Tuesday 24 April 2012

Opening Ceremony of Sarada Ma Private ITI


Friends, it is a great pleasure for me to welcome Hon’ble Minister of Technical Education of Training, Government of West Bengal, Sjkt. Rabi Ranjan Chattopadhyay and Sjkt. H.P. De, Director of Industrial Training, West Bengal to this meeting today as they have been pleased to come to our Institution today despite their heavy schedule of activities.
I came to Puri to settle the purchase of a property for the Vivekananda Math with the hope that I would be able to come back in time and join this happy assembly but due to ill health could not attend this very important event. I am very sorry for this. However, through this writing I welcome Sjkt. Chattopadhyay to this Mission today and I express our great satisfaction for his presence at this Mission in this great sun.
The Vivekananda Math & Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission is one of the three Organizations connected with Holy name of Sri Ramakrishna; one is at Belur called Ramakrishna Math & Mission, second is at Dakshineswar called as Sarada Math & Ramakrishna Sarada Mission and third one is Vivekananda Math & Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission at Barrackpore. Sangha does not mean a single Institution but a cluster of Institutions extending its activities in manifold areas.
Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission started its activities with only 20 tribal destitute children in the year 1977 and today it has more than 10 thousand children all over West Bengal. The Mission has been able to develop centers for putting into practice the teachings of Swami Vivekananda at various places of the country. It has 22 centres in West Bengal and 11 centres in the States of Jharkhand, Orissa, Chattishgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
This extension of activities was possible because of the unremitted confidence entrusted on us by the Government and the public. While welcoming Sjkt. Chattopadhyay and other distinguished Guests on this formal opening ceremony of Sarada Ma Private Industrial Training Institute I like to mention that this is a part of Swami Vivekananda’s 150th Birth Anniversary Programme. We are also grateful to Education-Aid-India, a UK based charitable organization who has contributed a considerable amount towards the development of Sarada Ma ITI. We send our best wishes to all of them on this memorable day.
On the recommendation of the State Government this Mission has received National Award thrice in the field of Child Welfare in the year 1984, 1992 and 2003 and once the Government of India awarded its Secretary individually in the year 2007. This is a unique recognition from the side of the Government for a particular Institution. I am grateful to them. This year the Mission has got Jindal Prize for Rural Development and Poverty Alleviation amounting Rs. 25 lakhs. I am mentioning this to show that this Organization stands first among social welfare organizations, if we consider it from the stand point of merit. The Mission has been maintaining 1165 orphan boys and girls, destitute and deserted ladies, street children, visual and hearing impaired girls, old age public. We express our deep gratitude to the Government and people for whose support it has been possible.
Our experience from the past shows that Vocational and Technical education is wonderfully useful for the boys and girls particularly for their economic rehabilitation. We are surprised to know that presently Government has launched a scheme named Modular Employable Skill (MES) where the trainees pay their tuition fees during the time of examination but they get the money refunded after successful completion of their training. It is wonderful. We have been running Junior Technical Schools, Vocational Training Centres vis-a-vis general education and it is proved that Vocational/Technical education provide a better and wider scope of appointment for the younger generation and therefore, we should devote ourselves for such type of education for gainful employment of economically backward classes of people.
In Barrackpore we have children under Juvenile Justice Act and we have seen that Vocational training is a very fruitful method for their employment. We like to develop it more and therefore, I have submitted an application to the Government for giving us a dilapidated building within Barrackpore Cantonment which was previously used for the same purposes but now lying vacant. It is adjacent to our Vocational Training Centre at Barrackpore. We hope that Hon’ble Minister will kindly look into our request and help us to fulfil our goal. It may please be noted that we do not want any financial help for this purpose. As a part of Swami Vivekananda’s 150th Birth Anniversary we also like to start new I.T.I. courses on Surveyor and Auto-Mobile at Sarada Ma Pvt. I.T.I. and a new Pvt. I.T.I. at our Purulia branch where we have adequate land and therefore, we shall come with proposal to the State Government very soon.
At the end, on this Bengali New Year day I pray to Holy Feet of Sri Sri Thakur, Sarada Ma and Swamiji to shower their blessings to Hon’ble Minister so that he could continue his work more widely for the benefit of poor people and I also invite him to pay a visit to our Barrackpore Headquarters according to his convenience.

With best wishes and regards,
Swami Nityananda
General Secretary Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission

Monday 16 April 2012

Happy new year

‘Shubha Nababarsha’  (Happy New Year) to all our Friends at the R V Mission


Gill Robinson, Samir Ghosh, Angela Stevenson, Johanna Wild, Magda Gupta, David Green and all  Members, Supporters,  and Friends.

1 Baisakh 1419