VP – In this region where we are planning to set up the centre, the average land holding is 0.47 hectares, average family size is 7, literacy rate among men is 52% and that among women is 38%.  Average household income is Rs. 1360 per month.  Agriculture is the main occupation providing employment to 53%, business to 11%, labour work to 14% and services to 18%.  Due to less industrialization a large number of educated youth are unemployed. 
 

Plans: 

I. Land Donation - The Centre will be set up on a piece of land which they will transfer out of their family property in the name of Asha on Varanasi-Ghazipur highway and will be managed by them. 

II.  Recruitment of Trainees

The Center recruit men as well as women for training depending on their household income, educational qualification and agricultural background.  They will be able to provide training to 120 people per year in different fields. 

III. Methods :
Question from ASHA-Seattle 
What are the methods that you will use to achieve the goals of your project?  Please give a description of the kinds of technology or processes you intend to use for beekeeping and cultivation of medicinal plants, your experience with such technology and the ease with which trainees will be able to learn and use them.

VP – Trainees will be provided complete theoretical and practical know-how in the areas of beekeeping and cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants.  We use totally indigenous technology which is available at reasonable price.  It is our experience that for a beginner with low investing capacity it is convenient and easily affordable.  They grasp it and use it easily.  We will provide the trainees equipment, livestock, planting material, etc. at subsidized rates to get them started in the activity of their choice after completion of their training.  Our resources for marketing of relevant products are quite reliable and ready to make this accessible to the trainees for their products. 
 

Schedule of Classes 
One week long courses (people could stay for less or more if they feel > necessary) will be run in beekeeping and cultivation, processing of medicinal, aromatic plants. the trainees will be able to stay at the centre and cook their own food (all facilities would be provided for this, including a LPG stove). Vallabhacharya has worked out the following training schedule:
Beekeeping: from 1st to 7th of each month in the months of April, July, October, December, January and February. 
Cultivation and Processing of Medicinal/Aromatic plants: from 15th to 22nd of each month in the months of July, October, February. 
In addition 1 or 2 days capsule programmes would be available on request any time round the year.  The above mentioned months have been chosen keeping in mind the season most favorable for the concerned activities.

Fees Charged: 
The participants will be charged fees of Rs. 700 per head.  Funded NGOs and organizations will have to pay Rs. 1000 per head to get their people trained. However, if somebody cannot pay this fees, the requirement will be relaxed (partially or fully).  The fees will be charged mainly to cover the food (raw material) and other running expenses.
 

Getting the word out
Every year a letter will be circulated by Vallabh to a mailing list which we are maintaining here in Lucknow informing everybody about the schedule of training programmes.  Also, local advertisement will be done through newspapers, etc. local people do take interest in his activities, he has a constant stream of curious visitors
 
 

VP – Honey, wax, pollen, bee-venom (in the future), seeds, extracts from leaves of medicinal and aromatic plants are the major products which are being marketed by us without any difficulty.  Products are further used by pharmaceutical, soap, cosmetics and ayurvedic medicines industries.  Besides, a number of families purchase honey, wax, pollen, etc. directly from us for their personal consumption. 
 

V.  Budget
Functions of the 4 rooms
The four rooms were intended for classroom, lab., computer room (documentation centre) and for staying purpose (with a small kitchen and toilet attached).

Connection between the ASHA ashram and the Kaithi Center:

From Sandeep Pandey, in response to various questions from ASHA-Seattle

The kaithi centre will work in close coordination with Asha ashram.  Vallabh has also come to know people running other projects being funded by asha chapters through participating in our meetings. He has been associated with us for over 3 years now. Recently. he visited Assam on our request to help out some groups there.  Other asha projects people want to avail of his facility in training.  He was one of the few people who attracted everybody's attention during the Asha annual meeting and people were curious to know more about his activities.  I feel he is a very valuable person in our team and i'm trying to ensure that his knowledge is shared with lot of other people.  Although. So far, he has not been associated with any organization he has a very helpful outlook. (incidentally, he is related to me - a distant> uncle of mine.)
 

Anand Raghavan from ASHA-Berkeley

From what I understand, the beekeeping project, is not a project by itself, but it is a part of ASHA's larger vision of having an ASHA Center in Lucknow, which has been Sandeep's dream for a while. Having such a center primarily benefits as a center for training people who then go on to train other people in different parts of India. So if I'm running a school in Coimbatore and I have classes 7-10, say, then I might also want to give vocational training to the children in addition to providing them with conventional education. This is where the Center comes in. I can go to the ASHA Center, where I can get training in how to have a beekeeping center, how to grow medicinal plants, how to come up with new agro-based products, that can then help the children in my school stand on their own feet and find employment for themselves, and employ other people, rather than to wait for someone to offer them a job.  I think this is the basic philosophy. 

So, I would say that this project is like the Chinese saying about giving someone a fish to eat vs. teaching someone how to fish. By funding this project, which goes towards creating the ASHA Center, not only are we making it possible that a few individuals can get trained there and be self-employed, but we are making great strides towards propagating these ideas to other parts of the country where this can be taught to hundreds of other children who can all benefit from this one project that we are funding.
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