Like all proud Indians and NRIs, we too, want to make India a better country. Even after the typically fierce “but India has a great history” retort, we look down embarrassed and helpless in terms of our rural youth being misguided and unemployed. The education system in rural India suffers both on poor infrastructure as well as an abysmal quality of education.A short clip above gives an overview of our work. Also there are related articles by Dr. Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director, IIM Indore. We have been very lucky to have had the stalwarts from the education &amp; social entrepreneurship sector (Professors from IIM Indore, Bangalore, Udaipur &amp; TISS; Caring Friends, Mumbai, Other NGO entrepreneurs like Vinayak Lohani) and tie-ups with institutions like Head-Held High &amp; Goonj Delhi) guide us through our journey of trying to bring around this paradigm shift. 
 We need your contribution to help the youth realize their dreams. Lets together give them our support and guidance and do our part in giving back to the society we feel proud to be a part of!SSES through its educational initiative SSISM empowers the rural youth with access to quality higher education and employment opportunities. It offers graduation courses with transportation to rural students from the interiors of Madhya Pradesh (70 KM radius). Free computer access education is provided to school children. Special focus is on girl education and parent counseling. Out of 1050 students; 70% are girls, few being university toppers. SSES provides placement &amp; entrepreneurship opportunities to students by exposing them to current industry needs every 6 months via industry visits, training, updated curriculum, vocational training etc. Spoken English classes from Head-Held High, Bangalore headed by CNN IBN Awardee aims to bridge the crucial communication gap that poses a big challenge of these students. 
 SSES target to impact minimum 10,000 direct beneficiaries per year. These include students, their families and all who wants to become self reliant.Since 2010; we have imparted courses &amp; training's to nearly 6000 people. A paradigm shift from being aloof to being aware and focused to parents encouraging their girls to study and become independent have been our key achievements. Some of the achievements are: 1050 total students, 60% girls from 200 villages, 4000+ villagers trained in the basics of computers, 10+ entrepreneurship projects, 14 university toppers, 3 university sports captain and 70+ placements in national and multi-national companies.SSISM alumnis being role models, girls making an exemplary mark by being independent and proving themselves, Emergence of local entrepreneurs. Girls who decide to stay in village are much sought after as teachers at primary and secondary schools, allied industries and occupations like dairy farming, retailing, etc. They are proving to be more aware and dedicated for their family occupation, like farming.

Empower rural youth for a brighter future

Disadvantaged students face many obstacles when trying to pursue an education. The expense to go to school combined with their parents expectations for their children to work and earn a living, means many discontinue their education. This leads to poor employment options in the future.In a country like India, where the majority of the population are youths, the overall effect of this problem multiplies. Societies progress and the economies growth rate both deteriorate as so many people are uneducated. 
 We have started an initiative to support bright but underprivileged students post the 10th grade to pursue further studies in literacy; leading to employment. We cover the cost of scholarships, books, and all skill training.Each student is carefully selected based upon academic performance and economic assessments. Our volunteers visit student’s homes to get a better understanding of their financial situation. As we have such a big network of volunteers covering a vast area, we can ensure that we reach as many students as possible. 
 Through our efforts and the support of others like you, more than 5000 students have received employment through Vidya Poshak and over 4000 students have reached the next level of literacy. Also, 60 free of cost rural book banks have been opened where students can borrow books and educational material.

Provide opportunities to deserving underprivileged students

India is a megadiverse country with rich flora and fauna, but the biological diversity is in danger. 387 Indian plant species listed under IUCN Red List. Out of 387 plant species, 77 are ‘critically endangered’.<ol><li>We are depleting the Earth’s natural resources, polluting its air and water, destabilising the climate, and driving many of its species to extinction.</li><li>The total forest cover in India is 80.73* million hectares which forms 24.56%* of the geographical area of the country. The country has lost 1.93 million* hectares of forest cover from 2001 to 2020.</li><li>Tree felling almost doubled between 2016-2019 in India: As per the Data from Environment Ministry, 76,72,337 trees were cut down between year 2016-17 to 2018-19</li><li>Air pollution on rise in Indian cities: The researchers speculated that increases in PM2.5 and NO2 in India reflect increasing vehicle ownership, industrialization and the limited effect of air pollution policies to date</li><li>North India staring at severe water crisis during summer 2021: The High temperatures in North India currently and in summer would worsen the water situation. IMD has declared that the March 2021 temperatures in Delhi were the highest in last 11 years.  </li></ol> FBH is an ecological movement envisioned to create spaces where humans coexist in harmony with Nature. An initiative of Heartfulness Institute to partner with global communities to grow, nurture, protect and conserve native, endemic and endangered tree species while ensuring diversity, sustainability and longevity. Diversity<ul><li>Through multi location enabled mini-forests</li><li>Guidance of several agroforestry scientists, forest officers, academicians, and conservationists</li></ul>Sustainability<ul><li>Focus on native, rear and endangered species</li><li>Diverse plantation style in sync with local ecology</li><li>Support of nationwide nurseries to grow highly resilient saplings</li></ul>Longevity<ul><li>Careful selection of identified land</li><li>Involvement of local community</li><li>Focused aftercare and monitoring using geotagging/satellite imagery/third party audits</li></ul>Our Focus is the creation of Ex-Situ conservation sites of Rare and Endangered Species from India’s Biodiversity HotpotsOur projects and plantation drives have involved participants, volunteers and environment enthusiasts from all walks of life, nationalities, corporations, universities, schools, government including collaborations with other non-profit organisationsForestsByHeartfulness has a large hub and spoke network of 18+ active nurseries across India With Systems, process and related infra in place, FBH aims to rapidly increase production to 200 million saplings across more than 28+ nurseries by 2025 from its current 7.5+ million grown presently across Heartfulness centres, India wide to facilitate localised sapling production <ol><li>Conserve endangered tree species: Most FBH projects have this as a key objective, and several endangered tree species are included during species selection.</li><li>Attract biodiversity: The forests are created with highly diverse tree species, native to that region. This results in a highly biodiverse flora attracting lot of birds, bees, reptiles, and small mammals within 1-2 years.</li><li>Increase in water table: Large FBH projects have witnessed tremendous rise in ground water levels owing to extensive rainwater harvesting and bio-mimicry methods.</li><li>Benefits to local communities: Most projects benefit the local communities through a favorable microclimate, supplying medicinal herbs &amp; plants.</li><li>Sequester CO2: High dense forests are known to sequester more CO2 per unit area than traditional farming.</li><li>Agroforestry: To create additional income source to farmers through tree-based agriculture on farm lands.</li><li>Hill restoration: To green the barren hills of India to restore lost habitat</li></ol>

ForestsByHeartfulness - Creating MiniForests of Indigenous and Native Species Across India

This is a sample description for education. For the purpose of testing I will use the word EducationEducationEducationEducation.

Education

This is a sample description for Environment For the purpose of testing I will use the word EnvironmentEnvironmentEnvironment.

Environment

This is a sample description for Livelihood. For the purpose of testing I will use the word LivelihoodLivelihoodLivelihoodLivelihood.

Livelihood

We are an alternative university to develop solutions to the problems of mountain communities. HIAL is a collaborative exercise between learners and facilitators, and aims to inspire all seekers of knowledge to explore both outside and within themselves. Instead of solving problems with the conventional 3Rs (reading, writing, and arithmetics), we encourage learners to problem solve using the 3Hs of Bright Head, Kind Heart, and Skilled Hands.

Manish Adlakha

Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh

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Everything around us has changed drastically in the last 150 years... from riding on horsebacks to flying by airplanes, from using pigeons for mail to emails and smartphones; but in our schools, colleges, and classrooms... almost nothing has changed. Chalk, talk and paper... paper knowledge, paper evaluations, paper degrees all too papery and all too theoretical... very little that prepares us for real life in the real world. No wonder graduates coming out of most of our colleges and universities finish a ritual and get their degrees but are highly unemployable, according to various studies. Often employers end up re-educating the fresh recruits at their own expense.In Ladakh, the situation is even worse. There are no functional universities in the region. As a result, there is a mass exodus of youth to cities like Jammu and Chandigarh. Where they live like educational refugees learn very little that is of relevance to their lives and return as misfits for the mountain environment.A year ago, Sonam Wanghchuk who has been actively engaged in the educational reforms in the Ladakh region for the past 25 years launched a campaign to support an alternative university for the mountain context called Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL). In this, he was supported by his holiness Drikung Skyabgon Chetsang Rinpochey, one of the topmost spiritual leaders in Himalayan Buddhism after HH the Dalai Lama, and currently also the United Nations's Ambassador for Mountain Partnership, SECMOL, the Student’s Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh proposes to start an alternative university for mountain development.The government of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Council Leh has supported the concept by earmarking 200 acres of land on the Phyang desert. And the desert is already starting to become green using the famous Ice Stupa artificial glacier technique. 
 As a part of the project HIAL, The School of Sustainable Habitats will be the first school to come up on the University site. It will cater to the first few batches of fellow students and will be the center of academic activities for the next 3 years.Alongside the academic block, we will have the first residential block which can house 100 students coming up in the School of Sustainable Habitats. We are utilizing used containers for creating this unique accommodation cluster. It will lead to lower water utilization in construction and also allow us to recycle the leftover containers in Ladakh which will have gone into waste otherwise. 
 "The School of Sustainable Habitats" will help kick start this journey of creating a full-fledged mountain university in Ladakh which will cater to students from all the mountainous regions of the world.- Full Fledged university for Ladakh, a long-standing demand of the locals- A model university working towards finding solutions for Climate change &amp; sustainable development

Infrastructure for "School of Sustainable Habitats"

Everything around us has changed drastically in the last 150 years... from riding on horsebacks to flying by airplanes, from using pigeons for mail to emails and smartphones; but in our schools, colleges, and classrooms... almost nothing has changed. Chalk, talk and paper... paper knowledge, paper evaluations, paper degrees all too papery and all too theoretical... very little that prepares us for real life in the real world. No wonder graduates coming out of most of our colleges and universities finish a ritual and get their degrees but are highly unemployable, according to various studies. Often employers end up re-educating the fresh recruits at their own expense.In Ladakh, the situation is even worse. There are no functional universities in the region. As a result, there is a mass exodus of youth to cities like Jammu and Chandigarh. Where they live like educational refugees learn very little that is of relevance to their lives and return as misfits for the mountain environment.A year ago, Sonam Wanghchuk, who has been actively engaged in the educational reforms in the Ladakh region for the past 25 years, launched a campaign to support an alternative university for the mountain context called Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL). In this he was supported by His Holiness Drikung Skyabgon Chetsang Rinpochey, one of the topmost spiritual leaders in Himalayan Buddhism after HH the Dalai Lama, and currently also the United Nations's Ambassador for Mountain Partnership, SECMOL, the Student’s Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh proposes to start an alternative university for mountain development.The government of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Council Leh has supported the concept by earmarking 200 acres of land on the Phyang desert. And the desert is already starting to become green using the famous Ice Stupa artificial glacier technique. 
 As a part of the project HIAL, the first program is being launched in April 2019. The HILLs (Himalayan Institute of Live Learnings) Fellowship is an 11-month program that aims to empower the youth from mountain communities, particularly from the Hindukush-Himalayas (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Bangladesh &amp; China) with environmentally sustainable solutions relevant specifically to those living in mountainous regions. This is a residential course.HILLs fellows will pick either Responsible Tourism or Sustainable Habitats as an area of specialization. 
 HILLs Fellowship will help kick start this journey of creating a full-fledged mountain university in Ladakh which will cater to students from all the mountainous regions of the world.- Full Fledged university for Ladakh, a long-standing demand of the locals- A model university working towards finding solutions for Climate change and Sustainable Development

Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh

Infrastructure for "School of Sustainable Habitats"

Scholarship for "HILLs Fellowship in Integrated Mountain Development"

Empower rural youth for a brighter future

Provide opportunities to deserving underprivileged students

ForestsByHeartfulness - Creating MiniForests of Indigenous & Native Species Across India

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