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Mukti (Organization)

Mukti, is a registered not-for-profit Socioeconomics development trust, working for the needy people in Sundarbans, West Bengal and other parts of India as well, for uplifting of the grassroots who are in penury, social exclusion and myriad discrimination. MUKTI is registered under the Government of India Trust Act Section 64. MUKTI, which means liberation, was founded in 2003 and officially registered on 9th March 2005. More than 800 volunteers of MUKTI are working in UNESCO declared World Heritage site Sundarbans region of India in the areas of Health, Education, Agriculture, Livelihood, Environment, Rights and Governance and Disaster Relief. [1] The organization is registered with Government of India Trust Act 64, Ministry of corporate affairs under CSR form 1 and have 12AA, 80G, TISS empanelment certificate, and FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act 1976) in 2005. Any donation to Mukti is deductible under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act of India. Vision - To engage the largest number of volunteers to create a grassroots level socio-economic development organization that contributes to sustainable development of people in need. MUKTI’s mission is to work as a HEALER for our society in the area of Health, Education, Agriculture, Livelihood, Environment, Rights and Governance and Disaster relief irrespective of caste, creed, age and gender. Contents •	Working Area •	Focus Areas/Programs •	Major Projects •	References

Working Area Mukti supported and implemented various projects across India. Their activities include several programs under the focus area of health, education, agriculture, livelihood, environment and rights, including disaster relief, medical camps during disaster and general free medical camps for villagers; helping students with text books under Book Bank project, provide tutoring to the poor students in villages, sponsoring talented but needy students, providing technical training to village youth to facilitate their job, computer learning among village students; train, motivate and help farmers to follow organic farming Sustainable Agriculture Movement; help village women to have their own organic kitchen garden, ensuring supply-chain established for organic farmers; creating and train women entrepreneurs based on microfinance principle; creating and distributing coconut seedlings to villagers in large scale and maintain those, large-scale plantation of flower and fruit plants; helping villagers for Right to Information Act, 2005 RTI Act. 2005 and establishing rights for them etc.

Focus Areas/Programs MUKTI works in 6 major focus areas. It is called as HEALER. MUKTI works as healer to society to help distressed people in society. H - Health, Water and Sanitation for improving health and water provision and sanitation services. E – Education & Empowerment to spread education awareness, help students for their study and provide job oriented training. Projects are Computer literacy, Talented Students Sponsorship TSS, MUKTI Support School MSS, Kisholya School, Book Bank etc). A – Agriculture Reforms to improve food security, climate change adaptation and to rural economic reforms. Projects are Organic farming through Sustainable Agriculture Movement such as climate friendly agriculture, agro based SME development etc., Value chain development for these products). L – Livelihood & Economic Security to promote self-help income generation, skill development and employ-ability creation for village women and young generations Projects are SWAS, Development of Marketable handicrafts, Mukti Community Development Fund MCDF based on micro-finance concept and self-help group women). E – Environment Economy to protect our mother nature and promote go green through value & need driven plantation Projects are NaRKEL Natural Revolution with Koconut Coconut for Ecology and Livelihood), Mangrove Plantation, Cyclone Tolerant Houses, Save the Sundarbans, Go Green, GrEEN Solar lamp for villagers) etc. R – Rights & Governance to protect rights of common people, promote empowerment and democratic good governance Projects are EmPOWER RTI Act awareness, Legal Aids for poor etc).

Major Projects MUKTI COVID Care Unit Focus Area: Health Medical Camps: Based on need and appeal of villagers several free medical camps are being organized. Few examples of medical camps are blood donation camp, thalassemia check, general eye and cataract check, general physical health check etc. During Cyclone Aila in 2009 and Kerala flood in 2018, Cyclone Bulbul in 2019, Cyclone Amphan in 2020 and Cyclone Yaas in 2021, MUKTI helped thousands of flood victims with different medical aids. HelloBeta :- MUKTI, Hello Beta was created with the purpose of serving seniors, mainly because of some physical and social reasons. Senior citizens normally lack strong immune system so they are more vulnerable. They are likely to have conditions such as heart disease, lung disease, diabetes or kidney disease, which impacts their immune system. It is best if they stay home and avoid outside exposure. But staying home means lack of social connection and information about what to do, where to go and buy food, water and medical supplies and so on. Hello Beta is created to meet such need of elders. In the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, MUKTI provided free oxygen concentrators to every district of West Bengal through HelloBeta portal[2]. Sanitation Low Cost toilets projects for villagers Past: The main aim of the project is to create awareness among villagers on preventive health care and ensure every village home is having modern toilets to prevent spread of diseases. Under this project 20.000 low cost but yet modern toilets are built up for villagers. Focus Area: Education MUKTI Support School Village Computer Literacy: Students of village school does not get chance to modern education including use of computers. The project objective is to create computer labs at school and help students to acquire basic knowledge on computers. Old computers are donated by corporate for this project. Talented Students Sponsorship TSS: Hundreds of talented but needy students of West Bengal get sponsorship from MUKTI for their higher study. Applications are called from students each year during starting January. The applications are reviewed, and interviews are conducted by an experienced panel of MUKTI in Kolkata. MUKTI seeks sponsorship for these selected candidates from various organisations and individuals. Once sponsorship is received those are passed on to students on quarterly basis. MUKTI also organizes periodic review and meeting with sponsors and students. MUKTI encourages all sponsors to meet their students regularly and motivate them to be successful in life. This project is in effect since 2007. Book Bank: Thousands of school children are receiving free text books since 2003 under this project. Government does not supply text book after fifth grade. For the students from poor family background, it is impossible to buy text books which are required for their school education. End of the year students return those books and they are reused. A public library has been also created for the village students in Purbo Sridharpur, Raidighi, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal. Mukti Support School: Due to very poor ratio between teachers and students, school education is not sufficient for the students of village schools. Hundreds of students of Sundarbans get quality after-school educational support from best-in-class teachers through this project. They also get special help for standard 10 Madhyamik Pariksha board examination. Teachers are selected from educated young of the same or near by localities. The teachers also gets special training from experienced teachers to enhance their skills. Local unemployed educated young joins here as teacher with proper training arranged by MUKTI. Focus Area: Agriculture Organic Farming RISTE Addressing Barriers to Rice Seeds Trade between India and Bangladesh Past: The objective of this project is to find possibilities of bilateral trade of high quality rice seed between India and Bangladesh so that common people an framers get benefited. The project was executed in partnership with CUTS International and supported by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Sustainable Agriculture Movement SAM: In post cyclone Aila situation MUKTI started the projects on removing salinity of soil and how quickly that can be given back to framers for cultivation. After that the organic vegetable movement started as next natural step for Sundarbans. MUKTI arranged adequate training for the framers of Sundarbans with the help of Association for India’s Development and Revathi from Chennai in TOT model. Today more than 5000 framers received organic framing training and 700 framers regularly practicing organic farming. As of Jan 2019, 104 have received PGS Participatory Guarantee Systems – India National Standards for Organic Production certificate. Mukti has also established an organization Mukti Fresh to ensure the supply chain of the produced organic food in Sundarbans. Focus Area: Livelihood MUKTI Institute of Technology Community Development Fund and Self-Help Group: Objective of this project is to provide interest free loans to the women entrepreneurs of villages. The project also ensures 3 minimum three hands-on training to women. The project is based on core concept of microfinance. Social investors can invest interest-free capitals to this project with guaranteed return or reinvest option. As of January 2019, about 1400 women are doing their own business successfully and more than 6500 women supported. MUKTI Institute of Technology: There are many educated young bachelors in villages of Sundarbans who do not have a job. The project helps them to develop various job-oriented including vocational training so that they can secure either higher wage or be self-employed. Focus Area: Environment Solar Lamp Distribution Past: Under this project self-contained solar lamps are being supplied to students who are from poor background and does have the electricity. Cyclone Aila disaster recovery Past: In 2009 Sundarbans were heavily impacted due to devastating cyclone Aila. Being a local NGO, MUKTI supported large relief work in this area for several months. Also, MUKTI worked closely on different issues that popped up in post Cyclone Aila situation. Many of the projects are designed to help inhabitants of Sundarbans against the issues that arose due to this cyclone. Mangrove Plantation Save the Sundarbans Go Green: The project is designed to minimize the impact of Global warming on the inhabitants of this area. It encourages people of this area for plantation. Thousands of flower and fruits plants are distributed among the villagers and children. MUKTI Nursery helps to create these plants over the year and later they are distributed. The project also works to build environmental awareness and execute campaign for the same. NaRKEL Natural Revolution with Koconut for Ecology and Livelihood: Coconut trees are having multi fold benefits and are the natural plant in the climate of Sundarbans. While it helps to prevent the soil erosion, also helps to produce oxygen and coconut itself. Since 2011, several lakhs of coconut trees are planted across the road side and river bank. Mangrove Plantation The organization has planted more than 1.5 lacs of Mangrove in the coastal land of Sundarbans. Focus Area: Rights & Governance RTI Project: Goal of this project is to provide all support to engage poor villagers to the right to information. Hundreds of poor villagers have been directly benefited by this project. The project ensures proper awareness creation among villagers on this RTI Act., 2005.

References[edit source] [1] How MUKTI Is Liberating People from Poverty, Illiteracy And Darkness In The Sundarbans - The Better India [2] Germany to help out Sunderbans families - The Telegraph [3] Cyclone Yaas blow to Sunderbans migrants - The Telegraph [4] Women help families get back on track in the Sunderbans - The Telegraph [5] Sunderbans hunger spectre - The Telegaph [6] MUKTI NGO in Raidighi West Bengal [7] About MUKTI NGO 1.	^ "How MUKTI Is Liberating People from Poverty, Illiteracy And Darkness In The Sundarbans". The Better India. 2014-10-10. Retrieved 2021-09-10. 2.	^ "Germany to help out Sunderbans families". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 2021-09-10. 3.	^ "Cyclone Yaas blow to Sunderbans migrants". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 2021-09-10.

Award awarded 1st prize by FICCI [Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry] in the climate resilience agriculture category