LMAD Bundelkhand Roadshow Report - 2018

 

Purpose of the Report

The purpose of this report is to preserve the experiences and learning from a potential Let's Make A Difference regional program and use this as a reference for future programmes as experiences are the best teachers.

Why Bundelkhand?

In October of 2018, Initiatives of Change {IofC} and Let's Make a Difference attempted something that it had never done before. Let's Make A Difference conducted a day-long gathering for the youth and citizens of Mahoba, a district in the region of Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh. Mahoba is associated with the Chandela kings who ruled in Bundelkhand between the 9th and 12th centuries. With less than three thousand people attending the gathering, it was the biggest crowd Let's Make A Difference has addressed so far. Let's Make A Difference believes in the importance and relevance of ethical and moral values in this fast-paced world. The youth of this country is going to be the leader of tomorrow and hence needs the right foundation. Also, there is no better way to start one's career. with a reminder of how big a role, morals can play in a person's life. Schools and colleges fail to emphasize on this, making what Let's Make A Difference does invaluable.

The idea of ‘Let’s Make a Difference’ is being spread since the last 24 years. It started from Panchgani, Maharashtra and now has travelled distances, all over the nation. What started from a small place in Maharashtra has spread to multiple cities, town, villages and some of the most interior regions of our nation.

When one of the oldest Let's Make A Difference attendees, Abiram Bhise created this opportunity for Let's Make A Difference, wherein the philosophy of Let's Make A Difference could be taken to remotest areas of the country, halfway through the conversation, the team was ready for this leap. Abiram Bhise, from Indore, worked for months to arrange everything for the Bundelkhand road show at Mahoba. He attended his first conference way back in 2005. In later years, he came to help the Let's Make A Difference team do a day program in Baramati, followed by that, he invited the Let's Make A Difference team to his home city, Indore to do a day workshop at Devi Ahilya Bai Holker University. He learnt from his initial reach out experience that it is imperative to spread the message of what Let's Make A Difference is propagating in the young people’s community across the country or wherever one gets opportunity, to let know the young people what Let's Make A Difference is all about. He connected the dots and played a role of a perfect bridge between Bundelkhand Yuva Niti Samvad, IofC and Let's Make A Difference. He was the unsung hero of the entire road show and played a role of a Statesman setting a perfect example of servant leader.

The Team

‘Let’s make a Difference’ youth conference has created youth team across the country and whenever an opportunity arises the youth is willing to give their best in spreading the message. Those who have attended Let's Make A Difference training programs make genuine attempts to lead their life based on the teachings of Let's Make A Difference. They have seen the difference and were thrilled at this opportunity of spreading something they believe in to those areas of the Nation whose youth had a lot of untapped potential.

Let’s Make a Difference is ever growing family, with members spread all over the world. The connection with Let's Make A Difference is such that members travel distances to make things happen in the name of Let's Make A Difference. Bundelkhand was no different. 40 people travelled from 20+ cities for making Bundelkhand happen.

Mahoba Bundelkhand

Mahoba is a town in Mahoba District of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in the Bundelkhand region, is famous for the 9th century graniteSun temple built in Pratihara style.

Mahoba is considered to be the smallest district in Uttar Pradesh by population. In spite of that, it was brought to our notice that it’s responsible for generating maximum revenue for the State through mining activity.

Arrival

The team started arriving into Lucknow from 01/10/18. By late evening on 02/10/18, the entire team had gathered in Lucknow.

On 03/10/18, at 5 am sharp, the team left for Mahoba, Bundelkhand, which is a six-hour drive from Lucknow. On the way, there were huge banners and posters of the upcoming road show. Everyone’s eyes sparkled as they saw the organization’s logo on it. It was a huge moment for the Let's Make A Difference family. On the way to Mahoba, a lot of fruitful discussions happened regarding the proceedings of the Road Show.

Post lunch, the team focused on the presentation of song and other sessions for the road show.

In the evening, a press conference was held which put some light on the upcoming Road Show.

Later in the evening, the entire team visited the venue to get a feel of the same and understand the dynamics of the whole situation.

The ground was huge with over 5000 chairs ready. The stage was being set. The view gave goosebumps to all. It bolstered everyone’s confidence for the upcoming road show.

The Day

Everything at Mahoba was organized and was the initiative of Bundelkhand Yuva Niti Samwad, the youth wing of Bhartiya Janta Party in association with Initiatives of Change. They wanted to work with and for the youth of the nation and hence had invited the Let's Make A Difference team to pass on some great values and learnings that could be handy for the youth.

The gathering in Mahoba, Bundelkhand, was all possible because of Shri. Shiv Shankar Singh, Regional Vice President, BJP and his team.

Shiv Shankar Singh Ji plays an active role in areas of child education, women empowerment, raising the standard of living of the farmer community, cleanliness of the region and focused tasks for the overall development of the place.

Shiv Shankar Ji, along with his team made this Let's Make A Difference conference reach thousands of youth possible.

His team of local politicians, include:

• Subhash Yudhavanshi
• Pushpendra Singh Chandel
• Raviraj Singh bundela
• KrishnaKumar Bunty
• Shri Prakash Ji.
• Anand Dwivedi
• Dhananjay Soni
• Abhijeet Singh
• Ashish Gupta
• Rakesh Goswami
• Vraj Bhushan Rajput
• Pramod Vishwakarnma
• Vikas Shrivastava
• Harshvardhan
• Ankur Shivhare
• Jitendra Singh Sanger
• Pankaj Tiwari
• Anubhav Dwivedi
• Devendra Shukal
• Jitendra Singh
• Sadhna Singh
• Ramratan Kumud

Mahoba had never witnessed anything like this before. Let's Make A Difference had never addressed a gathering so huge. With so many firsts, it was a big day for both.

The eyes in the audience were full of curiosity, hope and willingness to listen.

The road show started with a brief introduction of Initiatives of Change its history and legacy. Long journey of youth work under Let’s Make a Difference highlighted its role in motivating the young people of our country. Followed by introduction of the entire team and the conference convener.

The audience was greeted with a song performance, Chaliye Na. The song focusses on the importance of taking an initiative towards the development of our nation.

The audience was greeted with a song performance, Chaliye Na. The song focusses on the importance of taking an initiative towards the development of our nation.

The atmosphere was set and then the convener took over the stage.

The four absolute standards of Let’s Make a Difference, namely, Purity, Honesty, Unselfishness and Love were introduced by the convener.

Multiple team members came forward and shared their stories and experiences related to the 4 standards.

The convener talked about the importance of Purity. Purity through eyes, words and most importantly, mind.

The convener also talked about how important it is to stay honest, irrespective of the circumstance. How it has to happen without any conditions being applied. Honesty with others as well as yourself is extremely important.

Love is an extremely necessary emotion. The world needs more of it along-with kindness. Importance of unconditional love was discussed.

One of the volunteers spoke about how his life took a wrong turn when he left the comfort of his home. He got influenced by his friends who indulged themselves in unnecessary habits. He did not realize this change in his life until his mother pointed it out when he was back home for a break. This was when he attended the Youth Conference of Let's Make A Difference in Panchgani. The people and the teachings that the conference offered made him realize his mistakes. Over the next few months, he brought himself back to the path of purity. This wasn't very easy as the company he was in continued on their path of impurity. The gathering seemed to relate to and agree with what was being shared.

Another volunteer shared about how satisfying it was to be truly unselfish. He travels all over India, gathering pencils from the fortunate and distributes them to children who belong to regions which have very little access to the outer world. He spoke about how he realized that he wasn't solving the entire problem, but he also understood that in his small way, he was contributing to making the situation better. In addition to that, his story inspired many to embark on their own little journey of bringing a positive change in the society. The crowd resonated by applauding for him vehemently.

One of the team members came forward and shared how she found herself lying to herself frequently. How she would do things that would make people around her happy but would leave her empty with a huge hollow inside. After attending Let's Make A Difference conference that year, she sincerely tried imbibing the standards in to her life. And her life changed for the better. She was a happier person, honest to herself and did not allow others’ opinion to influence or manipulate her. The convener stressed on how this standard while explaining how selfish the world is and how difficult it is to think about others before we think of ourselves. Nevertheless, one should try to be unselfish.

There is nothing as pure, unselfish and unconditional as mother’s love. The convener always expresses the aforementioned statement in Let's Make A Difference programmes for a fact that it is extremely true.

After sharing deep insights related to the four standards, the road show moved forward.

The team spread itself in the crowd and found spots between the citizens of Mahoba. The audience felt nice and was extremely welcoming.

Time was a constraint, nevertheless, a genuine bond was created between the team and the audience. The audience not only shared their daily troubles but also talked about their dreams and future plans. It was heartwarming to be a part of such a conversation.

Moving forward, the convenor raised a question, "What would you do for the betterment of Mahoba?", for the people to reflect on. The crowd split up in groups to have group discussions with about two volunteers as a part of every group. Every group was seen having a healthy and lively discussion. The people of Mahoba voiced out the problems that they face in a small and under-developed region.

Although, when asked if they conducted their daily activities with respect to the four values of Purity, Honesty, Unselfishness, and Love, they admitted that they did not. One person rightly pointed out that in the end, the money that a person has, isn't going to determine how satisfied they could be; the way one leads his/her life will.

What had been spoken so far in the conference had clearly made the gathering think. Towards the end of the group discussion, the topic had shifted from the problems that they were already facing, to what they could do to make a difference and overcome these problems. Everyone present, then wrote down the answer to the question that was given to them earlier on sheets of paper that were distributed. The level of positivity and mindfulness that the people had was clearly reflected in their writings.

This question put the audience in deep thought. The citizens, especially the youth was happy while thinking about this question.

The responses were heartwarming and ambitious. You can find them in the Annexure of this report.

After the road show got concluded, the team settled in and post dinner, there was a healthy, fruitful discussion, regarding how the road show went.

The discussion revolved around evaluating the entire program so that we could learn from it. The road show was evaluated under microscopic vision, discussing all the nitty gritty, an all- day program was given deep thought.

The team, along with the convener emphasized on the fact that they’d like to visit Bundelkhand again, for a longer program. Everyone wanted to spend more team with the youth and others and wanted to propagate the message of Let's Make A Difference better.

Conclusion

This road show was a huge platform for Let's Make A Difference. The large audience size, the untapped region and power packed youth, made all the effort worth it. This road show helped strengthen our faith in the what Let's Make A Difference stands for and our belief in the fact that we need to do more of such regional programmes in as many regions of this vast nation.

Thank you!

Annexure 1

Responses to the question, "What would you do for the betterment of Mahoba?":

1. मेरा नाम पवन सिंग है, मैं बहिण गाव से हू I गाव कि ऐसी कंडिशन है कि एक महिने से पाणी कि प्रोब्लेम है। मेरी आप से request है कि मेरी नेता जी तक पहुंचने कि कोशिश करे ? १० साल हो गए कि सड़क नहीं बनी हैं। अगर आप कुछ हमारे लिए करे।
   ग्राम - बहिन , पोस्ट - कहरा , जिला - महोबा
   नाम - पवन सिंग
2. सरकार ने सुख घोषित किया था लेकिन सुख घोषित होणे के बाद किसानो को सरकार ने कुछ भी राहत राशी नहीं प्रदान कि है, सरकार से निवेदन है कि सुख राहत प्रदान करने कि कृपा करे धन्यवाद।
   अकौनी
   वेळा ताल - महोबा - उत्तर प्रदेश
3. To.
   The President of B.J.P.
   District- Mahoba, U.P.

Bundelkhand is very poor area, so need to think about our area Bundelkhand. Some needs in Mahoba, Bundelkhand -

Important needs-

1. AIIMS
2. Airport
3. Four line road with one way line
4. Short business training in every village
5. Farmer training centre in every village