Bangalore, December 25, 2016 : Aimed to spread the message of ‘BE GOOD – DO GOOD‘ on the occasion of the 154th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, an mega statewide youth campaign VIVEK BAND-2017 has been organized by Samartha Bharata trust, an organization promoting social volunteering among youth.
Eminent Hockey Player and Olympian Ashish Ballal and Noted Social Worker Mahanthesh of Samarthanam Trust addressed the Press Conference about the mega Youth Campaign Vivek Band-2017 at Rashtrotthana Parishat, Bengaluru on Sunday morning. Trustees of Samartha Bharata, Malini Bhaskar and Rajesh Padmar were present.
The campaign starts with the wearing of a wrist band carrying the message ‘BE GOOD – DO GOOD‘ on January 12th, 2017, to commemorate the birthday of Swami Vivekananda, which is celebrated as National Youth Day, and lasts for 2 weeks till January 26th, 2017.
Vivek Band Campaign aims to reach more than 12 lakh people and let the message serve as a reminder of the immense potential and opportunities that the youth have, to transform their lives and to pledge to build a strong, healthy society. The campaign expects the youth have to pass on the legacy of ‘BE GOOD – DO GOOD’ to more people by indulging in inspiring activities and becoming active role models.
Vivek Bands will be available at several retail outlets across the state from 5th of January 2017. A detailed list of store locations is available on the website at www.samarthabharata.org and www.vivekband.com
Store Locations: http://samarthabharata.org/vivek-band/store-locations/
In order to make this message available to more youngsters, technology-based forums such as the Samartha Bharata website, social media, Whatsapp and SMS are being used for promoting the Vivek Band campaign. These forums will also be available to those who have chosen to wear the Vivek wrist band for sharing inspirational experiences. Many organisations, educational institutions, cultural associations, youth icons, scientists, sports stars, cine stars etc are endorsing the campaign.
The campaign entails:
- Wearing Vivek Band with the message ‘BE GOOD – DO GOOD’ on 12th January
- Involving in a service-oriented i.e. DO GOOD activity between 12th-26th January
- Organizing an inspirational talk to spread the spirit of service and nationalism
- Sharing BE GOOD DO GOOD experience on social media with hashtag #VivekBand and other platforms to inspire others. Giving a missed call to 8792662262.
- This year, Samartha Bharata is supporting Corneal Andhatva Mukta Bharata Abhiyan (Corneal Blindness Free Bharat Movement) of SAKSHAMA, an NGO for the specially-challenged. Eye-donation will be promoted as the ‘DO GOOD’ activity for 2017.
India is facing many medico-social challenges. Corneal blindness is one among them. Cornea is an outer most transparent layer of eye, which may be damaged due to many reasons like malnutrition, chemical injury, accident, surgery etc. According to one estimation 2 to 20 lakh population of India is having corneal blindness, which can be cured by corneal transplant. Unfortunately, there is huge scarcity of cornea in the nation. Though every year ~1 crore deaths occur, only 25,000 people are donating their eye for the noble cause. If this number is increased to 4 lakh, Eye banks are established in all states & districts, Cornea specialists are made available at every important place & more importantly the great mass of people is filled with the right awareness about eye donation, we can make India corneal-blindness-free by 2020.
Eminent personalities from different social arena endorsed the Vivek Band Campaign.
Smriti Irani, HRD Minister, Govt of India
Dr. D.Veerendra Heggade, Dharmadhikari of the Dharmasthala Temple
Poojya Nirmalanandanatha Swamiji, Adichunchanagiri Matha
Sri Sri Ravishankar, Art of living
Justice Rtd Santhosh Hegde
Lakshmi Gopalaswamy (Actor),
Maj.Bhavana Chiranjay, Aniruddh (Actor),
Dr. BN Gangadhar (NIMHANS),
Ashwin Angadi (UN awardee),
Sharath Gayakwad (Paralympic Swimmer, Arjuna Awardee),
Dr.Rajashekhar (Founder-Director of Shekar Hospitals)
Dr.Myalaswami Annadurai, ISRO scientist & Program Director of Mangalayaana
Arjun Devaiah, Asian Games Gold medalist
Justice (Rtd) Shivaraj Patil, Eminent law expert
Padma Bhushan Dr. Devi Shetty, cardiologist and Chairman of Narayana Hrudayalaya
Srinagara Kitty, Kannada actor
B.C.Patil, actor and politician
Mamata Poojari, Indian Women’s Kabaddi Team captain
Prakashananda Swamiji, Ramakrishna Ashram
Dr.Sharan Patil, orthopedic surgeon and CMD of Sparsh chain of hospitals
Chakravarti Sulibele, Social Activist, Orator-Columnist
Abhimanyu Mithun, cricketer
Guru Kiran, music director
Dr.C.S.Rao, President of Reliance Communications
Roopika, Kannada actor
Contact Details:
8861201060, 8073245400
Email: reachout.sb@gmail.com www.samarthabharta.org
About Samartha Bharata:
Samartha Bharata is a volunteer platform aimed at addressing social, economic, civic, environmental and other challenges facing the nation. A significant amount of work, undertaken by various organizations, is in progress in the fields of quality education, health, vocational training, civic issues, environment, rural development, cow protection, cultural & literary development and upliftment of marginalized sections like street children, HIV+ people and devadasis. www.samarthabharta.org