M arch, 2018
W HEELS GLOBAL FOUNDATI ON
To give back t o In dia, USA an d t o global com m u n it ies by pr ovidin g t ech n ological solu t ion s
t o issu es r elat ed w it h w at er , h ealt h , en er gy, edu cat ion , livelih ood, an d su st ain abilit y.
WIN Fou n dat ion t o
Fu n d Resear ch an d
In n ovat ion f or Wat er
Qu alit y & San it at ion
an d M at er n al & Ch ild
Healt h issu es
Technology Enabled Philanthr opy
THANK YOU FOR
YOUR CONTINUED
SUPPORT!
OURMISSION
We ar e pr ou d t o an n ou n ce t h at ou r ph ilan t h r opic
en deavor s ar e r each in g n ew m ilest on es w it h WIN
Fou n dat ion bein g in au gu r at ed by Pr of . Sam ir Bar u a,
f or m er dir ect or , IIM Ah m edabad.
On January 30th, local and international dignitaries, came
together to inaugurate the WHEELS India Niswarth (WIN)
Foundation. The Foundation?s activities focus on two tracks: Water
and Sanitation (WATSAN) and Maternal and Child Health (MCH)
and are housed at the campuses of IIT Gandhinagar (IITGN) and
the Indian Institute of Public Health ? Gandhinagar (IIPHG)
respectively. Prof Samir Barua, former director, IIM Ahemadabad
? chief guest of the event ? inaugurated the centers.
The WATSAN program will focus on developing new, cost-effective
ways to treat water, reduce water contamination in rivers, and
work to improve policies related to drinking water. The MCH
program will house a research lab which will focus on priorities
such as prevention, diagnoses, using data analytics and the use of
women?s self-help groups to deliver messages. A generous
donation of $2 million was made by the Niswarth International
Foundation, a charitable vehicle for Mr. Chirag Patel, co-CEO and
chairman, Amneal Pharmaceuticals and his family, to find new
ways to improve water quality and health outcomes for mothers
and children. Chairman of WHEELS Global Foundation (WGF) Rajat
Gupta moderated a panel discussion at the event, featuring Dr.
Thakor Patel from The Sevak Foundation, Mr. Ruyintan (Ron)
Mehta, the Co-Director for the ?water ? track of WGF, and Dr.
Kranti Vora, the newly appointed Director for Maternal and Child
Health (MCH) at the WIN Foundation. Read M or e
 Republ ic Day Mel a
DONOR
spot l ight

Mr . Shant anu Agr awal

Sh an t an u gr adu at ed in 2003 f r om
Colu m bia Un iver sit y in NY w it h a
degr ee in Com pu t er En gin eer in g. He
is cu r r en t ly an In vest m en t An alyst &
Dir ect or at Black Rock .
When asked what motivated him to give to
charity, Shantanu said, "I strongly believe in M D t o celebr at e t h e 69t h In dian
WHEELS Global Foundation?s focus on
identifying philanthropic endeavors that can
leverage capital into maximum
socio-economic impact. The Kanya Project is
an excellent example, where the provision of
basic hygiene (sanitary napkins) can increase
female student attendance by over 25% and
enable the basic right of an elementary
education. Having a young daughter myself,
it was quite an easy decision to support
initiatives for improving women?s access to
basic education."
We join ed ou r local com m u n it y at
t h e Repu blic Day M ela at Pot om ac,
Repu blic Day on Jan u ar y 28, 2018
WHEELS Global Foundation had an interactive
desk at this year 's Republic Day Mela in
Potomac, MD, spreading the message of
philanthropy. We interacted with around 500
attendees at the event who appreciated our
work in different areas of philanthropy in
rural India. Our work in the areas of clean
drinking water, education, health and
livelihood caught the attention of Mr. Lalit Jha,
Sr. U.S. Correspondent for Press Trust of India
(PTI). This would not have been possible
without the support of all our donors.

Sh an t an u 's 2-year old dau gh t er

su ppor t in g Th e Kan ya Pr oject
TheKanya Pr oj ect is l aunched in Bur gul a,
Tel angana on Febr uar y 8, 2018
Th an k s t o ou r Non pr of it Par t n er , Pr agat h i Welf ar e Societ y, You t h Ch air
Vr it i Kh u r an a an d all t h e don or s f or h elpin g u s edu cat e you n g gir ls an d
t h eir f am ilies in r u r al Telan gan a on t h e im por t an ce of m en st r u al h ygien e

In rural schools in India, menstrual hygiene
education is often avoided because of the
societal customs, often implemented by
families, to never speak of the subject.
While most people know that menses is a
natural part of a woman?s body, the girls in
these villages still have no idea what
menstruation is or why it happens. Gir ls in
pu ber t y ar e t ypically absen t f or 20% of
t h e sch ool year . Unfortunately, a lot of
girls aged 11-12 years before they hit
puberty also drop out.
WHEELS Global Foundation's initiative, The
Kanya Project which is lead by Youth Chair
Vriti Khurana, was launched on February 8,
2018 at Telangana. All your generous
donations have made it possible for us to
make a machine that will allow the women
of Burgula village in Telangana to make
san it ar y n apk in s made of disposable
materials and sell them for a profit which
will be used to supply them t o sch ool gir ls
at n o cost , decr easin g t h e dr opou t r at e
by at least 25%.

DID
YOU
KNOW?
Source Year: 2017 Source Year: 2014
BOARDMEMBERHIGHLIGHT # WHEELSUnt ol dSt or ies
M r . Ru yin t an (Ron ) M eh t a Ou r SPOKEN TUTORIAL pr ogr am h as
h elped cr eat e aw ar en ess abou t
lact at ion an d n u t r it ion am on g m an y
w om en .
Mrs. Neha K. told us how Spoken Tutorial
helped her learn the proper technique to
breastfeed her baby. She, being a new
mother, was facing some challenges while
breastfeeding her newborn son and all our
efforts paid off when we were able to make
her lactation journey more comfortable for
her and her baby. Eight tutorials on nutrition
M r . M eh t a is an act ive su ppor t er of Clean and lactation have been developed this year
Dr in k in g Wat er Plan t s (CDWP) in r u r al to improve the health of new born babies and
In dia. their mothers. Here is Neha, thanking you all,
Mr. Mehta is a serial entrepreneur in the for enhancing her journey of becoming a
plastic industry, with a rich experience of mother.
over 24 years. Prior to starting Crystal Clear
Inc., in New Jersey, his first start up in plastic
blow molding in 1990, Mr. Mehta was
General Manager at Combustion Engineering
Environmental (now ABB) and was President
of an engineering services company in
Flemington, NJ called Andersen Engineering
Services.
After receiving his degree in Chemical
Engineering from IIT Bombay for $152 U.S.
Wh at ar e SPOKEN TUTORIALS?
dollars, Mr. Mehta moved to the United
An initiative of National Mission on Education
States. ?If a country as poor as that can do
through ICT, MHRD, Govt. of India to promote
so much, I pledged that when I could, I
IT literacy, Spoken Tutorial uses an open
would do my darnedest to give back to IIT
source software with content translated in all
and society at large,? said Mr. Mehta. And,
22 official languages of India.
with nearly $1 million in total contributions,
Mr. Mehta has made good on his word. Mr.
Founder, Prof. Kannan Moudgalya says,
Mehta is the current President of IIT Bombay
?Education is not just restricted to literacy, as
Heritage Foundation and the former
what goes beyond reading and writing is
President of IIT Bombay Alumni Association
knowledge and awareness that leads to
Greater New York.
wisdom.?
 mEET THEBOARD
EVENTS CALENDAR CHAIRM AN
Rajat Gupta
JANUARY 28
REPUBLIC DAY MELA | POTOMAC, CHAIRM AN - ADVISORY
MD | USA BOARD
Anil Bhandari

PRESIDENT EM ERITUS
Hiten Ghosh

JANUARY 30
PRESIDENT
WIN FOUNDATION LAUNCH |
Suresh Shenoy
GANDHINAGAR, GUJARAT | INDIA

SECRETARY & TREASURER

Gulab Bhavnani

LIAISON OFFICER
FEBRUARY 8
Rajesh Tripathi
THE KANYA PROJECT LAUNCH |
BURGULA, TELANGANA | INDIA
PROGRAM DIRECTORS
Wat er
Ruyintan (Ron) Mehta
Madhu Reddy

Healt h
M ARCH 18 Dr. Vikas Khurana
#GIVE18IN18 CAMPAIGN LAUNCH Dr. Thakor Patel

En er gy
Witty Bindra

Edu cat ion

Kannan Moudgalya

Livelih ood
Dr. Ajay Kothari

Su st ain abilit y
 PRESS

Gujarati Newspaper Divya Bh ask ar

writes about Ron M eh t a's contribution
to Clean Drinking Water Plants in Gujarat

January 31, 2018

We t h an k ou r
M edia Par t n er s
f or h elpin g u s
We are proud to announce that You t h Ch air , Neil Davey, is one of spr ead ou r
the 6 Indian Americans to receive Gates Cambridge Scholarship m essage!

PRESIDENT'SNOTE
Our President Emeritus, Hiten-da, chose to ?retire? but his energy,
enthusiasm and persistence is unequaled in the application of a lifetime
of learning and to live by our tag line: Technology Enabled Philanthropy.
Now, my goal is to look for new ideas and friendship from every quarter
of our community and make this an institution that will live beyond our
lifetimes and continue to inspire innovation and application of
technology to solve real world challenges, working collaboratively with
the Indian Institutes of Technology and similar institutions in the USA.