India's performance in Olympics
The Indian Olympic Association sent its largest delegation to London in Olympic history. A total of 83 athletes, 60 men and 23 women, competed in 13 sports.
2012 turned out to be India's most successful Olympics in terms of total medal tally, having won a total of 6 medals, which included 2 silver, 4 bronze, and sadly no gold. India doubled the nation's previous record of 3 medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Two medals each were awarded to the athletes in shooting and wrestling. India also set a historical milestone for the female athletes who two Olympic medals. While SainaNehwal brought bronze home, boxer Mary Kom, aged 29, won the bronze medal inspite of her detoriating health.
We @ Sankalp are proud of our sportsmen. Your strength, determination and hard work had made us all very proud.
Assam floods and insurgency
In June 2012, the floods in the Brahmaputra basin were unprecedented due to heavy rains leading to a humanitarian crisis that left more than 6 million people displaced. The river water rose far beyond the regular areas, breaching the embankments, washing off roads and leaving millions of people marooned. The remoteness of the places that got affected, the notion of floods being a very regular and very harmless event, and the general working style of the media ensured that the news of the disaster was slow to come.
This was soon followed by communal disharmony. We @ Sankalp, being a disaster mitigation and management group, decided to act. By the time, we, situated 3000 km away at Bangalore realized the gravity of the situation and decided to act - the worst wave of floods was over - but the suffering was not. Project Prayas: Relief for the Flood Affected Assam was initiated on 11th July 2012.
The next 11 days saw the implementation of the largest ever relief mission undertaken by us in terms of the number of families supported. With two field teams and round the clock support of Control Centre at Bangalore, we were able to organize for 1147 sheets of tarpaulin for the victims of the massive floods at Majuli (District Jorhat - The largest river island in the world) which was almost completely submerged by the floods. On the other hand the team came face to face with a fresh wave of flood at Sootea in the Sonitpur district providing another 800 sheets of tarpaulin there. A total of 31 villages were reached, mostly by boats reaching out to 1947 families - providing them what they and the local administration told us was needed the most - sheets of tarpaulin.
The deaths and the retirements
2012 witnessed the sad demise of some of the most loved Indians. This included VergheseKurien - father of the white revolution; Pt. Ravi Shankar - the man who gave Indian ragas to the world; A K Hangal - a freedom fighter, a lifelong humanitarian and an actor, Rajesh Khanna - the first and original superstar of Indian cinema; Sunil Gangopadhyay - noted Bengali littérateur and SahityaAkademi president; JaspalBhatti - the King of India satirical comedy; and Yash Chopra - the famous Bollywood director.
2012 also witnessed the retirement of three men who defined a generation of Indian cricket - Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar.
Every death and every retirement filled our hearts with nostalgia. Each of these were dreamers who poured their heart and souls in what they did. You will be missed.
A different kind of protest
The year marked deep unrest among the youth. From the Janlokpal movement to the protests against rape - Indian urban youth seems to exploiting its true potential. This phase of Indian history can cause deep impact like the freedom struggle, the JP movement once did – and thereby infuse new blood in the veins of Indian politics, Indian bureaucracy. There are people on streets who will change – who will choose to act – the biggest impact of the protest and the rage will be on themselves. From a demanding member of the society whose intellect was being used to raise the voice, they will become a contributing member of the society – whose inner unrest will shape into constructive good work.
While the youth has stood up against the problems the nation has faced, we, the volunteers @ Sankalp chose to work harder for the cause we stood for. We decided to shed all inhibitions and do what it takes to become the ultimate realization machine. All the anger against crime and corruption came out in the form of getting one more work done. We spent an extra hour at the Thalassemia day care trying to make it better. Result - the number of patients increased from 60 to 180. We organized one more camp trying to improve the blood situation of Karnataka. Result 7744 units got collected in Bangalore alone. We tried to look into each other's eyes and see two revolutionaries face to face.
2012 marked a year when a nation tried to rejuvenate itself. Sankalp too, 10 years young - tried to reinvent itself to blend better into the spirit of life.
We are still trying.
Fighting the Bombay Blood group crisis
A few years earlier, Bombay blood group was lesser known - even in the most active donors and the blood banking community. 2012 marked stark progress in this area. With more than 50 BBG blood requests handled over the year and blood banking community and Bombay group donors brought under one single umbrella - the bombaybloodgroup.org, things are set for change. As of date, a huge number of Bombay blood requests from all across the country are getting handled.
Recently, the Karnataka State Drugs Control Department launched a website where people searching for blood can access the stocks details of blood banks. This site too includes a separate column for Bombay Blood Group. Blood Banks have updated Bombay group stocks here which were utilized properly.
Looking forward
The nation is progressing, and so is Sankalp. As we knock the doors of 2013, we know we have come a long way since we were a college group to become an organization with national level visibility. But we do realize that we have long road ahead. Every nation, organization, and individual needs to rejuvenate, rethink and forge its road ahead - especially during its darkest hours. We wish everyone the strength and conviction to make 2013 the year of action and not just complaints. Let's pull our socks - and jump!
The Indian Olympic Association sent its largest delegation to London in Olympic history. A total of 83 athletes, 60 men and 23 women, competed in 13 sports.
2012 turned out to be India's most successful Olympics in terms of total medal tally, having won a total of 6 medals, which included 2 silver, 4 bronze, and sadly no gold. India doubled the nation's previous record of 3 medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Two medals each were awarded to the athletes in shooting and wrestling. India also set a historical milestone for the female athletes who two Olympic medals. While SainaNehwal brought bronze home, boxer Mary Kom, aged 29, won the bronze medal inspite of her detoriating health.
We @ Sankalp are proud of our sportsmen. Your strength, determination and hard work had made us all very proud.
Assam floods and insurgency
In June 2012, the floods in the Brahmaputra basin were unprecedented due to heavy rains leading to a humanitarian crisis that left more than 6 million people displaced. The river water rose far beyond the regular areas, breaching the embankments, washing off roads and leaving millions of people marooned. The remoteness of the places that got affected, the notion of floods being a very regular and very harmless event, and the general working style of the media ensured that the news of the disaster was slow to come.
This was soon followed by communal disharmony. We @ Sankalp, being a disaster mitigation and management group, decided to act. By the time, we, situated 3000 km away at Bangalore realized the gravity of the situation and decided to act - the worst wave of floods was over - but the suffering was not. Project Prayas: Relief for the Flood Affected Assam was initiated on 11th July 2012.
The next 11 days saw the implementation of the largest ever relief mission undertaken by us in terms of the number of families supported. With two field teams and round the clock support of Control Centre at Bangalore, we were able to organize for 1147 sheets of tarpaulin for the victims of the massive floods at Majuli (District Jorhat - The largest river island in the world) which was almost completely submerged by the floods. On the other hand the team came face to face with a fresh wave of flood at Sootea in the Sonitpur district providing another 800 sheets of tarpaulin there. A total of 31 villages were reached, mostly by boats reaching out to 1947 families - providing them what they and the local administration told us was needed the most - sheets of tarpaulin.
The deaths and the retirements
2012 witnessed the sad demise of some of the most loved Indians. This included VergheseKurien - father of the white revolution; Pt. Ravi Shankar - the man who gave Indian ragas to the world; A K Hangal - a freedom fighter, a lifelong humanitarian and an actor, Rajesh Khanna - the first and original superstar of Indian cinema; Sunil Gangopadhyay - noted Bengali littérateur and SahityaAkademi president; JaspalBhatti - the King of India satirical comedy; and Yash Chopra - the famous Bollywood director.
2012 also witnessed the retirement of three men who defined a generation of Indian cricket - Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar.
Every death and every retirement filled our hearts with nostalgia. Each of these were dreamers who poured their heart and souls in what they did. You will be missed.
A different kind of protest
The year marked deep unrest among the youth. From the Janlokpal movement to the protests against rape - Indian urban youth seems to exploiting its true potential. This phase of Indian history can cause deep impact like the freedom struggle, the JP movement once did – and thereby infuse new blood in the veins of Indian politics, Indian bureaucracy. There are people on streets who will change – who will choose to act – the biggest impact of the protest and the rage will be on themselves. From a demanding member of the society whose intellect was being used to raise the voice, they will become a contributing member of the society – whose inner unrest will shape into constructive good work.
While the youth has stood up against the problems the nation has faced, we, the volunteers @ Sankalp chose to work harder for the cause we stood for. We decided to shed all inhibitions and do what it takes to become the ultimate realization machine. All the anger against crime and corruption came out in the form of getting one more work done. We spent an extra hour at the Thalassemia day care trying to make it better. Result - the number of patients increased from 60 to 180. We organized one more camp trying to improve the blood situation of Karnataka. Result 7744 units got collected in Bangalore alone. We tried to look into each other's eyes and see two revolutionaries face to face.
2012 marked a year when a nation tried to rejuvenate itself. Sankalp too, 10 years young - tried to reinvent itself to blend better into the spirit of life.
We are still trying.
Fighting the Bombay Blood group crisis
A few years earlier, Bombay blood group was lesser known - even in the most active donors and the blood banking community. 2012 marked stark progress in this area. With more than 50 BBG blood requests handled over the year and blood banking community and Bombay group donors brought under one single umbrella - the bombaybloodgroup.org, things are set for change. As of date, a huge number of Bombay blood requests from all across the country are getting handled.
Recently, the Karnataka State Drugs Control Department launched a website where people searching for blood can access the stocks details of blood banks. This site too includes a separate column for Bombay Blood Group. Blood Banks have updated Bombay group stocks here which were utilized properly.
Looking forward
The nation is progressing, and so is Sankalp. As we knock the doors of 2013, we know we have come a long way since we were a college group to become an organization with national level visibility. But we do realize that we have long road ahead. Every nation, organization, and individual needs to rejuvenate, rethink and forge its road ahead - especially during its darkest hours. We wish everyone the strength and conviction to make 2013 the year of action and not just complaints. Let's pull our socks - and jump!
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