Bengaluru: Small initiatives, taken up with good intention, can bring in big changes, believes this 33-year-old assistant scientist from DRDO and his friend Rakesh. Society can be a better place with these small efforts and one does not need a big budget to do that, they say.
“Every month, we collect Rs 500 or whatever the members can donate. With that money, we try to help the needy,” said Vinod S., the scientist and founder member of Kartavya. The NGO was founded in February 2015 with an aim to bring about positive change in the lives of the needy people.
“We broadly concentrate on environment, education and also the health of the elderly people in old age homes and children in orphanages,” he said.
For his team, the good work started at Ambedkar Ashram for senior citizens, where they installed a water filter. “We also put up another water filter at Sadashiv Nagar. At an Ashram for the specially and differently abled in Kolar, we noticed serious security lapses and we ensured that the premises are better protected,” he said.
His team's intention is clear and that is to bring back smiles on the faces of the needy. “All you need is the will and some help and support from like-minded people. Those who want to pursue the journey with you should be driven with the desire to help people. It doesn't matter if your NGO is big or small, or if you are just a small group of people. Being kind is not difficult,” he said. In two years, the team has grown from 4 to 40 members.
On security lapses at the Kolar home for the disabled, he said, “We along with the Bikers' Association collected money and completed the construction of the compound wall which was started by D.K. Ravi (an IAS officer who committed suicide two years ago). We helped install CCTVs. Not just that, we are providing medicines free of cost to the children at the Ashram,” said Mr Vinod, whose team has also facilitated a doctor's visit there. “Dr Parinemu visits the Ashram regularly and surprisingly, incidents of epileptic attacks have also come down.
“We broadly concentrate on environment, education and also the health of the elderly people in old age homes and children in orphanages,” he said.
” Cleanliness is another area that his team is aggressively focussing on. “Under our Swacch Bharat initiative, we cleaned the streets in Rajaji Nagar and Shanthinagar. Giving the nature its due, we rejuvenated a park at Vasanth Nagar on the Biodiversity Day last year. We painted the walls, cleared the garbage and educated children at the park about cleanliness," he said. The team distributed herbal saplings to many people at Cubbon Park on the World Environment Day.
“This is just not enough, as there are so many areas that deserve immediate attention and one of them is wastage of food. To address this, we organised street plays in Malleswaram and Cubbon Park and educated children and adults on wastage of food and also on the importance of farmers in everyone's life,” he stressed. Street plays, awareness campaigns and walkathons go a long way in changing the mindset of the people on environment and wastage of food, he said.
Currently, Kartavya members are focusing on education and recently donated stationery and sports equipment to students at Harohalli Government School.
“We distributed sports equipment to some 70 students from first to seventh standard at the school. We put up banners in two government schools to inform students on pursuing their further education and courses and job prospects after their twelfth standard. These banners will help students who have no guidance and help them understand their future options better,” he said.
