Minutes of the Asha Bangalore chapter meeting held at Lalbagh
Date: January 13th, 2008
Attendees: Anita, Maneesh,  Padma, Richa, Sanjeev, Siva, Sriram, Srishti, Vijay Krishna

Action Items:
                1) Sharad please subscribe Padma, Srishti -- above to asha-blr and asha-bangalore
                 2) Siva to discuss with Ram about Fellowship (Muthuyallapa's) cheque disbursal sytem.
                 3) Richa will post detailed minutes of Asha india meeting on asha-blr
                 4) Padma, Srishti and Maneesh will visit government school this weekend. Padma
                     will explore ways of volunteering, Srishti-- agreed to deliver salaries from February end.
                 5) Sanjeev-- will post link of asha-fellows conference.
                 6) Siva- to present Asha Ballia project in the feb meeting; Sharad- to discuss one fund raising event for 08
                  7) Project stewards please present budgets for your projects from april 1 08 - mar 31 09 by email before the
                      next meeting.
                   8) Sriram- to follow up on asha bangalore half marathon run in February

Discussion:
Richa gave an update of the Asha India meeting:
      It was held in Vishnupuram near Thanjavur/Kumbakonam. There were updates from various chapters at the meeting
      Administrative structure decisions: Shanmuga has resigned from the trustee board and Vallabh has been asked to rejoin.
                                                          No new chapter recognitions.
      Discussion on the fellowship program-- inconclusive. Broadly was to split administrative activities versus education
                                                                  related work.
      Aims of education: presented by Ram. Please see http://ulavu.blogspot.com/  for a detailed account.
      Grievance cell-- had one issue and it has been dealt with.
      Health Insurance -- decision to create emergency fund. Vijay bhai and Ram will start it.
      Teaching tools and Methodology-- Asha chennai volunteers presented and so did Vijay Bhai
     Accounts session was held -- by our accountant volunteer Govind
     (at this point Richa left the meeting, will forward the rest of the minutes as they come in)

Sanjeev gave an update of Asha Fellowship meeting:
     14 out of the 17 Asha fellows came to the meeting. The program has been running for 8 years. Fellows
     work in various areas like -- education, water, land reforms, domestic violence, NREGA, RTI. There were sessions
     in all of the above. Fellows got to now each other and there was good exchange of ideas.  There were other
    folks who presented as well and Sanjeev will have the details on fellowship website.

Asha Bangalore fellowship:
    -- There are delays in getting the payment across to Muthuyallapa's fellowship.
         Vijay Krishna and Sanjeev suggested that cheque comes to Vijay who will then forward it to Timbaktu. Currently    
         cheque  goes (from US account directly) to Timbaktu and it has no label/indicator  on it, so chances of it being debited to  
         another account are high. Recently one cheque has gotten lost as well. We are about 10000 Rs behind in payments to
          Muthuyallapa. Siva will discuss with Venki and Ram to get this sorted out.
 -- There was a similar request regarding Sirisha's fellowship. This was being administered by Austin chapter. Siva
        recommended that it  be dealt with the treasurer of that chapter and it be best that Bangalore is not involved.
  --  There were also a discussion on updates from the fellowship program. Siva felt that the fellowship was given with
        an added objective of an education component to the work. Sanjeev was of the view that folks in Asha Bangalore
        should take it up and bring it fruition. Vijay Krishna (fellowship steward)  said that he had sent one update on asha-blr and
        if  anyone had any ideas then they should bring it to him and he shall try to take it forward.

Projects:
    -- It was decided that we discuss one supported project every month. Siva will discuss  Ballia project
        in February meeting  
    -- Government School :--
             -- Fencing needs to be done above the compound wall.
             -- Landscaping needs to be taken up. Need volunteers for the same.
             -- Padma to visit school and explore ways of getting involved
             -- Srishti will pay salaries from the month of February end.
     -- Kapavriksh manual needs to be put online.
     -- Need an update from Chaitanya
     -- Budgets for next year will be discussed at the next meeting.
     -- New proposals: Ram has one from Madurai and Ranjeet has one from Timbaktu. Once they are posted
                                  they can be discussed, budget permitting.

Fund Raising:
     -- Calendars:- folks contact Meghana if you need calendars and also pay her for the same. Accounts should be closed
         by February meeting.
    -- Marathon :-- 5 of us are running the mumbai marathon. Asha Bangalore will conduct a half marathon in February
         either at Ananya School or at Kaveri Trail. Sriram to follow up on this.