rajsingh321

[rajsingh321]

Boy Child

India’s development over the last two decades has contributed exceptionally to global human development. Extreme poverty in India declined to 21 per cent, infant mortality has more than halved, some 80 per cent of women now deliver in a health installation and two million fewer children are out-of-school. Even now, in this modern age where many are “modernized” and “educated”, there are families who still prefer a boy child so that he can become the pillar and can support the family in future. These young lads are loaded up from a young age with responsibilities and are reminded on a very often basis to not act like a girl or be weak/ cry like a girl. These comparisons created many challenges for young boys. Recent headlines have asserted that there are problems with boys, a boys crisis, and a new gender gap between boys and girls. But not everyone agrees. For some boys, the transition to adulthood is more difficult. Every child, regardless of age or sex needs a loving family, a safe environment, opportunities, and a right to live life as desired. The childhood of every child is innocent. Boys can cry too.

Young boys tend to compare themselves with their buddies and peers. Am I too skinny? Am I too fat? Why is my hair so curly? Will girls like me? Why can’t I grow a beard? How will I do this? Can I ask for help? These kinds of thoughts swallow their mind and this comparison may result in low self-esteem. They may lose confidence and fall prey to the inferiority complex. Well, it’s cliche! but it is a fact. Parents expect boys to thrive in life, have a good career, earn money and take care of the family in the future. They are expected to earn good money, buy a big house, car, or else they are considered losers or no one will marry them. These anticipations may restrict their aspirations. Burdening the young shoulders with responsibilities may deform their future.

Fear of False Accusations

In India, the number of incidents of sexual assaults, eve-teasing, and harassment are rising which has become a major problem for girls and women. But unfortunately, nowadays, the laws which were created to protect the dignity of women are being misused by women only. Because of these continued events, boys are now always looked at as sex offenders and perverts. They are now afraid to offer a seat to any woman because offering a seat to a lady might be taken as a wrong intention and somehow he'll be blamed for something. Indian society always blames boys by default in any such cases.

Boys are mercilessly beaten up by the public, even the police and society judge them without even listening to their side of the story. We strongly support the strict laws for women security & safety. And these laws should get enforced for the men too. A 2019 survey by LeanIn.Org and SurveyMonkey found that 60% of male managers in the USA and 40% in the UK said they were uncomfortable working with women, including mentoring, working one-on-one or socialising.

#Metoo Movement

In October 2018, the global #MeToo movement against sexual abuse and harassment executed by powerful men and women in society reached India's mainstream public discourse. Many women and men came out with allegations and accounts of harassment on social media and different platforms. But most of these allegations were against powerful men. Like in other places across the world, the #MeToo movement caused controversy in India about sexual harassment within the workplace, specifically in the entertainment, film industries and huge named firms. While India's #MeToo movement seems to have achieved little measurable success, the movement has made it easier for the victim to speak up against sexual harassment in the workplace.

#HimToo movement

This movement supported male victims of sexual assault and against false rape allegations. This reaction to the MeToo movement started in October 2018 after a tweet from a mother about her son being afraid to date because of a climate of false rape allegations. The #HimToo movement is seen as a response to the sexual assault allegations from the #MeToo movement.

Criticizers also claim that the HimToo movement demoralises men who do deal with sexual abuse from coming forward because HimToo creates a gender line where men are the accused and women make the accusations.

But in reality, false allegations are rare but this fact does not eliminate there is zero false allegation.

Depression

In this modern world, youngsters with depression are called “Time Bombs”, the whole depression thing bursts when they cannot tolerate it anymore and do something outrageous as killing people or even their own families or they harm themselves. Yes, these are real stories. At one point teenagers cannot control depression and boys are not an exception to that. Their parents never ask them about their concerns because of the stigma that boys are supposed to be strong. Parents don’t try to comprehend boys and acknowledge their problems.

They cannot talk about their feelings openly. If they do, they get chuckled at. Boys are always expected to be physically and emotionally strong. There’s a constant pressure of fulfilling the responsibilities. They fear to do and talk to a therapist as this may destroy their image. All these factors can end up in depression. And this depression, unfortunately sometimes results in self-harm or suicide. That’s why there are more male suicides than females.

Human trafficking of young boys

More than 1 million children, according to the International Labour Organization, are influenced each year in the commercial sex trade. As per the US Today, a child, Jones was raped, abused and sold to men for sex. The brutality ended when he was 15. But, like many male victims, Jones didn’t seek help, didn’t tell anyone about the trauma he had suffered. The perception of what trafficking victims look like can often hop to our mind as young, foreign, female. She does exist, and there are many victims of trafficking like her, but she is not the only one. Men and boys can be trafficked, too. Human trafficking affects all countries and genders. Most often, we associate men and boys being trafficked into hard labour and women and girls trafficked into the sex trade, but young boys are also trafficked into the sex trade. In 2020, boys made up 7% of child sex trafficking victims reported to NCMEC. Also, 78% of reports regarding online enticement involved girls, and 15% involved boys (in 8% of reports, the gender of the child could not be determined).

The stigma around men and boys

The stigma, all boys and men should be strong enough to fight off traffickers and thus they cannot be victims. This also inhibits these men and boys from talking up when exploitation does happen. They face a strong taboo of men having sex with another man, even in cases of force and rape. Sometimes people associate males selling sex with being gay instead of being trafficked. They are always assumed to be strong and emotionless when considered to all these events.

Anyone can be trafficked, regardless of gender. No one’s sexual abuse and exploitation should be ignored or treated as a fantasy. It’s time Human trafficking should be stopped.

Child Labour

As per UNICEF, a total of 152 million children – 64 million girls and 88 million boys – are assessed to be in child labour globally, accounting for almost one in ten of all children worldwide. Child labourers can be found in different industries like brick kilns, carpet weaving, garment making, domestic service, agriculture, fisheries, and mining. Youngsters are also at risk for various other forms of exploitation including sexual exploitation that involves the internet such as child sexual abuse materials; online facilitation of offline child sexual exploitation; involving adults or other children exposing children to pornography, working as servants, working in chemical factories. Children from lower caste or marginalized ethnic groups could be more targeted for child labour abuse.  As per UNICEF, the number of children in child labour has risen to 160 million worldwide – an increase of 8.4 million children in the last four years – with millions more at risk due to the impacts of COVID-19, according to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF.  The report warns that globally, 9 million additional children are at risk of being pushed into child labour by the end of 2022 as a result of the pandemic. A simulation model shows this number could rise to 46 million if they don’t have access to critical social protection coverage.

The boy working at a chai (tea) shop near your office, or serving you at an eatery or working at a construction site could be anyone with a different name. These young boys who are child labourers have no way out of their predicament through either earnings or education. They don’t have a normal childhood.  A maximum number of children who are forced into child labour are boys.

Drugs and Alcohol

This is a big problem. Not all, but a lot of young boys are doing drugs and are drinking for the sake of boasting in the friend circle and by falling prey to peer pressure. While some tend to start these habits dues to stress and fear, they simply don’t know how to avoid all these habits and have no idea how it’s going to affect them in the future. Tobacco, Narcotics and alcohol are widely consumed by teenagers especially young boys.

Every child, boys or girls, need proper care, education and love from a young age so that they are shaped as a better person. Every single person can fall prey to all the mentioned events affecting a HUMAN BEING and should be stoped. The Stigma around men should be discussed along with all the other problems. And we should empower men too as they are also the pillars of our society standing beside women.

Source: https://filaantro.org/

[rajsingh321]

Here is your guide to make your fundraising campaign a success

Fundraising - the process of gathering funds as donations for a cause is gaining support in India recently. Usually, fundraising was carried out often by non-profit organizations dedicated to a social cause like collecting funds for someone's medical treatment or helping for a child's education. But it is in recent years that individuals have started raising funds for causes that could be social as well as personal. These individuals raise funds on reliable crowdfunding platforms to make their campaign a successful one, and the beneficiary receives the required monetary aid.

Successful fundraising

The success of crowdfunding was seen during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Ketto, an Indian crowdfunding platform, raised over Rs 115 crore through its campaigns related to Covid-19 and registered a four-times growth during the lockdown.

Impact Guru is another such platform; it saw donations double per minute post-COVID, averaging 2.5 donations per minute.

Digitalization has widened the spectrum for a fundraising campaign to reach as many individuals as possible, resulting in thriving campaigns. A fundraising campaign can be called a successful one when the goal amount is achieved, that goes without saying, but the goal is achieved when a bunch of factors like promotion, retaining existing donors, planned events and other ones are put together in motion.

For accomplishing a fundraising goal, the fundraiser has to develop a step-by-step plan that covers every aspect of fundraising.

Selecting the right platform

Choosing a trustworthy crowdfunding platform is of utmost importance. This platform is where the donors will get to know about the cause of your campaign. Some of the must-haves for a crowdfunding platform that needs to be checked by the campaigner must include

- Payment method- the platform must have an easy gateway for donors.

- User interface- Choosing a platform with a reflexive user-friendly interface will help save a lot of time.

- Tax exemption-  In India, donations to nonprofits are eligible for certain tax benefits. Section 80G of the Income Tax Act provides a 50% exemption from paying tax on donations made to fundraisers or non-profit organizations that are registered and valid under the act.

- Fund withdrawal- The funds collected on the platform need to reach the beneficiary, the platform should have a hassle-free fund withdrawing process.

     2. Unique Appeal

Everyone that visits the page is not a donor already. The story of the cause that you are raising funds for, must engage the visitors and convince them to donate.

- Start with a title that captures people's attention. A short yet crisp title will attract visitors’ attention real quick.

- The title will raise curiosity amongst the visitors and they will have questions regarding the cause that the funds are being raised for. The story needs to answer all those questions like, what is the purpose, who is going to benefit from the funds, the struggles of the beneficiary and how long have the beneficiary been working for the cause.

- Supporting your story of appeal with visuals like good quality pictures and videos make the donors have a clear vision of the purpose of the fundraising. It also makes the story more trustworthy and reliable.

    3. Promote your campaign

Promoting your fundraising campaign is one of the most significant steps. What place could be better than social media? It is a widely spread web of information. Almost every smartphone user has an account on any of the most used social media platforms like- Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter to name a few. Promoting your cause on social media through videos and pictures will create more awareness and help raise more funds.

   4. Track your progress

Tracking the progress of your campaign can help in having a better understanding of the strategies that may be required to reach more people and make the campaign a success. Monitoring gives the flexibility to act according to the headway of the campaign.

A major benefit here is knowing the donors better. Keep a track of those who trust your cause and turn the 1st time donors into existing ones. Retention is important.

   5. Thank Your Donors

Donors are the primary reason the fundraising campaign has been successful. Recognize the supporters and appreciate them. They have the right to know the exact use of the funds that they have donated for, so keep them updated with the campaign progress. Provide them with social proof and send them online recognition and thank you notes. Appreciating their effort is the key to a successful campaign.

A fundraising campaign can lead a path to success with planning and efforts. By following a few steps, the campaign can reach more people, attract more funds and meet its objective of raising more funds.  

Filaantro online crowdfunding platform raises funds for various causes and helps those in need.

Visit our website filaantro.org and start raising funds for a cause that you care about.

Register Now!

Author: Anjali Patel

Source : https://filaantro.org/home

[rajsingh321]

Detoxification from Social Media

How constantly do you reach for the phone, every 5 minutes, first thing in the morning and check your notifications? How often are you latched in an internet argument? How long do you scroll memes on the Media? How frequently when you’re on vacation, are you more concerned about taking the flawless Instagram picture than enjoying yourself? How much do you get worried looking from watching your feed?

Most people won’t admit how much social media means, or has meant, to them. Social media IS and WILL be a huge part of our life. For the youth, Social Media is everything, their life! Social Media apps like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter help us stay interconnected with loved ones, catch up on news, and discover both beautiful destinations and inspiring people. Yet you may find yourself spending hours on end scrolling through various feeds can leave you feeling anxious, drained, uneasy or dissatisfied.

There’s a scientific explanation behind unhealthy social media habits. The time we spend online affects the dopamine system (happy hormone) in our brains. This is the reward system that is stimulated when you check a new message or hear a notification sound that signals an update on your phone. These unexpected stimuli give you short-term pleasure, keeping you hooked and wanting to check back to see what’s new throughout the day.

When someone posts a picture, video or reel they may receive positive social feedback or is hoping for positive feedback or reaction, which stimulates the brain to release dopamine, rewarding that behaviour and perpetuating the social media habit.

As per the NCBI report, psychiatric morbidity has been connected with internet addiction. It includes mood disorders, anxiety disorders, depressions, substance use disorders, psychotic disorders, impulse control disorders and distress. Of adolescents, 4.5% were found to be at risk of problematic social media use. Social media addiction was associated with low self-esteem, poor life satisfaction, sleep disturbances. Facebook addiction was associated with loneliness, social impairment in addition to depression, anxiety, insomnia, somatic symptoms.

A recent study found an association between social media use and poor academic performance in medical students. For extreme social media use to qualify as a ‘use disorder’ requires observation of the set of signs and symptoms consistent with all addictive demeanours. Tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, salience, and relapse have been explored in individuals using validated questionnaires such as Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS). Of all the symptoms normally associated with dependence, withdrawal following the interruption of social media use was the most prominent.

Why Do We Need to Detox from Social media?

A person can easily feel depressed, distressed and anxious.

Depression

One of the foremost causes of depression and loneliness is none other than the use of social media. Social media can make you feel stressed which can ultimately turn into depression.

Alienation

Alienation occurs when a person withdraws or becomes isolated from their environment or other people. “Alone together” is a term stamped to describe the increasingly present problem of socializing without a deeper connection with other people.

Distortion of reality

Spending too much time on social media can especially jeopardize our perception of reality. Social media can trigger social comparison on several levels, assembling an impression that someone else’s life is better and more meaningful than our own life.

Addiction

Social media addiction is a behavioural addiction that is defined by being overly concerned about social media, driven by an intractable urge to log on to or use social media, and devoting so much time and effort to social media that it impairs other important life areas.

Sleep disorders

Calming ourselves to sleep as we scroll through our Social Media feed has become the norm. Scientists explained that browsing social media right before falling asleep further aggravates sleep disturbance.

Misinformation

During these unpredictable times, you might have developed the habit of reviewing the news obsessively on social media. Trying to keep up with that kind of dissonance is exhausting, and it’s terrible for our mental state.

Social Media can turn into a habit that can make a person spend too much time on it which can prevent you from concentrating on your relationships, career, and even the goals that you have. If you find yourself frequently checking your latest notifications, or reaching for your phone every time it lights up, it may be time to try a social media detox.

The important thing is to use social media with purpose and intention:

1-Delete your social media apps.

2-Detox with a buddy.

3-Identify what apps you're using most and set a period for the same/ Track your progress.

4-Talk to your friends and family. Spend time with family

Redesign your lock screen, a lock screen that motivates you.

5-Give your phone a bedtime.

6-Get a real alarm clock.

7-Set time limits on your apps.

8-Practice meditation.

9-Enjoy nature. Spend more time observing the world around you.

10-Make a habit of reading books (Physical/ Printed copies)

By restricting or detoxing yourself from the effects of social media, you may find yourself with a clearer mind and restored energy to tackle what matters most to you. While it may be hard, it will be a rewarding experience that will help you better understand your relationship with your devices and be more present and mindful in your other activities and experiences.

Author : Lubdha Dhanopia

Source : https://filaantro.org/blog/

[rajsingh321]

Protecting the Voiceless Creatures

Imagine being alone on a street, a terrifying night and nowhere to go or find a safe place for shelter. One will definitely be terrified just by visualizing being in a dreadful situation like this. And this scenario is not just for one night. Every night, there is no comfortable bed to sleep on, no roof, lack of food or no food at all. The scariest would be to live alone, with injuries or health conditions and no one to look after.

All these sentences describe the everyday life of a stray animal, unaided, starved and neglected. When we say street animals, people picture a loud barking dog chasing to bite someone, or a cat trying to sneak into a house to keep her kittens safe. There are hundreds of stray animals, not just dogs and cats, but others like cows, donkeys and bullocks and other animals as well, who are abandoned when they are old, injured and unable to serve anymore or produce milk. These voiceless creatures spend their days in search of food & shelter and sometimes by sleeping on the cold pavements beside the road.

This scenario continues to be so since years after humans initiated urbanization.

The troubles faced by strays.

A lot of animals on the street have to spend days and nights without food. Every meal is a huge, unsolved question for them. They do not know what will be their next meal; or how will they even find it. These poor lives are malnourished as they forage for food, often going days without finding any food that will be unsuitable for consumption. This leads to diseases like- distemper, leptospirosis, salmonella and toxoplasmosis, to name a few.

They live with all these diseases and most of them are left untreated.

Many pets are abandoned by people who formerly bought or adopted them. The major reasons were: people unable to spend the needed amount of time with their pets for their cleaning and grooming activities, and to manage the expenses.

Abandoned pets are deemed to be strays, due to this uncertainty of being devoid of food and shelter, these animals often roam on the streets in search of a home. Many times, they meet with dreadful accidents and even lose life terribly.

COVID-19 has added to all the miseries of these adorable lives. Multiple lockdowns have affected both people and animals, alike around the world. People maintained social distance and stayed at home, restaurants and cafes were shut resulting in the strays losing their only source of food and shelter.

Foster homes at multiple places reported that the number of cats and dogs increased suddenly when they reached the foster homes' doorstep in search of their basic needs.  

A few, fortunate ones were adopted during the lockdown; as people saw that the strays were suffering from a lack of food and shelter due to the virus.

But the post lockdown time was again miserable. The people who adopted stray dogs or cats during the lockdown abandoned them because then they did not have the time to look after them.

The sufferings of these innocent animals are endless. Abandoning by the only human that these strays consider their everything is heartbreaking for them.

Solutions to their tragedies

The hope for protecting these innocent lives is not in despair.

There are multiple ways we can help the hopeless strays and make their environment as well as their health safe and secured.

Non Profit Organizations and Foster Homes

Many Non Profit Organizations (NGOs) and foster homes work 24*7 to take care of the street animals. Foster Homes for animal welfare tend to the ill and injured animals and keep them till they are recovered or adopted. They also conduct drives for neutering, vaccinating the animals, providing them with other health facilities, and conducting adoption drives. NGOs also actively spread awareness about the importance of animal welfare to the public and conduct charity events and fundraisers to finance their expenses.

What we can do as individuals is: Donate funds to these NGOs and health care centres so the treatment and help towards the strays continue.

Child Help Foundation

Website:https://in.childhelpfoundation.in/assets/img/home/life-land-1.jpg

        Contact:  9819900180

Animals matter to me

        Website: https://www.amtmindia.org/  

        Contact: 9920737737

The Welfare of Stray Dogs-

Website: https://www.wsdindia.org/  

Contact:  22 64222838

The Feline Foundation contact:

Website: https://www.thefelinefoundation.com        

contact: 09324524373

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Mumbai.

Informing BMC employees about stray cattle and other animals suffering from diseases or for animals that are suitable for sterilisation would be a great way to help strays. BMC has been feeding, treating and providing shelter with help of NGOs and health care centres for years.

Under the Animal Birth Control Programme, stray dog sterilisation is being executed, by BMC staff and NGOs.

Reflective Radium Belts

A recent survey by the People for Cattle in India revealed that 20 to 30 % of road accidents in the country are because of stray cattle and animals roaming around freely on highways and roads with no lights. A solution to this has already been adopted in places like Delhi, Jharkhand and Anand(Gujarat) and parts of Maharashtra. Reflective radium belts are tied around the necks of cattle and animals on the streets; the glow of the radium can be seen from a distance that will avoid road accidents. The reflective tapes ensure long-distance visibility for the drivers.

Spay and Neuter

Spaying for females and neutering for male stray animals is the best possible way of curbing the stray population. This will ensure that no more unfortunate new little ones will be born that have to go through all the hassles and struggles of living the tough homeless life on the roads.

We can do multiple things on personal levels to help the strays. It can be feeding a few stray animals regularly or contacting those who do it on a daily basis for help. If you find an animal injured, take it to a foster home or call for medical aid. Simply adopting a cat, dog or any other stray animal; and taking care of its vaccinations, food and giving it loads of love will change their life beautifully.

Filaantro

Donating to those who help stray animals makes it even better. Filaantro is an online crowdfunding platform that raises funds for multiple causes, and helping stray animals is one of them. Help the voiceless creatures to live a happy, healthy and beautiful life.

Visit our link to support the voiceless lives.

https://filaantro.org/fundraiser/view/help-animals

https://filaantro.org/fundraiser/view/Help-Hanuman-Ashram-Gaushala

Author : Anjali Patel

[rajsingh321]

The Change that may end the World as we know it.

Contemporary climate change includes Global warming caused by humans and the natural weather pattern changes of earth. Climate changes have kept changing in previous periods, but the current changes are more rapid than any known events in Earth's history. The changes and the developments are causing a lot of damage to the existing climate. Temperatures have risen about twice as fast as the global average. Deserts are expanding, on the ground. Heat waves and wildfires are becoming more common, claiming more than 1000s of  innocent lives including animals, birds and humans in the recent past.

The Arctic has contributed to melting permafrost, glacial retreat and sea ice loss with the increasing warming. Higher temperatures are also causing more extreme storms and other weather extremes. In places such as coral reefs, mountains, and the Arctic, many species are forced to migrate or become extinct, as their environment changes. There are now 41,415 species on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List, and 16,306 of them are endangered species threatened with extinction. This is up from 16,118 last year, 2020. This includes both endangered animals and endangered plants. With food and water scarcity, increased flooding, extreme heat, more disease, and economic loss people are threatened with rapid climate change. Human Migration can also be driven by this. The World Health Organization calls this Climate Change the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century. Even if efforts to minimise future warming are successful, some effects will continue for centuries. These include sea-level rise, and warmer, more acidic oceans, unseasoned rainfalls, cyclones.

On record 2019 was the second warmest year and the end of the warmest decade (2010- 2019) ever recorded.  As per 2019 records Carbon dioxide (CO2), levels and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere rose to new levels contributing majorly to climate change. Every country on all continents is getting affected by climate change. It is disrupting national economies and affecting lives and if not done anything to control it, this constant change will claim millions of lives. Weather patterns are changing, sea levels are rising, and weather events are becoming more extreme. About 6 percent of greenhouse gas emissions dropped in 2020 due to travel bans and economic slowdowns resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, but this improvement was only temporary. Climate change is not on pause. Once the globe begins to recover from the pandemic, emissions are expected to return to higher levels. Urgent action is needed to address both the pandemic and the climate emergency in Saving lives and livelihoods.

As per "downtoearth" reports, India’s commitment to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2070 is akin to not just walking the talk on the climate crisis, but running the talk. At the 26th Conference of Parties (CoP26), Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a five-fold strategy — termed the Panchamrita — to achieve this feat. These five points include:

- India will get its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatts (GW) by 2030

- India will meet 50 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030

- India will reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now onwards till 2030

- By 2030, India will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by less than 45 per cent

- So, by the year 2070, India will achieve the target of Net Zero

Because India has not been a historical contributor to greenhouse gas emissions — from 1870 to 2019, its emissions have counted up to a little 4 percent of the global total. India’s climate change targets are laudable and put the ball firmly in the court of the already rich world to now show that they mean business.

India is criticized harshly as it is the world’s third-highest polluter in 2019, but its scale of emissions, 2.88 CO2 gigatonnes (Gt) as compared to the highest polluter (China at 10.6 Gt) and second highest (the United States at 5 Gt), are not comparable, not even by a stretch. We have millions of people, who are dependent on fuels that generates greenhouse gas emissions who have to be provided with renewable energy sources.

So, from every angle, we did not have to take these international targets to decrease our carbon emissions. This is why it is not just a challenge to reach for India but also a challenge for the world to follow suit. With a population of 1.3 billion people and rapidly growing, our economy is heavily dependent on coal and oil, its emissions are on a steep upward course unless action is taken to curb them. With these constant changes, India would become too hot for life.

Temperature Rise Over India

India’s average temperature has risen by around 0.8°C during 1901–2019. At 43.5 degrees Celsius, Delhi recorded the highest temperature of the year, 2021. This rise in temperature was mainly on account of GHG-induced warming, partially offset by forcing due to anthropogenic aerosols and changes in LULC. By the end of the twenty-first century, the moderate temperature over India is projected to rise by approximately 4.4°C relative to the recent past (1976–2005 average). By the end of the twenty-first century, the frequencies of occurrence of hot days and warm nights are projected to increase by 55% and 70%, respectively. Coastal areas of India like Mumbai to the west, Tamil Nadu and Kerala to the south, Odisha, West Bengal to the East are known as Red zones which indicate lands that will be lost due to rising tides, with the presumption that the spike in temperature has melted the polar regions, adding two metres to ocean levels.

The frequency of summer (April–June) heat waves over India is projected to be 3 to 4 times higher by the end of the twenty-first century, as compared to the 1976–2005 baseline period. The average duration of heatwave events is also projected to roughly double, but with a substantial spread among models. In answer to the combined rise in surface temperature and humidity, amplification of heat stress is predicted across India, particularly over the Indo-Gangetic and Indus river basins.

Indian Ocean Warming

Over the period of 1951–2015, sea surface temperature (SST) of the tropical Indian Ocean has risen by 1°C on average and is markedly higher than the global average SST warming of 0.7°C. Ocean heat content in the upper 700 m (OHC700) of the tropical Indian Ocean has also exhibited an increasing trend over the past six decades (1955–2015), Notably, an abrupt rise is observed within the past two decades (1998–2015). If the Indian Ocean persists to warm faster than the global average, sea levels would begin rising faster. Unlike some oceans, most sea-level rise in the Indian Ocean is caused by warming, because water expands in volume when it warms and not so much due to the melting of glaciers and ice. But there is anticipation around the melting of ice sheets, such as the Greenland ice sheet, that contributes to global mean sea-level rise.

Changes in Rainfall

The summer monsoon showers (June to September) over India has declined by about 6% from 1951 to 2015, with notable decreases over the Indo-Gangetic Plains and the Western Ghats. Instead, unseasoned rainfalls, showers, Summer rains, December rains, are happening all over the country.

On September 30, this year’s monsoon season officially ended. India received 75% of its annual rainfall during the June-September monsoon. A Hindustan Times analysis of the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) database puts this year’s total monsoon rainfall at 876.8mm. Over central India, the frequency of daily rainfall extremes with rainfall intensities exceeding 150 mm per day increased by about 75% during 1950–2015. There has been a shift in the recent period toward more frequent dry spells (27% higher during 1981–2011 relative to 1951–1980) and more intense wet spells during the summer monsoon season. The frequency of localized heavy precipitation happenings has increased worldwide in response to increased atmospheric moisture content. With continued global warming and anticipated reductions in anthropogenic aerosol emissions in the future.

On 17th Oct, 2021, more than 26 people were killed in floods in southern India after heavy rains caused rivers to overflow, cutting off towns and villages. Torrential rainfall in Uttarakhand reported at least 42 rain-related deaths in one day. More than 200 people have died in devastating floods across India and Nepal after some of the heaviest unseasoned rainfall in over a century triggered flash flooding and landslides. More than 10000 families were affected by these monstrous rains. Rescue and relief operations are still being carried out but without these basic needs, it is difficult to provide relief to the locals affected. Between 1983 and 1992, India's loss due to damaged crops in floods was Rs 11,773.37 crore, but the loss due to damaged public property was Rs 12,546.16 crore. This difference widened and between 2013 and 2017, the loss India suffered due to public property damaged in floods was 112 per cent more than that suffered due to damaged crops.

  Sea Level Rise

Because of the continental ice melt and thermal expansion of ocean water, sea levels have risen globally in reaction to global warming. Sea-level rise in the North Indian Ocean (NIO) occurred at a rate of 1.06–1.75 mm per year during 1874–2004 and has revved to 3.3 mm per year in the last two and a half decades (1993–2017), which is comparable to the present rate of global mean sea-level rise.

At the end of the twenty-first century, the steric sea level in the NIO is projected to rise by around 300 mm relative to the average over 1986–2005, with the corresponding projection for the global mean rise being approximately 180 mm.

Tropical Cyclones

India is a country in the North Indian Ocean that is the most helpless to getting hit by tropical cyclones in the basin, from the east or the west. On average, 2–3 tropical cyclones make landfall in India each year, with about one being a severe tropical cyclone or greater. There are two main seas in the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal where all of these cyclonic storms form in the basin of every season. Cyclone Yaas from the Bay of Bengal is the second severe cyclonic storm of 2021 in India. Cyclone Tauktae was the season’s first and strongest tropical cyclone that made landfall in India, states of Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat registered heavy rainfall and flash floods. Tauktae was a deadly and most strong tropical cyclone that started from the Arabian Sea and made landfall on the west coast of India. Cyclone Amphan, Cyclone Nisarga were the strongest storm and most powerful super cyclonic storms of the year 2020. Climate models project a rise in the intensity of tropical cyclones in the NIO basin during the twenty-first century.

Changes in the Himalayas

The Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) experienced a temperature rise of about 1.3°C during 1951–2014. Several areas of HKH are experiencing a low trend in snowfall and also retreat of glaciers in recent decades. Global warming is having a severe impact on the amount of snow and ice, which has serious implications for downstream water availability in both the short and long term, as up to 50% of the average annual flows in the rivers are contributed by snow and glacial melting. In contrast, the high-elevation Karakoram Himalayas have experienced higher winter snowfall that has shielded the region from glacier shrinkage. By the end of the twenty-first century, in HKH the annual mean surface temperature is projected to increase by about 5.2°C.  

Nations around the world are upping their game in the fight against climate change, The goal is simple. We can curb our contribution to climate change while also saving money. In today’s social-distanced world, Earth Day 2021 is going online. Despite the novel coronavirus, it’s still possible to join the fight against climate change with your home. Every little step towards climate action will bring a lot of changes and help our nature. During the lockdown, nature had restored because of less human intervention. Support those organisations and NGOs who are supporting and making these changes to improve nature.

Author : Lubdha Dhanopia Source : https://filaantro.org/blog/

[rajsingh321]

The variant of Concern - Omicron

Just when the world is getting back on track after the Corona virus' catastrophe, a new mutant once again like Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta (considered as variants of SARS-CoV-2), OMICRON has emerged. After going through multiple lockdowns, declining economies, increasing poverty and losing numerous lives, a new threat is approaching. Since 2020, new variants of COVID-19 have been emerging, leading to many questions like- Are there new and different ways to stay safe from each variant? “How dangerous is this new variant? Are the existing vaccines effective for this variant?” And the list goes on.

Researchers worldwide are conducting various studies to understand the effectiveness, transmissibility and other aspects of Omicron.

Mutation

A mutation is an alteration in the genetic material (the genome) of a cell of a virus or of a living organism. It can be transmitted to the virus' descendants. Most of the time when viruses mutate, the following variants are weaker than the pathogen. There is a lot unknown and unconfirmed about Omicron; however, this one has been declared a 'variant of concern' by WHO as it has a large number of mutations and is easily transmissible.

Transmissibility

The first case of Omicron was detected on 24th November 2021, in South Africa and the positive cases rose rapidly since then. Studies by experts show that Omicron is more transmissible compared to other COVID-19 variants, yet the transmission compared to Delta is unknown. The number of people testing positive has risen in areas of South Africa affected by this variant, but studies are underway to understand if it is because of Omicron or other factors.

Severity

The scenario so far shows that the variant is becoming a threat to the countries. As two distant countries announced their first cases and a third reported it’s presence before South African officials sounded the alarm. Initial studies of the new variant are not enough yet to declare Omicron as the most severe because understanding the severity of the Omicron variant will take days to several weeks as it is newly discovered.

How Does Omicron Affect the Human body?

The Omicron variant strain of Coronavirus with 30 plus different mutations in the Covid-19 spike protein makes the process of it’s transmission easier. Scientists are clear that current evidence indicates- Omicron bypasses the immune system more aggressively than the other variants. The reason is yet to be known as the research is still going on.

From the research, what is learnt so far is that; compared with other variants – Omicron tends to reinfect more people who have been previously infected and have already received some protection by way of a vaccine against Covid-19.

Effectiveness of current tests on Omicron

RT-PCR is the widely used method of diagnosis for novel coronavirus variants as it identifies specific genes in the virus, like Spike (S), Enveloped (E) and Nucleocapsid (N) to confirm the presence of coronavirus.

In Omicron's case, the S gene is heavily mutated and a few primers may result in indicating the absence of the S gene. Undergoing research shows that a suspected case of Omicron requires a full genetic analysis, which can take up to a couple of weeks. Further studies regarding this aspect of Omicron will be released soon with time.

Effectiveness of current vaccines

Scientists at the Indian Council of Medical Research-Nation have initiated efforts to isolate and grow the Omicron strain of the novel coronavirus to examine the effectiveness of the current tests for detecting the COVID-19 virus on Omicron. The examination will answer two questions - Can this variant impact the effectiveness of Covishield and Covaxin and Will it outfight existing antibodies in those who have been affected by COVID illness.

Preventive Measures for the New Variant

There is a range of methods that we should follow to prevent the spread of Omicron.

- Getting vaccinated to protect ourselves from severe illness and death. Vaccines also reduce virus circulation, reducing the chances for a new mutation that could hit us harder.

- Getting boosters to improve the vaccine effect in the body.

Along with vaccines, other preventive measures should be followed, like-

- Wearing well-fitting masks

- Maintaining physical/social distance

- Improving the ventilation of indoor spaces

- Avoiding crowded, confined and closed settings

- Regularly cleaning hands

- Coughing or sneezing into a bent elbow or tissue.

Spread of Omicron variant in the World

As per WHO's reports, Omicron has spread across 38 countries. No deaths reported till now.

-India detected 23 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus in the states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Capital city Delhi.  

- The Covid-19 positivity rate in South Africa has jumped by 24% since the Omicron variant was detected two weeks ago, according to the latest data from the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases Monday.  

- Nepal has detected its first two cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant, reports released on 6th December 2021

- Nepal has detected its first two cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant, the country's ministry of health and population said on Monday.

- At least 16 U.S. states have reported Omicron cases including New York, Washington and Massachusetts.- U.S. health officials

- A further 86 cases of the Omicron Covid variant have been reported in Britain.

It has been more than two years since we have learned about COVID and it’s variants. Let us be prepared and protect ourselves from any more threats related to this virus. Stay Safe and Wear a Mask.

Author : Anjali Patel

Source : https://filaantro.org/blog/

[rajsingh321]

Stress - Beat it before it Beats You !

Stress can be defined as any type of change that creates physical, emotional, or psychological pressure or strain. Stress is your body's response to anything that requires attention or effort.

Everyone experiences stress to some degree depending on person to person. The way a person responds to stress, however, makes a big difference to your overall well-being.

When you feel vulnerable, your body releases stress hormones which prepare the body to respond in a certain way. This is called the “fight or flight” response.

Stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline, make your:

- heartbeat faster

- muscles tighter

- breathing faster

- blood pressure higher

- senses sharper

Sometimes a pressurised situation triggers a stress hormone which reflects the way you deal with stressful situations. The situation may not put you in danger or it may not be that stressful, but your body may react as if it does. A stress response can be helpful in some situations, it can increase your production and improve the quality of your performance. But sometimes it can be detrimental and disturbing to your mental health. Acquiring a clear understanding of how stress impacts your physical and mental health is important. It is also important to recognize how your mental and physical health affects your stress level.

Signs

Stress can be short-term or long-term. Both can point to a variety of symptoms, but stress can take a serious toll on the body over time and have long-lasting health effects.

Some common signs of stress include:

- Changes in mood

- Clammy or sweaty palms

- Decreased sex drive

- Diarrhoea

- Difficulty sleeping

- Digestive problems

- Dizziness

- Feeling anxious

- Frequent sickness

- Grinding teeth

- Headaches

- Low energy

- Muscle tension, especially in the neck and shoulders

- Physical aches and pains

- Racing heartbeat

- Trembling

There are three main types of stress. These are acute, episodic acute, and chronic stress. We explore each type of stress below.

Acute stress

The most typical type of stress, acute stress, can be helpful in short measures. It is the body’s response to a recent or anticipated challenge or unexpected event.

Common symptoms of acute stress include:

- emotional distress

- muscle tension

- headache, back pain, or jaw ache

- stomach upset

- rapid heartbeat

- raised blood pressure

Sometimes acute stress is more critical. For example, if you witness a crime or accident. Tyrannical acute stress can lead to acute stress disorder or PTSD.

Occasional, moderate acute stress tends not to cause mental health problems. But if it starts to happen more often it may cause issues. This is called episodic acute stress which our second type of stress

Episodic acute stress

Episodic acute stress is when a person undergoes acute stress frequently.

If you have episodic acute stress, you may feel like you are always under pressure and a load of tension or that things are always going wrong. This can be exhausting, both physically and mentally.

Experiencing episodic acute stress symptoms may affect the way you function towards others. Left untreated, episodic acute stress can lead to:

- irritability

- unintended hostility

- relationship problems

Experiencing episodic acute stress may indicate the need to make some lifestyle changes. You may need to reduce the demands you make of yourself, or that others make of you.

If you think you may be experiencing episodic acute stress, speak to your doctor. The doctor can help you to find ways to manage this.

Chronic stress

Chronic stress is continuing stress resulting from long-term emotional pressure. For example, a stressful job, an unhappy family situation, or money problems.

If you have chronic stress, your body undergoes the fight or flight to respond too repeatedly to recover between episodes. This means your nervous system is constantly aroused, which is not good for your wellness.Left untreated, chronic stress can affect physical health problems. Up to 43 per cent of adults experience ill health effects from stress.

Depending on your situation, you may not be able to reduce what’s creating your chronic stress. But it is possible to find ways to control the impacts chronic stress has on your health.

If you think you may have chronic stress, speak to your doctor. The doctor can help you find methods to manage stressors and symptoms. Taking help to manage chronic stress will decrease the likelihood of affecting your physical health.

Several things in life can cause stress. Some of the main sources of stress include work, finances, relationships, parenting, and day-to-day difficulties.

During this reaction, certain hormones like adrenaline and cortisol are released. This speeds the heart rate, slows metabolism, shunts blood flow to major muscle groups, and changes various other autonomic nervous functions, giving the body a burst of energy and strength.

Stress can also lead to some toxic habits that hurt your health. For example, many people cope with stress by eating too much or by smoking. These unhealthy habits destroy the body and create bigger problems in the long course.

When your brain experiences high degrees of stress, your body reacts accordingly. Health problems, whether you are dealing with high blood pressure or you have diabetes, will also be affected by your stress level and your mental health.

Serious acute stress, like being involved in a natural disaster or getting into a verbal altercation, can trigger heart attacks, arrhythmias, and even unexpected death. However, this happens mostly in individuals who already have heart attacks.\

Stress also takes an emotional toll. While some stress may produce feelings of mild anxiety or frustration, prolonged stress can also lead to burnout, anxiety disorders, and depression.

Depression has many possible causes, such as heredity, brain chemicals and your life circumstances. Chronic stressful life situations can increase the risk of increasing depression if you aren't coping with the stress well. There's also increasing proof of links among poor coping, stress and physical illness.

If you're having trouble coping, chronic stress can carry you down and overwhelm you and can constantly change your mood swings. You may frequently be in a bad mood, your productivity may decrease, your relationships may suffer, you may develop insomnia, and you might even find it difficult to live a normal daily routine.

You can try some self-help stress relievers to get your stress under control, such as:

- Trying meditation, yoga or deep breathing

- Getting regular physical activity

- Getting enough sleep

- Eating a healthy diet

- Managing your time

- Cutting back on obligations

If your stress management efforts aren't working and are not enough, see your doctor. If you've developed depression, you and your doctor can consider therapy/ treatment options.

Talking to a counsellor, therapist, or another mental health professional can be a useful way to deal with stress and depression as they can help you manage it. Talk therapy alone or combined with cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) or medication is a verified solution for both depression and chronic stress.

Below are the mentioned resources for people dealing with Stress.

*There are many more available on the internet.

NIMHANS

Call: 080-46110007

Visit:Nimhans.ac.in/pssmhs-helpline

Peak Mind

Call: 080-47092334

Visit:Peakmind.in

Sumaitri

Call: 011-23389090, 09315767849

Visit:Sumaitri.net

Sneha

Call: 044-24640050, 044-24640060

Visit:Snehaindia.org/new

Fortis Stress Helpline

Call: 08376804102

Online Crowdfunding is a platform where anyone can raise a campaign and get support from individuals or organisations for their cause. People are using crowdfunding to ease the situations they are stuck in and also help others.  Millions of people in this world are under stressful conditions and have no resources or savings or someone to help them out of it. The reasons may vary from a person to person but with the help of crowdfunding, they obtain a little relief because of the monetary support they get from the crowd to help them in the cause they were stressing over, for example people from underprivileged backgrounds who cannot help their kids, that are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases and have no means for treatment turn to crowdfunding platforms with the hope that their kids will be saved. There are thousands of more causes on which people stress over lack of funds for a genuine cause or requirement and crowdfunding can reduce the stress to a great extent  by raising campaigns for the cause and approaching prospective donors online, which has become easier compared to earlier times due to easier access to the internet even in the remotest of areas.

To understand the stress that these parents face in situations like, where their kids are on their deathbeds and they cannot do very less to help them. That stress cannot be managed or lowered until their children are safe and back with their parents. Read many stories related to these situations and how Filaantro helped in saving the lives of these innocent children.

Read Success stories

Author : Lubdha Dhanopia

Source : https://filaantro.org/blog/

[rajsingh321]

No Money, No Treatment!?

Health care- the maintenance of or the improvement of the health of a person through various treatments, preventions of diseases, diagnosis or cure of disease is an essential facility that cannot be compromised at any cost. It is a right of every person to have access to quality health care as it improves life. Yet, many people worldwide seldom get to use it.

WHY SO?

Health care provisions in India show a wide spectrum of contrasting outcomes -at one end we see intriguing glass structures as hospitals that provide high tech medical facilities while at the other end some of the basic medications and medical equipment is not easily accessible in remote hospitals, sometimes in government hospitals as well. Well, this inconsistency is dreadful for a country with a population of 138 crores, which also is one of the causes of poor public health facilities especially among the underprivileged sectors of society.

Lack of Awareness

Not many people are aware of the fact that health is a fundamental right of every citizen of India. Right to health care provision is incorporated in the Constitution under the Right to Life under Article 21; guaranteeing everyone’s right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. The primary reason for inadequate knowledge about health care in the Indian population is low because of lack of awareness and poor functional literacy.

Low priority to health care in the system itself adds to the reach of inadequate knowledge about its accessibility. Even after being aware of the benefits of quality health care, many cannot afford it and choose to ignore it which leads to extreme health conditions.

Shortfall of Infrastructure

India has a three-tier health care system- Primary (Devolved to cities and municipality) Secondary (provided by physicians with basic health training) and Tertiary (Medical centres, regional and provincial hospitals, and specialized hospitals.) Despite the fact that the system is efficiently sub-divided, it has been struggling in the form of a lack of well-equipped medical institutes. As per a recent article in the Economic Times, the availability of free medicines in public healthcare facilities for inpatient care has declined from 31.2 per cent to 8.9 per cent in two decades. The availability of hospital beds, apparatus, surgery equipment is lowering constantly.

Accumulation of poor medical infrastructure for years has shaken the Indian health care system during this pandemic. Patients lost their lives as they were waiting for hospital beds, oxygen cylinders and ventilators. Years of a working health care system was not sufficient to handle rapidly increasing positive COVID cases due to poor management.

Poverty

Expensive health care forced lakhs of people in the country towards poverty. Besides, more than 80 per cent of the population does not have any significant health insurance coverage and 68 per cent of the people have limited or no access to essential medicines.

67 per cent of the healthcare spending of Indian people is just on medicines. The rest goes for doctor fees, hospitalization, laboratory tests, injectables, vitamin supplements and other OTC drugs.

In India, nearly 30 per cent of the total population or 42 crores citizens do not have health insurance. This is mainly because of low monetary support and a lack of awareness about health insurance and its benefits.

All of these together and in majority cases, poverty alone becomes a reason for people to not have access to medical care as and when needs arise. Hence, many curable diseases are left untreated resulting in deaths.

How can WE as individuals can help and change this scenario?

Years of an ill health care system will require a lot of dedication from all ends to improve the situation. But as individuals, we can start small and aim big. Poverty is the major cause why many people in India today are unable to get medical aid.

Financial aid through crowdfunding can be a great way to meet the ends.

Filaantro is one such reliable crowdfunding platform that raises funds online for social causes and helps those in need.

A 25 day old baby of Mrs Smitha and Mr Viswan was born in the 29th week of pregnancy; the baby was low weight and required ventilator support along with extensive care. He was immediately shifted to the NICU in Lourdes hospital, Kochi. Doctors suggested keeping the baby in the NICU for 1 month. The estimated cost of the treatment is Rs. 4,30,000 /- (Rupees Four Lakh Thirty Thousand only).

Mr Viswan (Father) is the only earning member in the family but unfortunately lost his job during the pandemic. The pandemic and joblessness had hit the family hard and left them penniless. Child Help Foundation’s crowdfunding partner Filaantro started a campaign to raise funds online for the baby and successfully raised the amount required. Mrs Smitha and Mr Viswan were able to pay for the treatment within time.

With your efforts and contribution, an innocent life was saved. We can save many more lives and be there for the people who need it the most. Visit our website today to help and support many more helpless lives.  

https://filaantro.org/

Author : Anjali Patel

[rajsingh321]

Padma Shri Awards: Ordinary people being recognised for their life’s work

Padma Shri, also spelt Padma Shree, is one of the highest civilian awards of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. It is awarded by the Government of India every year on India's Republic Day. Padma Awards were established in 1954 to be awarded to citizens of India in honour of their distinguished contribution in various provinces of activity including the arts, education, industry, literature, science, sports, medicine, social service and public affairs. It has also been awarded to some outstanding individuals who were not citizens of India but did contribute in different ways to India.

The selection criteria have been scrutinised in some quarters with the claim that many highly worthy artists have been left out to favour certain individuals. India has now built an online nomination platform for the common citizens to recommend the nomination for the annually given civilian "Padma" awards.  As of 2021, 3225 people have received the award. Among the Padma Awardees this year, some very ordinary people that have inspired us with their great accomplishments have made a positive change in society and have contributed to society. Here is a mention of a few of those. This list does not, in any manner, consider the achievements of others inferior.

Bhuri Bai

Bhuri Bai of Zher came to Bhopal twenty years ago. She works at Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya IGRMS on a daily wage basis. She has been painting with acrylic on canvas for the past nine years and has already authenticated herself as a Bhil contemporary artist. The walls of the Museum of Mankind are covered with Bhuri Bai’s paintings. As a child, she would go to the haat or local fair, an essential part of Bhill life, where the colours inspired her to paint. She paints the laugh and fun of the Gad Bapsi festival, where young men try to scale an oiled pole to get the coconuts tied to its top.

Asavadi Prakasarao

Dr Asavadi Prakasa Rao is a famous poet, Avadhani, writer, critic and translator besides being an academic, who had served as Principal of Govt. Degree Colleges; Member, Executive Committee, AP Sahitya Akademi; and Member, Executive Council, SK University. As Ashtavadhani, he gave 170 performances and has authored 50 books across various genres. And 18 books, including a doctoral thesis, have come out on his learned output. A distinguished orator, he took part in some radio/ TV programmes. He is also into social service. He has received several honours in his life work.

Gopiram Bargayan Burabhakat

Veteran Assamese folk musician from Majuli, Shri Gopiram Bargayan Burabhakat will be conferred with Padma Shri this year. He is known for refining the Sattriya traditional music for over 7 decades.

He has been awarded the prestigious Padma Shri award for his contribution to Art.

Chutni Mahato

Chutni Mahato, also known as Chutni Devi (b. 1959), is a social worker from Jharkhand, India. Once a victim of witch-branding, she now strives to help others who have been branded as witches and spreads awareness about superstitions and witchcraft.

Mahato was born in Bholadih village, Jharkhand in 1959. Married off as a child, she was labelled a witch in 1995 after a family member fell ill. The villagers grabbed her property, ill-treated her including sexual abuse, forcing her to drink urine and being displayed semi-naked. She ran away, finding her way back to her parent's house.

An Indian Administrative Service officer connected her to social workers who were working in the area of prevention of witch-hunting. Following this, for over two decades, she has taken up the cause against superstitious practices and beliefs in Jharkhand.

Shanti Devi

Shanti Devi is famous for her contribution towards restoring peace in the Maoist affected areas in Odisha. She leads the voluntary organisation Seva Samaj, who was born in the Balasore district on April 18, 1934. She got married at the age of 17 to Mahatma Gandhi follower Dr Ratan Das. After marriage, she shifted to Koraput from Balasore. Later, she founded an ashram at Gobarapalli in the Rayagada district. Her carrier in social work began from there. She worked for the growth and education of tribal girls. She also started multiple ashrams for the education, recovery and vocational training of orphans and destitute children. She wanted to make all girls self-sufficient so that they can live with self-respect in society.

Purnamasi Jani

Purnamasi Jani, a Kui poet from Odisha. She is among the 5 Odias who have been recognised for their services. A tribal poet, Jani is popularly known as Tadi Sarubai in the region for her devotional songs and poems which she sings in the Kui dialect. In the last 40 years, Jani has written and sung thousands of devotional and folk songs. She has never been to school not does know how to read and write, other than reciting poems in the Kui dialect. Locals see her as a healer, whose songs are balm to the soul.

Manjamma Jogati

Manjamma Jogathi is an Indian Kannada theatre actress, singer and dancer of Jogathi Nritya, a folk dance form of North Karnataka. In 2019, she became the first transwoman to be the president of Karnataka Janapada Academy, a state top institution for folk arts. After leaving her house aged 15, she identified herself as a woman. Having completed education only till Class 10, she resorted to begging. During this time, she was sexually abused. Later, a father and son duo introduced her to dancing and took her to dance teacher Kallava Jogathi, where she learnt the Jogathi dance.

Manjamma became a permanent dancer in Kallavva's Jogathi dance group, performing in different parts of India.

Lajwanti

Patiala-based Phulkari artist Lajwanti (64), who has been doing the artwork since she was six. “My family brought the art to India while migrating from Multan, Pakistan, during Partition. I learnt it from my grandmother out of interest,” she said.

Pappammal

M. Pappammal alias Rangammal was born to Velammal and Maruthachala Mudaliar in the village of Devarayapuram in 1914. She lost her parents at a young age, and she and her two sisters were raised in Thekkampatti, Coimbatore by their paternal grandmother.

She is an organic farmer from Tamil Nadu, India. At the age of 105, she is argued to be the oldest farmer still active in the field. She is regarded as a pioneer in the agriculture field and is affiliated with Tamil Nadu Agricultural University's department of education. At her age, she works every day on her 2.5 acres of land.

Jaswantiben Jamnadas Popat

Jaswantiben Jamnadas Popat is an Indian businesswoman, who is one of the founders of Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad, a women's worker cooperative involved in manufacturing various fast-moving consumer goods. She started the company with a seed capital of ?80 (US$1.10), their cooperative venture - the Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad and now has a turnover of over ?1,600 crores (US$212 million). Her organization has employed nearly 45,000 women. While most people may not recognise her by name, it is unlikely that you are unfamiliar with her product. If you are someone who watched television during the 90s.

Nanda Prusty

102-yr-old 'Nanda sir', who provided free education to children and adults at Jajpur, Odisha for decades, raised his hands in a gesture of blessing the President," the official account of the President's office tweeted while sharing photos from the awards ceremony, which took place Monday at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Fondly known as 'Nanda Sir', he has spent several decades of his life providing free education to children and adults in Jajpur in Odisha. Having only been able to study till Class 7 owing to his family's financial condition, he has been teaching children free of cost since Independence to eradicate illiteracy in his village.

Sindhutai Sapkal

Sindhutai was born on 14 November 1948 in a cattle-grazing family in Maharashtra Wardha district. Being an unwanted child, she was referred to as Chindhi. Sapkal devoted herself to the orphans. She is fondly called "Mai", which means "mother" by the people around her. She has nurtured over 1,500 orphaned children under her care. She has a grand family of 382 sons-in-law, 49 daughters-in-law, and over a thousand grandchildren. Many of the children whom she had adopted are now well-educated lawyers and doctors. Some of her adopted children - including her biological daughter - are running their independent orphanages. She has been honoured with more than 900 National and International awards for her commitment, dedication and work. She used the grant money to buy land to make a home for her orphaned children. Apart from being a caring soul, she was also a good speaker and her hunger made her speak, she recites motivational lines for society and youth.

Sudha Hari Narayan Singh

Sudha Singh (born 25 June 1986) is an Indian Olympic athlete in the 3000 metres steeplechase event. A national record holder in the event, she has represented India at international events since 2005. Singh is an Asian Champion in the discipline and has won two gold and four silver medals at varying editions of the Asian Games and the continental championships.

P. Subramanian

Subramanian was the Founder-promoter of Shanthi Gears, a leading Gear Manufacturer located in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. He is fondly remembered as the “Gear-man of Coimbatore. Padma Shri (posthumous) awardee P Subramanian, founder of Shanthi Gears, is remembered for offering quality food at a low price through his charitable trust Shanthi Social Services at Singanallur. His zeal for entrepreneurship and social service won him the affection of the masses. The 79-year-old industrialist, fondly called the ‘gearman of Coimbatore’, was an alumnus of PSG Polytechnic. He joined PSG Polytechnic as a lecturer in the late 1960s. Even while working as a lecturer, he started a workshop to pursue his interest in machines. That proved to be the foundation for Shanthi Gears in 1972.

New initiative of Indian government to recognise the achievements of common citizens nominated by any individual. India posses alot of talents which are either unrecognised, untapped or struggling to perform due to lack of efforts. In this modern era where technology has touched the lives of common man, there is a lot of scope to support such talents through crowdfunding platforms like Filaantro.

Crowdfunding is a means of raising money with the help of a large number of people and usually these people are public or individuals who can donate, invest in projects, causes or help towards something or someone in need.

Read more to understand: https://filaantro.org/blog/index.php/post/understanding-crowdfunding/48

Author : Lubdha Dhanopia

[rajsingh321]

Visit https://filaantro.org to know more about Filaantro and its fundraisers.

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Visit https://filaantro.org to know more about Filaantro and its fundraisers.

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Visit https://filaantro.org to know more about Filaantro and its fundraisers.

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Visit https://filaantro.org to know more about Filaantro and its fundraisers.

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Visit https://filaantro.org to know more about Filaantro and its Fundraisers.

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Visit https://filaantro.org to know more about Filaantro and its fundraisers.

[rajsingh321]

[rajsingh321]

Visit https://filaantro.org to know more about Filaantro and its fundraisers.