Annual Report 2016-17

Annual Report 2016-17

Background:

The DISCON Vocational Loan Scholarship (VLS) Project was started in the year Rotary 2010-11 during the Presidentship of Milind Kanekar. Since then, with the generous donations from our members and others, the number of students has reached 100 and the total amount has crossed Rs.1 Crore.

Year 2016-17:

This year proved to be even better than the earlier ones with the project achieving many new milestones.

· 100 STUDENTS: With addition of 32 New Students, total number of students completed a century, touching the figure of 100.

· TOTAL FUNDING CROSSES 1 CRORE: The total gross Scholarship Disbursement crossed an important mark of Rupees One Crore.

· CSR DONATION BY AARTI INDUSTRIES LTD.: Mr. Rajendra Gogri of Aarti Industries Ltd. generously donated Rs.5Lac under CSR. PP Deepak Shah was instrumental in bringing this donation. We are looking forward to Long Term association with them.

· DISTRICT GRANT RECEIVED: Thanks to the efforts by PRID Ashok Mahajan, our Club received a Special District Grant amounting to $9,000 (Rs.6,12,000/-). This grant helped us to fulfill our Commitments and achieve the important milestones. Special Thanks to Ashokji, District Governor Gopal Mandhania and DGSC Subodh Bohra !

· CSR DONATION BY PLAY GAMES 24X7 PVT. LTD.: Donation of Rs.7,68,132/- was received from Play Games 24X7 Pvt. Ltd. This was an enhancement of more than 50% from their last year’s donation of Rs.5 Lac. We sincerely thank Shri. Malaykumar Shukla and Directors of the company for their generosity. We look forward to their long term association with the project.

· CSR DONATION BY BANYAN TREE ADVISERS PVT. LTD.: Donation of Rs.1,00,000/- was received from Banyan Tree Advisers Pvt. Ltd. This was an enhancement of 100% from their last year’s donation of Rs.50,000/- We sincerely thank Shri. Jigar Shah and other Directors of the company for their generosity. We look forward to their long term association with the project.

· CSR DONATIONS ENHANCED AND REPEATED: Both our CSR Donors from last year gave us enhanced CSR funding this year. While on one hand we are happy that our project and its management, has received their stamp of approval, we are also humbled by this enhanced trust and responsibility. We will make every effort to be true to their expectations.

· 6 STUDENTS SENT TO ISRAEL: 6 students of Garware Institute under Mumbai University were selected for receiving the Scholarship this year. These students, who are children of farmers from Rural Maharashtra, have gone to Kibbutz in Israel. There they will work in Farms and farm based industries and gain lots of practical experience.

· NEW COMMITTEE TAKES CHARGE: The Club elected a new committee to manage the project for next 3 years. PDG Dr. Jayant Kulkarni volunteered to step down, to give opportunity to other members. The Project was Conceived and Started, when he was the District Governor. We must record our gratitude and appreciation to Dr. Jayant for his guidance, suggestions and encouragement. It has contributed greatly to the success of this project. Rtn. Ashok Agarwal has joined the committee in his place.

· Shri Hemant Veera of Asiqui Shoes (with the help of Rtn. Nilesh Chheda) graciously made their shop available as a Collection Centre for the application forms. Since it is located very near to Mulund Railway Station, it was very accessible and convenient for the students. His shop has now become de-facto VLS Centre. Students start thronging to his place even before 1^st July !

· The received forms were scrutinized and 44 Students were called for interviews on 23^rd August 2016 at SMPR High School, Mulund. Lot of our members, including newly joined ones, participated in the interview process.

· 26 Students were finally selected for receiving the scholarship at the cost of more than Rs.14,50,000/-. Combined with the requirement of earlier students, the total fund requirement crossed Rs.28 Lac.

· Special Round of VLS Applications was conducted for Students of Garware Institute. 7 Students applied. 6 of them were selected for receiving Scholarship. An amount of Rs.8,50,000/- was provided to these 6 students. They flew to Israel on 6^th March 2017.

Following points were also taken care of, when selecting the students.

· Variety of Vocational Streams (Not Just Engineering or Medicine)

· Different durations of Courses (1, 1.5, 2,3 and 4 years)

· Academic Record was not the only criteria. Overall family background and suitability for assistance was considered.

· Preference was given to courses with normal fees (rather than courses where fees was quite high), so that more number of students can be accommodated.

A list of these students was prepared and circulated among the Club Members. Their response was generous and spontaneous. Within a few days of the announcement, the amount of promised donations, exceeded the target.

The students were handed over the Scholarships, during our club meeting on 29^th September 2015. District Governor Subhash Kulkarni was the Chief Guest of the function.

A get together of all our VLS students was held on 25^th June 2017. Our VLS Committee Member Rtn. Hanskumar Shah was the Chief Guest. It was held at Virangula Senior Citizen Centre, Mulund East. It was attended by many of our members.

Some more Milestones in 2016-17:

· Many students have joined employment and started repayment. They are Ankit Khatavkar, Archit Lad, Avinash Abhale, Babu Teli, Chetan Nikam, Darshana Kadam, Forum Sheth, Ganesh Rakh, Harshada Thakur, Indira Konar, Jayant Parab, Latikesh Sutar, Mirsohail Shaikh

Navnath Misal, Nikhil Dakpal, Nisha Patil, Prachi Mahadik, Prasad Waghapure, Priyanka Gawde, Rajashree Salunkhe, Rashmi Nagalkar, Sanjivani Chavan, Shrutika Vernekar

· Forum Sheth completed her repayment during the year. She was felicitated at the get together.

· The repayment during 2016-17 was Rs.8,00,300/- Total cumulative repayment was Rs. 12,56,994/-

The Road Ahead:

With funds simply pouring in, the VLS Committee feels an increased sense of responsibility. Till now we have depended on free news for publicizing the project and reach the students. The success and sustenance of the project largely depends on selection of appropriate students. With this aspect in mind, the committee has decided to put out advertisements in selected regional language newspapers (Marathi, Hindi and Gujarati). At the end of the Rotary year 2016-17, we can surely say our project is a very good example of “Rotary Serving Humanity”.