[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 17188-17189]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 17188]]

                          FOURTH PRATHAM GALA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NICK LAMPSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 14, 2001

  Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commend those associated with the 
fourth Pratham Gala held last month in Houston, Texas. Pratham was 
established in 1994 by UNICEF and the Municipal Corporation of Greater 
Mumbai, with the mission to achieve ``Universal Primary Education'' in 
Mumbai by the year 2000.
  This mission is now growing in scope and scale. Throughout India, 
individuals, corporations and the state governments are taking the 
initiative to further ensure that every child in their respective 
cities receives a formal education.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to include a recent article from the Indo-
American News regarding the recent successful Gala in Houston and again 
add my congratulations.

             [From the Indo-American News, Sept. 13, 2001]

             Pratham Continues To Build Momentum and Funds

                       (By Bidisha Roy Banerjee)

       Houston--Targeted to reach out to the slum-children across 
     India, Pratham has found tremendous amount of success in such 
     a short time. The support Pratham received so far has been 
     overwhelming and much more than anticipated. Since the last 
     gala, Pratham has made great strides in both India and USA.
       Not only has Pratham doubled the number of children it 
     reaches (180,000 to date), it has also successfully 
     established programs in 12 cities and nine rural areas with 
     another seven cities being initiated this year. Several 
     Pratham chapters have spread in a number of cities and 
     college campuses in America.
       The fourth Pratham Gala in Houston served as an evidence 
     that a
       Emceed by radio show hostess Meena Dutt, the event started 
     with an invocation by Uma Mantravadi, singer and attorney, 
     who performed a beautiful selection of songs.
       The first speaker of the event, Vijay Goradia, Chairman of 
     Pratham USA was introduced by Meena Dutt as the ``man who 
     does not want to speak; a man who contributed the major chunk 
     and the man who brought Pratham to Houston.''
       Goradia amused the audience by mentioning a conversation 
     that he overheard just before the program started.
       Three kids were discussing how they could contribute to 
     Pratham. The first one said he would draw a circle, throw his 
     allowance in the air, and donate to Pratham and keep the rest 
     to himself. The second kid said the same. The third kid, a 
     Gujarati boy, said he would draw a square, stand outside it 
     and throw all of his allowances in the air. Whatever dropped 
     outside the square, he would donate to Pratham and the rest 
     of it inside the square, he would keep for himself.
       Goradia lauded Pratham for its tremendous achievement in 
     the last four years and boasted that ``Houston is the leader 
     in drawing the maximum amount in the last four years. Other 
     cities are now taking cue and following initiative. It is 
     replicable in lot of different cities. I hope and wish 
     Houston will continue to lead the way and show what basic 
     programs like Pratham can do for lives of others.''
       Meena Dutt reminded the audience that ``Many say that he 
     (Goradia) has money, so give it. But not everyone who has 
     money wants to share it. A little sharing can go a long 
     way.''
       The next speaker was a 17-year-old Pratham volunteer who 
     flew all the way from Mumbai to attend the gala, Disha 
     Katharani. ``Vision without action is merely a dream, Action 
     without vision is merely a passing time. But vision with 
     action can change the world.'' Quoting Joel Barker, Disha 
     went on to appall the audience by her wisdom, courage and her 
     inspirational speech. A 12th grader in Ruparel College, 
     Disha's interest in Pratham was initiated by her grandmother 
     who took her to an orphanage and gave her the responsibility 
     of teaching the children. After this incident, which had 
     clearly left its impression on Disha's young mind, her father 
     Harish Katharani exposed her to Prathan's Pratishristi 
     (Computer Assisted Learning project) through his friend and 
     Pratham's informative web-site. As someone who grew up with 
     an access to a computer, Disha realized that computer 
     assisted learning center might be one of the key ingredients 
     to an educational revolution in India. Dr. Madhav Chuhan, 
     cofounder of Pratham and Yogi Patel of Houston assisted Disha 
     to carry through the daunting task of acquiring 30 computers 
     which were shipped to Mumbai with the help of K.C. Singh. 
     Although proud of her enormous achievement in seeing through 
     her dream, Disha looks forward to bringing smiles to more 
     innocent faces and the light of knowledge to many more dark 
     and rusting minds. ``This is just a drop in the ocean,'' says 
     the awe-inspiring youngster in her motivational speech, ``But 
     we must remember that every drop constitutes an ocean and 
     make our best efforts to make this world a better place.'' '
       Cofounder of Pratham, Dr. Madhav Chauhan is a man who eats, 
     breathes, and sleeps Pratham. A former teacher in the 
     University of Houston, Dr. Chauhan spoke about the birth of 
     the Indian Education Initiative. ``When we started, we talked 
     only to Balvadi but now we have increased to different 
     categories such as 6-11 year old out-of-school children, 
     children in school but not learning, and children from the 
     streets and railway platforms. And in the next year, we 
     should have 10 times this definition.''
       ``Pratham programs such as the pretest, mid-test and the 
     post-test are directed to gauge every child's learning 
     ability. At the present level of our skills, about 60 percent 
     children who entered Pratham without any learning background, 
     learned to read and write in less than six months. I myself 
     was amazed by the results. This, I am sure, will get better 
     and better,'' exulted the founder.
       With the support from municipal government, Pratham added 
     Lucknow to its program only three weeks ago, while Bhopal 
     came into the picture just 10 days back. Dr. Chauhan said, 
     ``The challenge in Bhopal is unique. Let's see if a child can 
     stand up and read a story book.''
       Turning to the Houstonians, Dr. Chauhan expressed his 
     gratitude to the people who helped raise the most funds for 
     Pratham USA. ``You give so selflessly that we are constantly 
     encouraged by your compassionate nature. I hope you continue 
     giving and make difference in the lives of these children.''
       Dr. Chauhan's speech was followed by a screen presentation 
     on Pratham in action. Happy kids in classroom, enjoying the 
     learning process and laughing at the cartoons they play on 
     the computers--little boys and girls, the future of India. 
     Pratham sure has made a world of difference in the lives of 
     people. Keynote speaker N. Vahul, Chairman, ICICI took out 
     time from his undoubtedly busy schedule to attend the gala. 
     Its amazing how a man of his stature can find the time to 
     give generously. It is mainly due to his support that Pratham 
     could reach out from 2,000 children to 200,000 children.
       Clearly impressed by the eloquent speech of Disha 
     Katharani, Vaghul said ``I have never seen a young person 
     speak with so much passion and commitment. Even after a 
     quarter century of public speaking, I feel I should not talk 
     tonight after Disha's speech. Its said that `give me 100 
     dedicated people, and I will change the face of the country,' 
     but I say, `Give me 100 Dishas and I will change India.' ''
       Vaghul said that ``India is the world that binds us 
     together. On one hand it evolves a sweetness and pride and on 
     the other, sadness. A sadness because a country with so much 
     potential cannot reach the top position due to poverty. The 
     underlying cause for all this is selfishness and greed in 
     every sector which is pulling our country down. Maybe it is 
     the human nature but unless a counter balance is achieved, we 
     will not be able to come up again. In Houston I see the 
     counter balance. The element of selflessness, love and 
     compassion which I see in Houston, travels across the oceans 
     and lights the heart of hundreds. We have missed the 
     industrial revolution of the 19th century because we were not 
     the masters of our own destiny and we were afraid of being 
     taken over. When we woke up, it was impossible to catch up 
     with the revolution. But in the 21st century, we have 20 
     million qualified individuals, ready to race the Knowledge 
     revolution. This time we are wide awake and we have the brain 
     power. So we will not let this revolution bypass us. By the 
     year 2010, my gut feeling tells me that we will turn this 20 
     million into 200 million and race with the entire universe. 
     This is where Pratham is needed.'' Citing the example of New 
     Yorker Abraham George who goes to rural India and tests the 
     IQ of children to educate them, Vaghul said ``we have the 
     same culture, same genes and same talents. Let us help 
     Pratham make the rest of the people useful citizens of India. 
     At least we made one Disha. If we can replicate Disha's 
     commitment, then we have succeeded. Pratham will be fortunate 
     of 10% of corporate India can express the same amount of 
     compassion, love and commitment as shown by the people in 
     Houston.''
       Congressman Nick Lampson's commitment to the South Asian 
     community goes much beyond the duties of his elected office. 
     Pratham was honored to have him grace the event with his 
     presence. Nine years as a teacher, Congressman Lampson 
     believes that ``teachers are blessed because they see the 
     future everyday from their spots.''
       Congressman Lampson cited the example of Parveen Shaikh who 
     is a Bridge Course teacher at Zakariya Bandar in Mumbai. 
     Coming from an illiterate family, Parveen's dream was to 
     become a teacher. And Pratham gave her that chance, 
     encouraged her to pursue that dream by teaching at balvadis 
     and following a vision. Applauding the committed community 
     members who have played a key role in the fast expansion of 
     Pratham, Lampson said ``You are touching the soul of mankind 
     with every dollar that you donate. Your commitment is giving 
     a person your vision and role.'' Congressman expressed his 
     wish to travel to India to see if the same type of program 
     can be initiated in other countries.

[[Page 17189]]

       Paul Lima of Northwest Mutual Financial Network, the 
     sponsors of the Gala Event spoke about the high sense of 
     social responsibility of his country. ``When I heard about 
     Pratham and understood their cause, I felt humbled,'' said 
     the VP, Emerging Markets.
       ``The high level of integrity and the fact that Pratham is 
     considered the top organization in what it does, makes us at 
     Northwest Mutual very honored to sponsor this event and we 
     sincerely hope to be involved in this for many more years in 
     the future.''
       A vote of thanks was passed by Pratham President Yogi 
     Patel. ``Pratham has a very special meaning to me because I 
     can relate to those kids.'' Patel recollected his own 
     childhood, growing up in a small town in India where his 
     parents were illiterate. There was no formal Pratham in that 
     town but there definitely were people with the Pratham 
     spirit. These were the people who paid for Patel's tuition 
     and books and tickets to USA when he got admitted to Rice at 
     the tender age of 17. And today, due to these generous and 
     compassionate people, he has been able to carry on the spirit 
     through his two daughters, Shivani Yogendra Patel, M.D. and 
     Anuja Yogendra Patel, B.A. Double Major. Thanking Dr. Madhav 
     Chauhan, Patel said ``You are a modern day architect. You 
     have created a beautiful vehicle.'' He thanked Mr. Vaghull 
     and Vijay Goradia for their intensive support. He thanked all 
     the donors who paid time and money and made Pratham a success 
     story. ``If education has worked for my family and my kids, 
     it sure should change the lives of every individual out there 
     waiting for an opportunity.''
       After dinner, cultural program was performed by Uma 
     Mantravadi and her music group.
       The gala raised $390,000 with 560 ardent supporters 
     attending the event promising their integrity to a cause so 
     great that it can change the life of mankind and the destiny 
     of a country. The current target of Pratham is now $500,000

     

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