GENERAL SECRETARY REPORT 1. 01ST APR 2018 TO 31ST MAR 2019 Dear readers in the continuation of previous years’ good work, I feel blessed and happy to put forth before you the annual report of our organization for the year 2018-2019. With the patronage our well-wishers our organization has successfully completed 12 years. I am proud to announce that this year we took up fifteen projects and delivered them successfully. Also I would not hesitate to confess all this would have not been possible without your active and kind support. Some of the high lights of this year were – (1) Mr. Arun Bharaskar, Chairman Blind Association was honored by Rotary Club of Pune Town with prestigious award of “Chiraag.” (2) Ms. Bharti Khamke, a blind lady was aided with a Stall for business purpose. (3) Dyaneshawari Prakashan at the hands of Shri Udhav Thakare, Shivsena Chief. (4) Publication of collection of poems of late PM Shri Atal Bihari Bajpai by Mr. Suresh Prabhu, Cabinate Minister. Rest of the projects taken up throughout the year by our organization are as follows. 1. Blood Donation Camp - Though this organization primarily works for the welfare of blinds but the blinds also equally feel their duty towards the society and given opportunity they too would come forward to help out. This was the basic reason that we took up this noble service of Blood Donation and a camp was organized on 27th May 2018. Proudly I can announce that 27 of my blind brothers donated blood in the camp. A T-Shirt depicting picture of Mr. Harish Baijal with caption “I too am blood donor” was handed over to these blood donors. Also a FM Radio was gifted to these blood donors by Mr. Dilip singh Beniwal. 2. Scholarship distribution ceremony and marriage ceremony - 2 For the past 12 years our organization extends a helping hand through scholarships to all those needy blinds who are pursuing higher studies in various colleges and wish to achieve big in the field of education. This year’s scholarship distribution program was held on 01st July 2018 at Pune-Satara Road Marriage Hall. Total of 132 blind students were distributed with the cheque of Rs. 1500/- each. At this very function through our organization Mr. Sandeep Sonkamble and Ms. Anita valambe and Mr. Ganesh Patil and Ms. Parvati Londe tied nuptial knots. Also to increase English vocabulary of blind students Silent English grammar book was distributed at the hands of Mrs. Sudha Shah, Head “We Club.” Also copies of same books were distributed at other blind schools of Maharashtra. This function was attended by Mr. Ashok Godse, Trustee Shrimant Dagdu Seth Halwai, Mr. Mahesh Suryawanshi, Mr. Krushnakumar Goyal, Chairman Kohinoor Group & Mr. Datta Gaikwad, Mr. Prafulla Chate of Chate Classes, Mr. Sharad Shah, Mr. Kalidas More and Mr. Sachin Karnik. All dignitaries present praised the blind students for their achievement and enthusiasm and motivated them to continue with the hard work. They also pledged continued support in future to these needy blinds through their trusts. Special efforts were taken for successful management of this event by Chairman of Blind Association Mr. Arun Bharaskar, Mr. Datta Patil, Mr. V.B. Gaikwad, Mrs. Vijaya Dave and Mrs. Sapna Chandak. 3 3. Distribution of educational material to wards of needy blind couples- Organization strongly feels that wards of needy blind couples should not be left behind in the race to achieve success. Hence to extend helping hand and to support in their struggle to achieve education this year we organized one such program at the office of Blind Welfare Organization at Shalimar Chauk on 15th July 2018. Fifty such poor needy blind couples of Nashik District were selected and their wards were handed out educational materials and water bottles. The program was attended by many dignitaries among them were Mr. H. R. Ramkumar from Mahindra and Mahindra, Mr. Milind Jagirdar, and Prof. Kangune. Mr. Ramkumar expressed satisfaction and praised Blind Association for its endeavor. Mr. Kangune was overwhelmed with the good work of organization and expressed his full support to organization. Ms. Kalpana Pande, Mr. Datta Patil and Mrs. Sapna Chandak took up responsibility of making the program a grand success. 4. Devotional Musical Concert on the occasion of Ashadhi Ekadashi – On the auspicious day of Ashadhi Ekadashi on 23rd July 2018 a devotional musical concert was organized at Parshuram Saykhedkar Natyamandir, Nashik. Theme of the concert was “Pandhariche Sukh Nahi Tribhuvani.” Main aim of this musical concert was to bring forward burning desire of blinds to show the world their talent and also to provide them opportunities in the field of music. The auspicious program begun holy lamp lighting and Puja of deity. In this very function a blind lady Mrs. Bharti Khamte was handed over the key of business stall at the hands of Mrs. Kalpna Pande. Devotional songs were presented by Mr. Kantilal Kshirsagar and Mrs. Asha Tuplondhe. Mr. Kantilal Kshirsagar presented melodious devotional song “Majha Bhaav Tujhya Charni” and other such beautiful songs. Mr. Jitendra Deore presented “Paule Chalti Pandharichi Vaat”. Mr. Gorakh Bhake was on Violin and Mr. Sushil Kedar equally supported him at musical instruments. Special efforts were taken by Mr. Arun Bharaskar and Ms. Vijaya Dave of the organization to make the event successful. 5. Dyaneshwari Publication Ceremony – It’s sad but very true that intellectual blinds have very less good quality reading material in the Brail Language available even today. One such field that lacks the most in terms of availability of reading material is the field of Spirituality. Hence to provide the blinds with one such good reading material in Spiritual field we had thought to convert epitome of Spiritual Book “Dyaneshwari” in Brail Language. For this Mrs. Neha Nimbalkar of Rotary Club of Thane came forward with man and material. Without her support both financially and physically it was not possible for Blind Welfare to achieve this feat. We had thought to celebrate this function at large scale and the hands of some renowned politicians of today’s Maharashtra and guess what, even almighty God helped us to achieve this. The grand celebration of “Dyaneshwari Publication Ceremony” was arranged at Shivsena Bhavan, Mumbai at the hands of Mr. Udhav Thakare on 11th August 2018. Present for the function were MP Mr. Sanjay Raut, Mr. Arvind Sawant, Cabinet Miniter and Mr. Rajeev Khandekar Chief Editor ABP Majha. Program begun with a song “Bhagav Vaadal Aale….” Mr. Udhav Thakare was all praise for the efforts undertaken by Mr. Arun Bharaskar to achieve this glittering success. Mr. Rajeev Khandekar Chief Editor ABP Majha equaled their Channel tagline “Ughada Dole…Bagha Neet…” with the efforts of our 4 organization for literally opening spiritual eyes of blind peoples. Mr. Sanjay Rout pledged continued support of their party to our organization in the future. Special efforts were taken by Mr. Arun Bharaskar, Ms. Vijaya Dave and Ms. Sapna Chandak of the organization to make the event successful. 6. Tree Plantation Ceremony – In the view of current global warming and to instill importance of trees for environment balance and its bearing on today’s human being, Blind Association had taken up tree plantation drive at Malegaon, Taluka Trambkeshwar on 15th August 2018. I feel proud to announce that we planted 1100 saplings. Further 50 students were allotted with 5 trees each to take care and look after them in the future. We also donated school uniforms to them to encourage them in their social work. Mr. Trambak Kaule and Mr. Arun Bharaskar generously donated for purchase of these uniforms. Plants were donated by Mahindra & Mahindra. Villagers participated actively in this ceremony and were more than pleased to plant these saplings in their fields and because of this Tree Plantation drive was a huge success. 7. Felicitation Program of meritorious blind students at Thane and Nashik – Organization has, for the past 11 years, been doing its part to encourage meritorious blind students to achieve big in the life in spite of shortcomings in their lives. This initiative of the Association was before limited to meritorious students of Nashik, Vidharbh and Marathwada but our organization noticed that students of Pune and Mumbai too fared good hence this year too on 15th August 2018 we organized a felicitation program at Wagli Estate with the help of Rotary Club of Thane North End for meritorious blind students who ably 5 proved to the society that they can also scale greater heights if provided with opportunity and a little bit of help from the society. This year 100 such meritorious blind students from all over the Maharashtra were honored with books, White Stick, Pen drive and cash for their success and hard work. Present for the function were Mr. Shanbhor Murli of Rotary Club and he was impressed with the level of success achieved by these blind students. A similar function was organized on 2nd September 2018 by Jain Social Platinum Group at Shrikrushna Lawns Nashik Pune Highway. In this program 135 students of Nashik, Marathwada and Vidharbh were suitably honored. For this function we were honored by the gracious attendance of Mr. Krushnakumar Patil, Chairman SSC Board Nashik, Mr. Tushar Sinde of Mahindra & Mahindra, Mr. Kiran Khabia of Khabia Group, Mr. Dhiraj Picha and many members of Jain Social Platinum Group. Mr. Krushnakumar Patil praised the meritorious students. He also encouraged them to not just stop at this level but to strive harder to achieve bigger success in life. Mr. Kiran Khabia also lauded their efforts and promised continued support to them in the future also. Mr. Arun Bharaskar invited for adoption of such meritorious students by the society and accordingly Mahindra & Mahindra Group and Khabia Group showed positive response to such scheme.