Creating a benchmark for a "Litter-Proof" Jamshedpur

Jamshedpur being one of the 7th cleanest city in the country, finding a place to set this example to keep the city clean/ litter-less, etc, was a bit of a challenge...
..but yet, there are patches of neglect and vandalism

...with the growing neglect for environment and our own public spaces, this is the spot - slightly beyond the Novelty - which the volunteers from XLRI and JUSCO will clean, paint during the next two days - starting at 2pm



and become a part of The Ugly Indians movement...



...though, Yes!, the team still is looking for a ladder to clean the upper portions of the wall.. but guess, surely - "the universe will conspire" to make it happen...

if you are part of the "universe" (and Jamshedpur) help them out :0)
call: 0-8-1-0-2-2-1-5-0-6-7... if you can

Jamshedpur Autos carry the Message of "Joy of Giving Week"

The Auto Association of Jamshedpur joined in to carry the message of Giving around the city.

"Vastra Samman" at Motilal Nehru Public School

Besides many others, there are about 30 schools across Jamshedpur who are participating in "Vastra Samman" initiative (donation of wearable clothes, which will then be sorted and distributed to the underprivileged - and for Orissa Flood Relief). Since the Joy of Giving Week: Jamshedpur JoyFest is falling during the Pooja vacations, most schools are celebrating it either before or after the Week.

Since a picture is more than a 1000 words, here are some photographs from what Motilal Nehru Public School contributed for the initative today... and this is less than half what the students had collected; it filled up the entire Wagon-R (so tomorrow we will go with a tempo to collect the rest)






PostScript: We did return the next day to collect the remaining contribution. And now, with contribution from just one school, this is how our "collection center" looks like!!

A Gift to the City: "Clean, Litter-proof Jamshedpur Drive"

Jamshedpur is a beautiful city. And yet there are public spaces (lanes, footpaths, walls, etc.), which are littered, dirtied and stained. Since dirt attracts dirt, they become continue to become worse. On the other hand, clean well-kept places continue to remain clean (no one spits/ urinates/ throws garbage on clean spots).

So this is the solution. Come Oct 1st, XLRI student and volunteers from JUSCO will clean up some of these places, and paint them nicely on the Oct 2nd.

if you want to join in write to sigma[at]xlri[dot]ac[dot]in

Reduce-Recycle-Reuse... and Contribute!

Arunodaya: Inking the RECYCLED Future - an initiative by a group of students of the XLRI's entrepreneurship course, collected about 3000 single-side used A4 sheets - and have recycled them into these notebooks


They plan to donate some of these notebooks to a basti-school in Chhayanagar slum, which their own batchmates had made during a project in their 1st term

They also intend to “sell” a few to recover their costs (@ Rs. 50 and multiples as donation – notebooks are mere means to a cause) , and if they are able to generate some surplus, that too will go to the school....

the bidding for "giving" starts tonight!

Shadow a CEO is an innovative and unique programme, which was initiated by the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad to celebrate the ‘Joy of Giving Week’ in 2009. This year it has spanned over XLRI & IIMs-A,B,C.

The concept is simple:

- Selected CEOs (the list includes N R Narayana Murthy of nfosys Technologies, Adi Godrej, The Godrej Group; R Gopalakrishnan, Tata Sons; Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Biocon Ltd.; Chanda Kochhar, ICICI Bank etc.) donate one day of their time

- Students bid for that one day, and the winner gets to spend one day with his/her favourite CEO

- The CEO matches (mostly exceeds) the winning bid, which goes to his/her selected charity/NGO/ Cause

The bidding (on eBay) starts tonight and will continue till Oct 4th - the results will be announced by Oct 7th.

So bid generously, donate with a heart!

City Plans for Jamshedpur JoyFest: Joy of Giving Week (List of Events & Initiatives)

A number of events have been planned across the city to celebrate the the Jamshedpur JoyFest: Joy of Giving Week during Oct 2nd - 8th, 2011. Following is a list (as of now) of both the city-wide initiatives as well as those planned within XLRI:
(Please write to us at JamshedpurJoyFest [at] xlri.ac.in for your participation, planned initiative and/or contribution)

Donate for Dignity: Like the past two years, one of the major city-wide initiatives being planned is to invite donations for material resources, and distributing them to the under-served and needy segments of the society through NGOs. Four specific collection and distribution initiatives are planned with the help of local schools, industries, Rotary, community organizations, NGOs and general public:

Vastra-SammanA donation drive to collect wearable (clean and complete) clothes items is planned, which will be distributed to the less-privileged – and a large significant is also planned to be sent for Orissa Flood Relief Operations, and if possible to Sikkim Relief Operations as well.


Ann-DaanA donation and distribution drive for dry ration (rice, lentils, moodi, and biscuits) continue as one of the city-wide initiative. The distribution of these resources will be done through local NGOs – and through relief agencies working in Orissa and Sikkim - to ensure that they reach the right beneficiaries.


Donation and Distribution of Mosquito NetsThis year we plan to invite donation of 500+ Mosquito Nets and distribute them to the rural SHGs. At the moment, users in Dumaria and Potka have been identified as the beneficiaries. The distribution will be done by Kala Mandir.
(Contact: sigma [at] xlri.ac.in or Monica Bhatia, Kala Mandir, kalamandir.jsr [at] gmail.com, 7488145003)

Donation and Distribution of Un-used but Usable MedicinesAn initiative to collect unused but usable medicines is planned with the help of city-based NGO, Cause for Change. These will be distributed to charity clinics and health camps organized by NGOs and civil society bodies.
(Contact: sigma [at] xlri.ac.in or Joydip Kr. Paul (07250271937)/ Mritunjaya Bhattacharjee (09162335200), Cause for Change, causeforchange [at] hotmail.com)

(A complete list of collection centers across the city will be soon available at on this blog/site).

Other initiatives/ events across the city are:

Clean, Litter-Proof Jamshedpur Drive: XLRI students and volunteers from other organizations, with the help from JUSCO, will identify littered public spaces (footpaths, stained walls, etc.) and clean and beautify them.
(Dates: Oct 1st & 2nd, 2011; Contact: Vivek Singhal (08102215067) sigma [at] xlri.ac.in)

Eye Donation Pledge: A campaign to pledge Eye Donation is planned with the help of the city-based NGO, Roshni.
(Contact: Wg. Cdr. P.N. Swamy (rtd.) Roshni Jamshedpur. No 1, inner circle road, opp gt hostel #1, Kadma, Jamshedpur. e-mail: pn_swamy2002 [at] yahoo.com Ph: 0657 – 2237203 / 9334048210 – or Mr Rajesh, na11035 [at] astra.xlri.ac.in )

Training of SHG members: Like last year, XLRI students will be designing and training member of SHGs in partnership with Kala Mandir. This year the modules will be to equip the SHG members with business development skills for their micro-enterprises. This initiative will be launched on Oct 2nd, and will continue in the coming months.

Arunodaya: Inking the RECYCLED Future: One group of XLRI entrepreneurship course students will be collecting single-side used A4 sheets and converting them usable notebooks. These will be sold and proceeds will go to the charities and will also be distributed to the under-resourced schools in the city and villages.
(Contacts: Amit Lakra, NA11003 [at] astra.xlri.ac.in, 8507444379; Pratik Panda, NA11033 [at] astra.xlri.ac.in, 9934458442; Sweta None, NA11047 [at] astra.xlri.ac.in, 9934505946; Swati Bhauka, NA11046 [at] astra.xlri.ac.in, 9835964212)

Muscial JoyFest for Orissa Flood Relief (Oct 8th): The Jamshedpur JoyFest will end with a musical concert to raise funds for Orissa Flood Relief Operations. The musical event will be held in the Tata Auditorium on Oct 8th evening. (Details will be shared soon)

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In addition, a number of activities have been planned by the XLRI students to celebrate the Jamshedpur JoyFest: Joy of Giving Week. These are being organised by
SIGMA (Contact: Vivek Singhal (08102215067) sigma [at] xlri.ac.in) and
CII-Yi (Contact: Prashant Shukla (07209407946) cii_yi [at] xlri.ac.in)

Nukkad Natak: Like earlier years, the students will perform Nukkad Natak in Clubs, Housing colonies, pandals, to create awareness about the event.

Flag-Off Bike Rally (Oct 2nd, 9:00am): Bike rally on Oct 2nd to flag off the Week (CII-Yi)

Shadow A CEO: This event is in partnership with ISB Hyderabad and IIMs – Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta. The students will be bidding to spend one day with about 20+ selected CEOs during Sept 25th till Oct 4th on eBay. The Winning Bid amount will be donated to a charity/NGO selected by the CEO. The CEOs will also match or exceed the bidding amount for the charity. (SIGMA)

Health Camp (Oct 3rd): This year we have about 10 doctors on the campus among the students. We will try to use their skills to organize health-camps in under-served areas. This was done last two year also, and students are working out partnerships with local NGOs and CSR depts. (SIGMA)

Raddi Collection & Sale (Oct 4th): Collection and sale of Raddi to generate funds for gifts etc. (CII-Yi)

“Celebrating the Child” Day (Oct 4th): The XLRI students will be inviting children from under-privileged background to the campus to spend a day, and have planned various fun activities for them. (SIGMA)

“The Gift of Time” (Oct 5th): Like earlier years, XLRI students will visit the lodgers of “Missionaries of Charity- Nirmal Hriday” with gifts, and spend a day with them. (SIGMA)

Dussehra with Cancer Patients (Oct 5th or 6th): A small group of students (since there is a number limit from the hospital) will visit the cancer patients at the Meherbai Memorial Cancer Hospital, with sweets, fruits and flower. (CII-Yi)

“Giving Back to Environment” Day (Oct 6th): This day various activities, such as tree plantation, light-outs for an hour, etc. are planned. (SIGMA)

Silent Auction: “Donate Generously, Bid Generously” (Oct 7th): This is a fund-raising event. You may have ‘something’ which some others in the XL community may want to bid for and buy – the money will go to a charity/ cause. (CII-Yi)

“Serving Those Who Serve Us” Day (Oct 7th): The students will be serving a meal to the non-teaching and manual staff of the institute, play game with them. (SIGMA)

XL Teaches Day: The students will be visiting local schools, XITE, etc. to provide career tips, etc. The dates for these are being worked out in consultation with the school authorities. (SIGMA)
The mailid for contacting and sharing your plans to participate/ contribute is:
JamshedpurJoyFest [at] xlri.ac.in

Divine season with joy of giving

September 17, 2011 (The Telegraph): Durga Puja in the steel city will be celebrated with a touch of B-school philanthropy this year.

Organised by XLRI, Joyfest or the Joy of Giving Week will start on October 2. This year, the campaign will have new initiatives, which aims to promote acts of kindness like giving one’s time, money and skills freely to the needy.

The festive holidays will not be a barrier for volunteers from B-school, NGOs and corporate firms who will be taking part in the campaign.

Apart from Vastra Samman, a clothes collection drive, which will be held in collaboration with New Delhi-based NGO Goonj and giving dry ration to the needy, the campaign will also host an eye donation camp through XLRI and Roshni, a city-based NGO.

Another NGO, Cause for Change, has come up with the idea of collecting usable medicines and donating them to those who need them.

“There are many who have unused medicines at home. Most of the time we throw them away even if they have not crossed their expiry date. We will first collect medicines, segregate them and then donate it to primary health centres where they actually need it,” said Joydip Paul, one of the partners with the NGO.

A group of XLRI’s entrepreneurship students have decided to recycle used A-4 sheets into notebooks, which will be distributed to city and rural schools for the underprivileged.
Management students will also train village women in business development skills.

Kalamandir, another Jamshedpur-based NGO, will distribute mosquito nets in the villages of Dumaria and Potka blocks.

XLRI steers the art of joyful giving

Jamshedpur (Sept 13, 2011, The Telegraph): XLRI will volunteer the business of giving at the third edition of Jamshedpur JoyFest in the Joy of Giving Week between October 2 and 8.

The core group for Jamshedpur JoyFest, comprising representatives from XLRI, industrial units, schools, NGOs as well as Rotary Club, met on Monday to plan various events to be held during the week.

There aren’t too many days left. As a run-up to the main event, an unveiling ceremony of the Joy of Giving week will be held on September 16.

Senior faculty member of the B-school, Madhukar Shukla, said the initiatives included collection drives for clothes, ration and mosquito nets. NGOs and corporate social responsibility arms of various industries will then distribute them to the underprivileged.

“Funds will also be raised to sponsor midday meals in private schools, organise health check-up camps in slums and villages and train self-help groups, etc,” added Shukla.

On XLRI’s participation in the Jamshedpur JoyFest, the B-School’s director Father E. Abraham said: “We try and help others in our everyday life, in our own small ways. But, here is an opportunity for us to do it together, to encourage others to do so, and to celebrate the spirit of volunteerism that’s deep-rooted in Jamshedpur. Our involvement in these celebrations gels well with XLRI’s unique mission of a management institution with a sensitive social conscience, and our belief that education is about making a difference.”

The Joy of Giving Week (log in to www.joyofgivingweek.org) is a public festival of philanthropy, launched across the country in 2009, to celebrate and promote various acts of giving money, time, resources and skills. It is celebrated every year on the week starting from Gandhi Jayanti.
During the past two years, the event has grown across more than 70 cities and has engaged more than a million individuals, spanning industries, schools and colleges, NGOs, government sectors and general public. XLRI has been anchoring this festival for the steel city since its inception.

Jamshedpur JoyFest - News Coverage

XLRI Jamshedpur to anchor "Jamshedpur Joyfest: Joy of Giving Week 2001" (Sept 12th - India PRLine)

XLRI steers the art of joyful giving (Sept 13th, 2011 - The Telegraph & Yahoo! News)

Divine season with joy of giving (Sept 17th, 2011 - The Telegraph & Yahoo! News)

Coverage in Times of India (Sept 20th, 2011)