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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->From:
info@mysprat.org
To:
info@mysprat.org
Subject:
THE MUSLIM EMPOWERMENT - A RATIONAL APPROACH
Date:
Sun, 11 May 2003 14:42:26 +0530

Dear Friend,

This is a fund-raising mass mail designed for the Muslims. If you like it, perhaps you may help me reach it to a large number of Muslims and those appreciating the Muslim-dilemma. Yes, I am sure to receive some flak but I believe that it is a truthful analysis and a sincere approach. Thanks galore - Jowher

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Dear Friend,  Assalam-u-alai-kum

It was about 14 months ago that over 2,000 innocent Muslims were killed, about 700 orphaned and a like number of women disrobed in Gandhi’s land in Western India. A hundred thousand houses and roughly as many commercial establishments perished. Livelihood losses are beyond reckoning. Highly insufficient compensation and virtually non-existent prosecution added insult to injury. And many of those responsible for this were rewarded with massive political power. All this by an otherwise calculating and intelligent Gujarati Hindu society.

Like you I felt outraged and sought out to know. As I discovered more I felt compelled to devote my full time to promote inter-faith harmony and Muslim empowerment. This mail is the story of my struggles of these months. Can you spare 14 minutes reading it? For your convenience the details have been carried over to Part-II which you may skip for today.

There is no country, barring South Africa, where Muslims are in minority and earn better than the majority, says Dr Nejatullah Siddiqui of King Abdulaziz University. According to him security threat, illiteracy and poverty remain three most serious issues of the Muslim society, worldwide.

Dr Mahathir Mohammed of Malaysia has repeatedly held Muslim obscurantism responsible for halting Muslim progress. Shockingly, he says, automobiles and even electricity were forbidden for some time. No wonder, the industrial revolution passed the community by.

Several Human Development Reports sponsored by UNDP and various regional UN Funds indicate that Muslims lag behind in several crucial areas of today’s life. A comparison of Nobel Prizes won by Muslims vis-à-vis the Jews will frighten you: the Nobel per million Jews counts over a 100 times more than that for the Muslims.

How many Muslim names can you recall scaling the peaks of the Himalayas, measuring the depths of the Atlantic / Pacific, or traversing the vastness of the space? Or in the frontiers of cutting edge science and technology? Where are the world’s best universities, hospitals, parks, libraries, laboratories? And which Muslim countries are the world’s most functional democracies, have relatively independent press and judiciary, offer equal rights to their women, encourage independent professional and worker’s associations? A reading of the recently released Arab Human Development Report – authored by distinguished Arab Muslims – will sadden you, like it did me.

Why, just look around. We use with gusto electricity, telephone, television, computer, car, airplane, stethoscope, camera and 200 other items of daily use, none of which was invented by a Muslim. Indeed, if we were content to use only Muslim discoveries, many of our ailments would become fatal, as much of modern diagnostic and treatment - from stethoscope to MRI - are the creation of the Christian world.

Come to think of Muslims: from the 7th century AD through well into 13th century AD this community produced world class stalwarts in several leading fields of knowledge of those times. It facilitated the renaissance of Europe and enriched the world with significant advances in mathematics, medicine, astronomy, philosophy, geometry and chemistry. India is dotted with their creations: Tajmahal, Gol Gombuz, Charminar, Lal Quila, Shalimar.. In India their massive contribution - encompassing everything from administration, urban planning, architecture, civic amenities.. to literature, dress, music, food and mannerisms - has incredibly improved Indian lifestyle. Even the Gujarati language has over 40% words straight from Arabic and Persian. But are we the deserving heir to the legacy of these champions of knowledge, inquiry, exploration, justice, truth and industry?

// Tujhe aaba se apne koi nisbat ho naheen sakti - ke too guftar, woh kirdar, too sabit, woh sayyara [Allama Iqbal: you can have no connection with your ancestors, for you talk, while they worked, you are static while they were dynamic.]//

So, does the Muslim backwardness give the VHP, the Israeli fanatics, Bush and Blair the license to murder and maim Muslims? Most certainly, no. These barbarians violated human rights, are outright criminals and must be dealt with as such. I have written extensively on these lines. Incidentally, twice I escaped being killed by the Hindutva, myself. I beg to say, nevertheless, that these oppressors only indicate a part of the problem: the EXTERNAL one.

Will we not ask, even after all this, why WE happen to be the target, worldwide? And how come the criminals get away with crimes against us? One word answer: DISPENSABILITY. Just as we discard our hair without pain, the society hurts Muslims without being hurt significantly.

If you are hurt reading this, consider how hurt I must be recognizing these and writing this. And please remember I have given up my work and committed full time to the service of Muslims. But as a rationalist I cannot bury the reality underneath the carpet and yet pretend to serve sincerely.

In 55 years Indian Muslims did not give to themselves one national newspaper, TV channel, a large enough commercial bank, a major university. Ahmedabad has over a million Muslims who between them have only one college [and only for girls]. Not ONE boy’s college in ten lakh people! Amongst about 250 IAS and 150 IPS officers of Gujarat in all there are 8 Muslims. For a long time in Gujarat a Muslim is unlikely to be in the Ministry. So where are we? In Indian Parliament the share of Muslims has shrunk considerably. And we are not talking about quality.

You are unlikely to find worthwhile multi-disciplinary hospitals, working men’s / women’s hostels, parks and gardens in Muslim inhabited areas. Not for us the benefits of modernity: vast, beautiful roads, recreation centres, badminton courts, swimming pools. Not for our children the slides and swings. Not for our elderly the greenery of the lawns to share togetherness as the chabootra of the chowk is now their fate. Narrow lanes, open drains, small houses, the goat and the hen.. indicate a Muslim basti. Thanks to Hindutva, even the rich Muslim must construct his bungalow in an undeveloped mohalla.

Our poor have to queue up in the charitable hospitals managed by those we call the Kafirs. Even our rich must cultivate some Holy Father for admission of their ward in the English medium school. As a bank CEO I have known multitude of Muslim borrowers raising expensive credit privately from the Mahajan who against their collateral raised cheaper credit from the bank. The claimants to the legacy of the Rahmatul Lil Alameen are not now even Rahmatul Lil Muslimeen.

Zoya Hassan commissioned ORG-Marg to profile about 10,000 women in 40 districts. The result? Muslim illiteracy = 60% [in the North, upto 85%. No wonder most sisters believed Polio vaccination caused impotence!]. "Talabal ilma fareezatun ala kulli muslimin wa muslimatin" is completely forgotten. Only 3.5% Muslim girls reach the college. After all their average marriage age is 15 years – much to their chagrin. A NCAER survey indicates that the pre- and post-natal expense on our women is nearly the lowest in India. Surely, we are ensuring that the future Muslim is born of the illiterate and the impoverished mother.

2002 was not the first time we were maimed. In Ahmedabad itself we were brutalized in 1969, 1985, 1992.. by which time western Ahmedabad was virtually “cleansed of Muslims”. The Palestinians, the Bosnians, the Afghans and the Iraqis continue to be traumatized in their own homelands. And the world goes about its business.  My friend, unless there is a paradigm shift in our understanding and priorities little will change. The answer: true Muslim EMPOWERMENT. Let’s clarify.

When your neighbour – a Vasant or a Victor – falls sick, you may, at his family’s request go, fetch the grocery. You may also drop his kids to their schools and bring them back home. But, however much Mrs Vasant / Mrs Victor may request, you are unlikely to go, offer prayers at the temple / church for them. That is how it is. When issues remain in the secular / social domain most people help. But when they are given religious colour, only the co-religionists [and only of your hue/caste] may help. Our problem is that we do not separate the religious from the secular domain, Huqooq-al-Lah from Huqooq-al-Ibad. And thus not only do we neglect some priority social reform but also lose on world goodwill.  Hence my work is not about Islam. It is about Muslim empowerment. With honest introspection and scientific reasoning. The religious part is best left to the Ulema.

Maulana Waheeduddin Khan [a member of SPRAT’s Central Advisory Board – with other distinguished men like Dr Abid Hussain, Mr Zafar Saifullah, Dr Farooque Abdullah etc. as shown in Part II] says that Muslims as individuals become practical but as a community always seek the ideal – and end up nowhere. After all, don’t most of us, as individuals, study medicine, engineering, IT and the like [instead of Hifz and Qirat], and seek immigration to the western countries [instead of, say, to Somalia and Bangladesh], seek the highest paying jobs and dealerships regardless of whether these benefit Muslims or not? While we cultivate our paradise on earth, to the poor left behind we sermonize puritanical religiosity and the promise of the eternal heaven – as if misery on earth is the only route to the bliss of heaven. Collective myopia, mass hypocrisy and insensitivity to suffering are thus legitimized.

SPRAT is not about religion. Indeed, it is not about Muslims alone, though substantially it focuses the Muslim empowerment; it supports all marginalized sections of our society. And Muslims ARE marginalized in Indian economy, governance, education and generally in the society. All available data indicate that Indian Muslims are headed to become the new Dalits of India in a hundred years. SPRAT serves the Muslims openly and boldly: when we serve Indian Muslims, aren’t we serving India? No wonder the goodwill of the thinking and conscientious Hindus is available to this cause. Notice that some members on SPRAT’s Board of Governors [Part II shows a list] are very eminent Hindus. Allama Iqbal’s “Dard-e-dil ke waste paida kiya insaan ko; warna ta`at ke liye kuch kam na they karro bayan” [man was created for compassion, not just for worship] defines our mission: EMPOWERING THE IMPOVERISHED.

After providing the immediate relief and rehabilitation [about Rs.20 million] we focussed two crucial areas on a longer term: promoting inter-faith perception [specially correcting the Gujarati Hindu perception of the Indian Muslims] and the empowerment of the weaker sections, with special focus on Muslims. This is sought to be achieved through a carefully planned network of multipurpose community empowerment centres, called the CARAVAN, with coordinated support from satellite centres like AZMAT and BASERA [details in Part II] and connected to our own intranet [the CaravaNet].

The first CARAVAN, at Vatwa, Ahmedabad – supported by Rajiv Gandhi Foundation – was launched by the City Mayor. The second one came up at Himmatnagar through private funding. Chief Justice Rawani [retd] and MP, Madhusudan Mistry inaugurated it. Four more are coming up at Shah Alam, Mehsana, Surat and Bharuch. At least a dozen other towns are clamouring for a centre each. Please read all about these – and about our other initiatives – on our website. And if you find this inadequate or cannot connect, please ask us to send documents offline. In soliciting a reply you will please recognize that, like you, we are also pressed for time.

In a society where charity traditionally flows largely to religious institutions, little remains for social and secular causes. Our progress, therefore, is impeded due to lack of resources. For these centres, besides money for working capital, we need assets ranging from PCs and data projectors to books and furniture. For the central coordination cell we require lots of research reports / publications, a powerful video camera, a couple of laptops etc. Where suitable premises are not available rent-free, we also need these and to carry out their renovation we need adequate building material. Suitable Funding Options have been packaged to sponsor specific initiatives in their entirety as shown in Part II.

I have substantially down-sized and completely handed over my management consultancy company to the professionals. They earn my livelihood. And for the present I have placed this infrastructure at SPRAT’s disposal. In due course – and as our work becomes more credible – we will strive to set up SPRAT’s own facilities. And hopefully someday a powerful research and media support centre.

We are a registered Public Charitable Trust and Society. And yes, we enjoy Sn 80G exemption under Income Tax Act and hold FCRA registration. We seek and accept help coming through completely legal channels and without strings attached, except, of course demands for accountability and transparency. Why should you give? Because you hold your head high when a Muslim anywhere does something good. Because you hang it in shame when he is forced by hunger to commit a crime. Because they matter to you. In any case, who else will?

And more than anything else we want people: young, talented men and women committing at least one year. We can only offer a subsistence pay with modest boarding and lodging.

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* Main akela hi chala tha janibe manzil magar *
* Log saath aate gaye aur CARAVAN banta gaya  *
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[Alone I had set out towards the goal - A CARAVAN was formed as friends started joining]



I seek your forgiveness if your sentiments are hurt in anyway. Simultaneously I crave you to recognize my sentiments behind writing such a painful mail. If you are moved a bit, may I request you to forward this mail to all your friends? By this very act you would have helped us significantly.

Wishing you greater happiness and with kind regards, Khuda Hafiz,

M Hasan Jowher
Founder-President
SPRAT - Society for the Promotion of Rational Thinking
SF-8, Rajnagar Complex, Narayan Nagar Road, Paldi, AHMEDABAD 380 007 INDIA

Tel: +79-663 46 55 /66 /77 [1000-1800 IST]
Tel: +79-661 40 95 / 20 45 [2000-2100 IST]
Fax: +79-661 20 49  Web: www.mysprat.org  e-mail: info@mysprat.org

When you contribute charity you are not obliging; you are merely supporting a cause that you should be managing yourself. Dignity and grace add luster to charity.


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PART II – DETAILS AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

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* SPRAT INITIATIVES
* CENTRAL ADVISORY BOARD
* BOARD OF GOVERNORS
* CARAVAN
* AZMAT
* BASERA
* SHIRKAT
* FUNDING OPTIONS
* BANKING DETAILS
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SPRAT’s NOTABLE INITIATIVES

· Constructing and providing nearly 600 huts and sets of hutment material to the riot victims

· Supplying over 22,000 bags of free cement for repair of damaged small houses

· Distributing dozens of handcarts, shop cabins, sewing machines and other productive assets for a sustainable livelihood.

· Liaising with and intermediating for other relief from agencies like UNICEF, government etc.

· Sensitizing the society, state and judiciary to the state of compensation and helping the victims secure deserving compensation

· Helping over 20,000 high school students save an academic year, through the Supreme Court intervention

· Videography and documentation of desecrated places and efforts to pursue their restoration [largely unsuccessfully]

· Organizing a Tripartite Convention for relief camp organizers, authorities and NGOs – presided over by Mr KPS Gill

· Several representations to various authorities including police and collectorate.

· Studies and survey on the perception of communities about each other.

· Organizing a massive public rally to highlight inadequacy of compensation to riot victims – supported by about 100 NGOs

· With the co-operation of several leading NGOs identifying the heroes and conferring Solidarity Awards [Salaam] on them. Besides the common men and women the awardees included media like Times of India and NDTV, celebrities like Ms Mallika Sarabai, Former Chief Justice Rawani, Member of Parliament Mr. Madhusudan Mistry, etc. The award dedicated to the unsung hero - in the shape of an inter-twined tree of fiber glass and cast iron - was presented for us by former PM Mr Chandra Shekhar to the city Mayor. This has since been installed in the city Museum.


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CARAVAN CENTRAL ADVISORY BOARD

Prof. Ajay Pandey, Professor, IIMA, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad 380 015
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, Director, Islamic Centre, New Delhi
Dr. Abid Hussain, Former ambassador to USA
Ms. Indira Hirway, Director, Centre for Development Alternatives
Dr. K C Upadhyay, Vice Chancellor, M S University, Baroda
Dr. Jeemol Unni, Gujarat Institute of Development Research, Ahmedabad
Mr. Sudarshan  Iyengar, Director, Gujarat Institute of Development Research, Ahmedabad
Mr. Ashok Bhargav, IDEA, Ahmedabad
Dr. Bashir Ahmedi, Neuro-physician, Ahmedabad
Ms. Ila Pathak, AWAG, Ahmedabad
Dr. Farooque Abdullah, Former CM, J&K
Ms. Darshini Mahadevia, CEPT, Ahmedabad
Mr. Harnath  Jagawat, N M Sadguru Water and Development Foundation
Mr. Zafar Saifullah, Former Cabinet Secretary, GoI


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SOME MEMBERS OF SPRAT’s BOARD OF GOVERNORS

Prof Yoginder Kumar Alagh, Chairperson, Noted Agro-economist, former Minister of Science and Technology and former VC of JNU
Mr Mohd Hasan Jowher, President, Former bank CEO and management and IT consultant
Prof Rakesh Basant, Secretary, Professor, IIMA
Prof Sebastian Morris, Treasurer, Professor, IIMA
Mr Arif M Khan, Former Minister on Rajiv Gandhi’s cabinet, political leader and secular activist
Ms Anjolie Ela Menon, Padma Shri, Celebrity artiste
Prof Ajay Pandey, Professor, IIMA, Vice Chair CARAVAN CAB
Mr Chunibhai Vaidya, Eminent Gandhian and Sarvodaya leader

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DIRECTIONS FOR EMPOWERMENT

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A. CARAVAN EMPOWERMENT NETWORK *
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BACKGROUND

True education leads to increased information, more rational thinking and greater harmony. Conversely ignorance causes impoverishment, isolation and obscurantism. Poverty and illiteracy reinforce each other. Knowledge must, therefore, contribute to empowerment.

“Educate a man, you educate an individual and educate a woman, you educate a family” goes the saying. So women’s empowerment assumes all the more importance. Education, however, is not just diplomas and degrees. Structured information should contribute to knowledge and result in wisdom. It is this philosophy that defines CARAVAN’s mission:

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*Empowerment of the impoverished through information and exposure.*
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Inter-faith and social misconceptions pervade Gujarat and its common people have suffered massive economic losses in the recent disturbances. SPRAT recognized this region as a natural territory to start its work from. Dedicated to the promotion of rationality it rose to the call and set up a division: CARAVAN - a network of community empowerment centres - to empower the society through increased learning and earning opportunities.

OBJECTIVES

For the empowerment of weaker sections CARAVAN has defined the following objectives:

Promoting across all age groups a culture of learning, questioning  and rational thinking in daily life, through provision of reading facilities, interaction and film shows.

Helping promote micro-economic enterprises, including business organizations, cooperatives and self help groups - specially for women - towards overall economic empowerment.

Facilitating the availment of existing government and other institutional support schemes and providing everyday information in a wide range of areas for material advancement.

Honing exam-taking skills of the young in the current examination system, with the twin objectives of mass education and academic excellence. The latter should also improve weaker section’s share in governance through public services.

Promoting inter-community brotherhood by encouraging in myriad informal ways, dialogue and discussions between individuals from all social divisions.

Building and studying databases,  and representing to the regulating agencies for appropriate welfare schemes

FACILITIES

To achieve the foregoing objectives SPRAT sets up multi-purpose, optimally usable CARAVAN centres, networked on its exclusive Intranet with a Central Coordination Unit in SPRAT. Each of these centres offers, inter alia, the following facilities: 

Vocational Library: Reading room houses general reading and reference books, current newspapers and magazines, specially for commercial and professional advancement for all ages, open usually early morning and late evening. Also lends books and magazines to regular members. Books will continue to be raised by voluntary contributions, thus enlarging CARAVAN ownership.

Coaching Centres: Intensive coaching classes are provided for the crucial SSC [X] and HSC [XII] students, in morning and evening, in association with neighbouring schools. A small fee is charged but CARAVAN ensures support for the needy with local patronage. Through periodical tests and individual monitoring standards will be improved and star performers will be identified. Housing these stars in small exclusive hostels CARAVAN will coach them through graduation and up to PSC examinations.

Vocational Education: Continuing and extended informal education is provided through workshops, plays, group discussions and seminars, to enhance material well being. Existing small businesses will be encouraged towards greater professionalization and technology upgradation even while offering help to promote new micro-economic units with latest low-cost technologies, such as those provided by CSIR labs. Using the vast pool of talented local and visiting faculty CARAVAN will become a veritable fountain of practical knowledge on material welfare.

Facilitation: With its professional manpower and infrastructure, CARAVAN provides valuable administrative and logistics support for allied initiatives by like-minded organizations and other divisions of SPRAT.

Already CARAVAN helps Self Help Groups with their accounting and administrative work. Soon SPRAT will promote AZMAT [micro-economic units, specially for women] and BASERA [child care centres for the children of mothers working in AZMAT centres] in due course. SHIRKAT self help groups not only provide an impetus to savings propensity but also provide the initial seed capital to the poorest of the poor.

Besides, by monitoring individual performance at CARAVAN workshops, specific interest groups will be formed and entrusted to the existing voluntary agencies - or to the Projects Division of SPRAT - for technical training, economic and techno-managerial support.

Adult Literacy Units: With technical help from Gujarat Vidyapiath -the university founded by Mahatma Gandhi - CARAVAN organizes adult literacy classes, specially for women. Within three months unlettered women acquire education equivalent to 3rd standard in school. Gujarat Vidyapith set up by Mahatma Gandhi supports us in this. In due course help will be provided for taking the Xth examination directly.

Information Kiosk: This is the inquiry counter for all temporal information. Circulars, brochures and other useful material concerning schemes of scholarships, grants and subsidies, soft credit etc introduced by the govt and other help agencies, will be compiled in the vernacular and supplied. Also adequate help will be extended in filling in, submitting and monitoring the progress of required forms and returns. Counselling on careers, vocations, health etc. will be offered. By and by a veritable goldmine of everyday information will be compiled on the Intranet and selectively offered.

Video Theatre: To widen the world view, enhance self confidence and to provide some entertainment, video films on cassettes and CDs - such as the programmes of Discovery and National Geographic, as also of the CSIR, DECU/SAC, UGC, Jamia Millia, country promotion films from various national embassies, and educational films of the various affiliates of the UN etc - are screened everyday at CARAVAN. The same equipment is also used for faculty presentations.

Data collection: Utilizing the infrastructure and local goodwill CARAVAN proposes to collect and collate multipurpose data about various segments of the local community. The various CARAVANs will be linked up with the centralized database for instant point-to-point access, as well as across the Web.

This database can grow to serve various uses such as an employment exchange, a virtual market, or simply for organizing empowered groups etc. Besides, this data will be utilized for conducting extensive demographic and other socio-economic studies.

Meeting Hall: In free time, the furnished hall can be rented out for secular deliberations and professional engagements complimenting CARAVAN ’s objectives, for a fee.


APPROACH

CARAVAN centres will largely act as facilitating and enabling institutions striving to achieve synergy in voluntary work. Rather than meting out temporary livelihoods on a platter, these centres will function more as permanent local capacity building institutions, using and coordinating existing support structures. CARAVAN will considerably count upon local resources and produce substantial results merely by efficient coordination. Instead of duplicate something that may already be afoot in the chosen area, CARAVAN will link-up and support it. It will offer CARAVAN platform for like-minded NGOs if their work compliments CARAVAN objectives. Besides, CARAVAN will regularly launch satellite projects, social campaigns etc. as illustrated below:

Illustrative Satellite Projects: Setting up rudimentary badminton-cum-volley ball courts, children’s recreation facilities with sand-pits, promoting self-help groups, setting up AZMAT and BASERA centres, promoting public baths / toilets etc.

Illustrative Campaigns: With the involvement of local leadership promoting various social campaigns such as proper parking, covered drainage, covered food item vending, vaccination, vacation education, plantation etc.

CARAVAN  CENTRAL COORDINATION CELL

At the hub of CARAVAN network lies the CARAVAN Central Coordination Cell at SPRAT conducting necessary facilitation, co-ordination and monitoring. This Cell, a part of SPRAT administrative office, will maintain the Intranet, procure and supply library books and reference material, arrange faculty, conduct research and publish useful material, adapt published material in the vernacular, establish tie-ups and exchange deals, monitor centre / staff performance, conduct internal audit and other statutory supervision, and liaise with other SPRAT divisions, government and external agencies.

SPRAT needs serious funding and logistics support to strengthen this nerve centre of the CARAVAN network.


COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP

SPRAT endeavours to mobilize local resources for the start-up infrastructure to the extent possible to enhance community ownership. A Local Advisory Board [LAB] largely comprising local talent and influence monitors the professionals and advises each centre.  Besides, the centres actively involve the local social and religious leadership, influential citizens and activists with various programmes at different times to benefit from their insights, as well as to enlarge ownership feeling.

The central policies are formulated and the performance of the various centres is monitored by a Central Advisory Board [CAB] comprising nationally renowned experts.
Besides the BoG, CAB, LABs we receive technical support from the faculty of IIMA, NID, EDI and scientists of CSIR and its other labs.

CURRENT STATUS

One CARAVAN centre – inaugurated by the city mayor – is functioning at Vatwa, Ahmedabad. The second one has started functioning at Himmatnagar since 27th April, 03
Another one in the city is coming up at Shah-e-Alam, near the erstwhile famous relief camp.

Premises have already been taken with rent-free [gift] lease duly executed, at Mehsana and Surat where renovation is under way. Offers have been received from Bharuch, Mehemdabad, Baroda, Vankaner and Nadiad but agreements are yet to be signed.

Local Advisory Boards [LABs] have already been set up at Vatwa, Mehsana, Himmatnagar and Surat with the first line professional staff in place.


Work at these centres is moving very slowly due to paucity of resources. In absence of a regular funding arrangement SPRAT mobilizes the required resources by voluntary contributions from private philanthropists, which obviously takes time. Charity, in India, comes faster for the sake of sawab and slower in the name of compassion!

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* Main akela hi chala tha janibe manzil magar *
* Log saath aate gaye aur CARAVAN banta gaya  *
***********************************************
[Alone I had set out towards the goal - A CARAVAN was formed as friends started joining]

B: AZMAT:

A center for the poor and lower middle class men and women to engage in productive activities in SPRAT-promoted micro economic enterprises. These projects will be born out of participants’ interest at CARAVAN workshops but will be promoted, supported and monitored by the project wing of SPRAT.

The centers will typically harness local skills, use locally available raw materials and will either have local markets or access a pooled market at a distance. Typically each AZMAT center should provide sustainable and enduring livelihood to about 30 women, earning a daily wage of around Rs. 50/- for up to six hour work a day.

Institutions like the CSIR will provide low cost technology inputs while design support can come from the NID and management inputs from the EDI and IIMA.

The typical average cost for setting up one AZMAT center inclusive of machinery and one cycle of raw material etc. should be around Rs. 1,00,000/-.

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C: BASERA:

A childcare and education center located near one or more AZMAT centers to take care of the wards of women working at the AZMAT centres. Besides rudimentary play facilities like a sand pit, slides, swings, educational games and basic nursery/primary education these children will be provided one wholesome mid-day meal.

BASERA centers will be located in close proximity of AZMAT centers and will be working in sync with them. BASERA will be managed by a foster mother who will be reimbursed all her costs. Typically a BASERA center should have around 30 children and must cost around Rs. 1,00,000/- per annum.

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D: SHIRKAT [Savings and Credit Groups] :

For the poorest of the poor CARAVAN supports in the formation of small savings and credit self-help groups. The members contribute at least Rs. 5/- per day per head. When the corpus reaches Rs. 5,000/- SPRAT contributes a like amount which the members will loan to the needy member. And thus the corpus grows and the member’s access to the credit expands.

The entire administrative, cash and accounting support is provided by CARAVAN while the members manage their affairs themselves within the broad policy framework provided by SHIRKAT.

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SOME SPRAT FUNDING OPTIONS
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[The working capital component may be split and disbursed on yearly basis as the work progresses.] [Where amount is unexplained it is Rs. million]


a.) Sponsor an entirely fresh, full-fledged CARAVAN center:  Rs 2.0 m [caters to an entire community of up to 25,000 population]

b.) Sponsor an entirely fresh, functional / basic CARAVAN centre: Rs. 1.74 m

c.) Launch a CARAVAN [the start-up cost of a basic CARAVAN centre, with 4 year’s premises rent, where the rest of the working funds come from elsewhere] : Rs. 0.87 m

d.) Equip a CARAVAN with basic infrastructure, where premises is gifted / rent-paid : Rs. 0.47 m

e.) Run a CARAVAN: Working Capital of all four years for one CARAVAN centre where premises and start-up costs are arranged elsewhere : Rs. 0.88 m

f.) Fund a CARAVAN for the first year : Rs. 0.48 m

g.) Fund a batch of Adult Education [up to 30 women / men, three months batch] – Rs. 10,000/-

h.) Enlighten a person [one illiterate becoming literate in three months] : Rs 1,000/-

i.) Fund a career class [a batch of 20-30 students for a whole year for one of these classes: SSC, HSC [Science, Commerce or Arts], UPSC / GPSC for one whole year : Rs 0.1 m

j.) Fund a student [a typical student receiving coaching support for one whole year] : Rs 5,000/-

k.) Entertain a CARAVAN: The cost of screening educational video films in one centre for one year : Rs 10,000/-

l.) Fund a CARAVAN library [up to 1,000 vocational and reference books] : Rs. 0.2 m

m.) Fund a year’s News Room – 10-12 newspapers at a CARAVAN centre : Rs 10,000/-

n.) Fund a year’s Magazine Room – 10-12 periodicals for a CARAVAN centre : Rs 12,000/-.

o.) Promote an AZMAT center inclusive of machinery, one cycle of raw material etc. : Rs. 0.1 m

p.) Set up a BASERA center inclusive of children recreation and one mid-day meal everyday for one year : Rs. 0.1 m

q.) Fund a SHIRKAT group [seed funding for one women’s self-help savings and credit group] : Rs. 5,000/-


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CARAVAN FUNDING IN KIND
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* PCs [[P3+/128MB/40GB+ with TV output cards] * Data Projectors * Laptops [2] * Large screen PC compatible TV * Lots of books and their storage * Electrical fittings [lights, fans / air-coolers, water filters / coolers] * Building and renovation material [cement, alluminium, wood, fittings] * Lots of educational CDs, cassettes * Furniture * Writing Boards, Soft Boards, White Boards * VCD 3.0+ Players * UPSs * Printers

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BANKING DETAILS
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Current ACCOUNT 29317 of SPRAT [FCRA] at Union Bank of India, Museum Road Branch, Narayan Nagar Road, Paldi, Ahmedabad 380 007 India, via IFB [Forex] SWIFT Code No. UBININBBAIFA

Through Bank of New York, New York, Via Chips MBR001 or Fedwire to ABA021000018 , for Union Bank of India, Mumbai, India, Account No. 803-3163-429(UID No.004106) or Through Bank of America, New York, NY10048 for Union Bank of India, Mumbai, India A/c. No. 6550-6-92276 Via Chips ABA959 for Account UID 004106 - Or through Fedwire No. 026009593
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