By Ramesh Kallidai
Despite the eager tenor in her voice, Aarti managed to sound like a lady with a mission – a noble passion to serve the underprivileged and deprived communities in India. She is organising a gala event on 12th July at the Nehru Centre to raise awareness of the work of Give India.
Give India is an online portal that facilitates people to log on and donate money to over 100 carefully chosen charities in India engaged in reduction of poverty, provision of social infrastructure, health and education.
“The organisations that are chosen go through a rigorous selection criteria,” she beamed. “They have to be non-political organizations and should not be involved in religious activities. A minimum of 50% of beneficiaries must be householders earning less than Rs. 3000.”
Give India insists on transparency and accountability of funds from organizations that they help. It was founded by a graduate from the world-famous Indian Institute of Management, Venkat Krishnan. Give India has some impressive names on its Board of Directors, including N.Vaghul, Chairman of ICICI Bank, Vijay Mahajan, Chairman, of BASIX, Tarun Das, Director-General of Confederation of Indian Industries, and R.K.Krishna Kumar, Director of Tata Sons.
“The incredible thing is that 100% of donations go to the charity of the donor’s choice,” said Aarti with unrestricted enthusiasm. “We don’t charge any transaction fee. The donor gets immediate feedback on their donations through photos of beneficiaries and written reports.”
The gala event on 12th July aims to encourage UK residents to get on the website and make informed decisions on giving to good causes in India. Give India also has three other portals – for news, shopping and volunteering. The shopping portal encourages people to buy handicrafts from poor artisans who keep dying Indian arts alive. The volunteering portal connects voluntary workers with organisations that can engage their talents in serving the underprivileged communities in India.
Aarti will be making a short presentation on 12th June on the reasons for setting up Give India and why UK residents should support it. This will be followed by a talk by Sanjay Vishwanathan, President of Quintant, on why India is poised to become the global service powerhouse of the 21st Century. Carefully scheduled after this is a fun-quiz hosted by Murali Menon, The quiz aims to provide light entertainment amidst a plethora of heavy information that will be handed out during the evening.
“There is a seven pound registration fee for the evening to cover expenses,” Aarti confided. “But if any proceeds are left over after our expenses, they will go straight to two charities: Kaingkarya in Chennai and ERTS in Calcutta.” I heard her pause as she promptly corrected herself and asked, “I think they call it Kolkatta now, don’t they?”
Kaingkarya aims to promote compulsory education for all, while ERTS hopes to promote economic empowerment for underprivileged (to the illiterate like me, that translates to reduction of poverty).
“Kaingkarya is a very creative name,” I commented.
“O yes,” she agreed. “They do a lot of good work too.”
“I mean, I like the meaning of the Sanskrit word, Kaingkarya,” I muttered, not knowing why I suddenly thought I was some sort of Sanskrit lecturer, even though I had no clue what I was saying. “It comes from the word Kimkara, which means a servant. It refers to a person who asks– what shall I do to serve you, Master? Kaingkarya therefore refers to the act of performing service.”
“Ooooooooooh,” chanted Aarti unabatedly displaying open admiration while I earnestly tried hiding my embarrassment. “How did you learn all that Sanskrit?” she cooed. “You must definitely meet my husband Madhu. He is a strict Sri Vaisnava from South India, and would love to talk to you.”
“Er,” I said going a bit red in the face, as I tried to change the subject quickly. “What exactly is the aim of the evening you’ve organised at Nehru Centre?”
“Basically to promote the good work of Give India,” she concluded. “And to encourage British Indians to give back to India, the land of their origins, in whatever way they can.”
If you want to register and participate in the Charity event on 12 July, please contact Aarti Madhusdan on 020 8572 1971 or Sandhya Balasubramyam on 01932 267 227. You can also visit Give India on www.giveindia.org