Health

The Society started working in remote rural area and first thing it found that there was no medical facility and people were unable to get even First Aid in case of emergency. Thus a Dispensary & Augmented MI Room was established with assistance from Army Sadhbavna in 2005. Subsequently, Society got an Ambulance. After long struggle with the authorities, Government sanctioned an ECHS Polyclinic in this area in 2010 under the aegis of MoD. Presently following Health facilities are being provided by the Society.

• Society Ambulance is being provided for conveyance of patients from Helpline to Hospitals/ Polyclinics and nearest medical facilities.
• Healthcare of veterans and Veer Naries is taken care through ESM Healthcare Polyclinic and the Society acting as facilitator. Daily footfall at ECHS Polyclinic is 40 to 50 patients, who are provided medical treatment, Healthcare and other assistance. The OPD has increased 100 percent during this year as against last year.

Education

A study was carried out by Post Graduate Management students of S P Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai under the aegis of J&K Sai Star Society. The study project on the education and employment scenario revealed that the J&K State lacks in all the key indicators of educational development. The state of higher education is even worse. In terms of access, J&K has only 108 colleges, which is hardly 0.4% of the total in the country, whereas it has 1.03 % of the total population of the country. It suffers from a high pupil teacher ratio and a lack of private institutions and universities. Participation is low with a 13% Gross enrolment ratio and nearly 63% dropout rate. The J&K board is one of the low performing boards of education in the country. There is a misalignment between the education and employment sectors of the state which can be attributed to labor supply demand mismatch, scrotal mismatch, skill education mismatch and geographic mismatch. All these factors contribute towards the problem of unemployment and un-employability in the state. An interesting finding was that incidence of unemployment among the educated is much higher than the overall unemployment.

A survey of school students in Classes 10th, 11th and 12th revealed that there is a lack of awareness about higher education, vocational and professional training and job opportunities in the focus area of Kathua and Udhampur districts. This confirmed the assessment of the need of a matching institution/ mechanism to guide students and help them make informed choices. The Study team had interacted with more than 2000 students in 10 schools and 2 colleges in 2 districts of Jammu province.

The Project report recommended bridging the information gap through means such as career awareness campaigns and a helpline. It envisaged the use of an information system which is updated with latest information about courses, institutes and jobs relevant to the local students.

Keeping above in view, it was felt that a Career Counseling campaign for Higher & Vocational Education Awareness will be able to bridge this information gap. Thus with support from Shamdasani Foundation, SaiStar Society launched, a Career Awareness Project (SS CAP).

The Project

• To design Educational & Career Awareness Campaign for students studying in Rural Schools.
• Further the scope includes the introduction of the youth to national level institutions for learning and skill development and helping them in application and examination related queries, and in Career Counseling

The campaign will endeavor to create awareness about role and importance of higher education and vocational and professional training. It also encompasses the information about various opportunities of education and employment and the advantages and prerequisites of each of them. Further, the campaign will aim to motivate and encourage the youth to choose fields of education according to their interests and needs of the industry.

The awareness campaign is likely to have following advantages that come with this form of communication

• Low awareness and motivation level necessitates outbound communication
• Higher effectiveness of direct means of communication as compared to indirect means makes the campaign suitable for disseminating information among youth.
• Interactive discussion results in better information exchange
• Low reach and usage of internet or broadcasting services is a barrier to indirect communication channels
• Feedback and data collection is easier for further analysis and action through a campaign.

The Project described will endeavor to bridge gap through Career Counseling for Higher and Vocational Training in Rural area of Jammu Province of J&K State, which is subsumed as educationally backward in reference to established indices namely literacy rate, teacher pupil ratio, dropout rate. It is envisaged that a suitably modified Vehicle equipped with audio visual system where information can be imparted to the students by way of Power Point Presentation and personal Interaction by a Counselor/Mentor.

• Fine Arts and Crafts course was conducted by the Society from Jan to Mar 2019, in which rural Girls were trained in Fine Arts, Stitching and Tailoring.
• Since the year 2009, this Society is providing Internship Training to Post Graduate (MBA) Students of SP Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai, which is one of the TOP TEN Management Training Institute in India. This year based on a request from Chairperson, Department of Corporate Citizenship of SPJIMR four students were provided guidance and following project studies were carried out and implemented from 14 Mar to 12 Apr 2019:-
  • Mr Utkrish Saxena, B Tech Graduate from Institute of Technology Trichy & Miss Saumya Agarwal, B Tech (Electronics &Communications) from VIT Vellore undertook the Project--Designing & Execution of Career Awareness Programme (CAP) to empower youth in rural area.
  • Miss Eshita Vyas, (B.E. Hons.) Civil & Msc. Bio from BITS Pilani Rajasthan & Mr Sumit Agrawal, B.E. (Electronics) from Sardar Patel Institute of Technology Mumbai worked on the project-- Designing & Execution of Educational Awareness Programme to rural Students.
  • Above mentioned team of Engineers also worked to design software for Automation of the Society Office, which will facilitate the Helpline work by creating a database.
  • With a view to reach larger section of marginalized society, a publicity Leaflet was also designed by the above team of Software Engineers.
• High School Babey which is located in remote area and was Up-graded with efforts of the Society has been adopted. Students of this School are being provided assistance/ counseling.
• Society is providing free Breakfast to Children in seven Govt Schools under Satya Sai Annapoorna Programme

Rural Development

 The State of Jammu and Kashmir has geographical area of 2.22 lakhs sq. kilometers which is 6.93 percent of total Indian Territory. Out of total area Ladakh covers 70%, Jammu 19% and Kashmir 11%. As per 2001 census population of the State is one Crore and 70 thousands; population density per sq. km is 99 and 75.12% of the people live in rural areas. There are 22 Districts, 6758 villages, 143 Blocks and 4378 Panchayats. There are no major Industries in the State and thus corporate social responsibilities (CSR) activities are almost non- existent.

It was observed that some of the remote areas of J&K State are most neglected specially in the field of Education and Healthcare. Keeping this in view SAI STAR SOCIETY has undertaken rural development work in backward areas of Udhampur and Kathua Districts of Jammu Division. People living Below Poverty Line (BPL) are worst suffers and need Civil Society intervention. This Society area of intervention specifically covers more than 100 Panchayats of Basoli, Billawar, Ramkot and Majalta Tehsils.

Sai Star Society being NGO member of the United Nations Global Compact is also adhering to its ten principle charter. The Society embraces the core values of integrity, excellence, professionalism and optimism.

Focus of the Society has been to create facilities and awareness in the rural areas on Self-Help basis, which will act as pivots for grass root social work in consonance with overall mission. This is being achieved Through SaiStar Society Helpline, which acts as Society’s Focal Point and co-located with the Society Office at Nagrota Gujroo on Dhar-Udhampur Road.

Sai Star Society works with rural people and communities to create sustainable programs and has been able to achieve most the objectives set for the Year, like improving Healthcare in rural areas and Career Awareness Project for young students. There has been significant impact during the year under review in improving quality of life of the rural people in the target area of intervention, especially Healthcare awareness and Vocational Education. The Society has made major contribution with regard to welfare of ex-servicemen veterans, particularly Healthcare and Veteran’s age related issues.

Environment Upgrade

 The Society is actively working towards up-gradation of environment and awareness in rural area. It has established an Environmental Pak on Dhar- Udhampur Road in Jammu & Kashmir State.

The Society is planning to establish an Herbal Garden “Arogaya Vatika” in this Park for which a Project Report has been prepared with the assistance from the Department of Corporate Citizens SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai.

Total Cost of the Project is Rs Sixteen Lakhs over a period of 3 Years. One time funding of Rs 9 Lakhs is required for the first year. Members are requested to assist find suitable Donors for this noble Healthcare Project.

Empowerment Acts
and Welfare of Ex-Servicemen & Widows

 Sai Star Society works with rural people and communities to create sustainable programs and has been able to achieve most the objectives set for the Year, like improving Healthcare in rural areas and Career Awareness Project for young students.

There has been significant impact during the period in improving quality of life of the rural people in the target area of intervention, especially Healthcare awareness and Vocational Education.

The Society has made major contribution with regard to welfare of ex-servicemen veterans, particularly Healthcare and Veteran’s age related issues.

Community Development

 A community Development Centre (CDC) at village Babey, Udhampur is being maintained and run by the Society for welfare of rural public.

To empower Villagers the Society provides individual citizens and village Panchayats members with knowledge and confidence to become informed active self-advocates for the development of the community.

Welfare of Ex-Servicemen, Widows and local Marginalized Community

• Large number of Ex-servicemen were provided assistance in their pension related cases and some of them were taken up with various Regimental Record offices pertaining to arrears in their dues.
• Veterans/ widow pensioners and their Dependents were provided assistance in Healthcare through Polyclinic.
• Female Patients and widows were provided assistance & counseling through Lady Counselor by the Helpline.
• Ex-servicemen and Widow Pensioners were provided assistance in becoming ECHS Members by preparing documents for them.

General Welfare and Miscellaneous Work

• Environment awareness campaign is being organized in rural areas. An Environmental park is being established and sample medicinal plants have been procured and planted in Nursery.
• Special assistance was provided to BPL, persons in distress and deserving girl students.