Brief Synopsis on Community Service initiatives of Round Table India
Round Table India is an organization of non political and non sectarian young men between the ages of 18 and 40. Round Table is a part of the World Council of Service Clubs (present in 75 countries) and Round Table International. The Round Table movement first came to India in 1957. Today Round Table India (RTI) is spread across 75 towns and cities with over 180 Tables across the length & breadth of India; and driven by 2500 members; comprising of young leaders from business, entrepreneurs, technocrats and professionals who are passionate about eradicating Illiteracy from India.
ZERO OVERHEAD CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION
The uniqueness of Round Table India (RTI) lies in its commitment to the philosophy that every single rupee brought in by a Donor is spent towards the Project itself, and none of it is spent on the administration of the organization. Administration costs (often as high as 30% for some Organizations) in RTI are borne entirely from annual fees / contribution paid by Tablers to a separate Administration account. The Donor contribution is routed entirely to the cause it supports. Tablers are immensely proud that they have stuck to this philosophy with transparency in 52 years of existence.
This exceptional and distinctive strength of Round Table India is one of its kind and maximizes the reach of the contribution in terms of absolute impact.
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Even after 62 years of independence, Millions of Indian children have never, ever been to school. Illiteracy is a self-fulfilling curse that perpetuates the chain of poverty, degradation and child labor.
They have the Right to Freedom but not the Freedom to choose; they have the Right to choose but not the Freedom to Decide; they have the Right to decide but not the Freedom to speak; they have the Right to Speech but not the Freedom of dialogue. Real Freedom comes through empowerment which comes from Education.
To reach out to this group of underprivileged children, since the year 1996, Tables across the country started adopting projects aimed at providing quality school infrastructure, and then in 1998 this project was formalized and thus born the National Project of Round Table India “Freedom Through Education” - In pursuit of educating underprivileged children
Round Table India’s focus on Infrastructure-Building was aimed at promoting Education for Posterity and hence RTI has put in colossal efforts to build FTE School Blocks across the nation. A quick synopsis to Freedom Through Education (FTE) would be – 12 Years; average of 307 classrooms built every year; directly impacting an average of 58,333 children annually.
What exactly do we do through FTE?
As a part of FTE, a holistic approach is adopted to ensure a conducive learning environment for the Children. Following are some of the bare necessities that are facilitated vide Freedom Through Education
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- The untiring efforts of Round Table India in the last 12 years have given 700,000 children access to education and will continue serve and impact generations to come. Our projections over a 25-year life cycle of a School building, estimates 23.87 Lac children impacted from Schools already constructed.
- Achievements in FTE have been a result of various partnerships…
- Individual and institutional donors such as JM Financial, Kampani Charitable Trust, Azim Premji Foundation, AOL, Bajaj Allianz, DTDC, HP Compaq, SOTC, ITC
- International Partnerships with Round Table Netherlands, Round Table Great Britain & Ireland, CORDAID, NOVIB, New Business School – Amsterdam
- Large Scale Government Partnerships with Government of Andhra Pradesh, Sarva Shikshan Abhiyan and Government of Karnataka, Government of Tamil Nadu & Government of Gujarat
- RTI’s Zero Overhead Model in all these associations has ensured the maximum reach of the contributions
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- 1262 schools built at a cost of Rs.80 Crores; 7 Lac children directly impacted
- Gujarat Earthquake Aftermath – First Organization to rebuild 20 Schools in Kutch & Surendranagar (Bhuj) within 4 months. Azim Premji Foundation contributes Rs.80 Lacs on a total outlay of Rs.2.4 Crores
- Operation Tsunami – RTI is only NGO entrusted by TN Government to work in Tsunami affected areas for rebuilding of schools. 126 Schools built at a cost of 25 Crores and commemorated in presence of His Excellency Governor Surjith Singh Barnala.
- “Operation Sadhbhavana” for Orissa Cyclone Relief in 1999-2000 – Construction of 4 Schools at a cost of Rs.2 Million directly by the Tables in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. Subsequently another 6 Schools built.
- Government Tie Ups – Credibility of FTE saw the Governments of AP, Karnataka, and TN commit to Round Table India, financial support up to 80% for any School development project taken-up.
- 75 schools built in Andhra Pradesh under Project Janmabhoomi;
- Projects worth Rs.25 Crores Million completed under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in Tamil Nadu;
- 150 schools under Project Pathshala with Govt of Karnataka.
- Ahmedabad Munic Corp Tie Up – RTI entrusted with monitoring the building and repair of over 100 Schools. The first batch of 14 schools were recently inaugurated under aegis of CM Narendra Modi
- Recently 55 Classrooms & 22 Toilet Blocks inaugurated in Chennai at hands of President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
- 100 Schools built at a cost of Rs.60 Million in matching partnership with Round Table Netherlands and doubling by International Aid Agencies like CORDAID & NOVIB
- 22 Schools built in partnership with MV Foundation in Nalagonda and Ranga Reddy backward districts
- Dutch World Tour for Children – Group of 45 Dutch Nationals traveled across the country. 18 Schools were built with Euro 90,000 contribution leading to total spending of Euro 300,000
- New Business School, Amsterdam contributed Euros 150K to build 15 Schools in Mah., Chattisgarh & Gujarat
- ‘Freedom Through Education’ has Twice been awarded the prestigious ‘Best National Project’ of World Council of Service Clubs (WOCO)… an umbrella organization of Community Service Associations across 80 Countries
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- Over the years RTI has gained an in-depth experience of handling FTE projects. In order to ensure that consistency in designs and norm are met across FTE projects, a well laid out Guidelines for construction is issued to all tables when a project is been sanctioned.
- Once a project is granted and as it progresses, a strict check is required to ensure that all norms and procedures are followed. This is made easy for tables by following a simple checklist. This checklist takes care of all paperwork and associated groundwork.
- A State-of-the-Art Secretariat in Chennai, doing the required follow-up for first level of compliance and maintaining Archives & Documentation related to the projects, enables the smooth functioning of the Administration.
- The numerous Builders / bureaucrats / professionals / politicians within the Round Table India only make it much easier for it to bring their expertise in, wherever and whenever required.
GEOGRAPHICAL REACH
- RTI is spread across 75+ Cities & Towns as Tabling Centers. New Centers are added each year
- Tablers understand that the need for schools and community developments initiatives are often within interiors and away from Centers. Often Donors too wish to address the lacunae within a particular location close to factories / native places etc. Hence Tablers have often identified, evaluated, commenced and completed needy projects, building School Blocks, hundreds of Kilometers away from base cities.
- Enough example exist and some of them are;
- Raipur Round Table 169’s Gurukul School in Kondagaon… 250 kms away in Chattisgarh interiors
- Post Gujarat earthquake, 20 schools built by Ahmedabad & Surat Tables in Bhuj… 800 kms away
- Post Tsunami, 260 Schools were built by Tables hundreds of Kilometers along Tamil Nadu Coastline
- Vizag RT 77 built 151 Toilet blocks across 72kms wide Rajahmundry Region, 212Kms from Vizag
- RTI is hence equipped with its expertise, systems and resources to undertake projects at any location within India as driven by the needs of a Donor or the Community
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- Round Table India has over the last decade achieved an average growth rate of 24%. This in itself is an indicator of the rate at which this organization is impacting its communities.
- Going by current numbers, it is projected that by the year 2020, Round Table India would complete more than 7000 Classrooms and impacting more than 45 Lac children
- Comparing Total Impact of a Contribution towards education can be misleading. Donations of a single pencil, or providing a classroom… both create an impact. Round Table India’s approach has been to contribute in field of Infrastructure, that has recurring long term gains as compared to short term benefits of donating perishables
- Additionally, the IMPACT of Building INFRASTRUCTURE is clearly MEASURABLE & Easily VERIFIABLE
- Consider – a current cost of Rs.2.93 Lacs for building a classroom of 400 Sq. Ft with peripherals
- 44 Children per batch per class in the first year benefited, i.e. 1100 children over a life cycle of 25 years,
- Working out to a mere Rs.266.36 per Child required for Infrastructure.
- Interpolating to Rupee Terms… hence @ Rs. 266.26 Per child, each Rs.1 Crore Spent provides Quality School Blocks for 37600 children, impacting them directly
- The indirect impact of creating a quality infrastructure for education within an underprivileged community is far reaching and cannot be quantified.
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- The Charitable Activities of RTI are carried through its Registered (U/s 80G IT Act & FCRA) Trust “RTI Trust”.
- The Admin Activities are funded through contribution received from Tablers and Misc Income under “RTI”. Hence the Trust is operated as a Zero Overhead Cost, ensuring donations are utilized in Toto for FTE
- Treasury Operations of Both Accounts (Admin & Charity) are maintained separately and audited each year.
- Internal Audit of Trust is conducted by M/s B.B Naidu & Co. Chennai. Statutory Audit is conducted by M/s Somasundaram & Siva Raman & Co. Chennai.
- Audited Accounts are published each year as part of the Annual Report of RTI (can be made available)
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- Memorandum Of Understandings (MoU’s) signed with various state Governments and their willingness to partner with RTI in eradicating illiteracy, exemplifies the credibility of Round Table India.
- Our credibility is even better justified and demonstrated, when public personalities such as Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, Shri. Surjith Singh Barnala- Governor of Tamil Nadu, Shri. Narendra Modi – Chief Minister of Gujarat, grace School inauguration or foundation stone-laying programs.
- The Philosophy of being a Zero Overhead Organization has impressed Celebrities who have willingly come forward to support Freedom Through Education at no cost. Officially Appointed Brand Ambassadors who have graced our media interaction and Round Table Events include
- Ajay Devgan, Kajol Devgan, R. Madhavan, Ehsaan (Of Shankar Ehsaan Loy)…
- Narain Karthikeyan, Sabeer Bhatia, R.K Mishra (Winner of LEAD India), Prahlad Kakkar (Ad Film Maker)
- More Celebrities are in process of being added at appropriate media conferences / events
- The Philosophy of being a Zero Overhead Organization has impressed Celebrities who have willingly come forward to support Freedom Through Education at no cost. Officially Appointed Brand Ambassadors who have graced our media interaction and Round Table Events include
- Internationally, Donors & Aid Agencies have partnered with RT India. These include the renowned funding agency- CORDAID, New Business School – Amsterdam, RT International, RT Netherlands, RT Great Britain & Ireland, RT Norway, and Individual Foundations across Europe and USA.
- RT India maintains compliance of all FCRA regulations for receipt and use of International Funds
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- Schools Built by RTI often consist of Donors from Corporate / Government / NGO / International Organizations. In such case the School is always branded appropriately with the Donor’s name prominently displayed externally across the block and internally on the Donor Plaque too.
- Standardized Donor Templates are made available to ensure branding continuity / uniformity.
- Agreement signed with School Trust on Building Ownership of same to dually display branding & prevent misuse
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Donors are encouraged to engage themselves in manner of their choosing. Corporate Donors often do the same through their employees. Creating opportunities to interact vide visits; recurring programs, weekend training (if in vicinity), festival celebrations, short trips, Chief Guests at Inaugurations & Annual Days etc are normally a regular feature of donor engagement modules.
With best regards
Tr. Nitesh Agarwal
National Convenor – Projects
Round Table India
+91 98300 67955
nitesh.cmrt41@gmail.com
