The poverty in India is disconcerting," says Vikram Bayana Akula. "I just thought I must do something." That's how this story began in the interiors of arid Andhra Pradesh.

Akula, who grew up in Schenectady, upstate New York (where father A.V. Krishna is a surgeon), encountered poverty first hand earlier while visiting relatives in Medhak. "It's a tragedy that we NRIs who can do a lot, are not doing enough. We have the skills to solve the problems," he says.

The year that Akula spent in Zaheerabad transformed him forever. For the past 12 years, he's worked tirelessly to help the impoverished people of this Deccan region. Inspired by Mohammad Yunus' micro-credit Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, he started the Swayam Krishi Sangam (SKS) in 1998 in Medhak district. He raised $52,000 from individual contributors in the US with, not surprisingly, 50 per cent of the money coming from NRI doctors. "The idea is to put private sector initiative into alleviating poverty. I don't want to depend on grants or government money."

The Deshpandes returned with a resolve to throw themselves into voluntary work, and one of the activities that they successfully undertook was bridging the gap between urban and rural education in Maharashtra. Realising the sorry state of science education in in the villages due to a lack of laboratory apparatus, Vidnyanvahini came up with the novel idea of a Mobile Science Laboratory (MSL) in 1995. This provided the village kids with the opportunity to perform scientific experiments that were hitherto unavailable to them because of poor resources.

DuPont's South Asia chief returned home to Bichaula and, in 3 yrs, transformed lives of girls from poor homes Anupshahr, August 17: When Virendra 'Sam' Singh, head of DuPont's South Asia operations, returned after 35 years in the US, he did not pick a condominium in one of New Delhi's upscale suburbs to settle down. He went back to Bichaula, near Anupshahr in UP's Bulandshahr, where he was born and where nothing much had changed since he left.

The man who once sat in boardrooms to discuss strategies and dealt with textile magnates now sits under a jamun tree. Around him are some of the 350 village girls whose lives have changed since Singh's return.

We began in 1999 when my family and I decided that we would put our personal resources to use in development projects in India and elsewhere. In India we are focussing on sustainable development at the village level.

We are targeting four villages in rural Gurgaon and performing extension work in fourteen other neighbouring villages, all of which are near Delhi. We hope that these villages will eventually serve as models for work elsewhere. ...Dr Suri Sehgal.

The Foundation’s approach rests firmly on the belief that all assistance must empower people to participate in furthering their own development. It begins by listening to villagers, and continues by encouraging their initiatives. While an important goal of these initiatives is to enhance villagers’ economic prosperity, the Foundation maintains that it is by caring for the overall social well-being of the village that the latter is achieved...SMS Foundation.

The one-day conference held in Chicago on October 18th focussed on learning about rural village development projects in India. There were about 15 presenters from India describing their field rural projects. About 70 people came to participate in the proceedings.

Mohan Jain reported that we had 30 people from 15 states (CA, CT, DC,FL,IA, IL, KS, LA, MD,MI, MN, OH, PA, TX, VT ) in US and 5 from India. About 40 people from the Chicago area. (Participants belonged to 13 states of India : AP, Gujarat, Hariyana, Karnataka, Kerala, MP, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, UP, and WB ) Organizations represented included, ASHA (USA), DRI (India), EKAL (India), FDRI, FRTEM (India), IDS (Illinois), IGES(MD), IndiCorps (Texas), North South Foundation (Illinois), Sankalp (Iowa), Shikshantar (India), Sehgal Family Foundation (Iowa), S. M. Sehgal Foundation (India), The Swaraj Foundation (Illinois), Trees for Life (Kansas).

You can see some of the presentations at this link.

What was achieved?

"This is the most impressive conference I have ever attended on rural development. I was able to see how positive energy can be so intoxicating!! The presenters came from the trenches. They had a passion in what they are doing. They have been able to talk from their heart with passion. It made all the difference."...Ratnam Chitturi ( North-South Foundation )

"Overall a great job and I hope this is the first of others to follow. We individually and together can "connect the dots" and do our part till we meet again. To do "good works", the purpose which brought us together. I learnt a lot and have benefited a lot."....Murthy Sudhakar (InfraSys)

"a good first step"..Bhamy Shenoy (Mysore Consumer Union)

"the best conference that I attended with a clear focus on India's rural projects"..Mahendar Vasandhani (IDS)

	Prof Jagdish Shukla describing his project in Mirdha village in Uttar Pradesh
	Umesh and Rashmi Rahotgi share their rural village projects
	Counsel General of India in Chicago - Arun Kumar
	About 70 people in the audience