స్ఫూర్తి ‘ ద్వారా సమాజానికి ఉపయోగపడే వ్యక్తులు తయారవుతారని నా గట్టి నమ్మకం. వారు పెరుగుతున్న ఆరోగ్యకర వాతావరణం వల్లనే నాకీ భరోసా. నేను సైతం ‘స్ఫూర్తి ‘ అభివృద్ది కి చేతనయినంత కృషి చేయాలని నిర్ణయించుకొన్నాను.