During the Easter break (April 6-16, 2001), Professor Ashok Malhotra went to India where he visited six villages affected by the earthquake.  The earthquake that hit Gujrat on January 26, 2001, has left more than 600,000 homeless.  Though the initial support of various national and international agencies has provided temporary shelter to the people, nothing has been done so far to build permanent houses for 600,000 victims of the quake. 
 
Through The Ninash Foundation of Oneonta, Malhotra adopted the village of Kuran in Gujrat. Since this village of 1200 people was completely wiped out during the earthquake, it needs to be rebuilt before the arrival of monsoon.  During February-March, through the generous donations from the Oneonta community, Malhotra was able to raise $5000, which is being used to rebuild ten houses in Kuran.  Furthermore, since the elementary school building was also destroyed by the earthquake, 150 children of Kuran were left without a school.  Through The Ninash Foundation, Malhotra provided financial support to build a six-room building for the Indo-International Elementary School for the children of the village. The new ten houses and the building for the elementary school will be completed by the end of May 2001 and inaugurated by the President of India.

In Jaipur, The Ninash Foundation is providing assistance to Mr. Pushpendra Singh, an artist and cultural guide, who will be setting up the Indo-International Art Restoration School by the end of this year.  This school will help train children and adults in the art of restoring glass paintings in ancient castles and monuments.  Mr. Singh is obtaining a piece of land for the school.  Money will be raised through The Ninash Foundation to support this unique project that combines cultural presentation with artistic training.

6 PM News: Channel 2 WKTV--Utica
   April 30, May 1-4, and 7-11 
         (10 segments)
   30-minute long documentary:   
          May 10, 5:30 PM
 
Transcripts and photos from the broadcasts are also available on the web (under "local news"): www.wktv.com.  Malhotra hopes to raise $40,000 to help build another 80 houses in Kuran.  Hopefully, this publicity will help raise the above amount through generous donations.

NOTE:

Donations to build houses for the earthquake victims can be mailed to:  
The Ninash Foundation
17 Center Street
Oneonta, New York  13820.  
Telephone: 1-888-432-2676.