Background:

Mr. Vijender (Sam) Singh - PPES

Mr. Singh was born and brought up in the town of Anupshahar in Bulandshahr district. His dad was a lawyer. He completed his schooling from Aligarh Muslim University and did his engineering in Punjab. After engineering he joined the textile industry. However, he aspired to study further and moved to Massachusetts, USA to gain a Masters in Textile engineering in 1965. Post that, he has been with Du Pont right up to his retirement in 1999.

First-Steps:

Post his retirement, Mr. Singh moved to his birthplace, Anupshahar, to serve his country by working towards rural welfare. He lamented that the state of a majority of the rural folk was reduced to focus on their next meal, with some leading lives no better than that of a beggar. Even though the IITs/IIMs had done India proud globally, unfortunately the education system has not helped the rural areas much. The age-old feudal society based on caste only aggravated the problems. Even more heartening was the state of females and the girl child. Far from being empowered, they were not even counted by parents as children. So he decided to improve the quality of life for rural women.

In 2000, he started an all girls school providing free education in Anupshahar based on a unique and ingenious idea.

Idea:

Mr. Vijender (Sam) Singh - PPES

At school half day is spent in regular education and the other half in vocational training. Mr. Singh has incentivized educating the girl child by two methods.

First, for each day a girl attends school, PPES deposits ten rupees into her bank account. Upon graduation, the student can access this money on the day of her marriage (after the age of 18) or her 21st birthday – whichever comes first. This builds a corpus of around 30,000 Rupees.

Second, the students are trained in vocational skills. These enable them to led self-sustainable lives.

Post schooling, PPES encourages the girls to work and save for at least 3 years. BY the time they get married, the girls would have almost Rs 1 lakh in savings and a steady income of 3,000/month. This would empower them and live a life of dignity.

Future Focus:

The school has seen great success and growth. From 45 students when he started in 2000, currently 1000 girls are on roll. 3 batches have graduated and are leading happy lives.

But Mr. Singh is humbled by the opportunities available to serve. He compares his work to a drop in the ocean and says he has just begun. In his tehsil there are around 50,000 families below-poverty-line (earning less than rupees 20 per day). He would like to expand his school facility from serving 1000 to around 50,000 students and in turn their families.

Challenges:

The journey so far has not been without road-blocks for Mr. Singh.

Firstly, people did not trust him with his intentions. Indians have long been victims of being misled and deceived by the government and authorities. As a result a deep distrust towards anything optimistic had been lodged in the villagers. They questioned his model of targeting only the girl child.

Also, they were skeptical of his promise of job-guarantee for the girls after school. In spite of Indians running global corporations and he himself having led an MNC, the rural folk were not exposed the operational capabilities of fellow Indians. So they doubted whether he could build and run a sustainable school.

His solution to these challenges was to respect their doubt and continuously educate them about his intentions. His perseverance helped him start small with 45 students. But once the school was up and running, people trusted his noble intentions. However, not all parents were impressed by the school. The father of some girls took advantage of the freebies like free clothes, books, bicycle, etc. and he would sell these the very next day the girl enrolled. Mr. Singh accepted these as side-effects of his initial learning process and has become wiser along the way.

Message:

Mr. Vijender (Sam) Singh - PPES

To all the readers, Mr. Singh reminds to not underestimate the power of a girl child. He testifies that provided proper coaching and a good environment, girls can do wonders. He requests others to build similar schools. He says if he can do it in such a short period of time facing a challenging environment, anyone should be able to do it in other parts of the country. Passion is all that is required. He would like to see an India where every girl is socially and financially independent.

Also, in order to improve the state of rural India, create livelihood opportunities in and around the villages and towns. Mass transit to urban areas for employment will not help alleviate poverty.

About “Pardada Pardadi”:

Since 2000, Pardada Pardadi Educational Society (PPES) has been improving the lives of girls in rural India. Its mission is to uplift and empower girls from the poorest section of society by providing free education and vocational training – creating a new generation of self-reliant and educated girls who will break the cycle of poverty in the region. PPES is based in the village of Anupshahar, in the Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh, India. This area is one of India’s poorest. It is infamous for being crime-ridden. Moreover, it is one of the least-educated and least-literate sections of India. PPES plans to educate and provide job training to at least one daughter of each of the 50,000 poor families of Anupshahar, leading to self-sufficiency in a modern world. Thus PPES hopes to improve the quality of life for rural women and hence rural India.

“This life for me is an endeavor to help people experience and express their divinity. May you know the bliss of the Divine.” -

SADHGURU Sadhguru, a yogi and profound mystic of our times, is a visionary humanitarian and a prominent spiritual leader. A contemporary Guru, rooted as strongly in mundane and pragmatic matters as he is in inner experience and wisdom, Sadhguru works tirelessly towards the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of all. His mastery of the mechanisms of life, an outcome of his profound experience of the Self, guides in exploring the subtler dimensions of life. At home in loincloth as much as he is in blue jeans, barefoot through the mighty Himalayas, or straddling a BMW motorcycle on the expressway, Sadhguru is the most unusual mystic that one can encounter. Marking a clear departure from mere customs and rituals, Sadhguru’s scientific methods for self-transformation are both direct and powerful. Belonging to no particular tradition, Sadhguru incorporates and presents what is most valid for the contemporary life from the yogic sciences. Sadhguru speaks at some of the world’s most prominent international leadership forums. In January 2007, he participated in four panels at the World Economic Forum and spoke on issues ranging from diplomacy and economic development, to education and the environment. In 2006, he addressed the World Economic Forum, the Tallberg Forum in Sweden, and the Australian Leadership Retreat. He has also served as a delegate to the United Nations Millennium Peace Summit and the World Peace Congress. Sadhguru’s vision and understanding of modern social and economic issues have led to interviews with BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNNfn, and Newsweek International. His insights are regularly featured in India’s leading national newspapers. A well-known public figure, he regularly draws crowds of more than 300,000 people for his public talks and “sathsangs” (group meditation). Traversing seamlessly from the ancient to the ultramodern, Sadhguru bridges the gap between the known and the unknown, enabling all those who encounter him to explore and experience the deepest dimensions of life.

Source: www.ishafoundation.org

Known to all as Fr Joe, and many others as “the Singing Priest”, he prefers not to highlight his academic qualifications of Masters in Psychology & Philosophy from University of Bombay, Licenciate in Divinity (Theology) from Bombay & Poona, Certifications in Counselling Theory & Practice (Carkuff Model) & expertise from the Hazelden Institute of Minnesota, USA.

Most cherished of all such gnostic processes is his decades of involvement with Yoga, first as a patient, pupil and practitioner, then in later years as a Certified Trainer and in recent decades as a friend, associate and an International Mentor of the Guruji B K S Iyengar School of Yoga, Poona. This involvement is so extensive that the holistic component of Kripa care has been strengthened by the gift of self knowledge through sets of Yoga practices developed by Guruji Iyengar. Fr Joe carries this message with him and delivers it to all who ask for it, during his national and international travels. These modules and his personal instructions and observations are delivered in a unique style that provides demonstration, learning and solace through the audio cassette titled “The Silence of the Spirit” and a video cassette titled “Living with AIDS”.

Academically, Fr Joe is an Adjunct Professor in Yoga Philosophy & Psychology at various Indian Universities, Catholic Institutions and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
Fr Joe is the Consultant to the Archdiocese of Bombay for “Rehabilitation of the Chemically Dependent” and a Consultant-Member of various High Level Committees constituted by the Government of India, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment. He is a Member of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Between 1987 and 2002, various international workshops have been conducted by Fr Joe at Portland, Oregon and Hot Springs, California in USA and at Calgary and Toronto, Canada on Yoga. “Innovative Methods of Healing the Addict” and “Effectiveness of Yoga in Substance Abusers within the Kripa Model” were research activities presented at the Dharam Hinduja Institute of Indic Research at the Faculty of Divinity in University of Cambridge, UK.
Besides his seminars and workshops in Canada and the USA, Fr Joe conducts annual Seminars at The Black Forest Institute, Germany and at Zurich, Switzerland and at the Coolmine Therapeutic Community, Ireland.
Such a hectic schedule can only be supported by his extreme consciousness in personal practices and empathy and love for the socially marginalized. He constantly says that such commitment can only be through the blessings of great ones like Mother Teresa and Guruji Iyengar and his spiritual guide Rev Anthony D’Mello.

These perceptions and applications have resulted in various awards in the field of Drug Abuse Care, Health Sciences and Social Services like Priyadarshini National Award (1989), Perestroika Sanjeevani Award (1990), Anti Narcotic Council of India Award for best Establishment in the field (1994), Sahayogi Foundation Award (1995), Ati Vashisht Sewa Medal of the College of Chest Physicians (1997), International Yoga Journal Karamyogi of the Year Award (2003), Expert to the National Institute of Social Defence (Government of India) (2005) and Christian Chamber of Commerce Award for Excellence in the field of Social Work (2007).

Despite all this, Fr Joe is ever ready to listen to all who approach him. This includes the huge numbers of the general community, patients, clients of the Foundation in India and abroad and not least of all, his large organizational staff numbers, not less than 85% of whom are “wounded healers” in their own paths of recovery and spiritual growth.

Dr. Rajvanshi has been a member of many prestigious committees of the Government of India (Office of the principal Scientific Advisor to the GOI, Planning Commission, Advisory Board of Energy, MNES, etc.) and Government of Maharashtra (State Planning Commission, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission, etc.). He is the author of the national policy on Energy Self Sufficient Talukas, which was run by MNES, New Delhi. IN 1998, he was inducted in the U.S. based Solar Hall of Fame. He was awarded the prestigious Jamnalal Bajaj Award for rural development in 2001. In 2004 his work on electric cycle rickshaw was awarded the Energy Globe Award also called the Oscar of Energy.

Dr. Rajvanshi is the principal investigator of 30 projects funded by various national and international agencies with grants totaling Rs. 25 million. He has authored/co-authored 135 publications in various national and international journals including 35 editorial articles on sustainable development and spirituality in some of the major newspapers and magazines of India. He has also written chapters in books entitled Alternative Energy in Agriculture (CRC Press, U.S.A. 1987) and Gandhi in 21st Century (Prachee Publications, Hyderabad, 1999). Dr. Rajvanshi has lectured and given seminars at many leading Universities in India and in US. Dr. Rajvanshi has five patents to his credit. He has written a book Nature of Human Thought in which he has made an attempt to synthesize the ancient Indian Yogic thought with modern cosmology and brain research. Recently he has penned his memoirs about his student days in US.

Ramesh works closely with government on urban issues in a pro-bono capacity. His current positions with government include being the National Technical Advisor, Government of India for the Jawarharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the largest urban initiative in the country’s history; the Principal Advisor, State Urban Agenda for the State of Rajasthan; member of the High Powered Expert Committee on Urban Finances.

Prior to these social initiatives, Ramesh worked with Citibank in New York and London. When he left to begin his social activities in India, he was MD and Head, European Corporate Derivatives, and a member of the Global Markets Leadership Team, collectively running a business with an annual revenue of over $1 billion.

Ramesh has an MS in Physics from BITS Pilani, an MBA from Yale University, and a Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) degree from the Association of Investment Management & Research (AIMR).

Ramesh has co-authored a book titled, ‘Urban Poverty Alleviation in India’ & writes regularly about public governance issues in leading national publications. He was nominated as one of the Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum in 2007.

CV Madhukar

C V Madhukar is Founder and Director of PRS Legislative Research, a not-for-profit research initiative that publishes “Legislative Briefs” (short commented summaries) of Bills in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and publishes other articles about to work of the Indian parliament, aiming to strengthen the legislative debate in India by making it better informed, more transparent and participatory. Madhukar set up PRS in September 2005. It is currently incubated by the Centre for Policy Research.

Prior to this, Madhukar had worked at the World Bank in Washington DC with a group focussed on parliamentary capacities in various countries.

Madhukar started his professional career in 1993 as an investment banker with ICICI Securities and Finance Company in Mumbai, where he worked on disinvestment of large public sector enterprises. Being officially employee of ICICI, he spent significant time as a volunteer and made various contributions to the growth of Pratham in its formative years, now a large not-for-profit organization focused on basic education in urban areas in India: CV Madhukar was part of the original Executive Group of Pratham in Mumbai.

At the invitation of the Government of Karnataka in early 2000, he co-founded and managed Akshara Foundation, a basic education initiative focussed on Bengaluru’s children. He concurrently helped set up the Azim Premji Foundation, an initiative of Mr. Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro, and one of the wealthiest corporate leaders in India. The initiative supports technology in rural schools in India.

Madhukar was an Edward S. Mason Fellow at Harvard University, where he earned a Master in Public Administration degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He also has an MBA (Finance) from the University of Houston and a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) degree from Bangalore University. Madhukar is an Echoing Green Fellow, and Ashoka Fellow and has recently been selected from India as the Eisenhower Fellow for 2008.

In March 2008, Madhukar was one of the Indians to be named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. According to the WEF Press Release, “this honour is bestowed each year by the World Economic Forum to recognize and acknowledge the top 200-300 young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.”