IU chapter of national group aims to help develop India

Even halfway around the world, they wanted to make a difference. They believed distance was not a big enough barrier to keep them from improving the lives of those who are less fortunate and suffering the harsh effects of poverty.\nIU's recently-developed local chapter of Association for India's Development (AID) is a non-profit charitable organization that works to support a number of social development projects, human rights and to improve living conditions of underprivileged citizens in India.\nSince its recent advent in February, the local AID chapter is among 25 others in the nation, with a fast-growing number of members and volunteers.\nGraduate student Lavanya Ramakrishnan, a member and volunteer of the local chapter is inspired by her culture and believes it is important to realize how others around the world, unfortunately, do not receive the same opportunities as many in the U.S.\n"Not everyone in the world is lucky enough to get a good education and a chance to utilize some of the facilities available at IU," Ramakrishnan said. "I come from a country that has a very rich cultural heritage -- yet there are a lot of children who have never been to school and women who have never received an education."\nA few of the current projects AID is involved in include rebuilding schools in rural areas of India, training women in sewing and other valuable skills that will assist them in providing a living for themselves. They also work to increase literacy.\nTo help this cause, IU's local AID chapter will be hosting a number of fund raising events this semester, including one at 3 p.m. Saturday in room 223 of the Kelley School of Business. There will be a Hindi movie showing and all donations will be donated directly to the AID cause. The time of the event has not yet been announced.\nThe group meets every Sunday from 5:30-6:30 p.m. for a community service hour, where students organize plans and work to disseminate information to others on-campus about the organization. \nThe national AID organization began in 1991, when a group of students at the University of Maryland decided they wanted to go a step further and do something about the impoverished living conditions in India, and since then, the program has grown to an organization of about 300 people. In addition to the numerous chapters in the U.S., there are also AID chapters in India, Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom, according to the national Web site.\nGraduate student Rajesh Viswanathan, president of IU's AID chapter, said he was inspired by his friends in North Carolina and decided that he wanted to transform his positive intentions into action by contributing to the development in India.\n"AID was started with the motive of bridging the gap of inequality of opportunities that exists today in India, especially in the rural villages," Viswanathan said. "The intention here is not just to make every rural village in to a big city, but to improve education and health facilities, thus building a stronger society."\nMembers say this program not only ultimately benefits people overseas in India, but also seeks to inform IU students about the importance of culture and diversity. All students are encouraged to help the cause.\n"We hope students will get involved in the activities of our organization so that they get to know about our country and the issues surrounding its future development and also because awareness of social issues is an integral part of our campaign," graduate student Sowmya Ravikumar said.\n"We don't just appeal to people of Indian origin -- to contribute, we want to broaden our supporter base to all good Samaritans. The fact that we are helping out these causes in India is just an artifact of where we come from"