FOUNDATION FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT (FFRD)

(Estd:April 15, 2011, Trust Reg. No-41301100351/15/04/2011, Vol. No- 8) At/p.o/p.s: KARANJIA, W.No-15 (Near Electric Office), Dist: Mayurbhanj,Odisha- 757037 Mobile:+919439058835, Phone:+916796-220388, Email: baidya_1231@yahoo.co.in

Development is freedom

Walking miles to win smiles

Dear Sir/Madam, Even after six decades of Indian independence, for many people in rural areas of Mayurbhanj, Odisha, the access to sustainable livelihood is a distant dream. The primary impediment to solving this problem is lack of awareness about various sustainable livelihood options available for the rural and in core of this impediment lies the unavailability of (or inaccessibility to) support at grass-root level in terms of knowledge, guidance and seed capital to carry out profitable agricultural activities.

Who am I and what is the aim of this foundation? My name is Baidyanath Sing,
an alumnus of 1999 batch of B.E (Electrical) of R.E.C Rourkela, also an alumnus of 2002 batch of M.Tech of I.I.Sc, Bangalore. I am proud to be an NITian. My four years stint at R.E.C Rourkela, a memoir full of love and affection, is the best part of my life. During those days, I didnt have enough to pay my hostel expenses, tuition fees etc. and it was the support from my batch mates that helped me sail through. Over these years, I realized that mine was not an isolated case and such financial difficulties are very common among the rural population, and more so among the tribal population of Mayurbhanj, Odisha, a group to which I belong. Many students drop out of the schools and colleges owing to the financial difficulties. This inspired me to do something to bring in a positive difference in the lives of the less fortunate people of rural India. After few years of service as a lecturer at an Engineering college, I set out to work full time as a social worker. I believe that the education that I got is something that I wanted, but what I needed is to work among the people to build a future that I wished to see. Since 2004, I have been working to create awareness among people in Karanjia and Kaptipada locality about their Rights as the citizens of this country and about various sustainable livelihood options available for them. Following is a list of various activities that I have undertaken so far. Spread awareness about forest rights among the tribals and lead efforts to prevent deforestation of Similipal biosphere I will be happy to mention here that due to our initiative and with the help of Forest department (Joint Forest Management, JFM) now all villagers are having JFM Organization. Counseled and encouraged the parents/children in villages to enroll to schools Promoted cultivation of Niger oil seeds for last 2 years over 50 acres of land in Karanjia. Assisted villagers in cultivation of Turmeric and Sweet potato over a limited area, but from next year, plan is to expand the activity to a larger scale. I also work as a FFE facilitator. FFE provides Rs 25000/- worth of financial support annually to each of the 3 bright and needy Engineering/Medical students from rural areas. Till now under me I have recommended 5 students one from NIT Roukela, one from Burla Engg College, one from CET Bhubaneswar, one from GITA Bhubaneswar and one from Keonjhar Mining Engineering College

Effort now is to make an organized attempt to promote agricultural activities to grow cash crop in the rural areas in order to improve the financial conditions of the villagers. I am working to set up a website to publish all the information about the organization, including the details of activities, funds raised and expenses in order to maintain the transparency.

Why am I writing this letter to you? Niger oil seed cultivation is one of the most
profitable agricultural activities that can be carried out by the farmers in Karanjia locality of Mayurbhanj, Odisha. The plan is to cultivate Niger seeds over 1000 (One thousand) acres of land. The project will cost around Rs 3,80,000/-(Three lakhs eighty thousand rupees). You may refer to the project report, attached along with this letter, for details. I need to raise this amount to fund the project. I know that you are aware of the suffering among the lives of poor villagers of this locality and might even be considering doing your bit to help. I request you to extend your generous support to make this project a success. I cannot thank enough Mr. Sandip Dasverma (1965), Mr. Sanjaya Mohanty (1980), Mr. Fhakir Ch.Mohanty (1971), Mr. Arun Rath (1981), Mr. Prasanta Kumar Naik (1981),Mr. Rajnarayan Marandi (1998), Mr.Nihar Ranjan Mohanta(1998), Mr. Sunaram Murmu (1999), Mr. Biswaranjan Das (1999), Mr. Piyush Swain (1999), Mr. Anjani Kumar (1999), Mr.Amaresh Tripathy, Mr. Srini rao, Mr. Rabinarayan Mishra !990) and others who have encouraged me at each and every step of my journey.

How can you help? Even the smallest of your donation amount will make a difference
to this project. To support the Niger oil seed project, please transfer (or deposit) your donation amount to the following bank account. FOUNDATION FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT A/C NO-31724586092 State Bank of India, KARANJIA IFS Code no-SBIN0001081 Thank you for your time to read through this letter. I convey my heartfelt gratitude to you for supporting the journey to participate in building a future that each of us wishes to see. Through your generous financial assistance, you can do your bit to alleviate poverty and suffering among the less privileged population of rural India. Kind Regards,

Baidyanath Sing Dirctor FOUNDATION FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT (FFRD)