SEVA TIMESMonthly report of service activities from across the nation

CORPORATE CULTURE & SPIRITUALITY CONFERENCE 2015: EXPLORING ETHICAL WAYS OF DOING BUSINESS AND MAXIMIZING PROFIT

FEBRUARY, 2015 THE ART OF LIVING INTERNATIONAL CENTRE, BANGALORE

From the projects team

EditorialSOCIAL DEVEL-OPMENT AS PRIORITY ITEM IN MISSION STATEMENTS OF BUSINESSES

WE WELCOME ORGANIZATIONS TO LEVERAGE OUR DOMAIN EXPERTISEPARTNERSHIP FOR PROGRESS

For over 30 years, the Art of Living’s humanitarian projects have focused on developing the health and well-being of under-privileged and marginalized people. Many of our empowerment programs have happened organically in rural and urban locations creating in the process deep social, economic and environmental transformation.

This extraordinary story is really of ordinary people inspired by the Art of Living programs to make a difference in the communities that they live in. Much of our work of the earlier years has gone undocumented except in the hearts and minds of people that have been touched by the kindness and care that they experienced from our volun-teers during our interventions.

Today, as the Art of Living story of inspiration and transformation comes into national and international lime-light, we are attempting to put form and structure into this remarkable move-ment. The plethora of conferences and national and international programs that we conduct with stakeholders across all sectors is a testimony to the inclusiveness of our approach to human and community development.

The first edition of the Corporate Culture and Spirituality Conference was launched in 2003 at the Art of Living International Center in Bangalore when many of our volunteers in the corporate sector felt that it would be fascinating to dialogue on spirituality as an integral part of business and its success. Since then, successful editions of the confer-ence at the European Parliament in Brussels and Singapore, leading to this 11th edition here again in Bangalore, have seen global dialogue and coopera-tion taking place amongst private sector, the academic world, government agen-cies, international organizations, media and others with the goal of fostering decency, inspiring human values and building wider public trust in business.

As developmental priorities gain momentum under the country’s new leadership, this edition of CCS takes a fresh look at development as a priority item in the mission statements of busi-nesses and industry.

These are fascinating times. Times that bring with it non-linear thinking, innovation and collaboration not just for profit and gain, but times that see shared values as the emerging mantra of businesses that combine their head with their... hearts!

THE SUCCESS OF OUR SERVICE INITIATIVES IS FOUNDED ON A UNIQUE COMBINATION OF INSPIRED INDIVIDUAL COMMITMENT AND COLLECTIVE ACTION Established as a non-profit, humani-tarian and educational organization over three decades ago, the Art of Living has consistently shown that an alternative and a better world and life is possible. This has been done through a wide-range of train-ing programs, service projects, and, more importantly, a holistic ap-proach.

Within India and abroad the Art of Living has built up enor-mous credibility and public trust. This has been possible because the work done by us has been harmo-nized and tailor-made to the coun-tries’ and societies’ preferences and needs, thereby improving the quality of aid and guidance. Visibly secular in its nature and approach, the Art of Living Foundation has played a pivotal role in is-sues ranging from health and hygiene, women em-powerment, education for children, human rights, environment, prisoner re-habilitation, disaster-relief and campaigns to address-ing and assessing problems on both national and global platforms.

The Art of Living is driven by the founder’s vision of a “stress-free, violence-free world”. All the programs, initiatives, and workshops are guided by that mission, and so far have reached out to over 350 mil-lion people across the globe. Work-ing on the premise that the whole world is a one-world family, its pri-mary focus has been to empower and inspire communities and bring them together by moving beyond the limited identifications of beliefs and faiths, language and culture. It has done this by initiating programs and processes of emotional, spiri-

tual, and economic transformation that results in creating leaders out of ordinary people. These people in turn become ambassadors of change in their own communities.

Having worked at the grassroots levels all over the world, the Art of Living has had a comprehensive understanding of the nature of the social and developmental problems, the needs and requirements of soci-eties, and the ability to solve prob-lems holistically addressing chal-lenges at all levels.

The focus of social projects of the Art of Living has been on out-comes rather than outputs. They have always been result-oriented and process-driven. And to this aim, the Art of Living has reposed its faith in professional management and technological expertise. A con-stant evaluation of both success and failure aids in the improvement of its functioning. A leading factor in the efficacy of the organization has been the steadfast adherence to its prin-

ciple of transparency and accountability, which is in-tegrated into the Art of Liv-ing’s management model.

For sustainable devel-opment and transforma-tion, the Art of Living has recognized the importance of building and managing partnerships. Such partner-ships with governments, private organizations, de-velopmental agencies, and local communities have helped the foundation to accelerate transformation and expand their scope and vision. The Art of Living welcomes organizations to

leverage its domain expertise and management experience by partner-ing with it. It is individual commit-ment followed by collective support that would help accelerate the pro-cess of achieving total social trans-formation.

MORE ABOUT SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS PAGES 2-3

HEROES OF HUMANITY PAGE 6

Our Alliances

SYNERGIES WITH GOVERNMENTS, COMPANIES & GLOBAL AGENCIES

APPLYING ANCIENT WISDOM IN TODAY’S BUSINESS

UNICEF

Child Labour in Assam, Girl Pledge, Preventing Child Marriages, Act Now

BOSCH, NABARD

Rehabilitation of Flood Victims

SHELL FOUNDATION

Smokeless Chulhas in Maharashtra

KARNATAKA GOVT, UN

HIV Prevention among Youth

BECTON & DICKSON

Diabetes Screen-ing & Treatment

TIMES OF INDIA,YAHOO & SLVENTERPRISES

Housing, Flood Relief & Rehabilitation

TTK PRESTIGE

Free Meals For Students in Gujarat

STEEL AUTHORITY OF INDIA

VillageDevelopment

CHENNAI SILKS, PAYODA SOFTWARE

Integrated Village Development in Coimbatore

L & T, BHEL

Vocational Training

SCHNEIDER

Solar lights to villages; electrician training

WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL

Rural Electrification

WE SEE SO MANY BUSINESSMEN BEING PROSECUTED FOR COR-RUPTION. IS HONEST BUSINESS POSSIBLE?There are many people who do business with ethics and integrity. It’s just that peo-ple don’t get to hear about them as much as the dishonest ones. It is for this reason that we established the World Forum for Ethics in Business and the Corporate Cul-ture and Spirituality conference, so that they could come and share their stories and experiences and inspire others.

WHAT CAN SERVICE ORGANI-ZATIONS LEARN FROM CORPO-RATES? AND VICE-VERSA? Service organizations can be more streamlined in processes and documen-tation. Ours is a volunteer-based orga-nization and many times people take up and implement great projects but it’s

hardly documented. Very often, I myself come to know later what project they did. On the other hand, corporates could learn how to empower people so that they are inspired to take up more responsibility.

HOW CAN CORPORATES USE SPIRITUAL VALUES TO PRO-MOTE INDIVIDUAL CREATIVITY IN THEIR ORGANIZATIONS?If the atmosphere at work carries stress and people are focused only on finishing the job before the deadline, it can cause burnout in the long term. Keeping a stress-free work environment allows people to blossom and discover their potential. When people feel they are cared for, they are inspired to give their best. And creating a positive atmosphere like that can only happen through spirituality.

IS IT HEALTHY FOR POLITI-

CIANS TO BECOME INVOLVED IN BUSINESS? CAN BIG CORPO-RATES CONTROL MEDIA? It depends on the kind of people they are. Good people, who care about so-ciety and the country, will only do good work. So, they should get involved in as many things as possible. If anyone tries to control the media, their motives get exposed very soon.

HOW CAN ANCIENT INDIAN THINKING MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO TODAY’S BUSINESSES?Ancient wisdom says that one should go for that which gives long term com-fort even if it brings a little discomfort initially. On the other hand, avoid that which brings short term comfort but brings misery in the long term. Such a mindset could help prevent corruption and lead to stability and prosperity.

THE FOCUS OF OUR SOCIAL PROJECTS HAS BEEN ON OUTCOMES, NOT OUTPUTS. THE PROJECTS ARE RESULT ORIENTED AND PROCESS-DRIVEN

Rugmani Prabhakar DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL & DEVELOPMENTAL PROJECTS

SCC

Q&A with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder,The Art of Living

FEBRUARY, 2015 BANGALORE

SCC SEVA TIMES

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THE ART OF LIVING’S FOCUS IS INDIVIDUAL EMPOWERMENT BUT GOAL IS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND COLLECTIVE ACTION ON A MACRO LEVEL. HERE ARE SOME NUMBERS

free schools catering to

children in tribal, rural areas and urban slums across 18 states in India

hygiene camps

TREES HAVE BEEN PLANTEDRural youth across empowered to take upservice projects

medical camps

EDUCATION

HEALTH & HYGIENE

WOMEN’SEMPOWERMENT

SKILLS TRAINING & EMPLOYMENT

ENVIRONMENT

BIG REACH

Serve & Smile: Enthusiastic volunteers team up to rejuvenate a water body in Karnataka

404 40,000

49,500

10 MILLION 110,000

25,950

lHolistic curriculum taught in our schools

lTrained 1,100 teacherslBoys: Girls ratio is 52:48, much better than national average

lStudent retention rate 90%; national average is 37 %

l Benefiting 2.5 million people

l Held 165,000 free stress-relief camps benefiting 5.6 million

people in rural communities

l Built 5,418 toilets in villages, slums; 1,152 bore-wells dug for

clean water

l Treated over 1,350 patients at Kolkata addiction rehab centre

l Constructed 2,138 homes

l5 rivers in Maharashtra and 2 rivers In Karna taka rejuvenation work in progress

l33 villages in four drought-affected districts

got water that benefiting 80,000 people

l2,500 Terafil and individual bio-sand filters distributed across four states, impacting the lives

of more than 3,000 families

l Rain harvesting promoted in many villages

l Over 2,00,000 farmers from 18 states trained

in natural farming; over 1,000 trainers created

l Reached 40,212 villages

l 19 skills training centres all over India

l More than 5,000 women

have been trained and 623 Self Help Groups (SHGs) have been formed for them

l Around 1,800 prisoners and 1,300 militants rehabilitated all over India

l 1 millionpeople pledged

their support to protect the girl child against discrimina-tion and abuse

l2,000women in 30

villages employed through Value integrated ser-vices to all (VISTA) projects that give vocational training

lOver 400women self help

groups (Visalakshi Women Empow-erment Groups) formed. Financial empowerment

l100 women across 8 states make eco-friendly products

l62 women entrepreneurs in-stalled more than

l7,000 smokeless chulhas

VEDAVATI, KARNATAKA

Large stretches of river dry; groundwater depleted; fluoride and nitrite contamination high

350 recharge wells, 180 boulders check, 7 injection wells, 16 water pools and ponds constructed in 10 zilla panchayats. 553 water harvesting structures completed and 257 are on progress in phase 1. Phase one is being done in 357 sq km. Phase 2 aims 1,620 works, starts in April in 5,447 sq km which covers five districts

Villagers got jobs under MGNREGA

Water level, which was about 1,000 ft below ground level, went up by 250-300 feet

BANGALORE

SCC SEVA TIMES3

FEBRUARY, 2015

children in tribal, rural areas and urban slums across 18 states in India.

Rural youth across empowered to take upservice projects

Hygeine project promotes health in 60 villages in Assam

Vidya Shilpa brings dropouts back to school in Bangalore

Skills training instills hope among Tihar jail inmates

Rural Satara goes smokeless with eco-friendly stoves

How to transform a village the Art of Living way

Kumlin Engtipi

Assam: The project was launched in 60 villages belonging to six blocks in the three districts of As-sam. Art of Living programmes were used as a tool to bring about attitudinal changes in the mindsets of people, so that they voluntar-ily inculcated the habit of washing hands. For this, the local youth were trained under the Youth Leadership Training Programme (YLTP) so that they could become the agents of change in the com-munity, said project state coordina-tor Krishna Pande.

The village youth soon became community leaders and about 80 Yuvacharyas (youth leaders) con-ducted a four-day workshop on yoga, pranayama in these villages. This was followed by an awareness

programme on health and hygiene, and 50 other programmes.

Every district has a team leader who is assigned the responsibil-ity of monitoring the teams of Yu-vacharyas. More than 53 Navchet-na Shivirs (a five-day Art of Living programme on hygiene and health) and orientation programmes were conducted for local kathavachaks

(story tellers) with the participa-tion of panchayat functionaries. Kathavachaks in turn educated the community.

While the trained Yuvachar-yas found innovative ways to reach out to the entire community, the villagers were also more receptive because the teachers were known people. Doctors from the local pri-

mary health centres also took part and contributed to its success.

The intervention programme was completed in 12 months, at a cost of 15.2 lakh, against its budget of Rs 16.6 lakh.

There were drastic changes in the villagers’ hygiene and 80 fami-lies had built toilets in their own homes.

Malappa D Belamge

Karnataka: About 6,000 children have been benefited from Vidya Shilpa project since 2009. Project coordinator Rugmani Prabhakar says it is a three-dimensional work-shop that brings parents, teach-ers and students together. Parents who initially did not show any interest in their children’s studies changed their attitude after attend-ing a workshop on understanding children called KYC (Know Your

Child). LIVE program (Lesson In Value Education) taught teachers stress relief, student management, and understanding children.

Along with classroom sessions, the students learn yoga, pranyama and Sudarshan Kriya. A student said: “Before we used to argue and fight in class daily. Our teacher taught us how to stay calm and con-centrate better through meditation. We also learned to be nice to one another. We laugh, make merry and enjoy school every day.”

Gurucharan Ambreshvar

Tamil Nadu: Kothavadi is a vil-lage in Coimbatore with a popu-lation of more than 1,000. After a YLTP program, local youth got together to transform their vil-lage. Many more Art of Living workshops on health, hygiene, harmony and human values were conducted, which resulted in awareness among the villagers. Workshops on health and hygiene were conducted for 120 children. There was a dispute with another village over bringing water from Amaravati dam. “The dispute was resolved by yuvacharyas and the village now gets sufficient water from Amravati dam,” says Sivak-mar, project coordinator. Sivaga-mi, panchayat president, says yu-vacharyas have inspired her: “We need more volunteers who can work for the welfare of the society.”

Sanjivani Warkade

New Delhi: Most people lodged in jails have committed small crimes out of sheer poverty. Art of Living has been conducting programs for prisoners to deal with stress, trauma, and stigma and for the physical health of in-mates. Besides the regular Art of Living courses, now skills train-ing programs have been started to rehabilitate prisoners. Shashi Bhushan who took the electrician training said, “It is very good that we are being given this training within the jail. It means that we can earn our living and we will not have to resort to crime any-more.” Inmate Nungrutai from Northeastern India said, “It has made a big difference in my life. I feel much stronger now. I am now empowered to earn my own living.” Vimla Mehra, Director General Prisons, has been very supportive of these initiatives.

Gajanan Navatre

Maharashtra: In several village kitchens, firewood is the only fuel used for cooking. Due to lack of proper ventilation, smoke gets accumulated indoors. Women tend to inhale large quantities of smoke, and are prone to respira-tory problems, headache, nausea, asthma, eye irritation and other illnesses. To eliminate Indoor Air Pollution (IAP), the Art of Living promoted an awareness programme on Smokeless Chul-has. About 1,700 families in ru-ral Satara now have eco-friendly stoves at home and are free from smoke. Art of Living teacher Amol Yevale along with volun-teers came up with a project in Satara in December, 2010. This was launched in association with Envirofit and Shell Foundation. The project ended in May 2012. Project Dharma, a social enter-prise working providing interface

between rural consumers and product and service providers is also a partner. While the Art of Living is responsible for creating awareness, Project Dharma is the marketing partner for the smoke-less stove, Jeevanjyoti. This has been developed by Shell Foun-dation and Envirofit. Aware-ness creation in 107 villages was done through Art of Living’s Nav Chetana Shibir and YLTP.

SUCCESS STORIES IN SERVICE

40 women inmates took 300-hour beautician train-ing sponsored by Godrej

Relief: 1,700 families now have smokeless chulhas

HAND WASH

SRI SRI KAUSHAL VIKAS KENDRAS

8,000 volunteers 60 tons of litter cleared from PAMBA, KERALA

RIVER REJUVENATIONGANGA, YAMUNA CLEANING

KUMUDAVATHI, KARNATAKA

Partners: Bosch, govts, villagersProject started early 2013; Nine gram panchayats Kumudvathi can supplement Bangalore’s drinking waterRiver dried up due to

encroachment and deforestation

The project involves 4 steps: Checking soil erosion, groundwater recharge, rejuvenating water bodies, planting trees

More details on page 6

The Art of Living activities ongoing in jail since 1999

90-day electrician training program in collaboration with Schneider

100 male inmates have trained so far

40 women taken beautician training course

Sabarimala pilgrims dump clothes and garbage in river

Human waste has led to high coliform bacteria levels

River backbone of Alappuzha and Pathanamthit-ta districts

Ongoing project includes raising awareness of pilgrims

ASSAM

Karnataka

Core strength: Unicef project impemented in 2011

3 districts: Bongaingaon, Barpeta and Goalpara Lack of sanitation, poor hygiene leading to diseases Open defecation; 54% not using toilets, 51% had no toilets One-year project to inculcate the habit of washing hands after

using toilet Due to project, awareness on women’s hygiene up from 73% to 91% Willingness to construct toilet up from 65% to 91% Toilet use went up to 33% from 24% Sanitary awareness went up from 39% to 78%

Handwashing habit up from 73% to 89% Health problems came down; monitoring continues

Partners: Chennai Silks, Payoda Software, Coim-batore, Johnson Engineering College

June 2013 to Dec 2014 Survey done to identify

problems Villagers were getting`

water once in 10 days350 acres of Kothavadi

Lake cleaned. 2 ft of water appeared

Groundwater now at 500ft-700 ft. Earlier 1,000 ft

17 toilets, one borewell constructed

After project, villages get water 3 days in week

Three computers provided to local govt school. 120 children are provided workshop on hand washing

English taught to children

VILLAGE DEVELOPMENTCOIMBATORE

VIDYA SHILPA

15% of students in class 4th-6th in govt schools across Bangalore cannot read and write

Schools lack basic facilities; computers don’t work 20% absenteeism Most parents don’t participate in child education Project in 30 govt schools in slums Project seeks to inculcate human values, empowers children

to grow into well rounded, confident and caring people Due to project, student attendance up by 10%

Parents involvement by 10% to 30%; Kannada proficiency

TAVARJA RIVER, MAHARASHTRA Lifeline of eight villages, running dryMoney came from villagers, govtThe first phase of 13 km is completed. The

total length of the river is 25 km Groundwater increased by 1.7 m

GHARNISilt accumulation and growth of shrubs Deepening, widening, cleaning done.

180 crore litres groundwater capacity added 100 acres of land to be benefitted directly or

indirectly 4,000 Sq km of land made fertile

110,000

Arpit Vyas

Alipurduar, West Bengal: Children who spend their childhood working as laborers are more likely to com-mit juvenile offences. This is com-mon among the tea garden laborers of Alipurduar district where teens get in-volved in such activities, said Ramku-mar Lama, 40, an Art of Living teach-er. True concern towards minimizing this trend and developing the talent of these children led to the establish-ment of free schools in seven villages of the district. The aim is to educate them, and encourage them to develop their hidden talents and hobbies.

The Centre For Child and Youth Development in Kalchini block now has about 200 children in the age group of 6 to 14, and they are taught English, computers, music, dance, yoga, Sudarshan Kriya and football. They are also imparted awareness on

how to maintain health and hygiene. Groups have been formed for music and dance, apart from football teams, said Ramkumar. The dance groups are invited by the Department of In-formation and Culture, West Bengal to perform. On 26th January, 2014, at least 15 children participated in a state-level cultural debate.

These centers are managed with help from 50 YLTP volunteers, and all of them have expertise in various fields like music, dance, computers, languages and sports. All of them vol-unteer to teach these students with-out any expectations. Divya Sharma, 19, says “While teaching the children here, we are getting exposure and we

are also learning.” Most of the children and teens are

happy, especially after enrolling in the Sunday workshops. They enjoy the classes thoroughly and look forward to attending these classes every week. Ni-dhi Lama, 9, says, “I work for the entire week, and on Sundays we have our best time. We enjoy learning as we play.”

Desi cow lover gets award in Chhattisgarh

Raipur, Chhattisgarh: Shyam Prakash Sahu, the recipient of the “Best Goshala of Chattisgarh Award” in 2014, is an en-thusiastic social worker. He received the award for his ‘Shrestha Desi Gow Panch-gavya Sansthan.’ A resident of Pelime-ta, Chhattisgarh, he has a diploma in Civil Engineering. He attended the training programme on Natural Farming conducted by Keshav Vyas, Agriculture Teacher of Sri Sri Institute of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SSIAST) Trust in May 2014.

Inspired by it, Sahu started prac-tising natural farming in his own land. He now grows mangoes, lemons and vegetables. Natural Farming is a holis-tic production system which promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, using locally adapted systems, taking into account regional conditions. He uses only natu-ral manure, Jevamrit, and Ghanajivam-rut, prepared from cow dung and cow urine. The other farmers are now curious about his increased production. Sahuji has set up a model farm to showcase natural farming.

To protect indigenous breeds of cows from the slaughter house, Sahu purchased about eight acres of land at Raipura, Mahadev Ghat Road, Chat-tisgarh, and created a goshala for 1000 cows, in June 2014. He distributed 550 cows and bulls to farmers, and taught them natural farming methods.

Keshav Byas

Kicker: Captions

Natural correction: Workshop in prison

Recognition: Shyam Prakash Sahu

In Bhopal jail, desi cows help in organic farming

Bhopal: The prison authori-ties have bought desi cows for cultivation and to increase the fertility of the land. The organic produce is marketed through Art of Living. This is a revolutionary step taken by the jail authorities, thanks to the efforts of Art of

Living teachers, who conducted programmes for the inmates. Acres of land inside the jail have been covered for organic farm-ing, and the prisoners cultivate here regularly. This gives them some income.

Yogita Singh

Rain water harvesting boosts income of Valsad farmers through higher yieldMeenakshi Chauhan

Valsad, Gujarat: The villagers of Pangarwari, Valsad district, Guja-rat, did not have adequate water for drinking as well as irrigation until Yuvacharya Ramdas Deshmukh brought about a change by starting Art of Living programmes here. Nearly 30-40 youth took part in the programme, and decided to resolve the water problem by seeking the government’s help.

All the volunteers came to-gether and formed a group or mandal, with the sole purpose of dealing with the water scarcity. The members of the group wrote a let-ter to the concerned department of the taluka and got the required funds sanctioned.

The aim was to prevent water run-off by constructing a wall 12

m wide and 20 m high. The water thus stored is expected to last for 3-4 months after the monsoon. The water percolating into the ground would irrigate the surrounding land and also prevent soil erosion,

said Yuvacharya Ramdas.Nearly 30 farmers are now

using this stored water to irrigate their fields. Shiv Balu Jadav, who has a 1.5 acre farm, is happy about the arrangements done for rain

water harvesting. “We used to go to the city during the off-season to earn a living, as we have no work. But now, with water available for irrigation round the year, we are growing more cash crops such as tomato, peas and other vegetables. Now we don’t need to go to the city as we are earning more money and harvesting better yield.”

Apart from this, an integrated water grid has also been construct-ed for the benefit of other farmers of the village. The Gujarat govern-ment funded the project.

Babul Kasu (45), a farmer, says “Earlier, I could not think of send-ing my daughter out for higher studies. But with improved irriga-tion, I’m able to grow more cash crops in my one-acre farm, and my income has gone up to Rs. 7,000 per month.”

Impact: Tribal students of free school at Kalchini block of Alipurduar district in West Bengal

Higher incomes: Volunteers constructed a check dam to improve irrigation in Pangarbari village

Free schools draw children away from labouring in Bengal tea gardens

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Good samaritan makes a difference to people’s livesSanjivani Warkade

Ahmadnagar, Maharashtra: Though the government offers several benefits to the poor through various schemes, most of them do not actually reach the needy, due to lack of awareness. One such scheme is the Pradhan Mantri Ra-hat Kosh Yojana (Prime Minister Relief Fund scheme). Under this, crores of rupees are provided as relief to families falling below the poverty line (BPL), said Pawan Gandhi, Art of living teacher.

Pawan, 29, who is an MBA from Symboisis, Pune, lives in Ahmadnagar. For the past 13 years, he has been help-ing the local people to prepare docu-ments. He then directs them to the right officials and follows up on pending files till the money is sanctioned. Several people neither fall under the beneficiary category nor are able to pay for their treatment. For such needy patients, doc-tors charge lesser fee or get funds from Art of Living donors.

Ayas Khan, a beneficiary said, “Be-

fore six months my labourer’s daughter met with an accident and she was in need of Rs. 72,000 for a surgery. Her father was not able to pay for the treatment. As soon as I brought this to Pawan’s notice, he arranged for Rs. 48,000 through the funding scheme.”

Pawan Gandhi has also come for-ward to help the drought-affected. In 2013, about11,000 villages falling under

34 districts of Maharashtra faced wa-ter problems, and Baradari was one of them. The villagers had to walk 15 kil-ometers to fetch drinking water. Pawan helped provide one tanker of drinking water every day, and about 350 families got water.

Sudhir Pote, sarpanch of Baradari said, “Though our need was one tanker per day, the Government had approved

only two tankers a week. Pawanji and his team provided us with one tanker a day.”

In May 2013, there was oil leakage on the roads, which led to around 50 ac-cidents in the area. Pawan Gandhi took some volunteers to the spot and cleaned the roads overnight. He also speeded up the construction of Gawade Mada road within 24 hours, by pressurising Mayor Sheela Shinde.

Leadership: Pawan Gandhi (middle in right pic) cares for the sick, arranges water supply

Shiv Kumar Sharma

Mrinal Chawla

Somanath Ramchand(Top Center) during RuralManagers Training

Shiv Kumar Sharma

Mental nourishment: Meditation helps in personality development at Sri Sri Gnan Mandir

Thousands of first generation students get holistic education near ashramDilip Kumar Kohli

Banglaore: Sri Sri Gnan Mandir School, situated near the Art of Living center in Bangalore, imparts holistic ed-ucation to children for free. The school had only 120 children at the time of in-ception but now the number has grown to 1800. Nearly 45 teachers are shaping up the future of the next generation, and doing immense good to the society.

Principal of Ved Vignan Maha Vida Peeth (VVMVP) says, “Unlike other schools, we want to create good citi-zens. That’s the reason we have medi-tation, pranayama and other activities. There is no need for the students to take any written examination for admis-sion. This is followed by a Bridge course wherein we share the knowledge the child has when he/she joins the school. Every teacher is trained in assessing the students through the Bridge course, and the teacher gets an idea of the knowledge the students have. Further teaching is done based on this, and the students are taken to the next academic level.

The teachers keep a record of stu-

dents who are not able to pick up what is taught in class, and put in extra ef-fort during their free periods or after school.

Extra-curricular activities A coach from the taekwondo as-

sociation teaches the children after school hours (4-6 p.m., Mondays & Thursdays). The Ashram bears the ex-

penses. There are 18 children learning taekwondo. Karate is also taught.

Prizes in TaekwondoLast year, the school won an inter-

national medal. Though the children were selected for UAE, they didn’t rep-resent the school. They went to Goa instead, and won the best team award in Panaji.

Football coaching The coaching classes are open to all children, from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. every day. About 36 children are attending the classes regularly. The Ashram provides a football kit that includes shoes, jacket, and other essentials. The children have a new coach, Sumit. He has replaced one of our devotees, who has migrated to the US now.

Parenting roleRekha Hegde, teacher, Kannada &

History says, “I joined the school in 2002, and completed my MA and B-Ed much later. But today, all the teachers working here are post graduates with B-Ed. The main challenge here is to teach children who have no support from the parents with regard to learning. Still, we are able to achieve 87-90%. pass rat”

The school also provides moral support to children coming from fami-lies of alcoholics. Such children have to work harder to concentrate on studies as there will be petty quarrels at home. “The children speak their heart out here and as teachers, we extend our full sup-port.”

Creating model villages Kumlin Engtipi

Bangalore: In 2006, Somnath Ramachand became a yuvacha-rya and worked towards creat-ing awareness about the need for toilets, de-addiction, water management and natural farm-ing. He organised mobile camps on agriculture and reached out to 250 people through Nav Chetna shivirs, teaching them pranay-ama and meditation. Starting from Udaypur, he visited 84 vil-lages to create awareness in or-ganic and chemical-free farming. In his own village, he introduced these methods of agriculture, and reached out to 3,000 people.

In 2011-12, he promoted rain water harvesting and helped solve water problems in 10 vil-lages of Jalgaon district, Maha-

rashtra. He was a volunteer at the Mumbai flood relief camp and helped provide food, clothes and medical aid to the affected.

Somnath Ramachand, Art of Living rural YLTP teacher, is actively involved in creating four model villages in Maharashtra.

Natural farming results in record sugarcane yield in UPArun Kumar

Muradabaad, Uttar Pradesh: Of-ficials of the Sugarcane develop-ment department in Bheetkhera, Muradabad district, were aston-ished when they visited the farm of Shiv Kumar Sharma. The plants in his farm touched an exorbitant height of 18 to 20 ft. Rajesh Sakse-na, Sugarcane Development officer, and the accompanying officials an-nounced a prize of Rs. 20,000 to the farmer.

A teacher by profession, Shiv Kumar worked in a private school. He took up training in organic farming in 2013, and started us-ing the techniques in his field. He became the first farmer of the district to practise organic farm-ing. Instead of expensive fertilizers

and pest control methods, he used Jeevamrit (a mixture of cow dung, cow urine, jiggery, gram flour and soil), which gave better results compared to urea and other ferti-lizers. The use of organic products helps improve the quality of soil and prevents the damage caused by chemicals.

Shiv Kumar explained how his investment cost went down to 50 percent and production almost

doubled. He said there was a false impression among the farmers that if one shifted to natural or or-ganic farming, production may go down for the initial 3-4 years and the yield gets better only after that. “That’s not true. I just followed the procedures taught in the organic farming training by the Art of Liv-ing teacher and expert Bal Krishna, who enlightened us on organic farming methods.”

Sudharshan Kriya prepped him for IAS

“Cracking the IAS exam in the first attempt, with less than a year’s preparation, is not an easy task. But it just happened, with the help of Sudarshan kriya. It helped me to perform well even in stressful situations,” said Mrinal Chawla.

Within a year, he cleared his U.P.S.C. exam and got156th rank, all-India, in May 2014. He lives in Kirti Nagar, Delhi with his mother and brothers. Now he is working as Officer trainee at Indian Audits and ac-counts Service. He completed his P.G. in Bio-medical Sciences from the Delhi University. He was doing his PhD in Biomedical sciences even as he was preparing for the IAS exam.

Though shy by nature, he was good in studies. After completing his M.Sc., he start-ed his PhD in August 2012. He soon became part of Art of Living’s Better India project, as a volunteer. During this period, his friend inspired him to take up IAS. Though initially confused, Mrinal soon made up his mind to serve the country. He knew that the journey to becoming an IAS officer was too long but still went ahead with the preparation. He joined Nirvana IAS Academy in January 2013, mid-course. The program had started in 2012.

Mrinal appeared for his preliminary exam in May, and took the mains the same year, in December. Till mid-November, he could study only for 2 to 3 hours, apart from attending coaching classes. He slowly in-creased his study hours and made it 7 to 8 hours a day. He cleared his interview in May, 2014, and is now an IAS officer.

Sanjivani Warkade

Ready for service: Leadership training for local youth

YLTP gives direction to youth in BeedGajanan Navatre

Beed, Maharashtra: In Parli Vaijanth taluk, Beed district, Maharashtra, en-thusiastic youth from more than 100 surrounding villages took part in 12 YLTP programmes in 2014. About 600 trained youth are now working among the people, said Sharad Dola-rkar, YLTP teacher.

Most of them were alcoholics and addicts, who have now transformed for the better. They are now trying to be useful to the society. Radhe Krishan Kate was earning Rs. 2,000 per day but he spent half of his earn-ings on alcohol. After he attended the programme, he was surprised that he could save more money.

Sahe Rao Ingle, a shopkeeper, re-

calls that ever since Art of Living pro-grammes started in his village, the sale of cigarettes, alcohol and tobacco has gone down. Though he incurred a loss,

he expressed happiness that the youth were leading normal and healthy lives. Likewise, more than 600 people have taken up the Youth Leadership Train-

ing Programme. The highlight of the programme was that more than 12 vil-lages were cleaned by the youth. They also created awareness among the people about general health and hy-giene, and encouraged them to keep public places clean.

Due to drought and scanty rain-fall, farmers in these areas were forced to commit suicide. Some of them lost hope. But the workshops conducted by the youth are helping farmers to become emotionally strong. They are learning organic farming and special techniques that help grow healthy crop with less water and irrigation. Many farmers have gained great strength from within, and are now aware of ancient farming tech-niques including zero budget farming, said Sharad Dolarkar.

Chemical Farming

In a two-acrefarm

Organic Farming

Investment Rs 21,910

4 tons

Rs 280

Rs 94,400 Rs 1,65,200

Rs 280

7 tons

Rs 10,760

Crop Yield

Selling price/100kg

Crop revenue

BANGALORE

SCC SEVA TIMES5

FEBRUARY, 2015

Rajesh Kundu

At an age when every teenager in India is nurturing a dream woven around social, personal and profes-sional aspirations, girls of the same age in Nawada, Gaya and Vaishali in Bihar would get ready for marriage. This outdated tradi-tion bestows the girl a life of eco-nomic depen-dence, low self-esteem, and a barrage of health problems includ-ing the risk of early pregnancy.

In 2009, S an -

geeta Sinha, a physically chal-lenged woman who uses a w h e e l c h a i r

to move a r o u n d ,

and her Art of

Living team joined hands with UNICEF to tackle this problem. The aim was to establish a net-work with religious functionaries at different levels and influence the mindset of the communities. Some 100 dynamic and commit-

ted youths were selected for service.

During a f o u r - m o n t h p r o g r a m m e , the youth were trained to raise awareness with-in the villages and monitor child marriage. During the Nav Chetna Shivirs, Art of Living’s

empowerment programme for the poor, the participants were encour-aged to ask thought-provoking questions that would help change people’s mindset for the better. Sangeeta’s army of change agents typically consists of victims of child marriage. Who else can best con-vince fellow villagers.

Anil Tupe

In May 2014, a group of idealistic youths initiated the Jal Jagruti Ab-hiyan for water awareness in three villages – Katpur, Shirur Anantpal and Babhalgaon – of drought-hit Latur district of Maharashtra. The group of more than 25 yu-vacharyas, village-level volunteers empowered by Art of Living pro-grams, had a determined leader in Makarand Jadhav.

The team identified a canal in Katpur and started their mission. After a failed attempt to convince the farmers to lend a part of their land for nala widening, they con-

tinued work on the other side of the canal. “After 40-45 days of hard work, we finished digging a canal that was 10 ft deep and

about 65 m wide. The f a r m e r s , who ini-tially re-

fused to work with us, now trust us,” says Jadhav, a civil engineer and now a full time volunteer. Soon farmers not only donated land but also machinery. No con-tractors were used in this volunt-ter effort and the Art of Living chapter in Mumbai pitched in with funds.

Success breeds success and today one river in the area has been completely restored to its original status and half of the work on the other is complete.

Rajesh Kundu

BB Chawla was the general man-ager of Bhartiya Cutler Hammer but felt he had to do something for the tribal population in his state Jharkhand. Many tribals in the state are extremely poor and live in a world without oppor-tunities or facilities. He quit his job when he turned 60 to plunge into service.

Chawla formed a team whose initiative, ‘Small Step on Long Journey’ has been a big leap toward development in Jharkhand state. The Sri Sri Vidya Mandir schools he has set up over the last 15 years provide holistic education based on val-ues but at no cost to students. The children begin their studies by learning their native languag-

es of Mundari, Oraon along with its script, Akiki. Grasping other languages like Hindi and English becomes comparatively easier. For Science and Mathematics education, the team has worked out a unique blend in conso-nance with the day-to-day life of the people. For example, en-vironment protection, ecologi-

cal balance, greenhouse gases, and depletion of the ozone layer are explained via Sarhul festivi-ties (worship of nature and the flora). The schools have become hubs of rural development such as Zero Budget Natural Farming, Technical Training Center, free medical camps and extensive tree plantation.

Teachers for the school are chosen from the villages, and each school is equipped with a mul-t i m e d i a room run by solar power.

Malappa Belamge

Nagaraj belongs to a family of watch repairers in Koteshwar vil-lage in Udipi district. Nagaraj too learnt the skills at an early age and put them to use since he was six years old. Perfectionist Nagaraj was drawn to the precise art of watch repairing and he soon opened a shop. Nagaraj’s wife was the first one from his family to attend the Art of Living course and she en-couraged him take it in 2001.

The service component attract-ed him and he took up the rejuve-nation of Kumudvati river. Soon he started an awareness campaign on waste management in six villages. He educated the locals about how organic waste can be decomposed in the soil by microbial action.

For Vedavati River, Nagaraj

formed a chain of 49 villages,. He also formed a village development committee and imparted YLTP

training to all the farmers.

Regular YLTP follow-up sessions

are organised where-in the farmers can voice

any issue. The problem will be presented to the Gram panchayat, which in turn will speak to the government. The entire village has taken up the Art of Living course, and the beneficiaries include chil-dren, police officials, panchayat of-ficials. Water in villages covered by Vedavati river is available at 150 feet while earlier it was 800 ft. Per-colation pits are ready in Kumudvat i . Project is ready to move on to next stage.

Community support, volunteerism brings down project costs by 75%

Wheelchair-bound crusader at her best in changing rural mindsetsHEROES OF

HUMANITY

OUR VOLUNTEERS ARE EMPOWERED INDIVIDUALS SPEARHEADING HUNDREDS OF HIGH-IMPACT SERVICE PROJECTS ACROSS INDIA. WE FEATURE FOUR HEROES HERE

Reached out 265 villages and 130,000 people in Bihar

No child marriage reported in Navgarh, Narayan-pur Narauna, and Naya Gaun villages since campaign started

Spreading awareness, legal issues, provide Incentive against child marriage; use of yuvachar-yas as change agents

SANGEETA SINHA

CHILD MARRIAGE

2,800 first generation stu-dents studying in the schools

Started 14 primary, 3 high and 1 middle schools all over Jharkhand

Unique curriculum adopted

B B CHAWLA TRIBAL SCHOOLS IN NAXAL-AFFECTED AREAS

Seva Times

Project DirectorDr. Rajesh Trivedi

(National Director, YLTP)

Editorial teamMeenakshi Chauhan

Ram AsheeshVishnu Manoharan

AdvisorsM. Kalyanaraman

Saurabh BawejaKarthik KrishnaMansi Dharmraj

Youth Leadership Training Program (YLTP) and Dharma Sthamba Yojana (DSY) are service initiatives of Vyakti Vikas Kendra, India [The Art of Living], a registered charitable Trust, head quartered in Bangalore with its registered office at No. 19, 39th A Cross, 11th Main, IV T Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore - 560041

- Ph: 080-67433600 | www.artofliving.org | Email: yltp@artofliving.org -

“A portion of your earnings given in service, brings abundance”- H H SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

Online Donation: Log on to www.dsyindia.orgE mail: info@dsyindia.org

GET INVOLVEDEDUCATION

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Sponsor a YLTP ProgrammeVolunteer Your SERVICES

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Spearheads rejuvenation of Kumudvathi and Vedavathi in Karnataka

Opened 35 slum centres in Bangalore where computer training, spoken English and tailoring are taught

Planted trees, implements waste segregation in Raichoor district

Trains farmers in natural farming

Built bridge for tribals at Kitalmane Kodgi near Kigga Sringeri Taluk

NAGARAJ

RIVER REJUVANATION

Solved water problems in Katpur, Shirur Anantpal and Babhalgaon in Latur district of Maharashtra

Built water reservoirs, undertook river rejuvenation, rainwater harvesting, canal restoring, helped to construct percolation tanks

Big improvement in groundwater, plenty of water for farming and drinking

MAKRAND JADHAV

WATER

FEBRUARY, 2015 BANGALORE

SCC SEVA TIMES6

Latur

Ranchi

Dhanbad

VaishaliGaya

Nawada

North 24 ParganasPuruliya

BangaloreChikmagalur

Belgaum

Service keeps him young at heart, bubbling with enthusiasm about tribal upliftment

Humble watchmaker turns visionary leader of rural transformation and development