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- Make A Difference Foundation, IMT
- At Make A Difference Foundation (MADF), a forum run by students of IMT Ghaziabad, we believe that a ray of hope is all what may change someone’s life. Through MADF we look at using our managerial skills for the betterment of society and making a difference to the lives of needy people by providing them hope. The objective of the foundation, as is reflected in the name, is to make a positive difference to the society in general, through synergized and sustained efforts of all associated with IMT Ghaziabad, and other like-minded people. The foundation believes in ‘empowerment’ of people as its objective, and does not believe in short-term measures like charity.
5 comments:
"Beggary is the outcome of abject poverty and not choice"
Here we see a woman holding her child in her arms expecting the world to have pity on her and help her in money or in kind. An Action Aid International study on beggary in India shows that 97% of the women beggars take this path because of poverty.
We see that the economy of India on the whole is booming with forex reserves piling up and SENSEX breaking records for the past couple of months what we are calling as “India shining”.
So, is India really shining?
No, the picture depicts it really isn’t. The money at the top level isn’t trickling down to the lower levels of the society.
Inspite of the middle class gaining from recent positive economic developments; India on the whole suffers from substantial poverty.
A report in 2007 by the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) found that 77% of Indians, or 836 million people, lived on less than 20 rupees per day, with most working in "informal labour sector with no job or social security, living in abject poverty.
Since the early 1950’s the government had initiated, refined various planning schemes but it lacked proper implementation of those schemes which had been badly affected by the high corruption in the country.
We need to think about such people who can’t even afford a single meal a day.
The child who should be into formal school education by this time of his life is begging for food along with his mother.
The eyes of the child have a lot many questions which have to be answered by none other than the society and the government.
He deserves to get all the basic developmental things which a normal child from a financially stable background gets.
This is going to be the youth of our country which needs to be provided the basic amenities that are required in life.
To grow as an individual one needs education as it is the backbone for the growth of any individual or the country as a whole. The steps in this regard have been taken up by the corporates as a part of Corporate Social Responsibility.
Corporate Social Responsibility has become a major focus of interest for development practitioners in the recent years. Official development agencies have taken a more positive view and in some cases encouraged Corporate Social Responsibility.
Companies like the Aditya Birla Group , Dr.Reddy’s Labs. ,Infosys , Max New York Life Insurance , etc. have taken big steps towards eradicating poverty and setting up basis for educating the children through various institutions and programmes being conducted by them with the full involvement of the employees.
If such steps are taken then we can expect the people below poverty line to substantially lessen down.
If the government manages to divert the reserves towards the proper implementation of programmes at the rural and urban level such as to eradicate poverty and provide for the basic necessities of life then we can expect such children and mothers to contribute to the growth of the nation as a whole.
We have to answer the questions we see in the child’s eyes if we want to empower the youth of the country for a bright future.
Name : Saurabh Bhasin
Roll No.: 07HR-036
PICTURE : Mother & Child
This picture speaks volumes about the present scenario of the prevalent condition of women and children in our society. This kind of scenario is being witnessed by us almost everyday, but we never pay attention to it. Here we would first focus on the conditions on women and children in our society.
You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women.
- Jawaharlal Nehru
This is absolutely true. Women of any nation are the mirror to its civilization. If women enjoy good status it shows that the society has reached a level of maturity and sense of responsibility while a decadent image conjures up if the opposite is true. The story of Indian women is as old as the history of Indian civilization.
Women and their children suffer most. Being poor or being a woman is often a reason for being discriminated against, and may result in abuse, neglect and poor treatment.
The image sends shivers down the spine. The health of mothers and children is at the core of the struggle against poverty and inequality, as a matter of human rights. In many countries, numerous women and children are excluded from even the most basic health benefits: those that are important for mere survival. Gender equality is more than a goal in itself.
However much a mother may love her children, it is all but impossible for her to provide high-quality child care if she herself is poor and oppressed, illiterate and uninformed, anaemic and unhealthy, has five or six other children, lives in a slum or shanty, has neither clean water nor safe sanitation, and if she is without the necessary support either from health services, or from her society, or from the father of her children.
This reflects a common theme – the central importance of maternal and child health to our families, communities and societies.
Adding another dimension which is indicated by the picture is that of parenting. Parenting is a shared responsibility. It provides the child the gentle warmth of a mother's embrace and the protection of a Fathers arm. Yet, what happens when this cocoon is shattered or broken by separation, divorce or death. Unfortunately society has a different set of rules for single mothers thereby making it all the more difficult for them. This bias has its repercussions on her children too. Also, problems related to commuting and safety often force children of single mothers to lead a more secluded life as compared to other children.
Indian women have mastered anything and everything which a woman can dream of. But she still has to go a long way to achieve equal status in the minds of Indian men.
The following lines of ‘Song of an African Women’ best conclude the desire of Indian women.
I have only one request.
I do not ask for money
Although I have need of it,
I do not ask for meat . . .
I have only one request,
And all I ask is
That you remove
The road block
From my path.
Picture : Mother and Child
Name : Sucharit Narang
Roll No : 07FT-101
DEEPAK EP-07-017
THE DARK SIDE OF INDIA
In today's growing world we feel proud about the booming ecomnomy
and increasing globalisation of our country. We potray to outside world that INDIA is miles ahead in time but the picture is not so.Even in our Metros one can find on red lights beggars asking for alms, and a healthy population of that is Women and Children.
Is this the INDIA that our Nation Leaders dreamt off? or we feel proud off!.
Every year the parity betwen rich and por is growing Govt's helping sche,mes for the poor are not help[ing them but rather increasing bank balances of bureaucrats and middle men.
NGO's have come forward to save their cause but unless the society accepts them this will be a blamish on our mother INDIA.
A chils whose age is to go to school is seen as a beggar on red lights risking his life ,poor mother has no choice but to join him.
"SOCIETY ISW BARBARIC IF THEIR IS NO RESPECT FOR WOMEN" an ancient greek thought but we have to come forward or at least support those trying to help them .Some corporates like ITC n others have been on the right cause by selling their products in order to arrange for the educatio of poor people especially women and children .
LET HER KNOW HER RIGHTS,
SHE HAS ALL THE MIGHT.
THE MOTHER NEEDS TO BE PROTECTED,
FOR THE FUTURE OF COUNTRY IS DEJECTED.
LETS MAKE REALY INDIA SHINE,
AS EDUCATION FOR ALL AND RESPECT FOR POOR BE THE OBJECTIVE OF MINE..
Name: Shilpa Kolte
Roll. No.: 07FT-094
Picture 2. Mother and Child
Picture this: A girl about 16-17 years is holding a child, standing near a car. What could that be? A girl holding her kid brother or sister waiting near their car while mummy is shopping?
Think again. It could be a poor mother with a child – in –tow, peeping into a car, seeking alms. And we are talking about the second scenario which itself is a very common sight at traffic signals. Mumbai and Delhi would be awash with such sights. It’s a rainy day; this poor girl with her kid is looking into a car. But two things are striking in this picture. First – the age of the mother. She must be 18, maybe even younger. A child herself – who has lost her childhood because motherhood came before she could bid a goodbye to her own childhood. Second is the sharp gaze of the child. It may be fear of the cameraperson, or wonder at the looking at a gadget – new to someone of his status. The keenness in those big eyes is unmistakable.
The girl is obviously mal-nourished and frail, with a year-old child to feed. For someone so young and frail, it must be difficult to even hold that kid whole day – forget about taking care about the baby. It is difficult to imagine her plight. What would be the reason that brought motherhood on someone so young? Was it a choice or was it forced on her? Was it because she was married off by her parents early – to shirk the responsibility of raising her? Or was it the pervert desire of some sick soul? Even she must have had some dreams about her life – all girls her age have those…and more.
The gloom on the girl’s face is noticeable - the worry to feed her little one, to protect it from the rain. It is strange how the burden of responsibility shows on one’s face. She must be wondering why is she begging for food? Why is the father of the child not there? Or is she bothered only about the alms that she will receive on the day? She might even be thinking if she will survive to see the next day? Or will her child survive in the rain without food?
The look on her face as she peeps into this car fills the heart with pity. But does the person in the car feel so too? For the girl, the only thing that matters is when the person in car will bother to roll down the glass window and care to throw some money. The irony is that we have both types of people in India – those seeking alms and those who can provide them. What is the real India then? 16 year old mothers begging at traffic signals or the soaring sensex and GDP? And what we are doing with this paradox? Waiting for the beggars to just vanish like the mud spots on the social fabric? Even that will need social cleansing. Are we willing to do this cleaning?
A typical scene that, metro-dwellers are accustomed to see and scoff at, while their vehicles bear the brunt of the impatient traffic signals. I thin-framed woman, not the sort of thin anorexia or paparazzi craves for, the sort that comes with dirty nails. And lo and behold, there she is with a baby in her arms, looking imploringly at your pointed lens through the wet glass panes.
The panes, they are obviously up. It is supposed to be unless you're absurdly romantic or insanely stupid or immensely unlucky (if you're travelling in a cab that has a broken window lever). Its been raining and even the rains in the cities are not so pure. And there's been more than a little mud splashing and slurry-flying, not to forget there are stop signals every fifteen seconds and fifteen beggars flitting from window to window patiently asking for 'alms'.
Strange, how symbolic that seems or how rhetorical, if you're bent on poetic notes--this winding up of the window panes to shun of the dirt, the humidity, the poverty in one word the discomfort outside. What strikes me as more strange is some actually use (or maybe exploit is a better word) this situation towards a "great job". They don't roll the windows down and offer help, they're busy rolling the lens of the camera to get a perfect view and focus of the eyes of the kid.-- For that one long moment, a wet glass window standing between the two India-s that exist, one with Japanese cameras, the other with dirty nails, the yin and the yang, the "source" and the "sink", the employer and the employee, the beggar and the "beg"-ee, the 21st century soon-to-be superpower of world India and the collarbone jutting, illegitimate scandalous child in arms, poor woman with matted hair India.
The elite list of the planet’s richest have more Indians than any other nationality. The GDP growth is close to touching double figures, Indian entrepreneurs are regularly in World Headlines acquiring and devouring the big fishes of the west. In a word… India is shining… but where's the shine and the social security for these mud-caked duo? How far have they gone with the in and out of communism, Mother Teresa, emergence of nuclear prowess and of late outsourcing?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind". Whether you use astrophysics or the Buddhist Zen to unlock these mazes are up to the individuals. Its our choices, which horn we would take the bull by. Tip the waiter, or teach your maid? Drop a coin in those hands or help the shelter organizations instead?
One kid, one hunger, one helping hand at a time, India WILL 'glow' beyond superpowers, supermarkets and all other things super.
PICTURE: MOTHER AND CHILD
SAIKAT DASGUPTA
07FT-088
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