LEaders Clean Gulbarga and Raise Health Awareness

Shivani D. Patil couldn’t help but notice that many people of Gulbarga were not making full use of the government dustbin, resulting in many environmental and health issues. The trash was scattered around the area, and children would play in this unsanitary environment. Shivani, along with Vaishnavi Kulkarni, Bhagyashree Saraf, Rakesh Sitnoor and Divyarani S.K, noticed the unfriendly odour and the increase in mosquitos during monsoon season as well, and decided to take action to make it a cleaner, healthier space. The first obtained permission from the Commissioner, and later convened with a local environmental engineer and a health inspector, and they cleaned the area. Additionally, they visited the Mayor, who personally visited the site as well. They requested that a door-to-door garbage collection be formally put in place to address the systemic waste and health issues in the community, which is to be implemented soon. The Leaders then went door-to-door, visiting with people and asking them to re-consider their waste removal practices. They encouraged the residents to lessen their use of plastic, to separate their dry and wet waste, and to use their dustbin and empty it into the garbage truck when it comes. Overall, this project benefitted 1000 people.

"Behas" Debate Competition Connects Local Youth to Local Problems

 LEADer Vikas Jain of KLEIT, Hubli had the idea to connect the youth of Hubli/Dharwad together to discuss some of the biggest problems facing society. He organized a debate competition, called "Behas" which invited students from 12 schools throughout Hubli and Dharwad to participate.  Participants were given the task to prepare power point presentations on real problems that they found in their respective Hubli/Dharwad communities.  The participants with the best power point presentations moved on to the next round, the group discussion.  The final round of the competition consisted of a one-on-one debate between two students.

Behas was a good way to give local school students exposure to new activities and to serious social problems.  But school students were not the only people who gained exposure during this project; LEAD college students will be taking up projects that provide solutions to the problems presented by the school students in the competition.

Vikas' project was showcased during Yuva Summit 2014.

 

 

LEADer Reduces Cracker Pollution in Davangere by 10% Through Anti-Cracker Awareness Programs

Although playing with crackers can be fun, they do pose some problems.  Every year during holidays and festivals, people get hurt from cracker incidents.  What's more, cracker wrappers are usually not disposed of and  pollute our environment.  LEADer Anuj Kulkarni of Nutan College wanted to do his part in reducing cracker pollution.  He conducted "anti-cracker awareness" programs in 15 schools of Harihar, Davangere, and Chitradurga.  During these sessions he collected signatures from students who had pledged to not burst crackers during festival time.  Approximately 5, 600 student signatures were collected.  He even collaborated with the Karnataka Pollution Control Board to host an anti-crackers awareness program in his college.

Studies show that there has been a 10% decrease in pollution after festivals in Davangere.   His project received lots of local media attention. 

Anuj deserves special recognition for capitalizing on the opportunities presented in his project.  Whenever he visited schools to conduct anti-cracker awareness programs, he also collected old clothes and books from the students to redistribute to needy children. 

Anuj's project was showcased at Yuva Summit 2014.

Belgaum LEADer Brings Knowledge of Malnutrition to 200 Mothers

Malnutrition is a major problem in India.  Children who are malnourished often suffer from severe health conditions later on in their lives.  Malnutrition is easy to prevent, but only if one knows the steps to take to prevent it.   Priya Muchandikar, a LEADer from Jain College of Engineering, Belgaum, made it her goal to do everything she could to protect children from malnutrition.  She prepared handmade pamphlets and videos about malnutrition and showed them to 200 pregnant women and mothers with young children.  These women are now taking the proper cautions to protect their children so that their children can lead brighter futures.

LEAD Coimbatore Students Place 1500 Stickers on Vehicle Headlights

Driving at night can be dangerous, but chances of accidents increase due to high beam lights.  When drivers turn on their high beam headlights, drivers coming in the opposite direction often get blinded and are therefore unable to see the road in front of them.  One way to prevent this from happening is to place black stickers on the high beam headlights.   On December 25th, 18 students from Sri Shakthi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, set to the streets of the city and stuck 1500 stickers on vehicle headlights.   The team received positive response from the people they approached, and the students are feeling happy that they've done their part to help prevent vehicle accidents. 

Davangere LEADer Implements Terrace Gardening to Provide Sustainable Solutions for Numerous Problems

Terrace gardening, the art of recycling waste material to create personal gardens, has various benefits for the environment and for our health.  Not only does terrace gardening allow us to make use of non-biodegradable plastics, but it is also a good way to grow healthy, organic plants and vegetables right in our own home.  LEADer Swaroop has a vision to spread terrace gardening throughout the city of Davangere.  So far, he has distributed pamphlets and seeds to 30 homes to spread information about terrace gardening.  He even spread knowledge about terrace gardening in his college by inaugurating a terrace garden in his college on Kannada Rajoytsava.

 

Through his terrace gardening project, Swaroop has tackled numerous problems at the local level in a sustainable, low-cost. He has plans to expand his project to more residents. 

Eye Donation Video Competition Attracts 200 Students and Local Doctors to Promote Awareness

Davangere LEADer Chaitra wanted to promote eye donations, but she wanted to do so in an innovative way.  To encourage student and community involvement and to raise awareness for eye donations, Chaitra conducted an video making competition.  Participants were asked to make videos showcasing the importance of eye donations.  

 

Chaitra organized a press meet to promote the event.  200 students, both LEAD and non-LEAD members, and from engineering, medial, and degree colleges, participated in the competition.  Chaitra raised Rs. 22,500 from Dr. Chandrashekar (Nayana Eye Hospital) to be given as cash prizes to the competition winners.  Three well-known doctors in Davangere were appointed as judges and Saroja Dixit, a social worker, distributed prizes to the best three videos.  

 

Chaitra's project inspired participants to take eye donation pledges.  Chaitra received a great deal of appreciation from Nayana Eye Hospital staff and its patients.  

 

Nizamabad LEADer Opens Discussion About Women Harassment Problem

Women harassment still remains a major problem due to lack of awareness.  LEADer S. Priyanka from Women's College, Nizamabad, decided to do her part to shed light onto this issue.  With support from the District Judge, she conducted an anti-women harassment seminar at her college. 

The event attracted 120 people. Radhakirshna Chouhan (Nizamabad District Judicial First Class Magistrate), Rajkumar Subedar (Advocate and President, Distrcit Bar Association of Nizamabad), and Manik Raju (Advocate) were actively involved in the even.  These members of the legal community added perspective and scope to the event.  

Because of this LEADer's initiative, different members of the community united to further promote the discussion of the safety of women.  

Belgaum LEADer Driven to Make India Polio-Free

LEADer Rutuja Patil of Jain College of Engineering, once heard about WHO (World Health Organization) personnel that would visit India and conduct surveys detailing polio cases in different areas. Instead of just leaving all of the work for WHO, though, Rutuja recognize that she, too, had the ability to help India become a Polio free nation by conducting such surveys. After seeking help from a Belgaum physician, Rutuja and her team went to Mujavar Galli of Peeranawadi, near Belgaum, and surveyed the residents regarding whether or not their children had received polio vaccinations. The team spent two days surveying the area and reached out to 150 homes.  From the team's efforts, 250 children were surveyed and 230 were given information about polio and provided with medication. 

In addition to conducting the survey, Rutuja also helped some pregnant women she encountered acquire a "Mother's Card", a government privilege card for pregnant women.

Through her LEAD project, Rutuja is hoping to contribute to the WHO's mission to declare India as Polio-free, and she has certainly made a great impact so far! Rutuja now has plans to assist the WHO officials in conducting another survey in the village of Boragaon, near Chikodi.  

Belgaum Leadership Camp LEADers Carry Out Initiatives to Maximize Learning

LEAD Leadership Camps take place across all the locations year-round to provide students with practical exposure to leadership skills, communication, team building, and more.  In the Basic Leadership Camp that was recently conducted in Belgaum, participating students maximized their learning by implementing two unique initiatives outside in the community. 

The first team made the best of local resources to help the residents of a slum area in Mahantesh Nagar.  Before visiting the slum, the students collected used household materials and clothes to donate to people.  Additionally, they collected banners from shops to be used as shelter for those families who live in huts. The collected items were distributed to more than 50 families living in the area.  The team's initiative is not ending there.  The students also spoke to the slum residents and made a record of the daily problems that they face.  The team intends to find solutions to these various problems, and to carry out these solutions in the near future. 

The second teams sought to raise awareness and combat women violence by spreading knowledge of self-defense.  The team performed evocative skits portraying different ways in which women are threatened in society, followed by the teaching of self-defense techniques for how to escape from those threatening situations.  After the skit, the LEADers devoted extra time to teach 15 young girls different methods for escaping from kidnapping and harassment. 

 

These action-based initiatives demonstrate just how our LEADers are willing to channel their energy and strengths to  solve major community issues. 

LEAD Shravana 2K13 Raises Rs. 15,000 for Deaf Children in Davangere

On October 5th and 6th, 2013, in honor of World Deaf Day, Davangere LEADers of the BIET LEAD Cell executed LEAD Shravana, a major event consisting held to raise awareness and funds for deaf children throughout Davangere.

35 LEADers worked hard day and night to make this event a huge success.  The event attracted over 160 students from partnering colleges of Davangere and consisted of 17 competitions that aimed to bring out and showcase participants' talents.  The competitions were as follows:

Quiz Competition

Essay Writing in English

Debate in English

Essay Writing in Kannada
Cooking Without Fire

TShirt Painting

Debate in Kannada

Solo Singing

Drawing Competition

Group Dance

Rangoli
Slow Cycle Race

Speed Walk Race
Chess

Cricket

Treasure Hunt

Solo Dance

In addition to the competitions, the event also included a story of the BIET LEAD Cell journey, prize distributions, and guest speeches.  The Valedictory function was held in the presence of Prof. Y Vrushabendrappa (Director), Dr. Mallikarjun (Professor of ENT, JJM College), H B Manjunath (Renowned Cartoonist), and Dr. N S Basavaraj (LEAD Faculty Coordinator).

According to Chandan, a BIET LEADer and one of the primary event organizers, a grand total of Rs. 15,000 was successfully raised for the event to benefit deaf children throughout Davangere.

News of the event was published in Udayavani and Janathavani newspapers and reached thousands of readers throughout the city.

"Best Out of Waste" Competition Instills Creative and Environmental Consciousness In 40 Children

In today's society, accumulating waste has become a serious environmental threat.  One way to solve this problem is to find new uses for old waste.  This approach, however, requires creativity and out-of-the-box thinking.  BVBCET LEADer Medha Hege took advantage of her LEAD platform to instill this creative, and necessary, mindset within young children.  She visited Seva Student Home for Boys and conducted a competition among the children for creating "best out of waste", eco-friendly models.  40 boys participated in the competition.

Nidasoshi LEADer Helps Villagers Protect Themselves Against Dangerous Diseses

Diseases such as Typhoid, Malaria, and Dengue are deadly diseases and occur frequently.  But, if people take proper precautions, they can easily protect themselves against these diseases.  As people who live in villages generally aware of how to properly protect themselves, HIT Nidasoshi LEADer Kalayani visited the nearby village of Sankeshwar to teach the village people how to effectively protect themselves against Typhoid, Malaria, and Dengue.  Kalayani and her team of other LEADers first consulted a doctor, Dr. Maldar, to find out more information about the diseases, how they spread, and how to take precautions against them.  Dr. Maldar informed the students that Malaria and Dengue are spread by mosquitoes, which are attracted to stagnant water, while Typhoid is spread by consuming contaminated water and food in dirty surroundings.  The team of LEADers visited more than 20 homes in the village and informed them about the importance of maintaining a clean, hygienic environment to protect themselves against these deadly diseases.  The people listened and considered the students' suggestions seriously and thanked the LEADers for providing them with life-saving information.

LEAD Launches in Nizamabad with Four Successful Initiatives

LEAD has just been recently launched in Nizamabad, Andhrapradesh, in the Kakatiya Sandbox region (Nizamabad, Karimnagar, and Medak) and on October 6^th, Deshpande Foundation LEAD students from several Nizamabad colleges united with a common goal: to create positive changes throughout Nizamabad. With coordination support from Mr. Santosh Ittanagi, over 60 student LEAD members from Nishita Degree and PG College, Vijay Rural Engineering College, Vijay College of Engineering for Women, Khatriya College of Engineering, Kakatiya Institute of Engineering for Women, and S.S.R. Degree College led initiatives tackling four persisting problems in Nizamabad.

LEAD members congregated at the LEAD office (located at Rukmini Chambers, Vinayaknagar) at 7:30 AM and moved towards the Nizamabad District Hospital. In the presence of Mr. Satyanarayana (Hospital Superintendent) and Mr. Sravan Kumar (RMO), the LEADers worked together to improve the hospital compound.  After cleaning up the hospital ground, the students planted several saplings and painted the exterior walls and parking zones.  Mr. Satyanarayana mentioned that he was very impressed by the initiative. 

At 10:30 AM, the LEADers moved from the Government Hospital, divided themselves into groups, and hit the streets of Nizamabad to spread awareness about the importance of protecting the environment by saving fuel. Fuel is harmful for the environment, and a lot of fuel gets wasted when drivers leave their motors turned on while stopped at traffic junctions. 

Carrying banners, the students approached drivers and encouraged them to turn off their motors while stopped at traffic junctions.  

10 LEAD students went to the District Railway Station.  Traffic was a major problem at the Railway Station.  Although a parking zone had been allocated by the Railway Department, most drivers were not aware of location of the parking zone and instead parked their vehicles wherever they chose, thereby creating heavy traffic congestion and disorganization at the station.  The students improved this traffic problem by creating signs to direct incoming drivers towards the allocated parking zone.  

The day ended with a candle march against women harassment, one of India’s most prevalent problems. The 60 LEAD students marched together throughout the city carrying candles and placards to give remembrance for past victims of women harassment, and to create awareness in order to stop women harassment from occurring in the future.  The peaceful rally inspired the public, and many people expressed appreciation for the students.  

These first Nizamabad initiatives were successful in uniting LEAD students to work for society.  More importantly, though, these initiatives are a testament to how LEAD is solving major problems by inspiring action and developing leadership within energetic college students.  We can’t wait to see what all LEAD Nizamabad has in store!

Sirsi LEADer Teaches Environmental Awareness to 50 Villagers

LEADer Aravind Hegde from MES College of Commerce, Sirsi, conducted "Vanmahotsava" ("Go Green Revolution"), a program to create environmental awareness in his village, Jaddigadde.  After convincing the forestry department to donate over 80 samplings, he gathered 50 villagers and encouraged them to plant the saplings in their home.  Additionally, he taught the villagers about natural rainwater harvesting, and several villagers are now implementing this technique. 

LEADer Promotes Medicinal Plants and Fundraises for Charity

GMIT LEADer, Mounica, wanted to make the most use of her free time on weekends.  In her project "Green Peace", Mounica promoted medicinal plants in her community.  She and her team printed and distributed pamphlets to 50 houses containing information on the medicinal benefits of tulsi plants.  The team then sold tulsi plants, keeping Rs. 5 as a profit for each plant that was sold to be later donated to charity.  Many residents came forward and encouraged and appreciated the students for their efforts.  

 

Davangere LEADer Teaches 60 Children About Road Safety

BIET LEADer, Santosh, used to hear many stories about school children getting into serious accidents.  To help protect school children against accidents in the future, he conducted an awareness program for the 60 children of Premalaya Orphanage in Davangere. He taught the children about road signs and encouraged the children to teach their friends everything they had learned about traffic safety.

Santosh says that his LEAD project was a memorable experience.  The warden of the orphanage appreciated Santosh for his initiative.  Santosh looks forward to using LEAD as a platform to implementing his future ideas.