FUNCTION REPORT

Date:                       February 06, 2005

Time:                      4.15 PM

Venue:                    St Mary’s Centenary Junior College, Secunderabad.

Chief Guest:           Dr. S.Sam Sundar Jaya Rajy, HJS, dist. Judge, Medak Dist, A.P.

Guests of Honor:   Dr Laxmi Brewa, USA & Fr M Arogyam, Principal, St, Mary’s Junior College and

Mr Anoop, Editor, Insight Magazine, New Delhi

Presided by:           A.Devdas, Hyderabad.

The function started at 4.15 PM, a little later than the scheduled time.

The guests were welcomed on to the dais by Mrs PVV Rao and were presented with bouquets by children.

The awardees reached the venue well in time before the function, as they had to come across various places from Andhra Pradesh. Out of 22 Scholarship awardees, 15 of them attended either in person or through a representative, a few of them along with their teachers. A Few others could not attend due to practical examinations.

Mr Benjamin Paul Kaila, USA, the founder of Ambedkar Scholarships project sent out an introductory message. Its Telugu version was read by Ms Vazra Sravani Kaila(9), a third grader and the English version by Master Pratheek Adidela(13), a seventh grader. In his message, Benjamin Kaila, explained the origin and scope of the project, why the project is named after Dr Ambedkar, the financial sources, importance of knowing the works of Dr Ambedkar. He finally requested the audience to support the project and spread about it to friends and acquaintances. He also thanked all the people involved and helped to implement this project successfully for 2004.

There was a loud applause for the inspiring message.

Later, Dr Laxmi Berwa of USA delivered an inspiring and touching message. He explained to the gathering how he suffered as a child for want of opportunity and financial support and how he became a medical professional in USA.  His message touched the hearts of the audience and a few of the students presented in the function pledged to help others when they grow up.

Dr. Berwa, in his speech, encouraged students to be at the top of everything they do and compete with others without fear. His slogan “Be inspired, none will put us down” was well received by the audience.

Mr Anoop from INSIGHT magazine, New Delhi urged dalits to remain united and stay together in order to have an impact on the society. He distributed one year’s subscription of INSIGHT to all the awardees. This subscription was sponsored by Mr Shiva Shankar of Madras. Mr Anoop requested the students to read the magazine regularly.

In his speech, Fr. Arogyam, Principal of St Mary’s Centenary Junior College, Secunderabad has stressed the importance of God as he is the only answer to all the needs of human beings. He also paid rich tributes to Dr Ambedkar and remembered his services to the Dalit community. “No student is dull if an opportunity is given”, said Fr. Arogyam.

In his address, the Chief guest, Dr Jayaraju said that this scholarship project should grow at the national level and it should grow in geometrical proportions every year. He stressed on positive attitude and positive behavior. He also said that dalit students should shed inferiority complex in them, feel proud of their identity and help others in need when come up in life. He reminded that this scholarship project is a right example in that direction. Commenting on the opportunities, he said that Dalits have more brain power than any of the so called upper castes, but they lack opportunities.

“No pain No gain”, was his advice to the students. He said that one should work hard and develop skills to reach the goal in mind. His words encouraged and delighted all those presented at the function.

A cheque of Rs:5,000, a Certificate of Achievement along with the three books sponsored by Mr Rama Krishna Bhupathi, USA and Mr Venkat Maroju, USA were presented to each of the Ambedkar Scholars. These were presented by the donors themselves to their respective scholars and the rest by the Chief Guest.

Response of Students/awardees:

Students were given an opportunity to speak at the function. Most of them thrilled because of the honor given to them for their hard work in a public function. They were inspired by the words of all the speakers and pledged that they would help others in their adult life. The “live bombs”, young girls from Cuddapah, extolled with their brave and elegant speech inspiring the rest of the audience.

All of them stated their goals in life – Doctor, Engineer, C.A., Teacher etc and pledged that they would work hard to achieve these goals at any cost.

Response from the Audience:

Mr Samuel, representative of Mr James Kommu, USA has advised the students to do the same work when they grow up fulfilling the wishes of the organizers of the project. He also promised his support to the project in future.

Mr Pilli Padma Rao, retired teacher and father of Mr PVV Rao - another key person in the project, responded at length and narrated how he had helped the poor when he was in service. “The designation doesn’t matter but the heart to help, matters”, he said. The audience responded to his inspiring speech with great applaud.

At the end, as customary, the guests were honored with mementos.

Mr Sandeep Chavan, another donor, offered vote of thanks.

The function ended at 7.15PM with the recital of the National Anthem by Master Pratheek and his friend Master Praneeth.

Everyone attended the function were treated with snacks and tea.

Highlights

The highlight of the function is an “ad-hoc” scholarship given by Dr Berwa to a student who got good marks in SSC Mr Darla Rajesh. On hearing the financial condition of the family and the hard work Rajesh put in to get to the top, Dr Berwa sanctioned a scholarship of Rs: 5,000 to Mr Darla Rajesh on the spot. The audience with great applause welcomed this kind gesture.  Incidentally we gave a scholarship to Rajesh’s sister, who did equally good in SSC.

There were a few non-dalits who attended the function and they were very impressed by the good work done by Ambedkar Scholarships.

Note:

The awards will be sent by mail to all those Ambedkar Scholars who could not attend the function.

The only disappointment was the lack of presence of Press. We sent press release to all newspapers in Hyderbad. We also contacted them personally in some cases. But to our disappointment, none of them turned up at the function except a reporter from “Maa TV” of Hyderabad.

We distributed a total of Rs: 1,20,000 (including Dr Berwa’s spontaneous scholarship) on the function apart from other gifts like books, Certificate of Achievement etc.

I am still waiting for the expense report from the organizers. I will send it as soon as it is available for everybody to see and check how we are suing the donations we receive.

We invite any sort suggestion to implement this project effectively in future. We invite your active participation in this small but effective project.