Date:02/08/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/08/02/stories/2005080201580300.htm

Karnataka - Bidar

Meritorious students felicitated in Bidar

Staff Correspondent

BIDAR: Successful people should offer help to poor meritorious students, the director of Infosys and trustee of Pratiksha Trust, S. Gopalkrishnan, said here on Monday.

Speaking after felicitating meritorious students in the district, Mr. Gopalakrishnan said all those who succeed in the face of adversity should not forget the problems they faced in their early years. "We should try and ensure that the younger generation does not suffer from the same challenges," he said.

M.S.S. Prabhu representing Sarojini Damodaran Charitable Trust called upon students to convert challenges into opportunities. "The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them," he said.

As many as 80 students from different parts of the district were given a cash prize of Rs. 2,500 each. The samiti had identified 600 students for prizes, Basavaraj Patil Sedam, president of the Kottala Basaveshwara Bharatiya Shikshana Samiti, which organised the felicitation, said.

Infosys foundation, Pratiksha Trust and Sarojini Damodaran Trust are providing Rs. 3.25 crores for the welfare activities of the samiti, he added.

These activities include training teachers in mathematics, science and English; training poor women in tailoring and distributing

sewing machines to them; and training farmers in improved farm practices.

Akash, Suhasini, and Samad, who spoke on behalf of those felicitated, said they were finding it difficult to continue studies owing to poverty. But such recognition by the samiti and the trusts had encouraged them to do well, they added.