Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation-USA recently hosted an international conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, to address various issues facing rural education, hygiene, and integrated development in remote parts of India, where it operates. The conference, held Oct. 3 to 5 brought together volunteers, field teams and philanthropists from across the U.S., India and Canada and raised over $160,000, an Ekal press release said.
In his opening remarks, Shyam Gupta, founder of the Ekal Movement set the tone by challenging the gathering to undertake a new initiative for the rural masses. Inspired by the clarion call for a ‘Swachha-Bharat’ (Clean-India) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ekal volunteers adopted the campaign to create and implement a strategy to clean the Ekal Villages where 1.5 million children are being nurtured and groomed, the press release said.
Spearheading the on-the-spot fundraising efforts Himanshu Shah, CEO, Shah Capital, said “poor sanitation and lack of solid waste management has had tremendous negative impact on the health of Indians all over. It is time we address this issue, he emphasized.
‘While ideas are plenty, India often loses out on implementation,” Vinod Jhunjhunwala, president of EVF – USA said, adding that Ekal, with its reach in over 54,000 villages throughout India has wide grass-root network that can effectively implement this cleaning initiative.
Ekal uses education as a primary vehicle to bring holistic development of remote and rural villages. In addition to education, Ekal is working on health, sanitation, agriculture and development.
At the conference, Ekal also addressed the national tragedy of the floods affecting the Kashmir valley marking $150,000 for the flood victims, the press release said.