Goonj, NGO of the Year

The Tribune, New Delhi, 7 Mar 2008

Deepalaya, a Delhi-based NGO with extensive health, education and women empowerment activities in Mewat and Gurgaon districts in Haryana, was awarded the best NGO in the medium category in the Northern region by the Resource Alliance and the Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation at a function here yesterday evening.

Giving away the India NGO Awards 2007, Union Finance Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram said it was inspiring that many young men and women were in pursuit of other’s happiness, rather than their own. He said civil society organisations had a great role to play in reaching out to the marginalised sections of society.

Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy said it was necessary to spend money to make money. In this regard, he said, we had to learn a lot from the Americans, who mastered the art of fundraising.

Mr Murthy said while India had achieve a lot of progress during the last 15 years, illiteracy, poverty and ill health were some of the problems that plagued the nation.

He complimented the award winners for promoting good standards and practices in resource mobilisation and creating examples and inspiration for others.

Goonj,  a Delhi-based NGO, was declared the NGO of the Year. Other awardees were the Banyan, Childline India Foundation, Child Rights and You (CRY), Dream a Dream, Pragati, Society for Promoting Rationality (SPRAT), Raigarh Ambikapur Health Association (RAHA), SOS Children’s Villages of India, Aide and Action, Bharat Integrated Social Welfare Agency (Biswa), Centre for Environment Education (CEE).