Dr Prabhat Das Foundation

Dr Prabhat Das Foundation is a North American non-profit organization working in India. It is a charitable organization, working with economically disadvantaged people in India (at present mainly Bihar). Its founders, Dr. Prabhat R. Das and Dr. Saumya Das, are an Indian physician couple, practising in Toms River, New Jersey, USA. This organization runs several projects in Bihar which help Indian men & women. The organization is based in New Jersey, USA and in Bihar, India. This organisation is a U.S. registered (3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity. This is also registered in Bihar, India.
History
The organisation was registered in 2005 as a tax-exempt nonprofit charity by its founders Prabhat R. Das & Saumya Das. In June 2006, this organization was also started in India (Darbhanga, Bihar) .
Operations
At present, the Dr. Prabhat Das Foundation is more than 10,000 volunteers working within several districts such as Darbhanga, Madhubani, Samastipur, Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur of Bihar. Currently there is one office in New Jersey, USA; and there are two regional offices at Darbhanga (Shivam Complex, VIP Road, Laheriasarai
Bihar, India) & Muzaffarpur (Brahmapura, P.O.-MIT
Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India), and several local offices in Bihar, especially in Mithila & Tirhut regions. These Mithila and Tirhut regions are among the poorest areas of India. Every year June 28, which is the birthday of Prabhat Das, is celebtrated as "Foundation Day" by all the volunteers of this organization..
The foundation is staffed by volunteers. Though a few of these volunteers get some honorarium, there is no salaried employee in this organization.
The working of the foundation is based on the motto -- "Help others to help themselves." The foundation also believes in the concept of "Local development with the help of local people".

The foundation is active in the fields of education (quiz, competitions, scholarship, & books, copies on nominal cost), especially vocational education (computer courses, sewing training centers), sports, free health camps, small scale industries (handicrafts and Mithila painting), public awareness programs, specific programs for youth, women and children.
Projects
Minilibrary-cum-Community Centers
The Foundation runs more than 300 active centers in Bihar that work as mini libraries as well as community centers. These centers have news papers, perodicals & some books. These minilibraries are also used as venues for cultural activities & local meetings.
Computer Literacy Course
This organization provides computer literacy courses to poor students. There are several mobile computer literacy camps. A camp stays at one place for about one month and teaches students the basics of computer use. Those who want to learn more are referred to other training centers.

Periodic competitions among students
Every few months, the foundation organizes quiz & various competitions among students at many centers. These competitions are held at Panchayat, Block & District levels. Different areas of competitions include general knowledge, mathematics, science, arts, debates etc. The successful candidates get various prizes & sometimes financial assistance or scholarships.
Establishing small scale industries
The Foundation works to help the poor by starting small-scale industries like centers for handicrafts and centers for food products. Periodically the Foundation sponsors exhibitions so that local women workers can sell these handmade things. The profit from those ventures goes to these workers.
Sewing & tailoring training program
There are several sewing & tailoring centers which are sponsored by the Foundation. The majority of them work as mobile centers, camping at one place for a few weeks to months. These are very popular among local women.
Help during emergencies
During floods, volunteers of the foundation have assisted in relief efforts.
Free medical camps
The foundation organizes free medical camps for local poor people. Most of the times these medical camps have general physicians to provide medical care, but sometimes specialists (e.g; surgeons, gynaecologists) are also available.
Encouraging sports
The organisation sponsors different games & sports events. Talented sports persons are awarded prizes & certificates by this organization. Every few months sports competitions are held in different locations for local children & students. Regional sports tournaments for kabaddi, cricket, vollyball etc are periodically organised. As women participation in sports is rare in this area, this organisation especially encourages girls to take part in these sports events.
Increasing public awareness
Every month the foundation organises various functions (e.g., debates, discussions) to make the public more aware about local, national & social problems. This organization also publishes (see below) newspaper, news magezine, video magezine & other informative booklets for increasing public awareness regarding relevant issues.
Clean your village movement
Periodically thousands of volunteers take part in "Clean your village movement". In the local culture, collective cleaning of public places is considered tabboo and is left for people of a certain caste. This type of public cleaning movement is inspired by Gandhian philosophy.
Tree plantation
This organization encourages people to plant more trees. The volunteers of the foundation make people aware about environment and its effect on human life. The foundation sponsors plantation of trees at different public place.
Encourage volunteering
The foundation encourages volunteering among general people. The foundation has very skilled volunteers like physicians as well as many people who just love to work for the society. College students are the main group of volunteers.
News magazine: Foundation Express
The Foundation also publishes a Hindi weekly news magazine Foundation Express in Bihar. There are three local editions of "Foundation Express" for Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur & Madhubani regions. Professor Ramchandra Chandresh is the editor. The purpose of this news magazine is to educate public & to raise their awareness regarding regional & national issues. Foundation Express will also be available in "Sandhya-Dainik" (daily newspaper distributed in evening) form and in periodic video magezine form in Darbhanga region from January 2010.

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