FORTNIGHTLYVolume-96 16th February 2009

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In this Issue... Editorial Triple Jump visited BISWA Other news of BISWA

ADVISORSKhirod Ch. Malick

Pitabasa SethiDuryodhan Malick

Ajoy ShroffShiv Prasad Meher

Bibhu Prasad MohantyPrasant Kumar SahuDr. Jharana Mishra

Central Office“BISWA”

At- Danipali, PO- BudharajaDist. Sambalpur, PIN-768004Tele fax- +91-663-2533597

Email:biswamalick@rediffmail.com,kcmalick@biswa.org

www.biswa.orgState Offices

ORISSAGada Gopinath Colony,In front of High School,

Plot No. E/7, PO: RasulgarhBhubaneswar-751010CHHATTISGARH

C-243, Kuber Griha SocietyRohinipuram, Raipur-492010,Telephone No: 0771-6451927

The LinkThe LinkThe LinkThe LinkThe LinkChief Editor

Debabrata MalickEditor

Ashisbala DashDTP

Govinda Ch. Tripathy

Published by Debabrata Malick,Chief Editor. The Link, at BISWA

Computer Section, Danipali,Budharaja, Sambalpur. PIN-768004

Ph.No- 0663-2533597,Email: thelink@biswa.org

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Triple Jump visited BISWA

Mr. Erik Geurts, SeniorEquity Investment Officer of TripleJump, Amsterdam Netherlandvisited Sambalpur for two days,February 9th & 10th. Heparticipated in a staff meeting afterhis initial discussion with Mr. K.C.Malick, Chairman BISWA on dayone. The meeting was organised atBISWA Training Institute in theChairmanship of Mr.Malick. At theoutset Mr. Shiv Prasad Meher,Manager-Public Relations welcomed theguest. Each participating staff introducedhimself as per the tradition of BISWA.Speaking to the occasion Mr. Malickpresented a brief profile of theorganisation and emphasised on thepurpose of long term loan by BISWA touse it to reduce prevailing poverty here.The loan fund is also used to address theaffects of climate changes in India. He alsospoke on vision, mission of theorganisation with linking its' activities tomillennium development goals (MDGs) ason today. He detailed on employment

"LOVE FOR TREE" - A Success Story

Bhagirathi Surya is working as anArea Coordinator in Janjgir-Champadistrict of Chhattisgarh .He started hiscareer as a Community Organizer in theorganisation during 2006. He hails fromJanjgir-Champa district. As usual he wasassigned to prime jobs like self help groupformation, loan disbursement andrecovery, capacity building & facilitatingthe group members towards fulfilling theVision and Mission of BISWA.

A special programme namelyReproductive Child Health (RCH) wasbeing implemented in the 14 villages ofthe district. At that time Bhagirathi wasthe only person involved in thisprogramme. He used to organizeawareness meetings, ensure that thepregnant women consult the doctorsthrough ANM / ASHA workers, see thatthey are taking Calcium and Iron tabletsregularly and going to the hospital for safedelivery.

There is another attribute to hispersonality. In these years he haddeveloped a great love for trees. In fact,his wife is also a tree-lover. So wheneverthey get time; they utilize its in gardening.In other words he has a deep urge forenvironmental conservation.

Barrister Thakur Chhedilal Poddar

Government District Hospitalstarted in the District in 2006. Thisis located in a very dry and aridarea. There is no tree around. Sopeople have to face a really toughtime during summers. So,Bhagirathi made up his mind toplant a tree on the occasion ofIndependence Day 2008 (15-8-2008). He says, "It gives me a deepsense of pleasure. Whenever Ipass by this area, I get down frommy bicycle and have a look at theplant. In summer I make it a pointto water it regularly. I am happyto see that the plant has grown

up very first."The people of the locality appreciate

Bhagirathi for this noble deed. It is worthyto mention that Bhagirathi has raised asmall forest near the residential colony.Thus, he has become a face in the crowd.In other words, he has become an examplefor the young as well as old in the town.

Continued ... Pg.3

Continued from Pg:3

Earlier another workshop on Rightto Information was organised by Office ofThe Panchayat Samiti, Dhankauda at itsconference hall on February 6th, 2009 inthe chairmanship of Sri Sahadeb Samadia,Block Development Officer Dhankauda.Sri Pramod Mishra, ABDO-Dhankauda;Sri Purnachandra Pattnaik, GPO(I/C); SriSadananda Pradhan, Assistant Engineer;Sri Sanjay Tripathy, CO; Ms GopalaxmiHota, ACO; Sri Jatindra Sahu, Member-Sambalpur Zilla Parisad & Sri HiralalBehera, Member-Dhankauda Block Samitigraced the dais as the officials. Sri ShivPrasad Meher, Manager- Public Relations& Sri Bhawani Shankar Mishra, Manager-Health participated in it as resourcepersons and put up presentation on Rightto Information with covering muchintricate technical parts of it.

generation activities with socialdevelopment programmesoperated by BISWA. In an answerto a question on ethnic violence inOdisha and particularly inKandhamal district recently, hesaid our self help group membersare functioning as the peaceambassadors there. Moreoversuch groups are having membersfrom various religion based

communities and functioning in harmony,so any ethnic conflict is ruled out there.He explained the role clarity of managersin BISWA and said there is no confusionat all in this matter. He informed that theavailed loan fund is appropriatelyinvested with insurance, hence it issecured. Problems and interventions areinterlinked, he remarked. Mr. Erikexpressed his pleasure and said it is hisfirst visit to India that gives him somethrilling experiences. "I am highlyimpressed with its peaceful co-existenceof different ethnic groups here & it is a

EEEEEditorial AGBM of IRCS

The Annual General BodyMeeting (AGBM) of Sambalpurdistrict branch of Indian RedCross Society took place onFebruary 4th , 2009 at theConference hall in theCollectorate at 3.00 pm. SriPradipta Kumar Pattnaik,District Magistrate & Collector,Sambalpur graced the chair asthe president of district branchof IRCS. He was accompaniedby Sri Rabinarayan Naik MLAKuchinda, Sri Nirmal ChandraSatpathy, ADM Sambalpur; SriJulius Lakra, PD DRDASambalpur, Dr. P. K. Agrawal,ADMO (Medical) & Sri JoyGeorge, Honorary Secretary inthe dais. The discussion tookplace on adoption of annualreport for the year 2007-08, the

Bicycle Rally by NCC

A bicycle rallyby NCC cadets werereceived andwelcomed by BISWAat its BhawanipaliADC Office onFebruary 13th, 2009 inthe afternoon. Thethree day bicycle rallycame from all alongAthamallik and itsdestination was Burla,from there it went back to its place.Forty cadets in the leadership of theirNCC teacher voluntarily participatedin it and their objective was to evokeawareness on various health & socialissues with raising slogans anddisplaying placards among thecitizens they met all along their route.The three days movement of the rallywas well planned and coordinated.BISWA was entrusted to receive therally at Bhawanipali on their routeand take care of their welfare there.Sri Shiv Prasad Meher, Manager-Public Relations was present therewith a team of staff members fromBhawanipali ADC office of BISWA.He was assisted by Sri T.K. David,Additional District Coordinator ofBhawanipali. The bicycle rally tooktheir lunch at Jujumura and took arest for time before it proceeded

further. Sri Meher wentto Jujumura to know thesituation earlier that dayand confirmed theirarrival at Bhawanipali inthe afternoon. As soonas the rally reachedBhawanipali onNational HighwayNo.42, they weregreeted with welcomeslogans and hand

shakes. They were made to take some restand entertained with some light snacks &tea. Some of the team members showedtheir talents in expressing and explainingthe objectives of the rally. It was recordedin video cameras and telecasted in thelocal cable channels in the evening thatday. The team members bid goodbye withall good wishes for their further journey.

audit report for the year 2007-08 andappointment of auditor for the year2008-09 as per the agenda. Besides theagenda the discussion also coveredon issues like eye care & eye donationand posters & hoardings at districtheadquarters hospital & nursinghomes for public awareness. It wasalso decided there that a separatemeeting is to be convened to initiateprocedure to establish an unit for ironcomponent separation from donatedblood either at district headquartershospital, Sambalpur or at medicalcollege hospital, Burla. Sri ShivPrasad Meher, Manager- PublicRelations; Sri Bhawani ShankarMishra, Manager- Health; Dr.Diptibala Pattnaik, Consultant & Dr.Rajaram Sarangi Assistant Manager-Health participated in it on behalf ofBISWA.

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Continued from Pg:1

Workshops on RTIA workshop on Right to Information

was organised by the Sambalpur districtadministration on February 10th 2009 atCollectorate Conference Hall. Sri PradiptaKumar Patnaik, District Magistrate &Collector, Sambalpur presided over thefunction. It was coordinated by Sri NirmalChandra Satpathy, Additional DistrictMagistrate. Almost all the district levelofficials including District Develop-ment Continued ... Pg.4

Development process in India in these yearsis yet to percolate into its rural sector upto itsexpected level. The lobe-sided urban developmenthas taken its toll on rural sector as it is stilllanguishing in abject poverty and backwardness.It is a matter of satisfaction that once known asthird world country, India is in the race withsome of the developing countries. But thisdevelopment process cannot strike a balanceunless the rural sector is developed unto itsoptimum level. Then what is the impedance inits way? It is just the lack of resource that iscoming in its way. Unfortunately our internalresources are not enough to reach there due toits paucity. More over the government is unableto mobilise enough resources for this purpose.Then some non government organisations(NGOs) have voluntarily shouldered theresponsibility to develop the much neglectedrural sector. And in that case the fund earmarkedby the government for rural development isproved insufficient to meet the need. In that casethe onus is on these NGOs to mobilise resourcesfor the task they have shouldered. In such ascenario, it is obvious to mobilise resource fromoutside the country to meet the demand. But itis not within the reach of each & any NGO. Onehas to extend its reach beyond the boundary ofthe country for such arduous task of resourcemobilisation and it takes times & expertise toattain that height. Fortunately organisations likeBISWA has attained that position after it'srigorously struggle to establish itself in the NGOsector. It has earned its credibility to that extentnot only within the country but also outside itsboundary, and that is too in a bonafide way. Suchan achievement should be appreciated by one &all, as this entire exercise is attributing to theover all development of this country.

Condolence MeetingsBISWA mourned the untimed demise of Ms Sarita Debangan on

February 14th, 2009, one of its staff members posted at Dhamtari and diedin an accident there that day. The condolence meeting was convened inthe chairmanship of Sri K.C.Malick, Chairman BISWA at BTI conferencehall. Sri Shiv Prasad Meher, Manager- Public Relations, brought thecondolence proposal with informing the house about the sudden demiseof the deceased. A brief silent prayer for the peace of the bereaved soulwas observed. A similar condolence meeting was organised by the staffmembers of BISWA earlier on January 28th, 2009 to mourn the untimeddemise of Sri Ashok Das in a road accident the previous day.

Resource Mobilisation

Officer, Principal Information Officer &Assistant Principal Officers took part init. Sri Bhawani Shankar Mishra, Manager-Health, BISWA participated in it as aresource person and shed light ondifferent critical technical aspects of RTIAct. He satisfied the queries of theparticipating officials with explaining thevery implications of the act.

beauty in the unity of diversities" he said.He said his company, Triple Jump, is anequity based Investment Company andengage by SNS Real Bank as a consultantin connection with its programme inBISWA. Hence Triple Jump shares itsconcerns with BISWA. Sharing hisexperiences on micro finance institutions(MFIs) he said its developments could beobserved in three stages. Showeringpraises on BISWA, he said it is a pool oftalents & qualified professionals. I amassigned to send correct analyses onBISWA and that is why I am here. Heappreciated the activities of BISWA inmicro finance and remarked that microfinance cannot alone eradicate poverty.He was overwhelmed with the felicitationgiven to him in the presence of all staffmembers in that meeting. He was madeto meet Mr. Duryodhan Mallick, DeputyGeneral Manager; Mr. Prasant Sahu,Assistant General Manager (Operation);Mr. Pabitra Mishra, Assistant GeneralManager (Planning), Sri J.C.Mishra, ChiefManager Concurrent Audit & Mr.Bhawani Shankar Panda, Chief Manager-Audit & Accounts to discuss the officialprocedures here. He also discussed withofficials from IT, Human Resources,Insurance, Office Administration &Programme departments & visited someself help groups of BISWA with meetingits' members to take the stock of situations.