Annual Report 2021-22

Background:

The DISCON Vocational Learning Scholarship (VLS) Project was started in the Rotary year 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 510 and the total amount has reached Rs.5 Crore 36 Lac.

Year 2021-22:

The challenges of Covid-19 Pandemic continued to affect everything in 2021-22 as well. The academic cycle was delayed and so were the admissions. We therefore decided to accept the application forms till September 2021. We received about 300 applications. After removing duplicates, about 250 Applications were accepted.

With the help of Mr. Antariksha Joshi, the online forms were converted to 1 PDF file for every application. These were then made available to all our members online. We continued the same 6 Groups formed last year. Dr. Rajesh Agarwal, Nitin Kabbin, Rajesh Gupta, Seema Joshi, Sudhir Joshi, and Vishal Thakkar functioned as Interview Group Leaders. They got all our members involved in the scrutiny and interview process. The Groups met personally to scrutinize the forms. 150 Students were short-listed for personal interviews. The same groups conducted online interviews with these students and their parents. 98 students were finally selected for receiving Vocational Learning Scholarships (VLS).at an outlay of Rs.53 Lac. Along with students selected in earlier years, we have disbursed Rs.1.17 Crores to 170 Students. We are grateful to all the Group Leaders, Group Members and spouses, who wholeheartedly participated in the process, contributing their valuable time and wisdom.

To summarize, the year 2021-22 too, proved to be even better than the earlier one, with the project achieving many new milestones.

• 
  Aarti Industries Ltd. increased their donation to Rs.25,00,000 (Through Aarti Foundation). We are happy that Shri. Rajendra Gogri, MD of Aarti Industries Ltd. continued to take keen interest in the project. We are grateful to Aarti Industries Ltd., Shri. Rajendrabhai for their generosity and our own Member Rtn. Deepak Shah for his help.
  

• Navneet Foundation Supported the project with a donation of Rs.11,00,000/- in February 2022. Shri. Bipin Gala, Director of Navneet Education was the Chief Guest at the VLS Distribution Function, held on 5^th December 2021. The venue was SMPR English Medium School. The Donation was announced by shri. Bipinbhai, during the function.
  

• BANYAN TREE ADVISERS PVT. LTD. had donated Rs.4,10,000/-, in June 2021. Though technically part of Last Rotary year, it was fully utilized during the current Rotary Year. 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.
  

• Swift Actions to help Students: Whenever situation demands, the VLS Committee has gone out of the way to help needy students. A case in point is that of student Nishit Soni. The student was referred to our President by Rotary Club of Mumbai Borivali East, on 10^th March 2022. He had not applied for VLS. But needed help to confirm his admission at Govt. Medical College, Gondia. Within 3 days, all the necessary work, including the student filling online form was done and he carried and paid his fees by Demand Draft on 13^th March.
  

• 98 STUDENTS selected: With 98 new students, total number of students zoomed, touching the figure of 510.
  

• FUNDING IN 2021-22 Crosses Rs.1 Crore 16 Lac: The gross Scholarship Disbursement in 2021-22 was Rs.1,16,51,434/- taking cumulative Scholarship Figure to Rs.5,36,24,152/- .
  

• Rtn. Arihant Lodha has been a great help throughout the year. In some cases, the Institutes insist payment of fees on their own website, through netbanking. In many cases, Arihant first pays the fees and then reimbursement payment is done through VLS Account. Thanks a lot Arihant!
  

• Rtn. Dollar Shah has been a continuous support of the project. In both the VLS Functions held during the year, Dollar took care of Venue, Decoration and catering. Thank you Dollar !
  

• Rtn. CA Viren Gandhi and his office staff have been issuing Funds Utilization Certificates required for CSR and District Grants, for last many years. They scrutinize the accounts and other papers and then issue the Certificates. We are grateful for this help.
  

• 
  VLS Volunteers: Following the guidance by Shri. Rajendra Gogri, we decided to pay special attention to the Repayment Follow-up. After appeal to Club Members, following members came forward to work as VLS Volunteers.
  

Anupama Thakkar Arihant Lodha

Bharati Shah Dipti Gosrani

Hitesh Ganatra Jitendra Mavani

Komal Gupta Manjula Koppa

Nutan Dhulla Parul Shah

Priya Agarwal Ramesh Motwani

Ruby Luggani Seema Joshi

Sudhir Joshi Vaishali Mavani

Vijay Thapar

(Note for Shilpesh: Please arrange these names in 3 columns, if possible.

The Volunteers had their First meeting on 19^th February 2022. Everyone started work in right earnest and reported good progress and repayment collection. In last 4-5 months, the volunteers have succeeded in persuading 74 students to start repayment. Rs.10,67,812/- have been collected as repayment.

• 
  Student Get Together: After a gap of 2 years, the Committee decided to hold the Annual VLS Student Get Together on Sunday, 19^th June 2022. The Committee also decided to make the get-together a full day program. Shri. Kirit Gala, CMD, Gala Group of Companies, was the Chief Guest. Apart from felicitating students who have completed repayment and other achievers, the program has following sessions.
  1. Shri. Rajan Gaonkar: Preparing for Interview.
  2. Dr. Ashwin Sawant: Ayurvedic Mantra for Good Health
  3. Shri. Parag Dedhia: I Can Speak English

4. Shri. Jaiprakash Kabra: सफलता की ओर

5. Shri. Sudhir Joshi: Personal Finance

• 
  R.Z. Shah: We lost our Charter Member Rtn. R. Z. Shah during the year. He was great supporter of the VLS Project. Not only donating every year, R. Z. and Ansuyaben participated in online Students Interviews as well. He was present at the VLS Distribution Function on 5^th December 2021. This probably was his last appearance at our Club Function. We will sourly miss him and his pat on our backs for any good work.