LEAD

LEAD PRAYANA

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

For a week in January, 60 students trekked around Karnataka in search of their leadership potential. This was LEAD PRAYANA. A major initiative of the Deshpande Foundation’s LEAD PROGRAM, LEAD PRAYANA was an eight day, 2000 kilometer, journey that introduced students to leaders and exceptional organizations. PRAYANA’s mission was to inspire in the youth population the courage and confidence to become leaders and change their society for the better. This year, participants of PRAYANA have been to 12 destinations, including Agumbe, Manipal, Dharmasthala, Mysore and Bangalore. They met and interacted with ROLE MODELS, such as Veerendra Heggade, Narayan Murthy and Gururaj Deshpande and learned how successful organizations, such as ARRS, Agastya and Infosys, operate. These students made the choice to unleash their leadership potential on LEAD PRAYANA.

On PRAYANA, the participants received valuable advice from all the speakers and Role Models. Here are some examples:

Dr Veerendra Heggade : Always act natural. Don't pretend to be the person other people think you should be. Being natural will lead to success.

To help people you can't do a task for them. You have to teach them how to do that task, so they can continue to support themselves when you are gone and don't become dependent.

N.R. Murthy: Failures allow you to learn and change your strategy to succeed later.

Education is not about knowing the right answer. It is about learning how to learn.

'Desh' Deshpande: Passion drives success. Passion will lead to the ability to find solutions to problems.

A good idea is a product plus services.
Social reliance has to be low affordability and on a large scale.
A solution is to empower the individual.

Yuva Summit 2012

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:05:00 +0000

On January 15th, 2012, hundreds of students and educators gathered at the Deshpande Foundation with NR Murthy, 'Desh' Deshpande and other distinguished guests to celebrate the accomplishments of LEADers in 2011. Mr. Murthy gave an impassioned speech about the responsibility of the youth of create a better tomorrow. After inspiration words given by Murthy and Desh, some extraordinary leaders received the 'Best LEader Award' for 2011. Below are a descriptions of the leaders and their impressive projects.

Nagmani

Kiran Vidhyalaya

When Nagmani saw children begging in the street, she couldn’t stop herself from talking to them. She went to their house and, after speaking with their parents, discovered that the children were shackled to begging because of the dire financial situation of their families. Seeing their financial condition, Nagmani decided to teach them for four months free of cost. After teaching for four months, she was able to convince their parents of the importance of education. Twenty-five children who were begging earlier are now going to school.

Umesh Mayannvar

Clean the Canal

A canal, which supplied water to a 100+ acre land in a village, was blocked and the villagers were unaware of how to fix it. Umesh and his team of young LEAders took the initiative to discuss this problem with the Gram Panchyat, as well as the farmers. Umesh convinced them to get the canal cleaned. He also spoke to a JCB owner to help him out. Within a week the entire village got to work and the problem was solved. Because of this initiative, 1000’s of people have benefited. The canal now brings water to 100+ to the village.

Vijay Mane

Construction of Water Tank

Vijay from Gogte College of Commerce identified that people near Laxmi Temple in Manewadi- Ingali village faced a scarcity of drinking water. He took the initiative and spoke with the Panchyat and the villagers and raised Rs 21000/- in cash and constructed a water tank. This water tank now benefits more than 1000 people.

Vinay Patil

LED Lamps Out of Waste Bottles

Vinay decided to use his technical skills to solve a problem faced by underprivileged kids near Navge and Santibastwad in Belgaum. His observed that the frequent power cuts in Belgaum pervent many kids from being able to complete their school work or read. He designed 50 low cost effective table lamps, which now illuminated the minds of the young school going children. The LED rechargeable lamps cost Rs 23 each.

Kunal Sambranekar
Water Purification

Is the water we drink everyday, actually ok to drink? Kunal Sambranekar, a young LEADer from Belgaum, took the initiative of testing the water for its purity. He conducted the test in 23 villages across Belgaum district. Out of the samples tested, 90% of it failed to achieve the desired result. This meant that 90% of the water contained harmful bacteria, which causes disease like cholera and diarrhea. The press has covered this issue and the local government bodies and the Panchyat are working on getting clean, drinkable water to the people in these 23 villages. This project is set to benefit 2, 00,000 people in the 23 villages.

Shruti

Save Beggars

When Shruti saw a beggar woman distressed, she went to her and had a conversation. However, the interaction didn’t stop with the conversation. She found that her husband was disabled and she had to beg for a living and that they lived on the street. Shruti was determined to solve the beggar woman’s problem. There were challenges which she had to face, but there was no reason for her to step back. She went to the Tashildar’s and discussed about this problem. She found that there was some scheme by the government for the beggars. Under the scheme, Shruti got a house constructed with Rs 10000/- and also managed to get the beggar woman employment with a regular income.

Mallikarjun

Construction of Toilets

Hygiene is a major concern in villages. Mallikarjun identified that villagers were ignorant about toilets. He wanted to educate villagers on the importance of having toilets constructed. This was challenging task. Eventually, Mallikarjun was able to convince the youth about his idea and they set out on a mission. Thousands of people, including the villagers, the swamiji joined hands together for this noble cause. In a span of 3 months 698 toilets were constructed with the help of local government bodies, the taluk Panchayat and the Gram Panchayat.

Veeresh

Sensitization of Historical Monument

Veeresh has done three projects; college parking, issueing PAN cards and creating awreness about historical temple at Unkal. Through his PAN card project, he collected enough to support eight LEAD projects of his college. Based on his performance in LEAD, he has been promoted to Master Leader and is now the coordinator of LEAD REC Cell. He now coordinates 50 students in his college and is mentoring all the projects. His temple project has received media coverage.

Study Garden for College

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:54:00 +0000

Duration : 29/10/2011- 3/11/2011

Team Leader: Akash Bugade

Team Members: Krishnakumar M, Vishwaraj, Rashmi H, Sanjana N, Abhilasha M, Mallamma,Jeevan T, Soumya P, Shruti N

College: Rural Engineering College, Hulkoti

Place of project implementation: Hulkoti campus

Thanks to Akash and his LEAD team, 1500 Rural Engineering College students have a new, peaceful plave to study.

There were two main reasons Akash decided to biuld a garden at his college. The first was that the college did not have a proper place, outside the classroom, to sit and study. The second reason was that a nice, shady, airy garden would be a good place to study and spend leisure time

Initially, after getting approval for his innovative idea from LEAD, he had to get permission from his principal for the creation of garden made out of waste materials from around the college. Then the team got to work. They first had to clean the area, that was currently a dumping place for the college. After cleaning, they cut weeds, made fences and painted & arranged a path to the garden. All they needed at the end were plants, which were being donated by each faculty.

Akash said that the most challanging aspects of this project were convincing the principal, cleaning the dumping area and maintaining team unity. Despite the challenges, he has learned how to express his ideas in better way, maintain unity and, mainly, he learnt how to LEAD.

Akash said about tha project, “My biggest achievement was to see all our college teachers happy to have this park and the way we worked to make them and all the students happy.The principal was very much impressed because of our LEAD project and he has promised that he will fund all these kind of initiatives in future and will provide benches for sitting.”

Akash wants to continue similar LEAD projects. He said, “My vision is to explore the area of park and to maintain its condition by continuous positive variations in its outlook. I would like to maintain this project as well as take another project, this time at even bigger scale than previous one.”

Renovation of Nehru Park

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:24:00 +0000

LEADer 2010: Yuktha Chengappa. M

Project: Renovation of Nehru Park
Project Completed: January 2010
Duration: October 2009-December 2009

Location: Madikeri

The Idea: Nehru Park was created to commemorate the life of the former Prime Minister. Unfortunately the park was in very bad condition. It was mainly being use for cattle grazing, open defecation and other illegal works. The LEAD team had a vision of transforming this space back into a recreational area for the people nearby.

The Activity: The LEAD team approached the Municipal Corporation to get their assistance in cleaning the park. The Municipal Corporation was excited that someone would take the lead on this, so they gave them things such as dustbins to clean the park. The LEADers cleaned the park and helped restore it to be a clean environment once again. The Municipal Corporation committed to keeping this park clean and the police department provided security to guard the park.

The Impact: Now, families can come and enjoy this space on top of the hill. Kids can run around and play and the community can feel safe in these surroundings. This project is a great example of how ordinary students can work with their local government to create change.

LEAD Times 14

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 03:30:00 +0000

Lead Times 14

Best out of Waste

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 03:19:00 +0000

'Best' LEADer Winner 2010: Geeta Hegde

Project: Best out of Waste

Government First Grade College, Sirsi

The Idea: After vehicles use tires, is another use of them? Yes, there is. These LEADers found an innovative idea to make use of these tires. Tires can produce strong and durable ropes with a small investment and can generate self-employment for many villagers. One used tire can produce a maximum of 3000 ropes. A single tire usually costs Rs. 150, but can produce a maximum of Rs. 3000.

The Activity: The LEAD team trained poor people how to extract ropes, so that they could do this as their livelihood activity. Before, many of these people didn’t have any means of living. Now, with this new method, they can find a way to make a living.

The Impact: Now, tires are no longer being wasted in this area. These poor people have a livelihood and are extracting ropes to make a living. This project was such a success, that they are getting multiple calls to come train people to do this type of work. The team hopes that this project can be a model for the rest of the state.

MAESTRO

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 03:52:00 +0000

2. Duration : 1/04/2011-15/04/2011

3. Team Leader: Hemanth S Joshi

4. Team Members: Parth B, Sashwath N, Pramod V, Nikhil J, Akshata Y

5. College: K.L.E.Institute of Technology-Gokul-Hubli

6. Place of project implementation: college seminar hall

When Hemanth passed pre-university, his had to choose between an engineering degree or a medical one. This process was so confusing for him, that he decided to help other students out with their decisions.

The team hung posters of the event in all of the colleges. All college students were invited. The Team also published our event in all of the campus newspapers. They got permission from the principal and arranged a bus to bring students from different destinations. They also requested that the principal and dean to teach sessions on engineering.

The team had only few days to complete the project. They took this circumstance as a challenge and with a new sprit completed the project. They faced other problems, like running out of time to announce the project in all colleges before all pre-university exams were over. However, they did not give up. They published the event in all possible ways and gathered nearly 110+ students.

The most memorable experience was when they approached the principal to ask permission to publicize the project. He treated them like strangers, insulted and criticized the event. They did not gave up. However, the principal did not budge and did not let them publicize. They were really surprised.

After doing this project, Hermanth learnt many things, like teamwork and patience. He came to know about many places, new procedures and how to manage a team.

Because the team started late, they depended on LEAD to publicize their event.

The greatest achievement of this project, Hermanth said, was that he "got more experience in how to organize a event and manage time. I came to know how to manage studies along with extra activities."

The team wants to continue this event in our college every year. This wil be continued by our juniors. We are planning to partner with Times of India and LEAD to make this event a big and successful event in our college.

Water Purification

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 03:27:00 +0000

Team Leader: Jerusha Matapath

Team Members: Sahana Shimikeri, Smita Patil, Keertu Nagavi, Sharat M

Duration: 25^th May - 27^th May 2011

College: PC JABIN SCIENCE COLLEGE

Place of project implementation: SHIRGUPPI village.

Lake water is the only source of drinking water in the village for cooking and other domestic purpose. This has caused different health problems in the village, such as viral fever and infections. The people suffering had to come travel a long distance to Hubli for treatment. Jerusha decided that the villagers needed to be taught various methods to filter water.

The project was done in a village named Shriguppi 18kms from Hubli with approx 400 families. The team visited the village on 25^th of May 201 and, after a lot of effort, they were successful in convincing the Panchayat of the projects importance. Later, gathered plastic filter knobs to distribute and prepared charts with several directional pictures. The villagers gathered in the nursery school for the lesson and the knobs were distributed.

The challenging task was convincing the Panchayat and gathering the people in one place. Another challenging task was to explain the importance of filtration through the charts in Kannada. The Panchayat was also asked to repair the filter machine, which had been given by govt..

The most memorable moment for the Team was when they were standing in front of 100 people and trying to teach in Kannada, which was very difficult. At some points, people laughed at their grammatical mistakes. The purchasing of 350 knobs and preparing charts all are very memorable experience of the project.

Jerusha learned how to be a good leader, to face all challenges, to co-operate, co-ordinate, and work as a team. He said, " I’m good at projecting my ideas in front of people and this project has taken away the sense of shy feeling and made me friendly."

However, Jerusha though the communication of the project could have been improved.

Jerusha said. "the greatest achievement of this project was that the people there are now filtering the water before consuming it and the Panchayat has now repaired the filter given by govt."

Jerusha would love to do the same project on a larger scale. His vision for the project would be to do the same kind of project with the latest technology on a larger scale in some other place.

6-16 Jan 2012 LEAD Prayana

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 06:29:00 +0000

An initiative of LEAD, Prayana is a 10-day journey of Karnataka to unleash students' leadership potential. One hundred talented participants, ages 18 - 25, are taken to 9 destinations - Hubli, Sirsi, Manipal, Dharmasthala, Mysore, Bangalore, Chitradurga, Hampi and Bijapur.

In the upcoming 2012 LEAD Prayana, students will have the opportunity to meet celebrated Indian leaders in the Inspirom Series. Last year such personalities included, Kiran Bedi, India's first and highest ranking female officer in the Indian Police Service, social activist and TV personality; Gururaj Deshpande, entrepreneur and chairman of Sparta Group LLC, A123 Systems, Sycamore and Tejas Networks, and founder of the Deshpande Foundation; Ramji Raghavan, founder of Agastya International Foundation; Prasanna, founder of DESI and designer of national repute; Veerendra Heggade, a leader, philanthropist and educator; and L. Narayan Reddy, an innovative organic farmer and contributor of LEIS magazine.

Visit the LEAD Prayana website for more information.

Jan 16 2012 LEAD Mela

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 06:19:00 +0000

LEAD Mela is the biggest LEAD event of the year. Held in January during the Deshpande Foundation’s annual conference, the Development Dialogue, LEAD showcases to the world its most innovative projects and awards its top young leaders.

During last year's LEAD Mela, over 200 projects were showcased and 11 awarded for their special commitment and dedication towards bringing about social change. Several distinguished leaders made an appearance, such as Drs. Gururaj and Jaishree Deshpande, co-founders of the Deshpande Foundation and Nayaran Murthy, founder of Infosys, the first Indian company to be listed on NASDAQ.

15 Jan 2012 Yuva Summit

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 06:16:00 +0000

The Yuva Summit kicks off the yearly 3-day Development Dialogue, an international conference on development, entrepreneurship, and cultural showcases. This year, the Yuva Summit will be held on the 15th of January 2012. We are excited to announce that Infosys founder Narayana Murthy and Deshpande Foundation founder 'Desh' Deshpande will be this years keynote speaker. We expect this year to outdo last year in every way.

At the 2011 Yuva Summit, the keynote speaker was Mr. Rahul Bose, a celebrated Indian actor, screenwriter, director, social activist and rugby player. Other special guest speakers included Dr. Gururaj Deshpande, founder of the Deshpande Foundation; Dr. Ashok Shettar, principal of B. V. Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering and Technology; Dr. Ken Zolot, professor of entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Mrs. Meenu Venkateswaran, CEO of Pravah.

Shedding Light

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 05:31:00 +0000

Name of the project: Parking shed in BVB campus

Date : 25/3/2011- 30 /6/2011

Team Leader : Sonika B Mohite

Team Members: Jugal V Hiran, Sumathi Kulkarn, Anil G Kakhand, Pragati Shanbagh, Rajlaxm, Chinmayee L M, Rajveer Rane, Akshay Benni

College:BVBCET

Place of project implementation:BVB college campus

The first thing Sonika noticed when she joined the College was that there was no proper protection for the vehicles from rain and sunshine in the campus. That caused the petrol to evaporate and damage the vehicles. Sonika thought she and her team had to take the initiative and so decided to build a prototype for the protection of the bikes.

The biggest problem the team faced was gathering the funds. Basically, the team did fundraising on the College premises. People turned out in huge numbers, including proffesors. They raised enough money to build a prototype. The college authorities were supportive enough to lend them a few workers to build the structure. The Mechanical Department and Mr Sanjeev helped the team a lot in understanding the type of raw materials that would be durable and useful.

Initially the college was not ready to give the team permission for the project. They decided that they would do it ourselves if the school didn't help. Eventually, the College gave in to our demands. The funds the team required were huge, but everyone lended openheartedly because BVBians wanted a parking shed. Teachers helped the team with the technical details of the shed.

Sonika didn’t expect people to be so co-operative. She was amazed to know how much people wanted to do good things, if only given an opportunity. The pleasure one gets when they do something for someone else can't be matched. "Thanks to LEAD," said Sonika, "I know I am gonna have more of that good feeling coming my way."

Foremost, Sonika learned how to manage people in a group. She learnt how to let everybody shine and use their specific talents. She realised that you have to know your capability and resources at hand before taking up any work. The most important lesson, however, was never to give up.

Sonika said that there were some things she could improve on. She said, "I think we could have planned out better and then we wouldn't have the clash of the project with exam dates. Yet, Sonika feels the project was a great accomplishment. She said, "my friends thanked me as their bikes now had a shelter and we did see a bit of people coming early so they could park their vehicles in the shade. That made me feel real proud,and it got me thinking if only I could provide that shed better to the whole college." She would love to do extend the project. "I would love to take up the same project again," she said, "and cover the whole BVB campus. I am also open to new projects. All I look forward to, in this endeavour, is to do something for others and better myself as a person."

Stationary for Everyone!

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 04:55:00 +0000

Leader :Prashant Iligar

Team :Pradeep, Akshay, Veena, Gouri S, Ashwini M

Date of implementation : April- June 2011

Place :Vijaynagara School

College :BVB CET Hubli

Students who have no amenities like the others, are capable of outshining the ones who have the supplies. When Prashat Iligar found out that students of Vijaynagara School lacked basics, such as writing materials, like pens and books, he felt that it was his duty to help them.

Sixty students are given free education in the school. These children are from poor families, but have a zeal to learn. The team planed to collected stationery, such as notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, scales & even money. BVBCET,IMSR, CBA, PCJabins are the colleges that contributed to the cause.

The second phase of collection took place in June, when the school reopened.The response to the second phase of collection was positive. Eighty percent of the work was completed earlier, while the rest took place in June. The school authorities were excited about the endeavour.

Canteen Mural

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 04:19:00 +0000

Leader: Abhinash

Team: Pooja B, Pratyush P,Abhilash, and Priyanka

Date: January to November 2010

College: BVB CET

Place: BVB CET

Abhinash believes that everyone has an abundance of talent. He and her team decided that he would help students showcase their talent though a graffiti wall. He secured permission from the college authorities to cover a space on the canteen wall. Every time somebody does some creative work they have to wait a year for the annual magazine to publish it. This wall would help showcase work by budding artists and writers. This wall is an outlet to show their work.

The canteen is the most ideal place to create the wall because most students use the canteen. What better motivation is there than having thousands of students and faculty see and appreciate the work? During the months when the wall was active, they received at least 3 artworks a day. This was also a platform to shortlist the work that could be shown in the magazine.

The wall was built like a notice board, where work was displayed. The artwork was later returned to the creators. The procedure was simple, the creators would contact Abhinash who would then post it on the wall. Because of his busy schedule the wall has been a little less active.

Bottle Shoes

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 04:08:00 +0000

Leader : Ankur Verma

Team: Sourab, Debjyoti and Rakesh

College: KLE CET, Belgaum.

Place of implementation: Khanapur

Date: 7/12/2010

Having prior experience with Thinkindia and UNICEF, Ankur decided to use this experience in association with LEAD and create a difference in the life of the people of Khanapur in Belgaum. After speaking to one of his friends, he discovered that few people had shoes in the small village. Ankur decided to make the best use of the available resources and make shoes out of them. Ankur and his friends decided to use old mineral water bottles. After collecting 40 bottles, Ankur and team made 20 pairs of shoes. They distributed the shoes freely. The cost of making the shoes is minimal since they use nylon threads. The nylon bands are sturdy and do not wear off. Ankur told the people how to make the shoes and showed them how to fill the bottles with cloth for more comfort.

The experience has been good and rewarding. As Ankur wishes to be an entrepreneur, this experience has been a insight into the the life of an entrprenur.

The Art of Banking

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 04:19:00 +0000

Title : Bank literate

Team leader: Shweta Hegde

College: MES college

Place: Shiraguni, Sirsi

Date: 10/12/2010

Shweta, a commerce student herself, knows the importance of banking. Specially, at a young age where the idea of saving can be incorporated easily. She decided to educate a few 10^th graders in the local government school about banking. The lecture included why students should open bank accounts, the advantages of ATM cards and transaction using cheques. Shweta said, “well, these students will be leaving for bigger cities for further education and it will be so much easier for them if they know how to transact in a bank."

Shweta thought the task was challenging, as the bank manager declined her offer, saying that they were out of forms. Shweta convinced him and obtained the forms from syndicate bank. By the end of the project, 25 out of 50 students had opened bank accounts in SSLC. Out of 25 students, 10 students have deposited cash. Some of them deposited 100/-, while some some of them 500/-. Other students opened their account with zero balance.

This project has helped Shweta realize that she can use her knowledge for the betterment of students and society. She has also learned the skill of communicating and convincing people.

Yoga for Health!

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 04:11:00 +0000

Team leader: Pavitra Hegde

Date : 31 /10/2010

Place: Battagere, Sirsi

College: MES Commerce College

Yoga is a remedy for all problems. Having seen that women need exercise to keep fit, but lack the time for it, Pavitra chose to teach 25daily wage workers the art of yoga. She taught these women yoga for a period of 8 days. These women have hard physical jobs. They suffer from a lack of concentration and are a subject to several ailments.

Pavitra said, “they are suffering from so many ailments like fevers and headaches. These women are very poor. They are not able to pay the doctor's high fees for medical treatment.” Having learnt yoga, she felt that she should give back to the society.

These women practiced yoga for 2 months and have become more active and healthy. They have been able to invest some time in themselves and have cured themselves. The experience has taught Pavitra the advantages of taking up and initiative, she has come out of it more confident and with a better application for her skills.

Insured and Assured!

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 04:58:00 +0000

Project Leader: Mallikarjun

Team : Jaydev

College: Ayurvedic College

Date : 21 January 2011

Place : 8 villages in Bijapur.

After noticing that the villages close to Bijapur and the people living there had very little information about insurance, Mallikarjun decided to create awareness about the issue Insurance is an important requirement and people from small villages are unaware about it. Mallikarjun is of the opinion that people should see the importance.

However, he knows that with hidden cost and the expenses, private insurance companies are troublesome. The idea of PLI –Postal Life Insurance and the advantages struck Jaydev, who suggested this to Mallikarjun. Postal insurance has a very low investment beginning from Rs 10. The team addressed people in 8 villages, Honnavar, Kaulgi, Sarwad,Hegyal and few others around Bijapur. Nearly 85 people have opted for PLI and are happy with the decision. They are assured that the Postal Department, unlike other private insurance companies, will not create too many complication during the claiming process.

Although Mallikarjun and Jaydev had to speak to the village elder and get permission, it was all easy after that. They asked Mr S.C.Patil who is a FDC at the post office also came with them, to help people understand the process of applying for PLI.

Traffic Trouble

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 04:50:00 +0000

Master Leader : Manoj Vunki

Team members : Bharath, Abhi, Prajwal

College: PDIT Engineering College, Hospet.

Date: December 2010

Place of implementation: Dr. Rajkumar Park and Municipal Corporation, Bellary.

Manoj Vunki is a boy with big ideas and now he knows how to execute them. He saw that parking spaces in Government buildings lacked thought, discipline or design in public places. Manoj and team decided to design efficient parking spaces.

He approached every government official in Bellary. He spoke to the Commissioner of Police, DC, SP, RTO office and even the City Court about his idea. Manoj secured permission from 7 places. The 7 offices included the RTO, court premises, Central Jail, Municipal Corporation and Dr Raj Kumar Park. After approaching about 25 sponsors who promised to help Manoj with the project. Manoj decided to take the assistance of Mr Bharani Prasad of Point Blank Ltd (a jeans brand). The firm promised him a sponsorship of Rs 25000 in materials. Manoj took help of painters provided by Point Blank to paint the area, as designed by him. Manoj designed the parking layout, based on the requirements, on his computer.

After missing a lot of classes in college and after speaking to a lot of people to get permission Manoj feels that the effort was worth it and he feels lucky to have had the idea and the opportunity to execute it. He thanks LEAD for providing such a huge platform. His initiative is appreciated by local media of Bellary and it was published in a Kannada newspaper. Manoj won the Best Leader award in LEAD Mela 2011 because of this project. He is appreciated by hundreds of local people and hundreds of personalities who participated.

Road Revitalization

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 04:47:00 +0000

Leader: Prasanna Sarkuli

Team Member: Manjunath Naik,Aruna Naik, Shwetha Bhat.

Implementation place: Honagarmane to Ambegar and Hudlmane

Date: December 2010

College: MES College Sirsi

After seeing that the Honagarmane residents had been deprived of a road, Prasanna Sarkuli and team decided that they would construct one for the betterment of the people of the area. The road that was there was dangerous and became a vast expanse of slush during the rainy season. With the help of the locals and assistance from the Village Panchayat, the team accomplished the feat of building a working road. Truck load of sand were used to make the road strong.

The villagers and the hundreds of people that use the road were very appreciative of the team. Prasanna said the project was a joint effort by the LEAD team and locals. He said at the beginning many locals were in opposition of the idea. They resisted the project and stayed away. However, Prasanna did not lose faith and continued with the project. Prasanna said his confidence in his idea has only increased. He said that he has learnt how to approach the Village Panchayat and speak with them. He has improved on his communication with the villagers in getting them to agree to the benefits of his project.

The team has shown a spectacular display of teamwork and established a landmark in terms of accelerating development.

Computer Skills

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 04:30:00 +0000

Team Leader: Shweta Bhat

Team Members : Prasanna Sarkuli

Project Date: December 2010

College : First Grade Government College

Place of Implementation: Jagdamba High school

Nearly 165 Jagdamba High School students are now computer literate because Shweta Bhat, Prasanna and Sarkuli, took it upon themselves to educate them in basic computer skills, such as use of Word, Powerpoint, Paint ect. Shweta obtained permission from the school authorities, who were initially hesitant. Having divided the 165 students into 12 groups, the team taught 2 groups each day and thus completed teaching all the students in period of 6 days. They managed the entire training with roughly 1500 Rs, 1200 of which was funded and 300 was raised by the team. With one computer and a CD the team took on the challenge of teaching the children and were immensely successful in doing so.

Blood Drive

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:41:00 +0000

Team Leader: Shruti Hegde

Team members :Pavana , Shweta

Project Date: 2 December 2010

Place of Implementation: Bhalesar, Sirsi

College: MES Commerce College, Sirsi.

Shruti Hegde chose to do something for her village in association with LEAD. She chose to organize a blood donation camp for the residents of Bhalesar. Shruti believes that “blood donation is an important part of social service, donation of blood is noble and is of utmost importance." She recognized the tough road she had to travel, firstly, to convince people to participate in the camp. Secondly, to convince people about blood donation and its merits. She went about the idea after consultation with 3 doctors for Pandit General Hospital.

Although initially people were hesitant about the idea, Shruti convinced them that it was for the larger good. With the help of her family and friends from LEAD, Shruti achieved her goal of involving everybody from her village in this wonderful initiative. Seventy-five people got their blood grouping done and 25 donated blood. She has done a commendable job of organizing the camp, which was held in the local government school (Secondary High School).

Credits of the project she owes to the Deshapande Foundation and LEAD. She said“ I am thankful to LEAD for giving me this opportunity to serve the society and be a part of a cause that benefits many of those who need it." Residents of Bhalesar village also thank LEAD for creating awareness about an important issue. The confidence she has gained is clearly visible in her approach and her voice.

Let it Rain!

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:17:00 +0000

Leader : Debajyoti

Team members: Ankur Verma, Pradeep B, Sourav D, Rakesh S, Shubhankar B.

College : KLE CET Belgaum

Place: Belgaum

Date : 22/01/2011

Debajyoti and team understood the difficulties of farmers. They decided to ease these problems. They observed that farmers find it difficult to work during the rains. They started a “plastic” raincoat project. Debajyoti had seen such raincoats on his visits to Haridwar, he was inspired by the novel idea.

After consulting with his team, Debjyoti purchased plastic available from a local hardware store. He cut plastic sheets in the shape of a raincoat and stuck the pieces together with the help of tape. During the project, the idea of using waste plastics came up and they decided on using waste plastic bags to make hoods of the coats. “The unique initiative was appreciated by many, specially by the villagers of Machegadde Village near Belgaum” says Debjyoti.

A little bit of awareness and concern ensured that Debjyoti had a project that was beneficial to farmers who could not afford expensive jackets. “The cost of the raincoat is about 40 Rs, however we distributed them free of cost to 10 farmers." said Debjyoti. These raincoats are sturdy and can be used for at least one season. As the raincoats are cheap, it is not a huge investment unlike buying a raincoat from the market.

Let There Be Light!

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 05:12:00 +0000

Team Leader : Vinayak Raykar

Place: Katur, Karwar

College: MES college of Commerce, Sirsi

Date: November 2010

The people from Katur were without a single street light in their village. The village is home to 10,000 people. Team Leader Vinayak decided that he had to change the villages lighting situation. He approached the Village Panchayat about the problem and they promised that the lights would be in place. However, that did not happen. Vinayak took things in his own hands and provided PSL street lamps. PSL lamps like street lights are bright and illuminate large spaces. Three such lamps were installed in the village. Everyone in Katur village really appreciates what Vinayak has done. He has set an example for everyone that you can make the impossible possible. Although difficult, the project was single-handedly made possible by Vinayak,

Vinayak said, “I am just happy with what I have done, I had no idea how to go about the project. Now after the completion, my confidence has increased. I feel good about having being of use to my village and society in general.”

And Then There Was Water!

noreply@blogger.com (LEAD) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 04:27:00 +0000

Team leader : Nagesh Dodamani

Team Members : Jaydev, Sidhram, Manjunath, Sachin.

College : BLDEA's Dr.PGH Engineering. College, Bijapur

Place of implementation: Tamba Village, Bijapur.

Date: 22^nd January 2011

After seeing the water issues facing Tamba village, 40 Kms from Bijapur, Nagesh and team set out to find a solution for the problem. Part of the problem was that, although there was a bore well that was dug by the Gram Panchyat, lack of electricity made it difficult to use the facilty. What the village really needed was a storage unit for the water. Nagesh said, “the water troubles were too many. The women in the village had to walk for 3kms to fetch water. The solution was to build a storage tank."

The Team approached the Gram Panchyat with the help of a member. Although there was resistance by the Gram Panchayat to help with the project, Nagesh and Team used every resource available to influence them. Finally, they had to go on a strike for the cause. The Panchyat gave in and provided them with a tank. A second tank was bought by Nagesh from the funds they had raised. The village of about 25,000 people benefitted from the project. Nagesh said, “we fill the tanks when power is available and then the villagers use the water from the tank. They do not have to walk the distance they did before.”

Nagesh and his team’s initiative made news in the local papers and was much appreciated by everyone. The women of Tamba village were specially thankful to the team for taking notice of the problem and providing them with a long term solution.