KARMAVEER CHAKRA 2011-12
HFI-iCONGO KARMAVEER CHAKRA 2011
Best Indian Karmanistha Volunteer for Hemophilia Care
Dr Suresh Hangavadi
Dr. Suresh Hanagavadi is a Professor in the Dept. of Pathology at JJM Medical College, Davangere, and Karnataka. "Being a Hemophiliac is not a weakness. But living with hemophilia is a weakness", this statement very well suits Dr. Suresh Hanagavadi. Born in a middle class family, facing the turbulence of hemophilia at an early age, witnessing the death of his beloved maternal uncle who shared a common suffering called hemophilia, Dr. Suresh has grown from a suffering child to a man whom the world calls "a Born Fighter". A consistent and unconditional team effort laid foundation to the 'Society' (Karnataka Hemophilia Society) to care for hemophiliacs and was successful in promoting the condition in the state through its activities. Presently, the Society is relatively strong and ranks first in raising funds towards establishing "Comprehensive Hemophilia Care" at Davangere which has become the reference center for Karnataka, especially northern region. He is dedicated to achieve the vision of the 'Society', through professional networking and community involvement. Now, he works towards bringing systems and process in the organization for uninterrupted care of hemophiliacs even in his absence. Dr Suresh is a recipient of many prestigious awards and recognition both at State as well as National level.Kiranbhai Avasia
54-yrs-old Kiranbhai Avasia from Rajkot, Gujarat holds M.Sc in Medical bacteriology. He was the Medical Director of a voluntary blood bank for 11 years, Technical supervisor of Agatsya sperm bank, Microbiologist and director of Distromed Bioclean Pvt. Ltd. He is also a visiting faculty of Homeopathy Medical College and Engineering College. He got involved with hemophilia care in Rajkot and Gujarat Region while he was working as the Director of blood bank in 1996. Realizing the pain and difficulties of this bleeding disorder as well as risk of plasma transfusion, he started working for the People suffering with Hemophilia as a volunteer with HFI by starting Rajkot Hemophilia Society in 1992.He is a youth motivator and had given series of lectures in colleges, universities and other public gatherings for awareness on Blood donation, Hemophilia, Thallasemia and HIV/AIDS. He has personally supported the Hemophilia Society Rajkot and helped 316 PWH for education and treatment and empowered them financially. He was involved in streamlining and establishing few hemophilia care centers while he was the Regional Council ChairmanDr Maganti Prasad
Dr Maganti Prasad, MBBS, MS (Ortho) -- Age 64, hails from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. Dr. Prasad came across hemophilia in the year 1980 when his son was diagnosed with Hemophilia. Being father of a hemophiliac and orthopedic surgeon, his own nursing home 25 beds of became an advantage for running Hemophilia Care Center as a charity work. He started hemophilia society and care center in Vijayawada in the year 1993 with 7 PWH and till date they have identified 600 PWH in the region. Due to his efforts Hemophilia Society Vijayawada was able to develop comprehensive care to PWH with treatment diagnostic and physiotherapy facilities. Along with medical care his team is able to organize social activity and education support to PWHs with the help of various organizations. He has presented his experiences in Hemophilia medical and social aspects at various meetings.
Mr Premroop Alva
Mr Premroop Alva 36-yrs-old, born severe Hemophilic with factor-IX deficiency, hold Diploma in Hotel Management from Bangalore. He was instrumental in starting Hemophilia Society Bangalore and is the founding member of the chapter; played a significant role in successfully lobbying with the government of Karnataka in providing free medicines (AHF) to hemophiliacs. He was the first ever Executive-member representing the youth in Hemophilia Federation India; Provided vocational training for disabled; Has been the Key person in motivating youth for next level of leadership; Architect and Concept Creator of the National Hemophilia Registry (www.hemophiliaregistry.in); Conducts regular counseling sessions and assists hemophilic youths in personal, academic and career paths; Created the National Youth Manual and Constitution; Lobbied and conducted First ever Job-fair for hemophilic in India, where around 35 MNCs participated; 15 PWH and 1 carrier from Karnataka were placed successfully; Networked and associated with like-minded NGOs for Youth Development; Instrumental in conducting various camps across India for youth empowerment and development; Personally Volunteered for clinical trials of latest medicines for welfare of hemophilia community; Conducted social event like corporate walkathon and music consorts for Hemophilia awareness.
Mukesh Garodia
Mukesh Garodia -- 38 yrs old person suffering with hemophilia from Guwahati, Assam. At the age of 20, with the help of 4 local doctors and founder of HFI, he located five other Hemophiliacs in the region and formed a self help group in Guwahati in 1996. Due to his sincere effort, the number of hemophiliacs in the chapter has increased from 5 (in 2001) to 543 (in 2011). Due to his initiative in successfully lobbing and advocacy with the state government, now hemophiliacs of the state are getting free AHF support in the Govt. hospitals. During his association with hemophilia movement in India he was elected as Regional Council Chairman (East Region) and Communication Chairman of HFI. Presently he is the National Coordinator of Project Young Voices on Hemophilia in India. HFI along with the Project partners Danish Hemophilia Society, Denmark he was appointed as the Coordinator for the project to develop second line of leadership in the hemophilia movement in order to take the lead for serving the cause nationally. He has organized quite a few national leadership workshops and camps in India for the grooming the young hemophiliacs.
RTF-iCONGO KARMAVEER CHAKRA 2011
Outstanding Child-led Initiative
Surovi Shishu Panchayat
Surovi Shishu Panchayat started in June 2009 and comprises of children from Chandrapur Block of Kamrup district in Assam. One of the first initiatives was a field study in 'Rajabari Chapori' a totally interior and remote area under the Chandrapur development block with the people there having no school and other facilities including emergency services even in the extreme flood conditions. During the visits in the Chapori the SUROVI team went to a totally underprivileged and deprived village, Tamulbari. This is the name which the villagers themselves hesitate to pronounce before others as they belong to. It is so because of their poverty and backwardness. Sorting out the issues while visits SUROVI members tabled the situation in their monthly meeting towards the end of October 2010 and decided to do something what they can do at their own level. As per decision SUROVI members organized and conducted about ten meetings including the stakeholders from the village and by the end of November 2010 it was unanimously resolved to develop a SUROVI PARK in the Shiva Mandir premises that is the only holy place for the villagers. The Park has now become the hub of all the activities of Surovi. The children now maintain this park. Now Surovi Shishu Panchayat has a series of regular programs including: a) mass awareness campaigns on health, sanitation, child rights, women rights and environment protection; b) home visit programs; c) school visit programs; and an extensive field study program.
Shishu Panchayat of Gokak, Belgaum, Karnataka
The Shishu Panchayat of Gokak, Belgaum works under the guidance of the Belgaum Integrated Development Society (BIRDS). The Shishu Panchayat has been working on issues of environment protection, health and sanitation. Two years back during floods, the children did a commendable job of raising resources from the community to get a flogging machine for the local hospital. Educating peers on food security and sustainable agriculture practices, these rural children who form the Gokak Shishu Panchayat have been organizing interactions with villagers to understand how to deal with food insecurity. Recently, some students of the Shishu Panchayat who are studying in the local school took the lead in extensive tree plantation in their school. The aim is to improve green cover in their area. The children also regularly takes up sanitation work in their village and are given training in health issues which they try to pass on to their peers.Besides, BIRDS organizes regular capacity building programs for the children on leadership development, group dynamics, managing a programs and orientation to different local concerns.CASP-Plan Bal Panchayat, New Delhi
CASP-Plan believes on children's participation for their program planning therefore they initiated children's group formation named "Bal-Panchayat (Children's council)" in 1998 in the communities of Govindpuri and Sangam Vihar in Delhi. Initially CASP-Plan organized drawing competition, contacted community's tuition centers and schools to attract children for a children's group. When a group of children formed they named it Bal-Panchayat. Then it formed in Badarpur followed by Madanpur Khadar. They got trainings on drawing, cartoon, article writing, right to information, audio, first aid, video, photography, adobe page maker, newspaper-making, glass painting, theatre, dance, English and Hindi grammar, clay puppet making etc. CASP-Plan Bal-Panchayat program puts the focus on capacity building in children and promote children's participation which will lead their participation in governance. CASP-Plan provides them centers in their community, capacity building trainings and exposure of other organization's developmental activities. Through their BaL Panchayat, the children have learnt about rights and responsibilities; their confidence level has increased and the members have learnt how to handle other children and children's groups. Understanding of child rights is an important area of training as part of the Bal Panchayat program and these children have been taking up different issues related to children. Peace Channel, Kohima, Nagaland
Peace Channel is a movement of children and young people in Kohima, Nagaland. It aims at creating peace by transforming the culture of violence into a culture of peace. It organizes children in Peace Clubs to provide a platform for participatory learning of peace and human rights practices. These peace clubs work actively for peace and development at personal, family and community levels. The peace clubs are in fact the functional bodies of the Peace Channel movement and are formed at the institutional, village and community level. The Club members pledge to actively get involved in the peace promotional activities. The movement initiates and nurtures the clubs with capacity building on peace as well as youth issues.RTF-iCONGO KARMAVEER CHAKRA 2011
The Peace Gong Best Child Reporter
Arindam Som
In this story, Arindam Som and Santanu explores various fish markets of Delhi including Gazipur Mandi and INA market to report on the problems faced by fish vendors of Delhi. They report about problems due to middlemen, spiralling prices and bad road conditions which are contributing to plight of the fish vendors.For instance, they interview, Dev Kumar who believes that excessive competition in the market between the middlemen has further affected their trade. This fact stand evident when one looks at the number of times a single kilogram of produce changes hands. "From the fishermen it goes to a local market, via transporter. Then from the local market the supply is again transported - generally via road - to wholesale markets in the cities, like the Gazipur Market. From the wholesale dealers at Gazipur it goes to another fish distributor, who in turn sells the produce to the sub-distributors. The judges, felt both Arindam and Santanu worked hard to go to the field and interview the fish vendors. Hence they were nominated for the No. 1 position.Santanu
In this story, Arindam Som and Santanu explores various fish markets of Delhi including Gazipur Mandi and INA market to report on the problems faced by fish vendors of Delhi. They report about problems due to middlemen, spiralling prices and bad road conditions which are contributing to plight of the fish vendors.For instance, they interview, Dev Kumar who believes that excessive competition in the market between the middlemen has further affected their trade. This fact stand evident when one looks at the number of times a single kilogram of produce changes hands. "From the fishermen it goes to a local market, via transporter. Then from the local market the supply is again transported - generally via road - to wholesale markets in the cities, like the Gazipur Market. From the wholesale dealers at Gazipur it goes to another fish distributor, who in turn sells the produce to the sub-distributors. The judges, felt both Arindam and Santanu worked hard to go to the field and interview the fish vendors. Hence they were nominated for the No. 1 position.Seema Basavraj Tadasanapar
In this story, Seema and Aishwarya report on the initiative of the Shishu Panchayat of Gokak in initiating discussions on food security in their villages. They note how scanty rainfall is affecting agriculture produce and promoting food insecurity in their villages. This rural child had written the story originally in Kannada and was translated by their adult coordinators. Here is the crux of the story as reported in the Introduction: Farmers of Munnyan village in the Belgaum district of Karnataka are a worried lot. The scanty rainfall in the last couple of months has taken away smiles from the faces of poor farmers as they have lost hopes of getting enough food in the coming months. A farmers' meeting, organized by the children of Gokak Shishu Panchayat at the Mynnyan village, on the eve of the World Food Day, concluded that it was high time to think of alternative cropping to deal with the food insecurity in the village. Farmers, attending the meeting, confirmed that dependence on a single crop and poor rainfall has led to a situation of food insecurity in the village, coupled with rising prices. The meeting was attended by nearly 40 farmers - big and small farmers.
Aishwarya Shirvanand
In this story, Seema and Aishwarya report on the initiative of the Shishu Panchayat of Gokak in initiating discussions on food security in their villages. They note how scanty rainfall is affecting agriculture produce and promoting food insecurity in their villages. This rural child had written the story originally in Kannada and was translated by their adult coordinators. Here is the crux of the story as reported in the Introduction: Farmers of Munnyan village in the Belgaum district of Karnataka are a worried lot. The scanty rainfall in the last couple of months has taken away smiles from the faces of poor farmers as they have lost hopes of getting enough food in the coming months. A farmers' meeting, organized by the children of Gokak Shishu Panchayat at the Mynnyan village, on the eve of the World Food Day, concluded that it was high time to think of alternative cropping to deal with the food insecurity in the village. Farmers, attending the meeting, confirmed that dependence on a single crop and poor rainfall has led to a situation of food insecurity in the village, coupled with rising prices. The meeting was attended by nearly 40 farmers - big and small farmers.
Swastik Loha Choudhury
In this story, Swastik Loha Choudhury talks to a cross-section of people in Santiniketan, West Bengal on how spiraling prices have affected the poor and marginalized people. Swastik has interviewed a rickshaw puller, milkman, a farmer, a maidservant and a retired military doctor in how life is in times of increasing food inflation. He writes, "In West Bengal's Santiniketan's famous Tagoreland area, self-employed workers have felt the heat. A rapid survey conducted in the area to know the impact of price rise on the life of self employed it was found that these people are finding it hard to survive even." Dr Saha, who is the retired military doctor, whom Swastik interviewed, said, ""Earlier villagers used to produce vegetables and pulses for their own consumption. They used to dry green leaves (Shaks) for cooking in the lean season. They also reared chickens, ducks and pigs, and collected fishes for eating from nearby ponds". Several employment generating schemes of the government made life easy as many of them get easy money. Many of them stopped their productions and started buying things from the market. But if they produce agricultural items on their land, they would not be affected by the price rise.
Vitasta George
In this story, Vitasta explores the life of a 9-year old child in a slum in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad who till one year back did not go to school. The girl would remain at home looking after sons of her elder sister. After the intervention of an activist, now Kesar goes to school. The main attraction of sending Kesar to school was that she would get breakfast and lunch at school. But at home, the situation has not improved, writes Vitasta. She adds, "Kesar's father beats her up if she demands for more food. ``He tells me fruit and vegetables are very expensive,'' says Kesar. She does not like living in jhuggi . She misses her big mud and wood house and orchard in the village. But, then, she knows that unless she goes through the hardships, she cannot realize her dream of becoming a teacher."Nirjara Mahanta
Nirjara shares her story of how she felt when a few poor and famished children approached her and her friends in a restaurant. She writes, "After coffee, we headed for the door. As I was approaching the exit door, I saw four-five children peeping inside from the big glass of the main door. They were skinny, dirty and dishevelled. One of them, a girl managed to come inside. She extended her palm and stood in front of me. I was confused. I kept staring at her. A security guard followed that girl and chased her away. I was relieved. I came back home but was disturbed because I felt as if I was caught in the act of stealing." Karan Grover interviews senior journalist, T K Rajalaxmi for his story on need for universal food security.Amongst the different questions asked by Karan, one was: Q) The yardstick for identifying poverty line, a suggestion by the Planning Commission, in rural and urban areas is Rs 26 and Rs 32 per day. The Commission has already drawn flak from several quarters, including civil society, for pegging poverty in urban areas at Rs. 32 per capita per day. The figure in rural areas is Rs. 26 a day. Is it not impractical? It is not only impractical; it is unrealistic and cruel. The Planning Commission cannot pretend that double digit food inflation does not exist. In any case, the calorie requirement for urban and rural areas cannot be met with the kind of food prices that are today. For instance, the price of bananas was Rs 60 for a dozen during the last few months. Rs 32 would buy a person six banana a day at that rate. Is that enough to sustain especially if one is doing hard manual work? Karan Grover
Karan Grover interviewed senior journalist, T K Rajalaxmi for his story on need for universal food security.
Amongst the different questions asked by Karan, one was:Q) The yardstick for identifying poverty line, a suggestion by the Planning Commission, in rural and urban areas is Rs 26 and Rs 32 per day. The Commission has already drawn flak from several quarters, including civil society, for pegging poverty in urban areas at Rs. 32 per capita per day. The figure in rural areas is Rs. 26 a day. Is it not impractical? Your comments. . It is not only impractical; it is unrealistic and cruel. The Planning Commission cannot pretend that double digit food inflation does not exist. In any case, the calorie requirement for urban and rural areas cannot be met with the kind of food prices that are today. For instance, the price of bananas was Rs 60 for a dozen during the last few months. Rs 32 would buy a person six banana a day at that rate. Is that enough to sustain especially if one is doing hard manual work?