Everyone Is Doing Their Bit. NAV SANKALP Is Also In The Big Race.

Nav Sankalp

Our next news features a student run organisation, Nav Sankalp of  DAV College, Sector 10, Chandigarh. It is a student run charity social organisation formed exclusively by the students of DAV College to help critically ill children who cannot afford their medical expenses.

So we had a conversation with Javika Dhamija, the former Joint Secretary of Nav Sankalp.
"Basically until last year it was just Sankalp, but we thought that we should include new and innovative activities not only for the underprivileged kids but also for the members of the Nav Sankalp." According to her the name Nav Sankalp symbolizes the fact that the overall development and welfare of the members as well as the poor kids is taken care off. Now whenever we talk about such student run organisations there are innumerable number of obstacles in their path of success.

Until last year it was very difficult for the Nav Sankalp students to even ask for permissions to organize their meetings. Says Javika,  "It used to take around five days just to get a permission to have a meeting in a room, because in the previous years, our organisation didn't have much support from the college authorities."

But there are a few teachers, such as Ravinder Choudhary, Rosy Ahluwalia, B.C Josan who have been constantly supporting the en devours of Nav Sankalp.

"Due to such support of the staff of our college and especially under the guidance of Mr. Josan, the college principal, the value of nav Sankalp has increased a lot as compared to previous years," remarks Javika.

On questioning about how is the Nav Sankalp able to help the under privileged kids. Do they follow a systematic plan throughout the year? Or do they concentrate on what is required more? According to Javika, their organisation concentrates on both. "We have specific events and sometimes we also incorporate new innovative activities and events for example, WINTER DRIVE, PUBLIC DONATION DAY, COLLEGE DONATION DAY etc."
Nav Sankalp has a proper schedule about the various set of events they are going to organize.

The organisation was started on 2nd November 2006 by Harpriya Kaur and few other students of the college. With time this organisation gained the interest of the students and soon Nav Sankalp became the club with the most number of volunteers  than any other club or society in the college.

Nav Sankalp is different from other organisations. It is a student initiated  and student run organisation along with the support of the college authorities. It provides a platform to the students to showcase their talent. For  this the Nav Sankalp organizes an annual charity show, 'SPARKLES'  to collect funds which are then donated to PGIMER, Chandigarh to help financially poor children.
Another one of the generous initiatives by the organisation is of  'RAKTH SANCHAR'. Rakth Sanchar is an initiative carried out by Nav Sankalp to ensure blood availability to the one's in need during an emergency.

Moreover Nav Sankalp has direct channels of donation to PGIMER, Chandigarh to ensure proper utilization of funds and to keep a check on fraudulence. On asking as to how are they able to keep a check on red tap-ism so that the funds are properly utilized  Javika says, " We always give the donations via cheque and that too to the chemist and not to the PGIMER authorities, and before any surgery, at-least a week before we prepare a detailed case study related to each and everything about the surgery which is to be performed." Once the detailed information is gathered about the various surgical instruments to be used and what kind of medicines to be given to the patient, then only the surgery is performed. And the Nav Sankalp volunteers are constantly helping and supporting the patient throughout his/her recovery stage. " The fraudulence and red tap-ism doesn't arise since PGIMER already decreases the cost of medical expenses, for the poor people to a great extent."

Nav Sankalp recently organised a flash mob, in the heart of Chandigarh, Sector 17, to protest against the delhi gang rape case.

So snapping out of the Nav Sankalp mode, we asked javika about what she feels regarding the increasing crime rates against women. "I feel that the current phase is the ERA OF THE WOMEN, THE ERA OF WOMEN EMPOWERMENT . The people who indulge in rape, molestation, eve teasing etc clearly portray that they lack the BASIC MORAL EDUCATION WHICH IS RESPECTING WOMEN. Such people have that kind of cheap mindset and that is why they consider and treat women like any other commodity or object."

Javika herself is a strong person and has asked and pleaded to all the women that everyone need to be strong. We cannot just stand and be complacent of the fact that heinous crimes are committed against women.

So in the end on behalf of the whole Nav Sankalp team, Javika Dhamija has one strong message for everyone, "Let us not stereotype women that they are to be confined to the four walls of the house, please broaden your mins and change the way you see things. And then only the country can be changed."

So keeping this in mind, let us first try to mature and develop our mindset and work towards the betterment of the society.