Listen to your inner voice, follow your heart and don’t ref regret later

"Listen to your inner voice, follow your heart and don’t ref regret later" This is what I felt when I heard the news that my Grand Mother (Nani jaan) passed away this morning (29^th October 2016). I had been to Varanasi several times in the last 6 months. My home (Ghazipur) is about 75 KM (2-3 hours drive) from Varanasi. Whenever I talk to my mother, she would ask me to visit home. But I would promise her to visit during the next time. I had a desire to meet my Nani jaan but I did not know this ...  Now I can also say that ‘tomorrow never comes’. I had not met my Nani jaan for quite a long time. And now, I will never be able to meet her again as she has left this world for heavenly journey.

inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi rajioon

May her soul rest in peace

You never know what is next.  So if such desire comes to your heart and if you can manage to fulfill it then please do not postpone.  Because “tomorrow never comes” 

Shaheen

29/10/2016

Good Morning & Have a Wonderful Day

Good Morning  & Have a Wonderful Day

There are many reasons why you should start the day with a liter of water.  But I am going to share a few selected one, which I experience every day. I start my day with a 1 liter of water.  And I strongly recommend to experiment  it.  In the beginning it is quite taxing and challenging as one may have to go to  wash room frequently for some days or weeks- till you get used to it and make it regular habit.  But that is the way body flushes out toxins.

So for healthy, happy and a strong person, it is important  to start the day with 1 liter water. When you wake up after a long sleep, your body is naturally dehydrated. No matter how much water you drank the day before, you have used up your stores and it’s time to refill the tank.

The first thing drinking water after waking up will do is provide your cells with much needed, life giving water. And you will be

 [1] Feeling more refreshed

[2] Having more natural energy throughout the morning

[3] Being healthier & happier

Anther important reason

After nourishing your cells, drinking water after waking up will flush unwanted toxins out of your body.  While you sleep your body repairs itself, replenishes energy and balances hormones. The result is toxins and other waste materials being released and waiting to be flushed out.

After clearing your body of these toxins,  you will feel great and be able to absorb more nutrients from a well-balanced breakfast.

Here’s a fun fact; your brain is 75% water.  If you’ve been drinking enough of it, you will know that without water your brain is not going to function at its optimal level.

And above all, It is s completely refreshing. So let us not waste this beautiful time (morning time) of the day with denying to experience beautiful feeling. It is spiritual, it is refreshing, it is beautiful feeling.

Enjoy it.

Don’t waste it

Life is beautiful, make it more beautiful with natural way.

One more thing:

It is also one of the secrets behind a glowing skin, as water removes the toxins from the blood. Drinking water also improves the creation of new blood cells as well as muscle cells, and helps you in losing weight. Also, make sure not to eat anything for a while after you drink water in the morning.

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY

Reg

Shaheen

September 30, 2016

Source: Written by me with some facts from Internet

Happy Teachers' Day

Happy Teachers' Day

On the teachers' day, the only teacher coming to my mind is Pandit ji (Government Primary School, Kataila Village, Ghazipur). What I am today is because of solid foundation of primary school teachers. There were 4 teachers in my primary school and all of them were wonderful person. Many childhood friends could not study after primary school because there were not upper primary schools in my village.

I was not the best student in my class/ school but I could do better because my parents decided to send me to a school far away from my home/ village but my other friends could not get that opportunity. An opportunity to get access to school can be a great change maker in a life of a child. At least I can see from my own experience.

I can still see many villages do not have upper primary school and I can still see many children not completing even 8 years of school.

India is full of talent and the talents are in villages. They are being unused/ wasted just because we are not able to send these children to school.

I wish every child get access to 14 years of schooling in India.

Shaheen Ansari

05/09/2016

Death Knows No Age & Gender

Two years back my sister (5-6 years elder than me) left us and now her 18 years old son also joined her in her heavenly journey. He was ill for quite a long time but 18 years is too early for a child to leave this world.

While coming back to Delhi I was struggling with lots of questions and answer in train. Death is the only truth which every one (believer or non believer/ Aastik Or Naastik) knows but do not wants. No one has escaped the death and, we all know, no one will escape it either but look at ourselves. How we live. What we do. As if we are here forever.

The fact is that no one wants to die. Even those who are certain of going to heaven, also don’t want to die. Probably Death is the only discovery we all tend to ignore.  

In the train to Delhi, one question very often stuck me. And it kept coming frequently till I reached Delhi. Death knows no age and gender. If no one can escape death, then why don’t we do preparation for it?.

I don’t know what does it mean to prepare of the death but I guess it should be to be nice and humble and do what is right.

http://arkindia.blogspot.in/2015/09/be-nice-humble.html

It is a difficult task but smaller than death to do what is right, do what is just and do what is going to bring positive change in the lives of most marginalized section of our society.

Just a thought

Shaheen

July 25, 2016 

Female Autonomy throuhg Education at Doorstep

My journey to work to increase the level of Female Autonomy started way back in  1990 when my younger sister completed primary schooling (5^th grade) and had no option but to sit back at home and assist the mother in domestic works. Our society is very conservative.  It is part of our culture to keep the girls safe till they are married as their dignity is thought to be related to the prestige of the family. The concern for their safety was considered far more important than their education Thus, only boys were allowed to go to other village to pursue education after primary schooling.   

As a young boy, when I heard that my sister could not study further, I wanted to bring about a change the mindset but as you know behavioural change is not easy. Time flew by, and I grew older. As a young man doing graduation in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, I was committed to challenge this on two fronts: the family level, and the community level, in order to ensure access to school for girls of my village. 

1. I worked on the knowledge, attitude and practice of parents on girls’ education and prepared my family to agree to give a bicycle to my younger sister and let her go to upper primary school in Ghazipur city (about 7 KM from the village). This was a big cultural shift for which no one was ready.

-       Initially, in a patriarchal society like ours, it was very difficult to convince male members to let  girls go long distance on cycle for education. It was like committing one of the greatest sins of the world. 

-       During the process- I had to convince them through evidences in religious books, consulting religious leaders and meeting with community leaders to change their decision in favour of education for girls.

2.   Upgradation of primary school to middle school was my first priority and I channelized volunteers, social entrepreneurs and other like- minded supporters from our society. We patiently waited for the changes  and it eventually happened as we organized    awareness camps and used advocacy tools to educate people about importance of girl child. The message was very clear- “ if you educate a boy you educate a person & if you educate a girl you educate a generation”   

A group was formed with the key objective to increase ‘Female Autonomy’.   One of the important tools is to provide “Education at Doorsteps” and to break the vicious cycle of poverty by empowering girls and ensuring access to education at their own locations.

Behaviour change of the community towards girls’ education was one of the key areas of intervention. We intervened on this by working on the community’s knowledge, attitude and practice that slows the socialization process of girls. This mindset blocks the path to education.

Our organization’s dream is to provide every  child (with more focus on girl) access to quality education, healthy life and a society free of violence.

At a very young age I was able to identify the social problem in our society and I pledged to channelize available resources that could bring female autonomy.  Over the years we have created a mass base in favour of Changing the age old Mindset to keep girls at home. We have seen major changes in female autonomy in my village and a few others. . In 2003-04, the village’s primary school was upgraded to middle school. Now the children can complete 8 years of schooling in their village itself.

The social entrepreneurs and volunteers trained during the period have now started to create access to High School (9^th to 10^th Standard) in the village for both girls and boys.

There is a sea change in the attitude of the villagers as they view education as a key to success.  A remote patriarchal  village of India is now allowing   girls to pursue higher education-graduation and post graduation. . Village educated girls are now becoming teachers, advocates and are continuously making an impact in our community. There is a lot more that can be done in many more villages like Kataila and I am persistent on making a difference in the lives of half the population of this country.  I was able to identify similar problem in the slums of Delhi when I was a student. Thus we decided to bring Education at Doorstep for slum children for school dropouts.

We started Two Hours A Week Programme (THWP) in 1995, where every was motivated to  donate at least two hours in a week to help educate the dropout teenagers in the slums close to JNU campus. We opened an education centre to coordinate volunteer service and helped provide free education in their slum.  This program started with 5 volunteers but eventually  there were  200 plus volunteers and we were able to expand to different slums in South Delhi. 

In 2002 the THWP was registered as Ark Foundation with the aim to creating access to education within the walking distance of a child.

Children’s voice was core to our heart. We started a wall magazine called Baal Chaupaal (BC) where children would share their ideas and challenges. Later in 2012 the first printed version of BC came up. It is a quarterly children magazine to give voice to children. We hope to knit international voices of children through this magazine. 

"White Paper on Uniform Civil Code"

 "White Paper on Uniform Civil Code"

Uniform Civil Code is one of those non-issues which become alive at the time of every election (General election and state elections specially in north India). For last 20 or 25 years (when started following news) I only hear these 3 words only at election times.

This shows many things but 2 of them are the most important
[1] Unlike health, education or malnutrition issues, It is a marketable commodity. There are buyers for it.
[2] Politician from all the political parties know that this is not THE important issue.

The time has come to stop shouting at election rallies, press conferences and on social media. If it is important the government must set up a committee with people representing all the walks of life. from all the culture, from all the caste, religion & region.

And ensure that it is not the Uniform Civil Code of Mullahs, or Uniform Civil Code Brahmis or Uniform Civil Code Tribal of North East or Uniform Civil Code of any particular thinking or way of life.

Let this committee prepare a white paper on Uniform Civil Code and the whole nation discusses at TV channels, print media and social media.

Let us be serious.
Let no non-sense prevail.
Let South Indian and people from the North East also feel that "yes this is their Uniform Civil Code also".

Give the nation a white paper on Uniform Civil Code & encourage a healthy discussion.

Reg

Shaheen Ansari

04/07/2016

Drought and Child Rights Situation in Mahoba District, Uttar Pradesh

Mahoba is one of the drought prone districts of Bundelkhand region in Uttar Pradesh.  Recurring drought in the district has led to serious impact on food security and livelihood of people in the areas. This has also increased vulnerability of children especially children’s access to education, nutrition and protective environment. The region is severely hit by drought in 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2015.

Mahoba district is one of the districts of Uttar Pradesh  and Mahoba town is the district headquarters. As per the census 2011, Mahoba has a population of 875,958 of which 466,358 were male and 409,600 were female. Overall sex ratio of the district was 1000:878. Total Child population under 0-6 years was 128129 of which male children were 67720 and female 60409. Child Sex ratio of the district was 1000:892. Literacy rate of the district was 65% of which male literacy rate 75.83 and Female Literacy rate 53.22%

Major Government Initiatives to tackle Drought Situation:

• Samajwadi Food Relief Yojna:  This programme has been launched the State government as part of food relief to distress families of drought affected areas. Under this programme, families under BPL and Antodaya card holders covered to receive the benefit under the scheme. Food relief under this scheme is provided through Food Kit consists of food items including: 10 kg wheat, five kg rice, five kg pulses, 25 kg potato, five litre mustard oil, one kg ghee and one kg milk powder every month. The distribution point of food relief is block headquarter
• Status of the scheme:   Since the distribution point is block headquarter, there is issue of accessing the benefit due to distance as well as travel cost. Date of distribution for different panchayats not informed to people and thus, benefit of the scheme is not reaching to people

·         Kisan Relief Grant: The programme is to give compensation to farmers against loss of crops in drought situation. The Sub-divisonal Magistrate ( SDM) has undertaken survey in villages through local government staffs to assess the impact  of drought on crops and finalize compensation for the same based on amount fixed by the government

Status:

• Few people have received compensation under Kishan Relief Grant
• The grant released is not enough to meet the requirement as share by the government officials at block level

·         Drinking Water Scheme/ Water Facilities :

o   There is scheme for digging pond with government support of Rs.50,000/- ( Rupees Fifty Thousand) per beneficiary.

o   In intervention areas, there is issue of drinking water as well as water for other household use as ground water table has gone down. 12 water tanks created in intervention areas has no water and thus, not being used. 

·         MGNREGA:

• The state government has announced 50 days addition work under NREGA in drought areas along with 100 day guaranteed employment so as to enhance household income. However, implementation of MGNREGA is very poor and people also not taking interest in work due to their past experience of delay wage payment.  Work productivity has also been low due to extreme hot climate.   

Drought’s Impact on CR issues in 10 intervention villages

Health:

• Water table in the areas have done down and thus, fetching water for drinking as well as other households consumption has been very challenging. There is increasing burden on women and Adolescent Girls and Children to arrange water from different sources for daily consumptions.  Not a single well left in the whole intervention villages to provide water locally. Most of the wells have been dried up.  People (especially women & children) have to major portion of their time in collecting water for their homes.
• It has been reported that people from Kachanpurwa, Majhol, Dabka and about a dozen villages are forced to drink contaminated water because of lack of any alternative source of water.
• Cases has been reported that people are suffering from Diarrhoea, skin disease diseases mostly due to lack of safe drinking water as well care. This may pose challenge to district administration due to lack of adequate health care institutions in the areas

Nutrition:

•   Though government has started giving food relief in form of Food Kit, people have been facing difficulties to know the data and time of distribution of the same. Also, there are issues related to travel to block headquarter to get Food relief kit and travel cost.

• Since adult members have migrated along with their children in search of employment, children attendance in Anganwadi centre as well as in accessing School MDM has been impacted. In many villages children are staying with their grandparents where parents have migrated with small children for employment. Children attendance in school has also been gone down due to vulnerability at household’s level.

Education:

·         Poor attendance of children in school due to migration or they are being engaged in household  chores in absence of adult members

·         Children being engaged in fetching water for household consumption

·         There are issue of even drinking water in school as well as impact on MDM due to poor attendance

Protection:

·         Since adult members have migrated to nearby town or cities in search of livelihood, children who are left at home are dependent on older people. Both the children and age old people who require care and protection of able adult are surviving with lots if difficulties. In one of the intervention villages, Majhol village, approximately 86 % people have migrated to other places in search of employment. 

·         Majority of the children in the villages are engaged on labour to support their families.

Others:

·         Due to recurring drought, people in the areas reeling under debt trap. While drought has been bane for people, it has been boon for the local moneylenders who are charging high rate of interest.  In absence of formal credit system and difficulties in getting govt loan, people have taken loan for moneylenders.

• According to local media, 1,58,435 families have been severely affected by the drought. About 57 % families from Mahoba district migrated to other districts/ states.
• Depleted water level in the areas has increased water scarcity in the areas

(Source: Kriti Shodh Sansthan (KSS), Mahoba,UP)