Empowering Everyone to Shape a Better Tomorrow

Amar Ujala Foundation conducted 518 police-students’ interactions in 51 cities of 7 states during this financial year. Police Ki Pathshala is an innovative initiative of AUF to develop awareness in adolescents and young students about law, civil rights and social responsibilities. The slogan of the workshops conducted is ‘कानून का सम्मान-कानून से जीवन आसान’

These interactions also emphasize on enhancing life negotiating skills and make them informed citizens. Senior-level police officials such as SSP, SP, senior traffic police officials and cyber security experts, interact with students and inspire them to follow the law and make them aware of their rights and responsibilities. The officials also guide them about safety and security related issues like road safety, women safety, self-defense, helpline numbers and other various safety precautions and laws, thereafter discussing case-specific administrative measures. Sometimes police officials also provide the demonstration of fire safety techniques. The senior police officials also provide their contact details so that communication gap can be reduced between citizens and law enforcing agency.

The basic objective of this activity is to empower each young citizen of society to understand the basic laws and help prevent further crimes in society apart from protecting themselves. When the students get an opportunity to interact with the IPS officials of their area, as a consequence they find the police more approachable. This facilitates close engagement between police and young citizens, discuss the current scenario of crime in the society, and spread their message through these messengers.

• These workshops started from June 2014 in Kanpur, and are now being conducted across all Amar Ujala units

• Collaborating Organizations –State Police

Amar Ujala Foundation launched scholarship program in June 2014 which was especially custom made for students from poor socio-economic background and with zeal to continue their studies. Students who have secured more than 60 % marks in their last annual exams from schools, are pursuing their education from government state boards from 9th to 12th standard, whose annual family income is less than INR 2 lakh are eligible for this scholarship. This competition will take place across the states of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand.

After a rigorous written exams multiple rounds of interviews will take place in all above-mentioned states, on bases of merit 23 students from for class 9th, 10th and 23 students from class 11th, 12th   will be selected, including 2 differently abled (Visually Impaired) students total 46 students will be awarded scholarship. For Class 9th and 10th from this year scholarship will be INR 50,000 and for Class 11th and 12th scholarship will be INR 75,000 total 28.8 Lac of scholarship will be awarded to selected 46 students.

AUF especially custom made for AMC and financially weaker section students from poor socio-economic background and with zeal to continue their higher studies. Students need financial support as well as encouragement to pursue higher studies. Today, the higher education is more expensive than ever before, making it difficult for many students to afford courses and colleges of their choices. Talented AMC and financially weaker section students face financial challenges and hardship to afford costly higher education so scholarship is design in a way that only those who has given AMC exams as well as students from financial weaker section will be selected for this scholarship and can pursue their education in undergraduate and graduate degrees from deemed universities across India.

 

Amar Ujala Foundation and Viklang Sahayata Sanstha, Agra joined hands to support the Differently-abled meritorious students under Dorilal Agrawal National Meritorious Scholarship. Dorilal Agrawal Scholarship initiative aims at assisting deserving and meritorious differently-abled students with financial aid.

Students selected for scholarship, who are pursuing BA, B.Sc., B. Com, MA, M.Sc., M. Com, ITI, Polytechnic, Engineering, Medical and other courses. Students from Under Graduation courses will be awarded INR 12,000 per annum, post-Graduation students will be awarded INR 15,000 per annum, MBBS, B.Tech, Ph.D., and MCA candidates will be awarded INR 24,000 per annum scholarship.

Starting from Science awareness and Cyber Security awareness workshops 11 years back AUF has now extended its Empowerment campaign into many programmes. Aiming to provide empowering support to the needy at the right moment, our various empowerment programmes include holistic empowerment support to Acid Survivors, empowering rural girls and women to fight against Child marriage, empowering rural women to come forward to produce and market Sanitary Napkins through SHG model, Self Defence training to school going adolescent girls apart from Cyber Security workshops conducted by senior police officers. Active stakeholders in these programmers are concerned specialists like best Plastic Surgeons, District Magistrates and SSP/SP, Cyber experts of International repute and UNICEF state offices of Rajasthan, UP apart from its national office in Delhi.

Aparajita- 100 million smiles, a flagship program of Amar Ujala Foundation was launched in November 2018. Empowering women would mean encouraging them for their socio-economic development and this is only possible if equal opportunities in society will also be available for women. This initiative was created to aware and empower the women, adolescent girls of rural and urban areas. The focus is to develop a community with positive mindset along with generating awareness on sense of equality towards women, advocates for gender equality and is also committed to stand against any form of violence against women.

Under the banner of Aparajita, Amar Ujala Foundation conducted about 1173 activities in financial year 2022-23 including rallies, self-defense training programs, legal awareness workshops, self-employment workshops, career counseling sessions, self-confidence workshops, traffic rules awareness workshops, yoga workshops, Covid awareness sessions and many more activities at various locations.       

To complement this initiative, a platform- aparajita.amarujala.com has also been created to capture and share inspiring women empowerment stories and highlight the news related to women violence so that adequate immediate action can be taken. The platform also updates women about government schemes, policies and programs.

The ‘Sadabahani Gagas’ campaign – an Amar Ujala Foundation initiative had been flagged off at Almora on 22nd May, 2017. The 10-km awareness walk started from the Garg Muni Ashram in Kukuchina. The flow of perennial Gagas river has decreased drastically over the last decade. Well-known environmentalist and Magsaysay awardee Rajendra Singh also participated in the initiative. Renowned social activist Radha Behan and environmentalist Padm Shree Dr. Anil Joshi also participated in the Gagas Pad-Yatra to motivate local population. The Gagas river, in Almora district of Uttarakhand, spans 14 major gadheras (streams) on both banks, and its river basin comprises over 500 sq. km with a population of over 1,20,000 spread in 350 villages. The aim of the campaign is to instill awareness among the locals and teach them ways to save the river from drying up. Environmentalist Rajendra Singh also educated villages about the conservation of water resources, its importance in maintaining the ecological balance in the villages of Dunagiri and Nayal. He also emphasized that in order to save the rivers, conservation efforts are needed – one gadhera at a time. The two important steps, according to Rajendra Singh, are conservation of the water with the help of rainwater harvesting and secondly, proper utilization of the water.

Amar Ujala Foundation organized Free Health Check-up Camps under the ‘स्वस्थ शरीर सुरक्षित जीवन’ program. These camps are organized in collaboration with local government and renowned private hospitals at various locations in remote areas of its coverage so far with medicines apart from expert medical advice.

It is a special initiative of AUF to provide free healthcare services through standalone camps to meet the immediate health care needs of the marginalized communities in remote rural areas. 

AUF has been organizing free health check-up camps since 2013 in remote villages in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Haryana. AUF aims to provide comprehensive health services - curative, preventive, promotive, and referral, to a large number of people in selected areas.

Senior doctors from local government hospitals and some renowned doctors from private hospitals examine the residents of these villages.

Amar Ujala Foundation has always been initiating ‘Raktdaan-Mahadaan’ -the blood donation drive since many years and breaking records. The team works round-the-clock by ensuring every drop of blood contributes towards the right cause of saving lives. Every year, all the units of blood collected are sent to Government Blood Banks associated with local District Hospitals, where maximum numbers of patients getting operated are from below poverty line. During the pandemic, blood banks were struggling to cope up with the unforeseen challenges. The campaign was initiated to help the nation with blood donation drive. Amar Ujala Foundation has not only given new hope of life to those who needed blood, but also given a chance to many, to contribute meaningfully to the society.

AUF has been organizing such blood donation camps at high frequency at various locations across all the Amar Ujala units and, also touched villages and people of the village also take part in these blood donation camps. Special blood donation drives on the occasion of ‘World Blood Donors Day’- 14th June, ‘Kargil Vijay Diwas’ – 26th July and ‘National Voluntary Blood Donation Day’- 1st October are also organized.

उत्तराखंड में वर्ष 2013 की प्राकृतिक आपदा के समय अमर उजाला फाउंडेशन ने न सिर्फ सबसे पहले सहायता पहुंचाई, बल्कि स्थानीय लोगों और सामाजिक संस्थाओं की मदद से आपदा प्रभावित उत्तरकाशी, रूद्रप्रयाग और चमोली के 23 गांवों में 185 भूकंप रोधी आश्रय (अस्थायी आवास) भी मुहैया कराये। अमर उजाला फाउंडेशन की इस पहल का श्रेय उन छह हजार से भी ज्यादा दानदाताओं को जाता है, जिन्होंने पिछले वर्ष की प्राकृतिक आपदा के बाद फाउंडेशन की अपील पर करीब 2.13 करोड़ रुपये दान के रूप में दिए। इसी के साथ अमर उजाला फाउंडेशन ने आपदा प्रभावित इन इलाकों में डी.आर.डी.ओ. के तकनीकी और हेस्को के सांगठनिक सहयोग से चार स्टील पुल का भी निर्माण किया है।     1. उत्तरकाशी, रूद्रप्रयाग और चमोली के 23 गांवों में    2. तीन चरणों में 185 भूकंप रोधी आश्रय (अस्थायी आवास) का निर्माण  3. हर घर की लागत 90 हजार रुपये  4. छः हजार से भी अधिक दानदाताओं ने दिया 2.13 करोड़ रुपये दान  5. मकान मालिक बनने वाले परिवार को 20-30 हजार रुपये की आय  6. डी.आर.डी.ओ. की तकनीकी मदद से चार स्टील पुल का निर्माण  7. सहयोगी संस्थाएं- हेस्को, डी.आर.डी.ओ.

Amar Ujala Foundation has adopted 8 villages in Baandal Valley, (situated near Dehradun, Uttarakhand) in collaboration with HESCO. The project has a mission approach for Holistic Development of Bandal Valley through science and technology. The focus areas were to build capacity of self-help groups (SHG) through knowledge on savings, loan facility and training on Dhoop-Augurbatti and Gulal making. Along with activities focusing on provision of bio-geysers to support alternative energy, protective cultivation to enhance the production quality and escalate profit margin to meet the demands of vegetables.

Seetapur, Sharkhet, Ghantusera, Tachila, Sillasera, Fuleth, Kumalda and Bharwakatal villages of Baandal Valley have been connected in this project. In eight villages of Baandal Valley, meetings are held every month with women SHGs run by HESCO and Amar Ujala Foundation. In the meetings, the savings of women self-help groups are deposited every month and along with-it loans are given to the needy members. Formation of women self-help groups, while on one hand women have developed the spirit of working together, on the other hand, awareness of their rights and sense of empowerment has developed among women. At present, women self-help groups in each village have their own bank savings account.