Lending A Helping Hand To Young Ones

By Shveata Chandel Save the Children, an organization which is working for the welfare of the children was created at the end of the Second World War responding to the terrible suffering of the children.

Since then this organization has been working for the upliftment of children.

This organization is now functional in many countries of the world and is fighting for the cause of children.

Save the Children, organization is working on its five main fundamentals including improving quality and access to education, child protection and to ensure that the child is not facing any exploitation, addressing discrimination, fighting against child labour and responding to emergencies.

This organization started its services in India after emergency was declared after the floods in the Indus in Ladakh.

Since then it has spread over many states of India.

This organization had worked remarkably in the time of emergencies.

Since 1978, when Save the Children a UK based organization, started it rescue operation in Ladakh to save the affected people due to floods it has been working for the welfare of children in India.

From that time onwards, for the last three decades, this organization is working in India and has undertaken many projects meant for the rescue of children and their rehabilitation.

Talking to Kashmir Times, Dr Mohammed Deen, the District Development Commissioner of Kargil told that this oraganisation is functional in Leh since 1978 when floods created havoc there.

"This organization started its work in 1978 in Ladakh after the floods in the Indus.

The then Queen of Leh" approached Vice President of India to make this organization to provide their help in Ladakh.

She along with the Field Director of Save the Children visited Ladakh and a relief programme was launched there for the flood victims in the villages close to the river bank.

Prior to the request from Jammu and Kashmir, this organization started its developmental programme on children issues in Leh district.

With their focus on the nutrition and education of the children their Save the Children took up a project, "Leh Nutrition Project", which was started in the south area of river Indus", he said.

Explaining the work of the organization, he told that the government had given some of the remotest areas to this organization to work.

This organisation started its activities with supplementary nutrition and education as ICDS programme in Ladakh.

During the implementation of the programmes the issues related to health, rural development, education and lack of basic services raised by the villagers and integrated development programme with strong emphasis on people participation were also initiated which got tremendous response from the communities as well as Government service provider.

"We took the opportunity of a request from the Kashmir University to organize a CRC sensitization meeting to introduce as an International organization working in J&K", added Deen.

Specifying the role of the organization Deen said, "On the strategic change in the approach of Save the Children from a provider role to a capacity building organization, our main emphases is on the participation of people and especially children in the developmental activities.

On the request of the Government and keeping in view the geographical areas affected by the conflict this organization has also undertaken the issues in education sector in the districts of Doda and Rajouri".

Now this organization is working in 10 districts-two in Jammu and Ladakh and six in Kashmir out of the 14 districts.

Presently this organization is working in Leh, Kargil, Srinagar, Budgam, Baramulla, Anantnag, Kupwara, Pulwama, Doda and Rajouri.

Shaheen, the National representative of this organization told Kashmir Times that like in Jammu and Kashmir this organization is working in many other regions of the country also.

Explaining the work of the organization she told that within hours when earthquake rocked the state the national team of "Save the Children" was in the affected areas.

"Relief with Dignity is the keyword of this organization and we have worked on it.

Soon after the earthquake the emergency schools were established in those areas where the school buildings had collapsed and also winter camps were opened in the areas to counter the boredom and trauma in the winter months", she added.

She added that this organization in collaboration with government and communities had worked in all the emergencies-like snow avalanches, flood, displaced people due to cross border firing, earth quake-in all the three parts of the state.

Explaining the work field she said, "This organization is mainly focused on the children issues".

Clearing up the strategic issues of the organization she added, "The improvement in the quality at the pre and the primary level are the main issues on which this organization is focused.

Explaining the works of the organization she told that in the few months after the strict implementation of the ban on child labour this organization has rescued many children who were working forcibly as domestic help.

She added that the organization has rehabilitated hundreds of children who were working as domestic help in the state of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, and Bihar.

There were many children who have been rescued and have been sent back to their homes.

She further informed that in the last few months we have rescued many children who were working as bonded workers and have rehabilitated them.

"There were a few cases in the Jammu and Kashmir also.

These days we are focusing on the implementation of the ban on child labour and our teams are active through out the country", added Shaheen.

Elucidating the approaches of the organization, Shaheen said that this organization is working on the capacity development of the children, communities, government departments and NGOs.

Shaheen further told that presently this organization, Save the Children is working with four of its partners in Jammu and Kashmir.

Presently this organization is working with Leh Nutrition Project for Leh district, Kargil Development Project for Kargil district, Modern Cultural Club for Rajouri and Poonch and JK Women Welfare Society Jammu for Doda districts.

Shaheen said, "This organization is now one of the most extensively working organizations in Jammu and Kashmir.

This, along with its partners, is serving the people of all the areas of the state.

Presently this has become one of the most pervasive NGO working for the welfare of the children in the world.

In Jammu in the last thirty years, from the time it started its work in Jammu, it has played a great role in all the emergencies which the state faced in this due time.

Now it is the widely working NGO in the state doing and it covers in ten districts in the state.

Lord Buddha To Help India To Get More Tourist Dollars! By Vinaya Kumar It is estimated that 15 percent of the four million foreign tourists coming to India annually, make it the focal a point to visit the Tajmahal and as such the "Great monument to Love" fetches us nearly 600 million US dollars in foreign exchange.

But if the efforts of the Tourism Department, aided by inputs from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) proves fruitful, then the Holy Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya might provide us with more tourist revenue (estimated at one billion dollars) than the Tajmahal.

Buddhism founded in North India, is not a religion but a system of philosophy and code of morality.

With 6.6 million Buddhists in its manifold the country abounds in plethora of monuments and locales associated with Buddhism.

Today, there are over 500 millions Buddhists all over the world especially in the Far East and South East Asian countries..

Though the sects and beliefs within Buddhism are many, they all look upon these sites in north India with great reverence, and Lord Buddha himself had exhorted his future followers to make the pilgrimage to India, the birth place of Buddhism.

In his words "O-Bhikshus' after my death when people and members of new generation comes and ask you, then tell them that here the Buddha was born, here he attained the full enlightenment , here he turned the wheel of Dharma twelve times , and here finally the Buddha entered into Parinirvana".

Hundreds of years have gone by, but architectural splendours, still standing resoundingly are ample testimonial of Buddhist philosophy and doctrines.

The four famous places of Buddhist pilgrimage are Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kushinagar, which are associated with the life and teachings of Lord Buddha.

Lumbini, in Nepal, is the birthplace of Gautama Buddha.

The others are in India.

Bodh Gaya was the place, under the pipal or Bo tree, where the Buddha was enlightened after practicing meditation for several years.

Sarnath was the site of his first teaching and Kushinagar was the place of his death or Mahaparinirvana.

In 1957, when the 2500th birth anniversary of Lord Buddha was celeberated, there was rekindling of interest in developing these pilgrimage centers.

But unfortunately nothing much was done.

50 years later, the tourism department has drawn up a plan of action to celebrate 2007 as the 2,550th year of Bud-dha's Mahaparinirvana.

The Mahabodi temple in Bodhgaya town in Bihar, where Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment 2,500 years ago is today a UNESCO World Heritage site.

To day Many important projects like the resuscitation of the 2500 years old Buddhist University of Nalanda and the proposed Buddha statue project of Maitreya - an international organization are important tourist spots The aim, the sponsors of the statue say, is not just to build a unique statue but "to benefit as many people as possible for as long as possible".

The 152 metre (500 feet) high Buddha will stand in the centre of 750 acres of landscaped environs and is designed to last at least a 1,000 years.

But the question is where are the Buddhist tourists coming to see these holy places? In 2006 the total traffic to the Buddhist circuit just numbered 200000 or just 5 per cent of the total inbound tourist traffic to India.

Estimated Buddhist visitors to India in 2005 from select countries as percentage of Buddhist population in those countries was less than .06 %.

Travel agents say nearly 1 million tourists were turned away due to high cost or infrastructural constraints such as lack of accommodation, interpreters.

Of these Buddhist pilgrims, the Japanese tourists alone numbered more than fifty percent and also the most aggrieved, as they found the hotels/transport in the Buddhist circuit very primitive.

In the last 50 years, Japan had with the cooperation of Air-India has constructed international standard hotels in Bodh Gaya and in 2007 allocated 400 crores of rupees to make the Buddhist circuit " tourist friendly".

In past 50 years, India has failed to promote these Buddhist sites, with even foreign funds obtained remaining under-utilised.

This is reflected in the fact that the inbound foreign tourists to Bihar in 2005 generated no more than Rs 75 Lakhs of tourist revenue! The study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) suggested three Buddhist circuits Life of Buddha : Locations in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar related to Buddha's life which are places of pilgrimage interest, combined with Lumbini in Nepal.

Icons of Buddhism: Sites spread in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh which have commemorative structures of artistic and archeological interest.

Buddhism Today: Places with living practices of Buddhism : Sikkim , Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh.

By designing effective strategies to promote India as a Buddhist hub, the three circuits can aim to attract 0.25 per cent of the world's Buddist population by 2012.

This is equivalent to about one million tourists - a rise of 500 per cent from the current annual base of 20,0000, giving India a tourist revenue of 4500 crores of rupees.

It calls for increase in the number of direct international flights from important source markets like China and Japan to India and raising the frequency of domestic flights between Buddhistg sites like Bodhgaya and Varanasi; customized rail travel packages for Buddhist sites; incentivising private investment in creating and maintaining basic tourism infrastructure like good roads, clean budget hotels, security, availability of guides trained to speak key foreign languages, restaurants and wayside amenities and hygienic environment; site preservation and conservation strategies; source market, traveler-specific marketing strategies and issuance of multi-entry visa to facilitate travel to all Buddhist circuits.

As a first step,the Indian Railways has launched a new Buddhist circuit special luxury train, Maha-Parinirvan Special, from February 2007.

It will cover prominent Buddhist pilgrim centres in India and Nepal.

This is the first major link to all Buddhist pilgrim spots in India and Nepal in the environs of luxury and comfort.