Few ways in which you can help.

Given below are few ways in which you can help the underprivileged and to bring a change in society !

Development of India to a great extent will depend on how we citizens of India contribute towards it.

Everyone has the potential to play a major role when it comes to bringing a sustainable development, which caters not only to the rich but also takes care of the poorest among the poor.

It doesn't remain a choice, but a moral responsibility for us, especially the educated lot to do something for the underprivileged. We need to look beyond our personal lives and see in what ways we can bring the change we want to see in our society.

Simply waiting for things to change or blaming the government and the system won't help either. It is not a question of just bringing the change, but how quickly we can bring the change. There are still millions of children in need of education, lakhs of families devoid of a stable source of income for their livelihood, thousands of villages which lack even basic facilities, hundreds of cities which need much more development, dozens of states struggling to move ahead and one nation which still faces problems of varying magnitude where everyone's contribution is required.

When it comes to managing a nation of 1100 million citizens, we need at least a million citizens who are willing to play an active role in the development of the country by looking beyond their day-to-day lives to extend their help in building an India, where everyone gets a chance to move ahead in life, irrespective of where or how s/he is born. Where the citizens come ahead to play an active role in public governance, tackling social issues, creating an economic system where everyone gets a chance to earn a living and helping the poorest among the poor so that no one is left behind.

To start with, one needs to see how and in what capacity one can contribute. It doesn't matter whether you are within India or outside India. We can start working from wherever we are, in whatever position we are. All it takes a will to do it and finding out the time for it.

There are many possible ways to make a start. You can extend help in many ways such as:

--> You can join a volunteer group in the city you live. Or you can volunteer for any of the NGOs in your city. It can give you a good hands-on experience plus getting a chance to connect with like-minded people. ( www.indianngos.com is a directory of all the listed NGOs in India)

--> Teaching children who can't afford to go to school or who need help with their studies but can't afford tuition. You can start teach Computers and English to the children too, who want to learn but have no access to it.

--> You can help a child going school by sponsoring his/her education and interacting with the parents to ensure that the child gets proper education

--> You can visit any slum area in your city and can do a survey like the condition of people living there, facilities available to them like health, sanitation, water, electricity, etc., the state of education of the children living there, etc. Even you can start teaching a group of children there.

--> You can raise funds to support a worthy initiative going around your place. There are many education projects which needs funds to buy stationeries and uniform for the children, to pay the salary to a hired teacher for the children, or any other similar project which needs money. Even if people donate as little as Rs 50 or Rs 100, it adds up to something. You just need to ensure that the money is being spent in a proper manner.

--> You can form groups focused on Community Development to work in certain areas of your town, where you can go to a small basti/slum area and can interact with the people living there. You can talk on various issues to them like women rights, education of girl child, options of vocational training for the people to make their livelihood better, maintaining hygiene in their area, what Govt. should do in that area, making them aware of their rights etc.

--> You can organize a health camp in a slum area where there are no health facilities provided by the Govt. Also, you can make aware the people living there to avail facilities and free medicines offered at Govt. Hospitals. If they say that they are facing any problem with that, you can visit the hospitals with them to talk with the doctors and staff there.

--> You can help in mobilization of resources especially with items like old clothes, books, stationeries, toys, educational material etc. There are still many people who lack the proper clothing to wear and thousands of children who crave for books and toys but cannot afford to have it.

You can organize an old clothes drive in your colony, company, among your friends etc. and can distribute it where it is needed, especially for the winter time. You can also ask people to donate old books and stationeries so that the other needy children can have them (www.goonj.info is an NGO which specializes in mobilization and distribution of old clothes)

--> You can work on making Government more accessible to common man. The tasks can include filing RTI applications, especially on the behalf of those who don't know how to go about it, checking the working of Public Distribution System, checking with departments like PWD, meeting government officials in your district to bring some issue in forefront, etc.

--> You can organize a visit in a small group to a nearby village over a weekend to see the real face of India. Still around 70% of the Indian population lives in the villages. You can do a "gram-survey" there and meet with the villagers to collect the basic info like the level of literacy, the facilities available in the village, what the Govt. is doing for the villages etc. You can bring to the notice of the district officials if you don't find something in order there.

--> You can give presentations, talks; organize group discussions etc. among your peer groups to spread more awareness about the different social issues.

--> You can get the needy children enrolled in the nearby Govt. schools, who can't afford studying in private schools. The education standard of many of the Govt. schools have fallen to a great extent and it becomes our duty to interact with the staff in the Govt. schools to ensure that the children coming there are getting a proper level of education. If needed we can meet the district officials to escalate the issue if there is no proper day to day running in a Govt. school.

--> You can visit any orphanage, old age homes, NGOs, any place taking special care for the needy etc. in your city and can devote your time there.

--> You can help with the publicity of a particular initiative by writing about it, sharing photos related to it, through blogging etc.

--> Many NGOs and social work groups need help with their IT needs, especially in developing their website. You can help with their website management.

* Even if you are not able to find a volunteer group, you can collaborate with 3-4 people and start working in small groups. It can be as simple as teaching 3-4 children over the weekends who are not able to go to school. There would be many people to provide you guidance as how to go about it. Education plays the major role when it comes to building a better future. The more number of children we can educate, the more self reliant they would be in future. (http://h2o-india.blogspot.com -- insights from a project I was personally involved in)

* You can become an informed citizen. Government is trying to create transparency at its own level. However, it will need an active involvement of the citizens to keep a check that everything is in order. Right to Information Act, Accessing Government reports and publications, filing PILs and petitions are few of the ways in which we can bring an issue at the forefront and can draw attention of Govt. towards it.

We need not leave everything at the mercy of policy makers but should try to take an active part in it, especially when it pertains to the lower class of population, villages, agriculture etc. when the affected people are not in a position to raise voice on their own due to lack of information.

* For people working in corporate sector, joining the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) teams in their respective companies can be a good idea. Generally the CSR teams sponsor various projects and have a team of volunteers from the company who do a site visit. If there is no CSR team in your company, then you can initiate to form one by talking to upper management and your peers. Most of the companies willing support CSR initiatives as it adds good PR to the company. Moreover, through the corporate sector you can reach many people who have the potential to donate for worthy causes and helping in create a healthy corporate citizenship for your company.

* If you are currently outside India, then the contributions become limited as the scope of field work reduces a lot. However, there are several ways to extend the help. You can raise funds to support a particular initiative or NGO in India. You can read about various social issues and work on spreading social awareness among the fellow Indians living at your place. Also, you can do case studies, prepare presentations, scrutinize government documents, do website management, write articles or blogs, propose new solutions for a problem, finding out the best practices adopted by different NGOs while working for various issues, etc. Though the contributions can remain mostly intellectual but it will definitely count in the long run. (http://aidindia.org/ad/chapters/?seeChapters&USA - There are around 35 chapters of AID India in US and also chapters in Canada and Australia)

* Find a social issue which is very close to your heart, something on which you really want to work upon. It can be anything ranging from eliminating child labor, working on rural development, women rights, education for the poor, fighting corruption, environmental issues, etc. Find something where your passion lies, doing something which will give you the most satisfaction.

A good way to go about it can be gathering various statistics about a particular social issue, knowing the government policies towards tackling that issue, what NGOs in that field have been doing so far, what are the bottlenecks associated with it etc. Once gaining a fair perspective and in-depth knowledge on the issue, you can start discussing with other people and can get in touch with people who have been already working towards that issue. (www.indiatogether.org, www.infochangeindia.org, www.aidindia.org are good places to start with)

* Talk among your friends about different social issues. Discussing these issues with the people whom you know creates the best impact. The more the number of people will know about a social issue in the right perspective, the more they would be concerned doing something about it. The more we spread the word among other people, who in turn talk to other people can end up in involving a lot more people in the process.


At the end it will matter as how we come forward to bring the change. We all can really MAKE A DIFFERENCE if we start doing something, instead of waiting for the right moment and right opportunity to come. The time to act is NOW!

If you need any kind of help to start volunteering or coming up with any initiative related to social work and need any kind of help, then please feel free to contact me. I would be really glad to help in whatever way I can. You can mail me at "onlynishank@gmail.com"

~~Nishank