“If Not Us, Then Who? If Not Now, Then When?”
These were the guiding priniciples of the founders of Small Steps Foundation to take a collective action, our first step to make a positive difference in the lives of millions of helpless children who are deprived of their basic universal human right: Right to Education.

To learn more about the work they are supporting please visit http://projects.smallstepsfoundation.org/

SSF Walk is one of the 2 major fund-raising event that the organization hosts every year. If you live in Northern California, I encourage you to be a part of the walk and help raise funds. You can also support a team of your choice by making a donation of any amount at the Small Steps teams at firstgiving.com

This is the team I support:

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/reetuguptaandnitinkumar-kumar/small-step-walk-2011

If you are inclined to donate, consider this team.

Thanks, Vidur

And this is the new version. It is pretty long so 2 links.

This is the article Prof plans ‘gift of life’ for hubby and this was my original post Help Gaurav. Finally an update from Help Gaurav

Lastly, the total financial contribution has now reached an incredible INR 98L (Approx US$ 217,000)!! Our sincerest thanks to all the contributors. This has been an incredible leap of faith for all of us and I must admit, I am overwhelmed by the support that we continue to receive every day. Needless to say, this is still a journey (with total cost of the operation being upwards of US$ 300,000) and hence any support is most welcome.

Microsoft, as a part of its efforts to overcome the language barrier to computing, has showcased a variety of custom made products directed specifically at the vernacular language market – a market that has been largely left untapped till now.

The new initiatives include Language Interface Packs (LIPs) in 12 Indian languages – Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil and Telugu – for MS Office and Windows.

MS does even one better and created tools for developers.

There’s more in store for developers as well. Directed at vernacular language developers, it has launched the Captions Language Interface Pack (or CLIP) in Hindi, Malayalam, Oriya, and Tamil. CLIP uses a tool tip caption to display translations for user interface items in Visual Studio 2008 making it the first ever instance of Microsoft releasing a tool specifically to help students and beginner developers in India use the product in their own language.

The original article from Techtree.com is Microsoft Launches Windows 7 in Hindi

The second and controversial is the launch of $20 laptop which would come down to $10 w/ mass production. The model is called Sakshat. This is an excerpt from India Unveils $20 Laptop:

The Sakshat model scheduled for display in the city of Tirupati Tuesday has 2 GB of memory, which is expandable. It has Wi-Fi and fixed Ethernet capability and will consume just 2 watts of power. The laptop was created over several months in a cooperative effort involving government, academic, and commercial interests.

…

The Sakshat is thought to use a simple version of Linux open source software as an operating system.

There are little details available about the “notebook” and as it is government backed there is doubt if the cost is actually that low or government subsidies are involved. An article in the Indian Daily “Hindu” has some more details and the device really is an hand-held and not a “laptop”.

The 10” long and 5” wide hand-held device, resembling a palmtop or a modem, helps e-learners access the Web easily. Priced versions of e-content available on the Net can be accessed through this device.

It doesn’t seem to have any input devices build-in and a very small display. This is from a Times of India article, $10-laptop proves to be a damp squib:

The so-called laptop actually turned out to be a storage device containing megabytes of data info which can be accessed by a user by connecting this device to a laptop. It meant that unlike the internet, this device can display that information that has already been stored.

I think the mobile revolution in India has great potential to be exploited for the good including education, health-care, etc. It is relatively cheap, you could pay as little as $10 per annum just to keep the connection and ~$0.02 per minute for a local call and ~$0.05 for long distance. Incoming calls and messages are generally free. Also, it is more reliable than land-line and one can carry it anywhere. So, one could send reminders to take medicine, simple math puzzles for kids to solve, etc.

Of course, as with rest of the world, the landline providers are taking a hit; a loss of 150k connections in last month alone.

Gaurav Tandon is a 34 year old professional in Mumbai, India living with his wife and their 6 year old son. Gaurav has AML, a type of Blood Cancer, and needs a Non-Related Allogenic transplant. Since such transplants are rarely performed in India, there is a high chance that it would have to be done in Singapore, UK or the USA.

The estimated cost of the treatment in Singapore and UK is around 1.5 Crore Indian Rupees (around US$ 333,000), whereas in the US is around of 2 Crore Indian Rupees (around US$ 444,000).

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So, I dug up a little more and it looks like India already has a number of local Institutions, both public and private, involved in Micro-finance. I found this link on the Global Development Research Center site. It is a collection of links, including reports on micro-finance in India, institutions, etc.

I will read a bit more and blog about this again.

Small Steps Foundation Invites You To
Biggest Dandia Nite In Fremont

When :November 3, 2007 at 7:30pm

Where :Centerville Junior High School in Fremont

Artist :Sharvari Dixit and her troupe

Please join us in a biggest fun-filled Dandiya event in 10000 sq ft space. Sharvari Dixit and her troupe will be performing live. All the proceeds of this event go towards supporting projects targeted at formal and informal education for underprivileged children in India.

Small Steps Foundation is a non-profit public benefit volunteer based 501 (c)(3) corporation. Small Steps Foundation is organized to aid in socio-economic development in India by raising funds in US to support developmental initiatives in India that focus on: education of underprivileged children, education and development of the girl child and Rehabilitation of children in special circumstances.