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NRI Home Coming March 29, 2003 NRI Home Coming (NHC) can
be considered somewhat similar to the US Peace Corps program except the NHC
program will consist entirely of NRI’s volunteering in India. The program will
encourage the selected NRI’s to volunteer in any part of India. It will enhance
the success rate if they choose their native state in India or their district
or village. They will be urged to work for 1-2 years, in that part of India
where they came from. They can work on any local project of relevance that
interests them. Rural village development projects will be emphasized. The following sections
will provide more details:
·
What is NRI Home Coming? (NHC)
· Pre-planning during 2003· Activities to coordinate the efforts of NHC volunteers in India after Jan 2004· Recognition for the volunteers· Where to learn more information on this NHC program?
The final program design will be made in June 2003 with help and guidance from the group of 50+ NRI Pioneers.
What is NRI Home Coming? (NHC) NRI’s (Non-resident Indians) first started coming to the US in significant numbers in the 60’s and 70’s. Most of these NRI’s consisted of engineers, doctors and other professionals. During the last 30-40 years, these NRI have acquired various practical skill sets and a career full of experiences and expertise. Many of the NRI’s in this group are looking for opportunities to “give back” to India. NRI Home Coming (NHC) is a project or a framework to assist the NRI’s in ‘giving back’. NRI’s from all over the world are welcome. How will this program help India? Each NRI identifies a particular city or village as his/her native place in India. Or it could be where his/her parents or grandparents came from. The NHC will emphasize rural village development. However, the NRI volunteers can work in any place of their choice, including large cities. Once the program gets underway in Jan 2004, we expect around 5000 NRI’s to volunteer by the fifth year. Where do we need the help in India? Almost 70% of the population lives in its villages and almost 50% of this population lives below the poverty level (BPL) in India which is about Rs 2,000 per month per family. While India can be justifiably proud of its achievements in IT, software, space technology, food production, the benefits of these developments have helped only about 20% of the population of India. India will not become a ‘developed nation’ by ignoring its 70% of the people. Our large metropolitan cities are overpopulated. Their infrastructure is breaking down. Our cities need attention too. But with the wealth and rich people in large cities, they will have a better chance of being heard and attended to. Not so the villages. Problems in large cities can be partially attributed to migration from the local villages. By increasing the number of villagers above the poverty level (and beyond) and making the villages economically viable, we can reduce the migration to the cities. What are the main features of this program? NHC can be considered somewhat similar to the US Peace Corps program except the NHC program will consist entirely of NRI’s volunteering in India. The program will encourage the selected NRI’s to volunteer in their native state in India or their district or village. This immediately solves common problems associated with the US Peace Corps program such as language, food and cultural differences. How long should a NRI volunteer for this program? Each selected NRI will be urged to volunteer for a period of 1-2 years. At the end of the 2 years, if they choose to continue their project, they may do so. During the first 2 years, given their family circumstances and other commitments in the US, they can decide to stay part time at their project site. However, they will be requested to stay in India at least for the first 3-4 months continuously to get the project started. What will the NRI’s receive while working on the project
in India? The selected NRI’s will pay the airfare to India themselves. While in India, we will consider (needs to be worked out) paying a modest living and domestic travel allowances connected with the project. Funds may need to be raised outside India to support this allowance. Criteria for NRI selection? The NHC program is open to any NRI who can volunteer their skills, time and passion to help India. However, to ensure the success of the overall program as well as individual volunteer NRI’s success, we recommend the following criteria:
Other NRI’s who may not find it convenient or able to visit India can stay abroad, partner with the NRI’s in India and work on joint projects How will the program be administered in India? The NHC program will commence on Jan 9, 2004 and on the same date every following year with fresh batches of NRI. GOI celebrated Jan 9, 2003 as the NRI day or the “Pravasi Bharathi Divas”. On this day, Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa to India and he is revered as the first NRI. The NHC program will be centrally coordinated in India. This will allow a uniform set of guidelines for all NHC volunteers. We hope to create a single point authority to help the NRI’s with a chief coordinator and a help desk in Delhi. [More details to be worked out] For each NRI volunteer, who will decide the nature of the
project? Each NRI volunteer can select a project of their choice, in the native place of their choice. In case they need guidance, the NHC program coordinator will prepare suggested projects according to local needs. While the local needs will vary, here are some of the projects common to many parts of India. In the next few months, we will try to develop subject experts in each of the following: (with rural village focus)
Based on successful model village efforts, the village women could play a crucial role. They can be members of the village panchayat council. Almost 98% of the Self-Help-Groups in rural India consists of women. Pre-planning during 2003 The first batch of NHC volunteers is expected to arrive in India by Jan 2004. Prior to that, we need to do the following: April – May 2003: Identify NRI role models June – July 2003: Group meetings gather NRI role models and design the program August 2003: Formally announce the program Sept – Oct 2003: Selection of the first batch of NHC volunteers Nov – Dec 2003: Training sessions for NRI’s before they leave for India. April – May 2003 Identify NRI role models Many NRI’s are already in India working on projects of their choice in places of their choice. Most of them are working in their own individual capacities. In most cases they have had to forge ahead individually, solving many obstacles in their path. And through sheer perseverance and dedication to their projects, they have succeeded. They are our NRI role models. By identifying some 50-60 such NRI role models during April and May of 2003, we will put together a core group of NRI leaders who can help design our program. We will develop a questionnaire that will request our NRI leaders to tell us how they succeeded. We can request these NRI Pioneers to act as mentors or be paired with junior NRI volunteers. During April – May 2003, we will collect and develop a database of success stories, classify them by subject headings and geographic sections of India. June – July 2003 Group meetings amongst NRI role models We will conduct group meetings amongst the NRI role models both in India and US. If we discover significant interest in this program from NRI’s living in other countries outside of US, they are most welcome. Many of our meetings will use the Internet and hence the present geographic location of the NRI volunteer will not be a limiting criterion. We will attempt to assign all of the NRI role models as subject coordinators or state coordinator (within a state in India) or in some cases both. These meetings will determine the finer details of the NHC program. August 2003 Formally announce the program We will announce the program in both print and internet ethnic media in the US. This may consist of announcements in India-Abroad magazine, Sulekha.Com, Samachar.com, NRI World and other regional ethnic media. Internet Yahoo and Alumni Groups will play a significant role. Sept – Oct 2003 Selection of the first batch of NHC volunteers We will create a volunteer group to help screen the NRI candidates. The screening process will aim to ensure the success of the overall program as well as the volunteer’s success. Nov – Dec 2003 Training sessions for NRI’s before they leave for India. It is quite likely that the NRI volunteer visited India many years ago and may need some recent data about India. These training sessions over the Internet will brief the volunteers with information on their selected project area as well as the geographic region in India. If possible, based on interest and number of volunteers from different regions of US, we may hold 1-day weekend sessions in different cities of USA to bring the volunteers face to face. Activities to coordinate the efforts of NHC volunteers in India after Jan 2004 We will conduct regional and periodical meetings of the NHC volunteers in India. This will provide a forum for the NHC volunteers to make presentations of their projects, interact with others, seek solutions to unsolved problems. An electronic newsletter and a website can help to provide up-to-date communications. NHC volunteers after their graduation from this program can act as mentors for fresh volunteers. Recognition for the volunteers Each NHC volunteer after their first successful completion of their project will receive suitable recognition from GOI. It may be possible to invite these NHC graduates to Delhi on a subsequent PBD or NRI day and make the presentations. Where to learn more information on this NHC program? Yahoo Groups and Websites are being created. You may subscribe to our recently created Yahoo Groups called “NRI-Home-Coming”. The access to this group is moderated. When you first subscribe to this group, please send a short bio of yourself to the moderator at rkrishnan46@yahoo.com. Include information about your subject area of interest and the region of India that you hail from.
Letter informing the general NRI’s of this program. Dear NRI, Most of us completed our education in India and arrived in US looking to improve our career and livelihood. With hard work and commitment, most of us can be proud of what we have achieved in our career and family. If you are like me, we are thinking about a second career or possibly helping India to achieve its goals but do not know how to do it. As an NRI, we have seen solutions to common day problems. The same problems within India may remain unsolved. As an NRI, we can bring a balanced approach to solving common problems in India. You will be happy to learn that a group of NRI’s in the US is currently planning a program called “NRI Home Coming” (NHC). In brief, this “NRI Home Coming” program will assist you to donate your skills and time to the region (or village) in India where you came from, in a subject matter that interests you. It will partner you with local Indian volunteers so that you can ‘make a difference’. For more help, please visit: http://www.nri-home-coming.com (website not ready yet) Can we count on you? Regards Rk
Dear NRI Volunteer in India, Groups of NRI’s are in the process of creating a “NRI-Home-Coming” program. This program will assist more NRI’s to volunteer their time and skills to India’s rural development projects. They will return to their own native places and work on projects that interests them. In this regard, we are seeking your help and guidance. We have learnt that you have been volunteering your efforts in India already and succeeding in your projects. We want you to share your experiences and act as mentors for fresh NRI volunteers. Please see http://www.nri-home-coming.com for details. During April – May 2003, we are hoping to identify around 50 NRI volunteers working in India, like yourself and bring them together (physically or electronically) and help design the details of the NHC program. To understand how you have succeeded in your projects, please help us by completing this questionnaire at http://www.nri-home-coming.com/questionnaire.html If you have any questions, please contact rk at. Regards RK NRI Home Coming Project – NRI Pioneer Questionnaire This questionnaire is to be completed by NRI Pioneers. Who is a NRI Pioneer? NRI Pioneer is an NRI who has already demonstrated their passion to help India, with emphasize on RURAL India. These NRI pioneers have volunteered their skills, passion for helping India and have a success story to tell. The “NRI Home Coming” (NHC) program wishes these NRI pioneers continued success and hopes to gain by their personal efforts. Personal bio: Name: E-mail address Address in USA Address in India Professional background: (indicate here what is your Educational background, what was your field of employment in USA etc) Family and Children: Project description in India: Name of the State(s) in India – District – Village / City name Brief description of project: Internet / websites with more info on project: Benefits obtained so far: Continuing and future project plans: Project lessons learnt: Project phases: (if you were to divide your work so far into 4 phases, how will you describe each phase) Are you working with a local NGO or entirely on your own? How did you learn the ground realities? How and why did you select the project topic that you are working on? What was the single most hurdle that you encountered and how you solved it? Key resources that you needed for the project – manpower, finance, technical etc Looking back, is there any one thing, you will do differently in your project. If you were designing this NRI-Home-Coming project, what will be 4 key items or aspects that we should design carefully (make your suggestions) During April – May 2003, we hope to find 50 – 60 NRI pioneers like yourself. Could you help us by giving the Names and email addresses of NRI’s like yourself. Name: Email address: Name: Email address: Name: Email address: Name: Email address: In June – July 2003, we hope to bring the 50+ NRI Pioneers in an electronic forum to help define the details of the NHC program. Any thoughts on how we should do that? Any other comments? NRI Home Coming – 10 Rural Project Areas March 30, 2003 Rural India projects: 10 project areas The local needs in different parts of rural India will vary. However, these 10 project areas seem to be common to most parts of India. We hope to find a “subject expert” for each of these 10 project areas. They will then collect all the information in each subject, list the problems, list the solutions etc.
For each subject, we hope to do the following:
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