BWI: Tej Kohli Foundation Announces Rural Development Initiative in Haryana

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: Tej Kohli Foundation
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 11:20 AM IST (05:50 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, Social issues, Sports; Business: Agriculture, Education & training, Sports
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Tej Kohli Foundation Announces Rural Development Initiative in Haryana
Part of their 'One Village at a Time' Program

Gurgaon, Haryana, India, Tuesday, July 26, 2011 -- (Business Wire India) -- In recent years, the world has viewed Haryana as an up-and-coming Indian state that is making real progress. It's become one of the leading contributors to India's agricultural production and takes pride in having the majority of winners from the Indian continent at the XIX Commonwealth games.

But the reality couldn't be more different. Maternal mortality rate is 230/100,000 live births and 70% of women who died of birth complications were not even referred to medical care. For ages, rural women in this region have been deprived of social, educational and cultural equality with men. And female infanticide - a long-standing practice that directly reflects the low status accorded to women here - continues to cause huge sex-ratio imbalance in this part of the country.

The Tej Kohli Foundation is embarking on a development program to confront these appalling issues. Rajiv Pradhan, head of the foundation, became aware of the grim situation while conducting educational seminars on eye donation for corneal transplant, another of the foundation's major initiatives. On behalf of Tej Kohli, he said, "We will provide eye care, educate women, train disabled, feed and educate children and all that it takes to improve their lives."

Pradhan also found that most of the NGOs and trusts working to better the state were simply being ineffective. Local resident Hari Panwar, an activist and volunteer for many programs that are trying to alleviate these problems, agrees with Pradhan's observations. "It's a pity that most of these organizations are here for their own selfish motives," Panwar states. "The Tej Kohli Foundation seems to have a modest, low-laying profile that believes in getting down to a grassroots level for resolving these issues. It was quite a surprise that the Foundation is funded from Kohli's own pocket - that's real charity."

The Haryana initiative is part of the Foundation's 'One Village at a Time' strategy. Tej Kohli believes that helping one area to improve and moving on to another will spread good will and charity around, resulting in self-starting commitments from neighboring residents. Rajiv Pradhan adds, "we want to take up one entire village and take care of it like a mother would for her child." The foundation believes that the results will speak for themselves, and others will be deeply moved by the condition of women in their own villages, and start initiatives to help their own.


CONTACT DETAILS
Savita Sinha, Volunteer, Naari Shakti Trust, savitasinha@socialworker.net

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, SOCIAL, SPORTS, AGRICULTURE, EDUCATION

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