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Bellur

Update

Winter, 2006

Dear Admirers of Yoga

I am writing as all of you have generously helped my Trust Bellur Krishnamachar & Seshamma Smaraka Niddhi Trust in undertaking to help not only the people of my village, but also the surrounding villages. The need is more than what I anticipated.

I have promised the Trust that I will personally do all I can financially but it seems that it is not enough.

As you all generously obliged with love and affection, I request you all to extend your helping hand further so that the works that are undertaken would be completed and leave some core money to maintain and run until the Trust finds means to do it on its own.

Please help this deserving cause.

With my grateful thanks in advance,
BKS Iyengar

The Project

"When I read about the scope of what Mr. Iyengar was planning for his village, I was astounded both by the vision and immediacy of the plans and the potential for us to have a direct effect on the lives of so many others who are in need. Any effort on our part can have a ripple effect that will touch so many, many people."

Sue Salaniuk, IYNAUS President, 2002-2004

Mr. Iyengar has begun a generous development project in his home village of Bellur, India. The scope of this project is vast and he has spent tremendous amounts of time planning the development, establishing the Bellur Krishnamachar & Seshamma Smaraka Nidhi Trust, and getting permission from the Indian government to move forward in this endeavor.

The proposal outlines the following four aspects to this development:

Education

Set up Primary and Higher-Primary schools at Bellur Village as well as other impoverished areas in the country.
Upgrade the existing village schools to a higher grade.
Set up technical and educational institutions for imparting job oriented courses and vocational training to uplift the rural youth and improve employment prospects.
To support and provide adult education centres in rural areas.
Set up libraries and reading rooms in villages.

Social

To improve living standards at the village level, especially with education in the problem areas regarding alcohol and tobacco consumption.
Provide clean drinking water facilities and improve the sanitary and drainage conditions at villages, thereby improving the general public health.
Educate and create awareness among rural people about the latest developments in agriculture and allied areas; to support the actual implementation.

Health

To create awareness among rural people of the importance of individual as well as public health care.
To establish primary health care centres at villages as well as backward areas.

Cultural

To promote and further the technical and artistic skills of the rural people in traditional and handicrafts; and to establish cottage industries.

Original Letter from India outlining the Bellur Project