BDT wishes you a very Happy Holi and Sharing BDT updates

Dear Friends,



Greetings!!!



On the eve of Holi, I am writing this update mail. Bihar Development Trust wishes you and your family a very happy Holi. Enjoy it to the maximum.

It has been more than two months that I have not written mail about the progress made by Bihar Development Trust. Reasons are many. The last BDT update mail resulted in cancellation of grant for a livelihood project by ITC. They were upset about certain remarks in that mail. I never knew that BDT updates are read so widely and can have serious repercussions. BDT update has always resulted in positive contribution to the Trust. Sharing about BDT is an idea to let thousands of people know across the world that something positive is happening in Bihar and it’s on right path. It is a transparency tool for us. Anyone who is tracking BDT updates over three years can feel the growth and work. I feel happy that many people now wait for BDT updates and I am grateful to those who keep saving the BDT update mails.

At present, BDT update mails are sent to more than 5000 people who are in my address book and shared through blog, Orkut and face book.



BDT was started with a dream , never say die spirit and it’s on way to make those dreams true. The struggle has been painful but worthwhile. The efforts have not resulted in any big or earthshaking impacts or changed the Bihar. But yes, It has given hope. Hope for a better Bihar. Many of my friends and even unknown young professionals who come in touch with us have started believing after listening to our story. To this grass root work, you can add the impact of positive TV and print media publicity of Bihar. The belief that has been shared by few people in 2006 has now been shared by 1000s of people.



To say the least, Bihar Development Trust has survived. It has been possible due to the 50 people who believed in us in 2007-2008 and given us their hard earned money. We have returned the loan to many of them and in process of returning. It’s the intent that matter not the value. These 50 people believed in BDT when nobody even gave slimmest of chance to survive. We survived the recession. We conquered our own self doubts. We are grateful to many friends who continuously counsel us when we have bogged down by our own self doubts.



January 2009 resulted in BDT achieving Rs. 1 crore outstanding which is an important milestone. This is the other reason for delayed BDT update as we were busy in somehow crossing that Rs 1 crore outstanding figure. The feeling has sunk in now. We have disbursed Rs. 2.5 crore worth loans to 2700 women borrowers till date. We have provided life insurance services to 4000 men and women who are linked to our micro finance program. These 2000 families are saving Rs. 10 a week in a saving box that is creating a corpus for any unforeseen circumstances. We have been providing loan to rickshaw puller so that they can own their own rickshaw. Till date, 32 rickshaw pullers have been provided rickshaw. We hope to provide more in coming days. We are planning to provide credit to farmers through our farmer service center initiative. We will be promoting farmer groups whose produce will be aggregated and marketed by us.



Bahia Development Trust is trying to evolve in as an organization which not only provides credit but also input, business development services and market the produce of small producers. We have been trying to promote producer groups among weavers at Bhagalpur. Recently, Mr. Dev Kumar Dubey has been made member of a task force constituted by DM,Bhagalpur for creating a sustainable livelihood model for weavers at Bhagalpur.



Bihar Development Trust has been an initiative which is trying to create an platform on which professionally qualified youth can join and realize their own destiny. It has been started by two management professionals and it has grown into 4 management professionals in promoter profile and 3 management professionals in team leader profiles. It has been ably supported by 30 other team members who are working to realize the dreams of Bihar Development Trust.



I would like to state that the views are entirely mine and it reflects my understanding of work of Bihar Development Trust.



Please visit www.bihardev.org and www.bihardev.pbworks.com to know more. We are trying to become more and more transparent through these two websites.



I will welcome any feedback or queries regarding the work of Bihar Development Trust.



I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and express our gratitude for providing us financial and moral support to this initiative.



Thank you for reading such a long mail.



Regards



Ravi Chandra