It's our duty...

Nature endows its resources equally to all who take birth on this planet, like a mother it feeds all its children with unbiased love and care.

But despite of its efforts, there are many who are still deprived of a safe, healthy and fulfilling life. Some got hit by a natural disaster leaving them wanting for the basic necessities of a happy life, some are unfortunate to take birth in tribal or poor areas of the civilization, some got stranded by their family members forced to stay in orphanages & old age homes, those who are living a destitute life because they belong to the so called lower sections of society, not to forget the victims of national wars & communal terrorism, and many more of our brothers & sisters seized from living a prosperous life.

To some sort of satisfaction there are organizations, who undertake activities to aggrandize the interests of poor, safeguard the natural environment, endeavour community development, contribute towards basic social services and alleviate suffering of the lamented lot of the society. These are the Non Governmental Organization’s (NGO) who undertake the task of recuperating the lives of people.

They work untiringly towards this noble cause, but depend upon society i.e. you and me for the basic resources required to serve it. But as the present scenario puts it, the present resource requirement (monetary funding, human resource, public support) overrules the available pool. Can we let this resource crunch become a reason of the NGO’s failure in accomplishing this distinguished undertaking? Certainly Not! Here is where, we the youth of our nation can step in, it calls for us to voluntarily assume responsibility and start making efforts to help such organizations in building a fair camaraderie.

Let’s not just take one or few initiatives but start a movement, a wave where we all join hands and make it happen. Let us not make it a habit but our culture to do well for our fellow beings. And let us come out of ‘why me, there are others who will do it’ attitude.
We need to imbibe the culture of societal contribution in our daily lives to such an extent, that being humble & generous become our very nature and character itself. There are lot many simple yet effective ways in which we the youth can contribute, I would like to mention some:

• First would be the easiest one(trust me with that) of making monetary contributions to the reliable NGO’s working for societal causes, be it hospitals, schools, orphanages, old age homes, wild life conservation, social peace & harmony, environmental protection, or any one you find relevant. Just make it a habit to donate a small proportion of your monthly earning towards them.

• Start devoting time to the service of these organizations. offer free consultancy to orphanages & old age homes on weekends if you are a doctor, teach in community schools if you are a teacher or an educated professional, help manage NGO’s funds if you are a practising CA or an accountant, help them getting clearances for various projects from govt. If you are a legal advisor, guide them in structuring & becoming self sufficient in terms of fund raising if you are a financial consultant. Whoever you are, whatsoever your profession is, no doubt you can contribute.

• We can always contribute our management skills and help these organizations organize various fund raising events like marathons, fairs, donation camps, awareness programs, various art shows and any innovative way which could be helpful. All it will take is a little effort & time of ours.

• We need to join hands and start collectively lobbying against the government to get various acts & regulations passed, make essential timely alterations in them to safeguard the interest of environment and society(hope that our tapes won’t get leaked in media).

• Let us use internet, social media to create awareness for various issues & causes, make it a fab to discuss them in routine talks, create forums to debate & discuss them, create social games around them, convert them in to case studies & organize competitions to seek creative solutions, and what not!!(Sky is the limit on internet).

• Big corporate and MNC’s have well structured CSR(Corporate social responsibility) departments in line, but what about small & medium scale enterprises who are still untouched(or partly touched). Make groups, plan and meet these small businesses to educate them about benefits of and ways of undertaking CSR, entice them to take initiatives, offer them help, encourage them to make monetary contributions to NGO’s. No doubt this will work.

• There are so many temples and other religious trusts sitting over piles of unused money(don’t know why) in our country, imagine how much additional earnings can be generated if these funds are parked in interest bearing securities, and how much of help it will be of if this money is made available to the disposal of NGO’s.

We can meet the trustees of these associations and educate them of how their money can be invested & the interest there of can be used for societal benefit (while their invest remains safe).

• There is a very well justified fear in minds of donors while donating money, of whether their money will reach the real needy or not. And why not when so many cases of fraudulent fund raising or loots keep on flashing, the donor will fear.

We need a unique solution to this issue; many of us are IT professionals so we can start an E-Portal which acts as an intermediary between the donors and genuine needy people, NGO’s. While a team or dedicated staff tracks down and ensures that each NGO listed on the portal is a genuine one. We can also make it mandatory for the recipients to provide summary of the usage of received funds, this will generate confidence in donors as they can see where their money got used.

Let’s crack down with these and many many more ways and make this world a happy place for the underprivileged too, for then only we could hold the courage look into their eyes.......