Let's explore these facts first before we make our conclusion.
Isha Foundation claims to be providing livelihood, Skill education, Primary and secondary education, health-care access to tribals at either free or highly subsidized costs.
Livelihood:
Isha has also been providing employment opportunities for the people in the surrounding localities.
- Isha Foundation has confirmed that over 375 people from the surrounding villages are engaged/employed either full-time or part-time with them. They are nurtured for bringing out the inherent creative skills, training and provided employment in various domains.
- In a bid to provide skill based training Isha has been conducting tailoring classes for the past 3 years (till 2016) in which 145 people have got trained so far. They are taught to the level of being able to set up a shop on their own. Some people have even set up shops so far after getting trained.
Some of the villagers from nearby Tribal village share their experience:
Cultural aspects:
Isha has been conducting free camps where traditional art forms like Karagam, Silambam, Kaliyal Attam, Parai Isai, Oyilattam, Thevarattam, baduga dance, lambadi dance, tribal dance, etc. Apart from these traditional dance forms, kalaripayattu (an ancient indian martial art) and drums classes are being conducted every week free of cost for them. The transportation and food are also being provided free to these children.
Housing:
- So far, 112 houses ( Dhanikandi – 39, Mullangadu – 20, Nellore padi – 5, Gandhi Colony – Semmedu – 3) have been constructed so far by Isha foundation free of cost for people inhabiting surrounding villages!
- Toilet facilities have also been built in 4 government schools located near Isha Yoga Center, Coimbatore
- The government school at Semmedu village confirms that renovation works to the tune of 3 lakhs has been done by Isha Foundation for the school.
Health:
- Isha has been running mobile clinics since the year 2003 and has so far treated 1.9 lakh people in 54 villages in the last 4 years alone (till 2016).
- Rural health clinics have also been set up at Alandurai, muutathuvayal and kullapanayakanur (salem) to cater to the needs of the rural people.
- 1380 households have been touched so far in semmedu village so far from 'Dry waste' and 'solid waste' management.
Conclusion:
- All this information has been gleaned from public domain, Facebook pages, Isha's web site, etc.
- The sharing of villagers from the videos is very clear and honest. They have given their names and village names also for anyone to verify.
- Isha's social works have been applauded by eminent people like Dr.Sivathanu Pillai (colleague of Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam, Dr. Satish Dhawan, etc.) and even organizations like Infosys Foundation.
- I looked at some of the media news about tribals complaining about Isha Foundation. They are laughably off in terms of clarity in information.
- I do not expect everything to be rosy 100% with Isha foundation. There could have been definitely faults here and there.
- But the overall scenario shows a very positive contribution to the tribal societies. Even looking at these statistics can show how much of social work has been done.
Media is publishing rubbish almost non-stop. Not many are publishing facts and statistics any longer. Sad trend that has to be reversed soon!
Other references:
Isha Foundation claims to be providing livelihood, Skill education, Primary and secondary education, health-care access to tribals at either free or highly subsidized costs.
Livelihood:
Isha has also been providing employment opportunities for the people in the surrounding localities.
- Isha Foundation has confirmed that over 375 people from the surrounding villages are engaged/employed either full-time or part-time with them. They are nurtured for bringing out the inherent creative skills, training and provided employment in various domains.
- In a bid to provide skill based training Isha has been conducting tailoring classes for the past 3 years (till 2016) in which 145 people have got trained so far. They are taught to the level of being able to set up a shop on their own. Some people have even set up shops so far after getting trained.
Some of the villagers from nearby Tribal village share their experience:
Cultural aspects:
Isha has been conducting free camps where traditional art forms like Karagam, Silambam, Kaliyal Attam, Parai Isai, Oyilattam, Thevarattam, baduga dance, lambadi dance, tribal dance, etc. Apart from these traditional dance forms, kalaripayattu (an ancient indian martial art) and drums classes are being conducted every week free of cost for them. The transportation and food are also being provided free to these children.
Housing:
- So far, 112 houses ( Dhanikandi – 39, Mullangadu – 20, Nellore padi – 5, Gandhi Colony – Semmedu – 3) have been constructed so far by Isha foundation free of cost for people inhabiting surrounding villages!
- Toilet facilities have also been built in 4 government schools located near Isha Yoga Center, Coimbatore
- The government school at Semmedu village confirms that renovation works to the tune of 3 lakhs has been done by Isha Foundation for the school.
Health:
- Isha has been running mobile clinics since the year 2003 and has so far treated 1.9 lakh people in 54 villages in the last 4 years alone (till 2016).
- Rural health clinics have also been set up at Alandurai, muutathuvayal and kullapanayakanur (salem) to cater to the needs of the rural people.
- 1380 households have been touched so far in semmedu village so far from 'Dry waste' and 'solid waste' management.
Conclusion:
- All this information has been gleaned from public domain, Facebook pages, Isha's web site, etc.
- The sharing of villagers from the videos is very clear and honest. They have given their names and village names also for anyone to verify.
- Isha's social works have been applauded by eminent people like Dr.Sivathanu Pillai (colleague of Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam, Dr. Satish Dhawan, etc.) and even organizations like Infosys Foundation.
- I looked at some of the media news about tribals complaining about Isha Foundation. They are laughably off in terms of clarity in information.
- I do not expect everything to be rosy 100% with Isha foundation. There could have been definitely faults here and there.
- But the overall scenario shows a very positive contribution to the tribal societies. Even looking at these statistics can show how much of social work has been done.
Media is publishing rubbish almost non-stop. Not many are publishing facts and statistics any longer. Sad trend that has to be reversed soon!
Other references:
- http://www.hitech.in/csr.aspx
- www.ashanet.org/projects-new/documents/933/Isha_Vidhya_report.doc
- http://www.covaipost.com/coimbatore/isha-foundation-awards-scholarship-for-rural-tribal-students/
- wes.eletsonline.com/2013/isha-vidhya-isha-education/
- https://www.ishafoundation.org/component/option,com_newscomponent/Itemid,885/act,view/id,635/
Embed This
No comments:
Post a Comment