Aapna Punjab is committed to the sustainable socio-economic development
of rural backward areas of Punjab via the following initiatives:
English-medium
schools
Build and run English-medium schools in backward areas of Punjab.
The first school, with a total initial capacity of 2,000 students, was started in May 2006 in village Pahuwind (District Amritsar).
As of May 1, 2006, 150 students in Class 1 to 4, have enrolled and have started their schooling. Eight out of sixteen acres of land belonging to the gurdwara was allocated for the school. The school was designed by an eminent architect of Amritsar. Bhai GurIqbal Singh, of Mata Koulaji Bhilai Kendar Amritsar, laid the foundation of the school on 26th January 2005, the birthday of Shaeed Baba Deep Singh. Because this is an English-medium school we decided to restrict enrollment from class 1-4 so that we have sufficient time to make them proficient in English. Each year we will add a class.
Government schools in backward areas of Punjab are more or less non-existent. Many of the school buildings have been pulled down by local criminal dons or the Panchyats. All the schools are under staffed with teachers. In some schools, the student-teacher ratio is 300:1. In addition, teacher absenteeism plagues these government schools. A 2005-06 report by Punjabi University states that rural Punjab is being left behind in terms of education.Without proper education or any large-scale industry, getting jobs is next to impossible.
English, which is the standard de facto global language, is only taught from class 6 in Punjab, whereas in other States like Kerala, Tamil Naidu, etc English is introduced from class 1. As a result, a majority of the jobs in the communications, IT, call center sector in Punjab are being taken up by people from outside the State. Therefore, Aapna Punjab felt that there was an immediate and urgent need to lay an emphasis on education via good affordable English-medium schools in these areas.
Education (more so in English) will result in better employment opportunities for the graduates.
These schools will be cheap so that every family can afford to send their child to such schools. If people sponsor a child's education at US$20/month, then the school can afford to have quality teachers and supporting infrastructure, including transportation.
Computer
courses/training
Set up computer labs on gurdwara properties and schools in rural areas of Punjab to provide computer training to the youth.
As of March 2006, Aapna Punjab is running a computer lab in village Pahuwind, Dist. Amritsar and plans to open several more soon. Aapna Punjab is also a member of the Mission2007 project.
Without proper education or any large-scale industry, getting jobs is next to impossible in Punjab . English, which is the standard de facto global language, is only taught from class 6 in Punjab , whereas in other states like Kerala, Tamil Naidu, Maharashtra etc, English is introduced from class 1. For the few that do learn English, there are no affordable computer courses or training available. Therefore, most of the jobs in the communications, call centers, and IT sector in Punjab are being taken up by people from outside the State. Aapna Punjab's goal is to bring affordable computer education to the rural backward areas of Punjab. Please contact us if you would like to donate computers, funds or your time.
Health Care
About 1,800 square yards of land on the main Bhikiwind-Pahuwind (Dist. Amritsar) road
has been earmarked for the first charity hospital. The hospital will
have the best medical facilities. In addition, a drug de-addiction
center will also function in this hospital. Rooms will be built for
rehabilitation of drug victims. Similar hospitals will be modeled
after the successful completion of this hospital.
This initiative is currently on hold due to lack of appropriate funding.
Please
contact us if you can help in any way.
Fight against
Drugs & AIDS (Mai Bhago Fauj)
Punjab is facing a drug
addiction and AIDS crisis (also read article1, article2). The menace of drug addiction and the AIDS epidemic in Punjab has reached an alarming proportion. There isn't a village that is not affected. A whole generation is as good as destroyed. Alcohol is not the only poison. There is opium, charas, ganja, mandrax, smack, heroin, cough syrups, shoe polish, lizard's tails to name a few.
The drugs and AIDS problem in Punjab is a key agenda for Aapna Punjab’s platform. For example, recently in August 2006, Aapna Punjab organized a massive anti-drug rally in village Pahuwind. Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Taran Taran, S. Jaspal Singh, SSP, Mr. Parveen Kumar Sinha and Civil Surgeon Taran Taran attended the rally and the drug de-addiction project was announced – click here to read details in our newsletter. Both the DC and SSP assured full help and support for the de-addiction project. Mostly Ex-servicemen from the area will be hired and given responsibility to implement the project on drug addiction, AIDS and female feticide as these servicemen are very well disciplined and can be relied upon. Co-operation of the village Panchayats will also be solicited. A US NGO, SikhGiving was also present and pledged support. Aapna Punjab is also in talks with United Sikhs to do a long-term sustainable anti-drug/AIDS project in the area.
We propose to group 10 villages and put these under the charge of an ex-serviceman who will motivate Panchayats to form 5-member committees of dedicated people in each village. This committee will identify drug addicts and help them by counseling them and encouraging them to undergo the de-addiction treatment (which will be provided by Aapna Punjab, under full medical supervision). The addicts will not be treated as culprits but as victims. List of addicts will be prepared and efforts will be made to provide them with free medical treatment, prevention and awareness education, job opportunities (in some cases) and social support.
This village committee will also identify the drug peddlers and will provide information so that these sources can be plugged with the help of the police. Photographs will be taken when possible.
Drug selling outlets will be forced to close by the police. Currently opium, smack, phuki, heroin, mandrax, etc are very easily available from multiple sources. The district police chief, Mr. P.K. Sinha has assured us full support which is of vital importance as Aapna Punjab in its survey realized that it is the smugglers, peddlers, chemists, doctors, some shop keepers, law enforcing agencies, some politicians and police personnel that are the beneficiaries who support such illegal activities for their petty economic interest. This nexus between the smugglers, police and politicians has been identified as the main source of supplying drugs. The utmost need is to break this network and Aapna Punjab has the police support and its own resources to do just that.
The other function of these village committees will be to find out and report premature deaths of individuals in their village. Our mobile team will visit the victim’s family and find out about the victim and based on the information, encourage the family to get tested for HIV. Soldiers on leave, touring businessmen, truckers, etc. all fall under the high risk category and will be encourage undergo HIV tests. Public will be educated about the importance of getting HIV tested before marriage. This message will be spread via our representatives, awareness campaigns via posters/media and sermons by village gurdwara granthis.
Welfare
centers for women
Run welfare centers for handicrafts and tailoring where village women
can make goods for sale and can learn such skills. Earning money of
their own will raise their self esteem.
As of April 2006, sixteen Welfare Centers for Women have become functional in Village Patti, Pahuwind, Narla, Bhikiwind, Makhi, Voltoha, Phoola, Sursingh, Veeram, Khalra, Kalsia, Amarkot, Rotoke, Narli, Darajke and Khem Karn to train women in tailoring (cutting/stitching) of clothes and handicrafts (household items like bedcovers, etc). These recent pictures are from Aapna Punjab's new welfare centers.
The locals have show great enthusiasm and are enrolling in large numbers. There are about 500 women participating in these 16 centers. The teachers are trained Poly Technical Institutes diploma holders. The fee charged is nominal at Rs 30 per month, so that the students don't get the feeling that this is just a free/charity undertaking. The quality of the work is excellent. The goal of Aapna Punjab is to start one hundred such centers over time.
Aapna Punjab can do with your marketing help. Would you like to purchase handicrafts made by these women?
Can you help us in the sale of these handicrafts so that we can begin to generate revenue for these women?
Your
feedback is appreciated.
Human-Rights/Social
Justice
The most dangerous nexus these days in rural Punjab is the political,
police and criminal nexus. This has to be broken by bringing about
awareness among the illiterate masses so that they can stand up against
this nexus. It is this nexus which encourages the likes of Nihang
Poohla to flourish and thrive. The public must be made aware of their
rights and encouraged to stand up for them.
Aapna Punjab, under the leadership of
Col G.S. Sandhu, Chairman of Aapna Punjab and Chairman of the Majha
ex-serviceman Human Rights Front, has started a campaign against this
nexus. As a result, not only the notorious Nihang Ajit Singh Poohla and eight
of his aides are behind bars facing numerous murder charges, but 3
police officers are facing serious charges. Several prominent politicians
and police offers have been charged with various crimes, from selling
government paddy, to siphoning crores from the canal department to
growing poppy crop. Several mid-level police officers have also been
disciplined.
People from all
over Punjab convene daily at the office of Aapna Punjab, in village
Pahuwind (District Amritsar), to express their grievances. The phone number of the office is (+91) 1851 272599.
Browse the
Newsroom Section on our website to read
all the cases taken up by Aapna Punjab (Col Sandhu) to help the
common Punjabi against this nexus. Examples include;
LandGrab Case,
Exposing MLA in UDBS scam,
Poor Taxi Driver,
Exposing Govt.,
SGPC accountability, Dalit widow and more.
