Search Results

REACHA Partnership with IBM and Government of Madhya Pradesh! Directorate of Skill Development, Madhya Pradesh organized an ‘ITI and Industry Linkage Meet, Madhya Pradesh’ on Wednesday, 25 May 2022. The event was attended by reputed delegates from across the country. Mr Nikhil Pant, CEO, REACHA and Mr Hitesh Goyal, IBM Project Head, REACHA, represented REACHA and IBM SkillsBuild at the platform. Shri Jitendra Singh Raje, IAS, Director - Skill Development, GoMP, delivered the welcome address speech and Sh. Akash Tripathi, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Technical Education, Skill Development and Employment, GoMP, shared the opening remarks. Mr Hitesh Goyal presented a detailed overview of the IBM SkillsBuild programme. During the MOU signing ceremony, an MOU was signed between IBM and the Government of MP for IBM’s IBM SkillsBuild programme, with REACHA being the implementing partner to the project. We are grateful to the Government of Madhya Pradesh for trusting us with this opportunity.

We have launched KOJO - Coding and Basic Computer programme (Training to 120 Youth) in Baramulla with ONGC support after a successful pilot project. We are also collaborating with the Education Department of Baramulla for this project. The Kojo - Coding project is in full alignment with National Education Policy - NEP 2020. The objective is to develop Kojo Instructors who can be engaged/absorbed by Schools that will be soon mandated to include coding as part of their school curriculum under NEP 2020. Thus, as a first mover approach, the project is a potential placement linked 21st Century Skill Training initiative that will prepare the youth to compete for coding-related jobs in Schools.

REACHA sincerely appreciates the opportunity provided to it by the Indian Army and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd CSR to serve the nation through focused efforts at Baramulla, Kashmir since 2016. Presenting a film on the project journey and impact developed by ONGC - released in April 2022 by ONGC CSR.

A group of 30 girls underwent a 45 day employment linked course on Retail trade at Kupwara in partnership with TRUST FOR RETAILERS & RETAIL ASSOCIATES OF INDIA (TRRAIN), Indian Army and Retailers Association's Skill Council of India As part of this training they visited retail malls in Srinagar as part of an educational trip. DC Kupwara was the Chief Guest as REACHA certified 30 young women at Kupwara on 3rd April 2022….with support from Indian Army and TRUST FOR RETAILERS & RETAIL ASSOCIATES OF INDIA (TRRAIN). About 20 out of these 30 girls have got jobs within 1 month of completion of the training. An exciting journey starts for these young achievers!! Our Girls from Kupwara are on way to start the journey to transform Kashmir!!

The dialogue covers the following: Krishna walks us through the time when he realized his irrational commitment towards social impact and social development of the country. Touch upon important factors leading up to formation of Sattva, and then the focus behind the organization. Significance of the name Sattva and how it aligns with organization’s mission. Explain how innovative and economically viable models that strive to make the society a better place are being created and used by the Sattva team. Major trends that Krishna has observed during his decade long experience in social sector space in India. Challenges faced when Sattva was a start up. Challenges faced when Sattva has become a company with about 500 employees. Krishna explains how he deals with adversity, high pressure situations personally/professionally. Advise to someone who is listening to this and might be unsure about getting into this space even though making society a better place to live in interests them. Some of the key learnings that came out of this dialogue were: Krishna talks about the usual path that people chose during his days, which was to get the masters and go abroad. He had this feeling of how he could contribute back to India (his country). Krishna actively volunteered in NGOs and CSR departments of companies where he worked at during his early career days. He got to realize the real important problems on ground in India through these experiences. He mentions that his experiences at INSEAD made him realize and feel that his goal was to create something sustainable in India that could address the problems in India and also on the side it could be a for profit entity that could generate income. Talks about how going abroad for higher education was a big game changer. It helped him to understand other cultures, different perspectives of people and challenges across the globe. He mentions his interest towards entrepreneurship opportunities leading towards solving problems within the society, and not just make money. The meaning behind name Sattva - Balancing social and business objectives. It was to realize balance/equilibrium. Importance of coexistence of business and society and not having to choose one. (Many and's at work) Fundamental thinking principle of Sattva is: Anything that is done with the company is targeted towards solving a problem. The challenge of social sector has been that it is project oriented and not problem solving oriented often times. If you think of it as a problem solving situation then economics, ROI has to work. The investment needs to make sense, and it has to be scalable and sustainable. Creating scalable and impactful operating models within the social sector that can solve the problem eventually! Some highlights of social sector in India: There has been significant amount of innovation, work that has happened (scalable). Very nice products/solutions that are actually solving problems have come on the ground. The donor ecosystem has changed a lot. CSR has become a very important part of the India ecosystem. More collaboration between Government and NGOs is starting to happen. Lot more talent is coming into this sector at an early age. There is a massive shift of becoming data and tech oriented in this sector. Some key challenges that Sattva faced as the organization was in its initial stages and was growing - Getting the balance between impact created and finances of the organization, Sattva had an impact first mindset and then at the same time become financially independent approach. Second challenge was to invest in a culture that was to build a team that is focused on solving problems on the ground but also is very entrepreneurial. Solving problem of the world that we all equally own. Building the ownership within the people was very important. A lot of focus on creating a good team. Next challenge is the question of how scalable is this, how to make more solutions digitized, how to make some processes more system dependent at the same time not lose the person and the touch. Bring technology but also be people centric, customize but be scalable. Go deep into Bharat but also go global. Dealing adversity - one has to learn how to be extremely self aware. Need to be able to distance yourself with issue at hand. You cannot take it personally, learn to compartmentalize issues so that one thing does not affect another thing. Learn to reward yourself. Taking care of yourself is very important. In your difficult situation pause and then respond rather react immediately. What is Social Sector now? A lot of times one thing that there is not enough pay in this sector, but with time this has evolved and people can live a very comfortable life being in this sector. This is the future, sustainable focus will be the key. It is important to think about it as a main stream sector. If someone cannot directly work full time into this sector - they can start today by changing and reflecting on their lifestyle. Lead a life that is good for the planet. "Talks about the importance of being minimalist". This is far better than doing 2 hours a week volunteering activity!!

George Polsky shares his learnings at Harvard University where he did his undergraduate degree. He then goes on to share his journey of 6-7 years after college of different experiences that led him to where he is today...... In this exciting dialogue we touched upon the following: Main learnings that George had at Harvard University and as he grew up…How did these lead him to think about entering into the social sector and creating Street Squash? Street squash gives a lot of focus on education of the kids enrolled in the program. How does the model work? What is the overall objective of the program? What has been the impact of Street Squash in terms of child development? What are some of the challenges that George faces while running a non profit organization? George being an active Squash Player and captain of the Harvard Squash team describes how has playing a sport helped/continue to help him in his life? What are some of the qualities that he looks for in someone, who he would want to be a part of Street Squash? How does George deal with a situation that involves a lot of pressure, and where the outcome might be uncertain? Advice that he would like to give to the audience about life/leading a more meaningful life? Some Key learnings that came out of this dialogue were: Always being active with giving back to community activities starting from an early age Importance of feeling the passion for what you do (Circumstances and Upbringing can play a role in this). Importance of time that George gave to himself after graduating from college and before embarking on the journey of Street Squash. Different experiences helped him a lot and led him to where he is today. The time when George was a school teacher, he specifically became interested in the kids who were not performing well. He started thinking and questioning as to what was going on in their lives that was stopping them to perform well. As part of the Social Studies Masters, George was placed to perform field work as part of the course. George got placed in an education center and a psychiatrics ward around NYC area which further helped him to understand the the lives of kids from some of the underprivileged areas. Oftentimes, we just end up doing the things that have been created in the society based on preset notions. We tend to blindly follow these without questioning them. George shares when he went on to pursue his masters, he really did not know what his end goal was. This helped him to keep his mind free and stay creative. We discussed the importance of having an "open mind" and not being very set on the common notions. Something might come your way that you may have never considered and you can only welcome it if you have an open mind. Touched upon the importance of Squash in George's life. He has been playing Squash for more than 45 years. Playing Squash has helped him to stay very fit, especially as he is getting older. Squash has helped George to meet people from across the globe. People who play the game becomes very close, as it is relatively a smaller community. It helps you to build special friendships! Dealing with tough and uncertain situations: There are many times in life when doors are closed, and things look tough and challenging. For George, it was the determination that helped him to keep moving forward. One's attitude, perseverance and tenacity are important qualities to have in order to move forward fearlessly. Important to have the "I am going to get this done" attitude. When you know you are passionate about something, for the love of it, you would not stop and will make things happen. Be around people who lift you up and see opportunities to do good positive things and who are not focused on "why it can't happen" but rather focus on "why it should happen".

We began our journey on 9 March 1992. REACHA team has been at Baramulla Kashmir since 8 March 2022 with our staff and children and youth along with the Indian Army. We celebrated Women's Day on 8 March 2022 and on 9 March 2022 cut a cake for REACHA @30. Our sincere gratitude to all our partners since inception - ONGC, Genpact, NASSCOM Foundation, Titan, IBM, REC Foundation, Tata Power, Diageo for their continued support, trust and encouragement without which REACHA wouldn’t have been able to achieve this milestone. Our salute to the Indian Army for trusting us and giving us the opportunity to strengthen its work in Kashmir to make INDIA STRONG and RESILIENT. Our thanks to the dedicated TEAM REACHA that continues to work day and night to transform - silently but deeply, in a sustainable manner. Over the years REACHA has impacted hundreds and thousands of lives across the length and breadth of the nation. These are the Changemakers that are attempting to bring India back to its greatness. The task is humongous but not impossible. We continue our efforts with much diligence, empathy, intent for good and nationalism. Your continued support, trust and blessings has powered REACHA to where it is today. Our thanks! Jai Hind!

Professor Ram Upadhayaya - currently based in Sweden is , Health Advisor to Southern African country of Lesotho; Medicinal Scientist infectious Disease and oncology - visiting professor Kwangwoon University, South Korea; Co founder and CEO Nth life Sciences Singapore; Head Medicinal Scientist ZedCe, Medicals AB Sweden; Medicinal Scientist at Harvard Medical School MA; Principal Health and Education Advisor - Uttar Pradesh Development Forum; and Principal Advisor (Healthcare) of SmartGaon Development Foundation shares findings from his extensive research on COVID 19. In this informative dialogue, we touched upon the following: What covid virus is and how does it affect human body? What happens in our body when we get vaccinated and how does that help us from further exposure to covid? Role of vaccination in people who are healthy and then in people who have pre existing conditions? Is there any difference? Is a healthy body okay without being vaccinated? What are T cells and why they are important? Can periodic vaccination exhaust these cells? Lifestyle Practices for Strengthening Host Defense: Importance of the following: Nutrition Stress Reduction/ management Sleep Exercise Social factors/ Connection Finally we touched upon the current vaccination efforts, and its impact in India..

REACHA team yesterday met Hon Yashodhara Raje Scindia, Minister of Sports and Youth Welfare, Technical Education and Skill Development and Employment of Madhya Pradesh. She welcomed our proposal to sign an MoU with IBM for IBMSkillsBuild with REACHA as Implementing Partner on lines of the Government of Goa Model, to train thousands of youth in 21st Century, Employment Oriented IT Skills in Madhya Pradesh as part of our nations quest to emerge a world leader in tech enabled economic superpower. Earlier in the day REACHA team had met Shri Jitendra Singh Raje (IAS), Director, Skill Development, Madhya Pradesh to prepare for the meeting with the Minister. REACHA remains steadfast as a national key enabler for collaborations, co-creation and convergence to catalyse nation-building as part of Hon PM Narendra Modi ji’s vision to transform India as it moves towards 100 years of Independence over the next 25 years.

REACHA would like to thank Jagran Lakecity University for joining hands with us in this nation building effort through IBM SkillsBuild. JLU Foundation for Incubation & Entrepreneurship (JLUFIE) is delighted to sign an MoU with 'REACHA' - the partner for IBM SkillsBuild Training project in India. This MoU entails collaborations in the area of Skill Building & Learning for students on digital platform, where they can achieve Industry-relevant skills, get IBM certified badges and seek employment opportunities. The MoU was signed by CEO of REACHA, Mr. Nikhil Pant and Executive Director of JLUFIE, Mr. Navniit Siingh Chatwal on behalf of JLU. Other notable dignatries present during the MoU were Vice Chancellor of Jagran Lakecity University, Dr. sandeep shastri and Dean of Faculty of Jounalism & Creative Studies, Dr. Prof. Diwakar Shukla.

REACHA Dialogues: Some points to ponder #1 Starting this dialogue/forum, as often times we find ourselves in situations where we do not have answers to a given situation in our lives, and we tend to be in a lot of confusion on deciding what the next steps could be! Over the past many years, continuous reflection of these situations - oftentimes have led me to question what our existence means, and how each one of us can lead a happier life and at the same time contribute and make society a better place to live in our personal/professional capacity. I would love for people to share their comments and experiences on this forum. I firmly believe that collective sharing and exchange of ideas can help us in understanding what it takes to attain a state of calmness/satisfaction in our daily lives with what we have. Following is the first topic to start the forum with Often we find ourselves in situations where we have no control of a given situation, and sometimes these situations bother us and scare us too. How can in situations like these one can avoid thinking about wrong and sad scenarios, and also try to be fearless? How can one learn how to let go of things that are not in our control (Eg - someone's health, injury etc. My grandfather and I have had a lot of discussions on such deep topics, and some of the things that he mentioned in response to the above question include the following: Concerns about what may happen are due to our imagined fears, so if we become anxious about those fears we ourselves punish ourselves. निश्चिन्त रहो, निर्भीक बनो, मैं तुम्हारे साथ हूँ - is the simplest assurance that Gurudev is giving us. Then, Swami Vivekananda tells us - "If anything makes you weak, physically, intellectually & spiritually, reject as poison. Truth is strengthening, Truth is purity, Truth is all knowledge". So, whenever we are overcome by such fears - we can repeat these quotations to ourselves a few times & take a few deep breaths & can also listen to some good music. Remember that whatever happens, happens for our good only. Look forward to hearing your comments on the above! Thank you.

Dr. Jaideep Chandra shares experiences and learnings as a Neurosurgeon for more than 20 years Dr. Jaideep Chandra shares learnings from what he thinks takes to master fear and confidence while performing surgeries to how to face the current covid situation in India.