Date: 4 Sep 2003 17:27:06 -0000 From: "Aid Orissa" | This is spam | Add to Address Book To: "Rajendra Marulkar" CC: ganachetana@rediffmail.com, dkmishra@satyam.net.in, johnseed1@ozemail.com.au, kiranprava@rediffmail.com, psubrama@iucaa.ernet.in, aid@vsnl.com, jude@seedsavers.net Subject: Re: Re: Re: Regarding GanaChetana Hi all, As mentioned earlier I met with Sunita & Mohan of GC recently and had discussed some of your points below with them (Q3&4) In Reply to Questions in addition to Dhanada’s reply: 1) GC is situated in an extremely remote area of Orissa, communication from our end is very difficult and is best done in person as there is no electricy, phone & hardly road access. My personal experience with the GC team has been on two occasions, first being my visit in March of this year when I stayed and worked closely with them for 15 days during this stay accompanying them into the field and discussing with their working groups their problems and difficulties they faced and how GC’s interaction and guidance has effected their situation to date. The second occasion was only a short stay to select & arrange some product samples of the goods produced by the SHG’s for assisting in marketing in BBSR. It is my observation that GC is one of the most effec-tively active NGO’s I have visited and they are working with the poorest of the poor of Orissa. 2) GC have previously implemented one project funded by AID USA, This project had a number of problems in being fully implemented as pro-posed due to the release of the second instalment from US, the project had not been visited be for the release of the first instalment and that too arrived after commencement of the project. The GC team were still able to make an impact with the project.They have also implemented a number of projects in training different SHG’s in Income Generation Projects (IGP), Forest awreness and protection, Agriculture market gardening,etc. these projects have been funded by Gov. schemes. GC appear to have a very good repore with local Gov. bodies inc. forestry. GC have re-cently been selected as facilitators for northern Orissa of a nation-wide program on “Natural Forest Resource Management”. The feedback re-ceived indicates that the projects have definite impact on their working communities, and I can add that there is no indication of miss utilisation of funds, GC’s total infrastructure including their office cum residence (front section of Mohans family home) consists of one locker, an old table, a chair, two bench’s, and an old motor-cycle all of which are hardly worth auditing. 3) The Income Generation Schemes proposed through the Ashram farm include the following: ˙ Pisiculture in ashram pond ˙ Dairy Goats and cows ˙ Organic traditional vegetables for market/own use & seed collection ˙ Forest fruit tree fencing & forest fruit tree nursery ˙ Composting ˙ Vermi-composting ˙ Production of Organic fertilizers & pesticides ˙ Mulching techniques ˙ GC have also taken a 12 year lease on some land that will be used to cultivate medicinal herbs and have an MOU with a herbal company to supply raw materials. 4) status of ashram construction status fencing and fruit tree plantation effectiveness of demonstrative decemination of techniques and technologies. Till date the first instalment has not cleared to GC so there is no report on how effectively they have utilised the funds but it is my belief that the funds will be utilised appropriately as to the proposal budget. Hope this answers some of your queries… Enjoy… pete On Sun, 31 Aug 2003 Rajendra Marulkar wrote : >Dear Pete, Prasad, > Thanks ... for your quick reply ... Pete, we eagerly wait for your thoughts ... > >Regards >Rajendra > > >Aid Orissa wrote: >Hey Rajendra, >sorry for the long delay in repling... >had met with Mohan & Sunita of GC just the other day and had >discussed your points in breif with them as they had to catch a >bus.. >have tried to anwer as best your queries, will forward them to you >shortly as they are on a different computer. > >as yet GC have not had clearance of the last cheque sent... > >more soon... > > >enjoy... >pete > >PS: my mobile # is as below... >On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 Rajendra Marulkar wrote : > >Dear Prasad, > > Thanks for the information. . We are very eager to talk to > >both Mr. Peter & Mr. Dhanada over phone . Can you pls. give us > >their contact numbers ? [I am also cc'ing this mail to both of > >them, but I am not sure if they have regular internet access] > > > >Thanks & Regards > >Rajendra > > > > > >Prasad Subramanian >wrote: > > > > > >Hi Rajendra, > > > >Thank you for your e-mail. I have been mostly handling the > >(e)paperwork > >regarding Gana Chetana, and have met and talked with Mohan > >Mahanta at > >length, but I have never visited the project per se. I plan to do > >so > >sometime in Feb 2004. AID volunteer Peter Bakos has visited Gana > >Chetana, > >and I'm cc:ing this e-mail to him. I'm also cc:ing this e-mail to > >Dhanada > >Mishra, AID volunteer in Bhubaneswar, who is in immediate touch > >with Mohan > >Mahanta. > > > >I can only answer your questions in general at this point. > >Perhaps Peter > >can give you more specific answers. > > > >The Gana Chetana project has been with AID for several years now, > >but it > >has not been systematically looked into and followed up for one > >reason or > >the other. It is only recently that AID Columbus has taken it up > >and > >funded it partially. It has been well recommended by Peter Bakos, > >who > >undertook a detailed visit to the project last summer. All else > >apart, I > >felt that Mohan bhai was quite committed to building up a small > >network of > >income generation programs that will help the people of the > >villages > >sustain themselves better. I felt that his committment to the > >idea of > >income generation and sustainability was beyond that of any other > >project > >I have seen, especially in Orissa. Dhanada and other AID > >volunteers in > >Orissa have recently started an Eco shop in Bhubaneswar as part > >of this > >overall plan. This shop will help market and distribute products > > from > >groups like Gana Chetana. I recall discussing this idea with > >Mohan Bhai > >when he visited me here in Pune a few months ago, and its already > >taking > >root. Mohanbhai visited some similar outlets in Pune, and he has > >doubtless > >garnered ideas from them, apart from reinforcing some of his > >own. > > > >I won't say much more about specifics. Peter and Dhanada are much > >better > >equipped to do this. I'd just like to stress that I feel that > >this is a > >good project with plenty of potential, which serves a highly > >underprivileged part of Orissa. I think that it deserves to be > >funded for > >one whole (uninterrupted) year before we sit back and examine > >their > >performance and suggest remedial measures. > > > >Best regards, > > > >- Prasad. > > > >Prasad Subramanian > >IUCAA, P.O Bag 4, Ganeshkhind, Pune - 411 007, India > >Phone: (020) 569 1414, ext. 304; FAX: (020) 569 0760 > >e-mail: psubrama@iucaa.ernet.in > >http://www.iucaa.ernet.in/~psubrama > > > >On Tue, 12 Aug 2003, Rajendra Marulkar wrote: > > > > > Hi Prasad, > > > We are volenteers from AID-Austin and we are looking into the > >GanaChetana project. We know, you know a lot about GanaChetana > >and we were curious to know a few things. > > > > > > 1) What is your past experience with GanaChetana? What kind of > >interaction you had with them ? > > > 2) Do you have the details of the projects done by GanaChetana > >so far? > > > 3) Do you have the detail plan for "income generation scheme" > >through demonstration farm proposed by GanaChetana? > > > 4) Do you have any parameters in mind, by which we can measure > >the status & success of this project in different phases? The > >intention of this question is really to see whether we need to > >take any corrective action in the middle of the project to make > >the project successful. > > > > > > Thanks for your feedback. > > > > > > Regards > > > Rajendra > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------- > > > Do you Yahoo!? > > > The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. > > > >-- > >Prasad Subramanian > >IUCAA, P.O Bag 4, Ganeshkhind, Pune - 411 007, India > >Phone: (020) 569 1414, ext. 304; FAX: (020) 569 0760 > >e-mail: psubrama@iucaa.ernet.in > >http://www.iucaa.ernet.in/~psubrama > > > > > > > >--------------------------------- > >Do you Yahoo!? > >The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. > > >Pete > >AID Orissa >7 Apollo Vihar, >Neelandri Vihar, >Bhubaneswar, >India >751 021 >Ph: 9437185069