Says this Rotarian and Mico dealer from Jabalpur: "To be disabled is to be beset with problems. And when our soldiers don't bat an eyelid before they lay down their life, we as a nation owe our sincerest thanks to them. We salute them and Mission Healing Touch, Vijay II is my tribute to all our soldiers in the army who have sacrificed their promising future for the sake of the country."
Set up in 1999, Anand's Mission plans to set up around 5,000 dealership booths in villages across the country by the end of this year, which would then be given exclusively to the wounded soldiers to manage. "We plan to set up about 15 booths every month and we are starting with some villages in western UP and Haryana. These 6'/4' wooden booths would sell Escorts spare parts and Castrol lubricants. In some cases we are also planning to give exclusive dealership of Escort tractors." Apart from these two companies another sponsor, the Punjab National Bank (pnb), has also agreed to provide composite term loans up to Rs 50,000 for such soldiers, which could easily be paid back in easy 48-60 monthly instalments. Says Anand, "Availability of genuine oils and spare parts is a perennial problem in our villages. In these booths, our soldiers can easily earn up to three-four thousand every month."
Thanks to Anand's efforts, the pnb has also agreed to extend loans of up to Rs 40,000 for retired army personnel, not necessarily handicapped, to buy personal computers or open 'cyber dhabas' so that they could start earning on their own. Already, Aptech has started its basic computer education courses for the soldiers and their kin in Delhi and there are also plans to extend it to Bhopal and Jaipur. Anand's now looking for a filter company to sponsor the project in order to make it more viable. Says he, "We are also keeping in mind the disabilities of these soldiers. Some might not be able to sell oils and lubricants on village roads. For such cases the pnb has agreed to give soft loans so that they can open cyber dhabas in the villages. A large number of officers have also come forward to give work to such soldiers."
A Rotarian for the last five years, Anand's first had a glimpse of a handicapped person's life about three years ago when he had a minor accident. "It was a small accident, but I was on crutches for about six months. And it was enough to make me realise the problems of the disabled," he says. Soon, he initiated a scheme in Jabalpur wherein polio affected youngsters were given an opportunity to work on spark plug testers at Bharat Petroleum outlets. Seven such machines were installed in Jabalpur and two in Bangalore, predictably, it was a big success. "It is a simple process and takes just about five minutes. But it is enough to give the physically challenged a means to earn a livelihood." Under the scheme, Rotary International provides the spark plug cleaning and testing equipment free of cost to the soldiers while bpcl provides the kiosk space to operate it at their retail outlets.
"Mission Healing Touch, Vijay II is an effort to provide self-employment opportunities for our soldiers. They defended our frontiers yesterday and today we are defending their tomorrows. It is a concept to bring them all back into action," says Anand. He can be contacted at: 10-202, Heritage City, Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, Gurgaon-122002; phone: 0124-6351308, 6351945.