Pratik Jain, the Oasis events coordinator of the National Service Scheme (NSS), took some time off his schedule to elaborate on their functioning to the readers. The public policy program had a humble beginning with just five members in the year 1969. Today, it has grown to comprise of more than 250 volunteers and is the biggest organisation on campus.
Pratik took immense pride in explaining the functioning of the departments under NSS and the projects that they handle. There are a total of nine departments, and he started off with the English and Personality Development (EPD) department, which fosters English communication and interpersonal skills among students in and around Pilani. The Department of Design and Development (D3) takes care of poster designs, brochures, etc. for the various projects of NSS.
Computer Literacy Program (CLP), aims to instil knowledge about computers among the villagers and students. Pratik mentioned an instance where CLP helped a woman clear the Course on Computer Concepts (CCC) exam which gained her employment with a corporate company, making her an independent, working woman capable of supporting her family. The Health and Public Awareness (HPA) department is responsible for organising health campaigns and creating awareness about menstrual cycles, cleanliness, personal hygiene, and various other health-related issues in and around Pilani.
Parishodh’s mission is to apply technological solutions to the prevailing social and environmental issues. One of their ongoing projects is installing low-cost water filters in Pilani. The NSS School, as the name suggests, is the department that is working towards achieving education for all. They aim at making education more fun, and accessible to underprivileged children around Pilani. Umang focuses on the financial aspect of education by providing scholarships to meritorious students through funds raised from BITSians. The Sponsorship and Collaboration department handles the finances and oversees the generation of required funds for the various projects taken up by NSS.
The Team Events department is the one that works on special occasions like Oasis, BOSM, and manages other events organised by NSS. For this year’s Oasis, NSS plans to put up two stalls—Shop For A Smile – where handmade products from different NGOs are sold during the fest, and Lend Your Voice – where participants are welcome to contribute towards creating audiobooks for visually challenged children.
Besides the stalls, NSS will also host a photo-booth with neon-noir props to keep with the theme of the fest. The stalls, too, are expected to have vivid backgrounds to exhilarate the crowd. In anticipation of a huge crowd, the Lend Your Voice stall will have more stands as compared to last year.
In his parting message, he urged everyone to strive to bring change in the society and encourage those who do it. Visit http://nssbitspilani.org/index.html for more details on NSS, BITS-Pilani.