NEWS

JULY-AUGUST 2022

EDITOR'S NOTE
Through the many years of its work in the villages, efforts at BCT have always been towards
nurturing leadership. This stems from the strong conviction that the right leadership will enable
communities to develop and thrive for rural betterment. While the areas of work may have altered
over time, the approach of fostering leaders and creating local levels of leadership remains.

An example in the case is the handicraft of Etikoppaka toy making. Taken up at BCTs School of Skills
in the late 1970s and 1980s, the focus back then was to revive the dying craft at BCTs School of Skills.
Today the craft though better recognized, requires skill development for generating better products
and thereby better income. This is now being imparted, through workshops like the one conducted
recently by BCT and collaborating organizations.

The BCT Krishi Vigyan Kendra continues to support farmers with quality inputs, value-added training
programs and drudgery reduction implements. The focus has also been on water conservation and
other relevant activities. The SMART centers, run with the support of Tech Mahindra Foundation,
provide students the job-related skill-sets that they much require, and support them with
placement drives too. The Residential High School, continues to work with its multi-pronged
approach to children’s education, as it includes new components of computer education and even
robotics.

Going beyond rote learning, interactive education models are being implemented in tribal areas for
young minds to shape out better opportunities. Be it the Community Action Groups, BCTs Industrial
Training Institute and initiatives for specially-abled, the journey of generating leadership and
relevant systems is a continuous one.

As the months mark two important occasions, one of our 75th Independence and the other or
Vinayaka chavithi, we invite you to look through a brief window into our work, and share your
feedback. Ch. Appala Naidu, Director,
Jana Shikshana Sansthan,
Visakhapatnam

d
 FROM THE
ARCHIVES
PIC OF THE MONTH

NFE (Non Formal Education) Teachers and community organization team of BCT come
together for a group photograph with BCT Founder Dr. BV Parameswara Rao, BCT
Secretary Dr Satyamurty and other team members (2003)

NEWS PICK

NEWS FROM ERMU

Sri Ramaswamy from SIPA (South India Producers Association) visited our BCT to study the
activities of ERMU and KVK. SIPA is closely associated with BCT for several years in the export of
toys and cashew nuts. He is appraised of new product development effort which could be further
expanded in the future with export potential. For the coming festival season, orders are being
procured from various business institutions as well as from individuals. We are yet to receive a
major bulk order. Experimentation is being done to standardize the shape of our our energy chikki.
This was done after visiting two manufacturers in Anakapalle and Visakhapatnam.

(September 1993)
 CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF
INDIA'S INDEPENDENCE

The 75th anniversary of India’s independence was celebrated in a grand way across BCT. At the BCT
Residential High School, students, teachers and staff came together for celebrations. With the flag
hoisting done by BCT Secretary Mr. B Sri Ram Murty, students enhanced the gaiety by their colourful
and sweet cultural performances. Mr. Sri Ram, Central Coordinator Mr. Sitaramraju and teachers
addressed the children on this important occasion. Making the event even more special was the group
of school alumni who participated in the event and presented a memento to the school.

At the BCT KVK, 144 participants came together to celebrate the 75th Independence day. Marking
this Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the flag was hoisted by BCT KVK Chairman Sri B. Sri Ram Murty. KVK
staff, farm staff, BCT staff and students attended the function, making it a success. During the talks
that followed the flag hoisting, suggestions were made that the farming community should be given
high importance as conserving water and soil and protecting our bio-diversity is our duty.
 AZAADI KA AMRIT MAHOTSAV

Independence day celebrations for

Team BCT TMF began much in
advance. On 12th August, all BCT
TMF SMART centers participated
in the 'Har ghar tiranga' campaign,
as part of Azadi ka amrit mahotsav.
They hoisted and displayed the
Indian flag, performed dances and
also sang songs on the theme.
Students of the BCT TMF
Dwarakangar center also performed
a mime show on the importance of
the national flag. Besides this, quiz
competitions and essay writing
contests were held too.

Prizes were given to the winners. Making the occasion even more special were Associates from Tech
Mahindra Foundation, who awarded the prizes. They also distributed national flags to the students
and team members, who displayed them at home, and a short and beautiful video was also compiled
on this. BCT Joint Secretary Mr. Somayajulu also participated in the events. He addressed students
about Unity in diversity and added about development in Agriculture, Health and Education
systems.

The BCT TMF SMART team at Gajuwaka celebrated Aazadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and International
youth day too. Showcasing vibrant tirangas, events were held to engage and enhance the knowledge
of students about their nation.
 HEALTH CAMP FOR STUDENTS

On 10th August, a medical camp was organized at the BCT Residential High School by the
Young India Visakhapatnam team. With dermal checkups by Dr. Sravani, dental by Dr.
Pratyusha and Dr. Chakradhar and pediatric check ups by Dr. Ooha, the 250 children at school
benefitted. The team also distributed medicines, creams, mouthwash, toothpaste and snacks
to all the students. Finally, sessions were held on well-being and career guidance for the
students.

MEDICAL CAMP

A medical camp was held for the

children of BCT Residential High
School. Government ANMs came to
the school as part of the camp. Class-
wise blood group and hemoglobin
test were conducted for all students
of classes VI to X.
 ARTISAN TRAINING AT ETIKOPPAKA

In order to help artisans enhance income through more creativity, a workshop on painting techniques
was conducted at the artisan village of Etikoppaka. Held from July 20 to August 5, this 2 week
program was crafted after discussions with artisans and knowing their requirements. Held in
collaboration between BCT, LetsEndorse & Thoughtworks Technologies, it saw enthusiastic
participation, as 50 semi and unskilled women from the artisans’ community came forth to participate.

Supporting their indigenous craft and preserving their traditional method of making Etikoppaka toys,
the first day saw 35 women and senior artisans from the village participate. Within two days, the count
of women reached 50, due to the quality delivery of training by trainers Mr. Rajeswara Rao and Mr.
Nani Babu, alumni of the Fine Arts Department, Andhra University.

At the concluding session, the trainees expressed their gratitude to the organizations supporting the
training as they learned easy techniques in painting on the toys. They also requested an additional 15
days of training so as to learn more new techniques. The project was also visited by Smt K Suneetha,
IAS, AP Textile Handlooms Principal Secretary and Sri Srikanth Prabhakar, Joint Director, who
appreciated the work being taken up.
 AT THE CAMPUS

VINAYAKA CHAVITHI

With the end of August marking the

auspicious festival of Vinayaka chavithi, the
students of BCT Residential High School
offered prayers along with their teachers
and staff. A programme was held at the Sri
Kalyana Vinayaka swami temple on Aug 31.

On the day before the festival, members of the Farmer & You group distributed 120 puja kits to
customers in Visakhapatnam. Each of these kits consisted of an eco-friendly Ganesha idol,
flowers, patri, coconuts and other offerings. The kits were much appreciated by the buyers.

FELICITATION OF SUMMER CAMP VOLUNTEERS

On 16th August, a felicitation program was

organized at Haripuram to recognize and
honor the hard work of volunteers involved
in the English Learning Program for Paderu
area. With the felicitation conducted in
association with LeapForWord (LFW) in
presence of Vibha representatives, the
volunteers were awarded appreciation
certificates, bags, diaries and pens.
The English learning program had been
initiated to cater to easy English learning,
both for teachers and students in Paderu
area. This was a 45-day program that
concluded in June 2022. Its objective was to
enable educated & willing youth with
English teaching skills that they can use to
teach school-going children from their
respective communities.
This would also help them improve their English capabilities. During the period, volunteers
performed very well and both teachers and students benefitted. The felicitation program
recognized and honored their hard work, and gave the volunteers something to remember it by.
 AT THE CAMPUS

LAPTOPS RECEIVED

Hitachi Vantara, Bengaluru, donated 30 ThinkPad

laptops with high configuration for students of the
BCT Residential High School, Panchadarla. These
laptops will enable students to collaborate with their
classmates inside and outside the classroom, in a
better manner. Using these laptops, students can ask
questions, compare notes and learn better. A huge
thanks to the Hitachi team for sending these across
for the students.

STUDENTS VISIT ON INTERNSHIP

47 B.Sc. second-year students from the
Home Science department of St. Joseph’s
College for Women, Visakhapatnam,
came to BCT for their one-month
internship activity as part of the
curriculum. They showed immense
enthusiasm towards gaining practical
experience on what they have studied
theoretically in their regular classes.
These students were given projects on kitchen gardening, mushroom cultivation, nutritional value
addition, and village survey with the help of BCT KVK, Home Science wing. They had a very good time on
the Haripuram campus and gained a lot of practical knowledge. On 15th August, they went back to their
college with participation and appreciation certificates.

NEWS @ ITI
At the BCT ITI, admissions for the academic
year 2022 to 2024 are being conducted and
students are being taken in. Students
appearing for the AITT exam also gave their
practical exam at Prasanthi Polytechnic
College in Atchutapuram. In other news, a
drinking water facility pipeline was created
by the students.
 STUDENT PLACEMENTS
It is always heartening to see our students get the
jobs they so deserve. In the past 2 months, 12
students from BCT TMF SMART Gajuwaka got
selected for the job of Geographical Information
System(GIS) Engineer at TRIGEO Technology Pvt
Ltd. Hired at a good pay package, 2 students were
also selected for their Hyderabad location.

WOMEN HEALTH
AWARENESS PROGRAM
Mr. Lokesh and Ms. Jamima visited the BCT
TMF SMART Center Dwarakanagar and took
an Awareness Session on WoW (World of
Women) app which helps women with
consultations on health issues. All students of
BCT TMF Center installed the app and are
utilizing its benefits.

EXPOSURE VISIT TO CMR

CENTRAL
Providing beneficial practical exposure for students,
an exposure visit was held for BCT TMF SMART
center students on August 20. Students from BCT
TMF SMART Gajuwaka went to CMR central, as a
part of their Customer Relations & Sales (CRS)
activity. There they witnessed different retail stores
under one roof. They understood product
arrangements and the importance of visual
merchandising. Noting the range of prices and
placements, they observed the impulse goods
placed at the bill counter. They also understood
how the salesperson greets, receives and helps the
customer in buying a product.

EMPLOYER VISIT &

PLACEMENT DRIVE
Mr J. Kumar, Director HR (Training &
Operations) and Mr. Harsha, Manager
(Recruitment & Training) from ACN Infotech
(India) Pvt., interacted with BCT SMART
Dwarakanagar Center Manager Mr. Shaik
Meera and Placement Coordinator Mr. Venu.
They conducted a placement drive through
which 11 out of 19 students got selected as
Process Executives.
 TRAINING OF TRAINERS
The annual orientation program for trainers
was conducted by the TMF SMART
academy on 8th and 9th July. This year’s
event was conducted by TMF L&T Team
with Mr. Srotriya and Ms. Chaavi Bhardwaj.
Held at Tech Mahindra Foundation,
Visakhapatnam, this event oriented the
BCT TMF SMART teams about updates in
their departments and various methods of
catering to the subjects. An important
event for trainers, this enables the entire
team to stay updated with relevant
information and also share information
with others.

MEDICAL BILLING BATCH BEGINS

Keeping in tune with the rising
market need for medical billing staff,
BCT TMF Dwarakanagar center
initiated a new Medical Billing batch
with 27 students. An ITES batch with
25 students was started as well. The
Center Manager, Mr. Meera and IT
trainer Ms. Sirisha interacted with
the new students and shared the
course details with them.

FAREWELL CELEBRATIONS
BCT TMF SMART Gajuwaka
students had a farewell event
on 16th July as the old
batches finished their course.
Having enrolled a few
months ago, it was great to
see their journey and
development. Showing great
prowess in organizing events,
it was heartening to see
many of them get jobs and
plan their future journey.
On this occasion, the students shared their feedback and learning in the past three months.
Dignitaries Sri. N Sai Prasad garu and Sri N Somayajulu garu graced the occasion and inspired the
gathering with their motivational words.
 DR. SATYAMURTY VISITS
Dr. Satyamurty, Former Secretary of BCT, visited
the BCT KVK campus on August 9. Here he
interacted with the scientists on the present
agriculture scenario and technical updates in
agriculture. He put forth several situations
before the scientists and was satisfied with the
solutions. He also suggested to keep updating
knowledge on a constant basis.

AWARENESS ON
WATER CONSERVATION
In order to create awareness on domestic
and agricultural water conservation, an
awareness program was created as part of

the Jala Shakti Abhiyan at BCT KVK. Graced
by dignitaries like Smt. G.L. Lakshmi, DMIO,
APMIP, Anakapalli, Senior Scientist Srihari
Rao Burla and others, 282 participants came
together for the event.

Here, awareness on government schemes in

Micro irrigation were highlighted. Also
methods of trench cum bund, staggered
terracing, tied furrows, ridge and furrows,
deep tillage, check dams, solar water
pumping, borewell recharge, smart borewells
etc were discussed.

LACTATING WEEK
CELEBRATED
26 participants came together for ‘World
Breastfeeding Day’ on 3rd August. An event
was held at Haripuram, by B. Divya Sudha, PA
Home Science, D.J. Parvathi, Anganwadi

Teacher, Asha workers, and GNM, Mahila

police.

The team explained about protein-rich foods

and important food groups necessary for
lactating mothers. Information related to
breastfeeding and its importance were
elaborated to the group of women. Also,
suggestions were given that infants should
drink the first milk (colostrum) within an hour
after birth.
 TRAINING PROGRAMS

A range of beneficial training programs were conducted for farmers and farm
women by BCT KVK. These included,
Training on the Importance of trap crops in pest management. Held on 2nd
August at Karnikapalem village for 23 participants, its main objective was to
make farmers aware of pest and disease management in paddy and vegetables
using eco-friendly approaches.
Training on pruning and training in cashew orchards was held on August 2
at Degalapalem village to develop skill in pruning for healthy plant growth.
This was done for 30 participants.
At Kotta Tummala Banda training was taken up on millet production
technologies. Awareness on gully method of ragi cultivation and new varieties
in bajra, ragi and korra was created. 21 participants benefitted from this.
Training on pruning and nutrient management in mango gardens was
done on 3rd August for 25 participants at P. Kothapalle village to impart
pruning skills and critical interventions in fertilizer application in mango.
A 1-day training was taken up on organic/natural farming at Loddi
Mangalapalem village, for 30 participants. The main objective was to create
awareness on Organic/ Natural farming and nutrient management in paddy.
Conducted at Kondakarla Village, a training program to spread awareness on
green fodder varieties for dairy cattle was taken up. 12 participants attended.
A training program on value-added products with pineapple was conducted
for tribal women. The 2-day program helped them learn to make products like
candy, jam, pickle, juice etc. Participants also learned about the health benefits
of the fruit.
 ENTREPRENEURIAL
PROGRESS

During July, Grameena Incubation Center

offered credit linkages to the first cohorts. In
this regard, GIC collaborated with Rang De, to
select 10 entrepreneurs out of the 20. A
meeting was held with the rural entrepreneurs,
where Mr. B. Sri Ram Murty, CEO, GIC,
explained about the credit linkages being
extended. With the amount being given to
them on credit basis, the application testing
was followed by recording the applications to
finally give them the amount.

PROMOTING RURAL
STARTUPS
Andhra University Incubation Center,
Visakhapatnam conducted a program called
"Incubation center for innovation and
acceleration for Startups". In this many startups in
Vizag and students from engineering and other
departments participated and demonstrated their
startup ideas and prototypes.
GIC participated in creating awareness and promoting rural startups. Team members explained the
livelihood process of rural businesses and demonstrated rural products like millets, wood-pressed oils,
honey, homemade snacks etc. The support and mentoring provided to rural entrepreneurs by the Grameena
Incubation center was focused upon.

NEW ENTREPRENEURS CALLED

Grameena Incubation selected 15 new rural
entrepreneurs, out of 235 enterprises and
called them to BCT for a meeting. Mr. B. Sri
Ram Murty, CEO, GIC spoke to all the chosen
entrepreneurs of Cohort 2 and noted the
working progress of their businesses so far.
Addressing the bottlenecks the various
entrepreneurs faced, issues of marketing,
product development and additional
investment supports came up. Students of St.
Joseph college participated and showed
interest in the field of entrepreneurship.
 EVENTS CAPSULE

New Year, New Leaders

BCT Residential High school selected
its new student leaders for 2022-23
academic year. School Pupil Leaders
(SPL), Mess Pupil Leaders (MPL) and
Clean & Green Leaders (CGLs) were
selected.

New batches begin

On 5th July, 3 batches of new
students were initiated at BCT TMF
SMART Gajuwaka center and 76
students enrolled for Cycle 2 of the
current financial year.

Training Support
GIC Assistant Program Manager Mr. A
Raghavendra attended a 1-week
training session on "Entreprises
development through self-
employment". Organized by NI-
MSME, the program elaborated on
rural startups, cluster development,
models, business development steps
and government support schemes
for rural businesses.

Odisha farmers visit

21 farmers from Odisha visit the BCT
– Krishi Vigyan Kendra to see the
jackfruit processing unit and surya
mandal kitchen demo. Chief Guests
were BTT Convenor cum Block
Agricultural Officer, FIAC,
Kudumulugumma, Chitrakonda
village, Odisha.
Snapshots

Invaluable interactions

Community Action Group (CAG)

and Rythu club meeting at
Gokiwada village. Discussions are
held on savings, bhajans and
children's education.

Learning time
Children with special needs
from Icha Foundation,
Kondakarla, learn at BCTs Sri PV
Venkatesan Center for the
Challenged.

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sriram@bctindia.org Editor: Jaya Siva Murty