Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

Coming to the AID of motherland

VISAKHAPATNAM: A tiny group started by a handful of Indian students in the United States of America to express concern for problems being faced in their motherland has now turned into a movement, supporting and funding campaigns and projects to resolve livelihood issues.

During weekly meetings in the University of Maryland, Ravi Kuchimanchi as a graduate student felt that all the concerned acted together for just struggles and causes in India and floated Association for India’s Development (AID) in 1991.

Later it was registered as a non-profit organisation and now AID has 36 branches in the US. It has over 1,000 volunteers with not a single paid staff. As of now, it has supported 365 projects in 18 states including Andhra Pradesh.

Inspired by AID success story in the US, NRIs settled in the UK, Canada and Australia have also started chapters so as to raise contributions for resolving various issues in their country of origin.

“We are very pleased with the success in our approach for sustainable, equitable and just development through NGOs active at grassroots. We don’t fund anyone based on e-mail requests,” Anu Mandavilli, a volunteer from AID, told The Hindu on Monday.

Ms. Mandavilli, a teacher-turned full-time activist from California says, “AID believes in a holistic approach. Instead of collecting funds and sending them to Indian NGOs, we in AID try to understand various issues at our weekly discussions, establish direct contact, study their work and support them,” she states.

AP Vyavasaya Vrutidarula Union, an organisation of agriculture workers fighting for land rights and minimum wages is the major partner of AID in the State.

For children of Kondh tribes who migrated to Visakhapatnam after their displacement caused by construction of Hirakud dam in Orissa, AID is supporting a school through partner-NGO.

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