VOLUNTARY ORGANISATION     Contents  

1.  Rotary Club, Angul
2.  Lions Club, Angul
3.  Talcher Rifle Club
4.  Talcher Kishore Club
5.  Utkal Nabajeevan Mandal
6.  Jan Shikshan Sansthan
7.  Foundation for Ecological Security
8.  Other Voluntary Organisations

          Many Voluntary Organisations are working in this district for socio economic development of rural people and for promotion and dissemination of art, culture & sports. Some of the cultural organizations like Kalakar, Angul Sahitya Sansad, Natyam, Baishnabi Kalaniketan, Sangeet Sangeet, Sanskruti   strive to promote performing arts, foster & coordinate literary activities .The Rotary International, the Lions have their branches in this district. The details on these organizations are narrated in the chapter entitled Culture. The ASS, Angul, YARR, Boinda, Biswa Yuba Kendra   etc. are working in the fields of socio economic development of rural people, afforestation, child care, health related activities etc.

Activities of   some of the important Voluntary Organisations are  presented below.

01.          Rotary Club, Angul

          Rotary Club or Rotary International which started in 1905,  has membership of 12.5 lakhs,   spreading over 164 countries.   Rotary club is an organization of business and professional persons united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world. 

          Rotary club of Angul was started in the year 1974 and is serving the society and the people of Angul since then. Rotary Club, Angul is running a Public English Medium School at Angul since 1974.

          A notable action of Rotary club is also the   fight against polio. A programme started in the year 1985 by the Rotary International for a period of 20 years, has successfully brought down the number of polio affected children from 28,257 in the year 1987 to 1200 in the year 2002. The Rotary targets to eradicate polio from face of earth by 2005. Rotary Club , Angul  is always an active participant at the times of distress and natural calamities.

02.    Lions Club, Angul

          Lions Club, Angul was established in the year 1984. The club conducts regular service activities in the Angul town, periphery villages and schools.  Health check up, diabetics detection, blood grouping & blood donation camps, social awareness programmes and programmes   for the handicapped children are undertaken at regular interval.

          As part of Lions International’s global SIGHT FIRST campaign to eradicate reversible blindness and take up blindness prevention programme, this club has started an ophthalmic center “ALOK” in   Angul town  on a piece of land generously allotted by the government. An eye OPD is functioning regularly in this ophthalmic center.

          The club plans to provide free/ subsidized IOL cataract operation through an outreach programme, where patients from remote villages shall be provided free transport to the base hospital for operation. For this the club is seeking support of  District Blindness Control Society and      grants from Lions International. The club runs an ambulance service for the benefit of the local community . 

03.          Talcher Rifle Club

          After the Chinese invasion in 1962 the Govt. of India started taking interest in civilian rifle training. In every state a State Rifle Association was formed and in every district a District Rifle Association was formed  with the Collector at its president.   Rifle Clubs were also constituted at sub division level. The highest body was the National Rifle Association of India with headquarters at New Delhi. Presently all other Rifle Associations in Orissa except ‘ Talcher Rifle Club’ are defunct.

          The ‘ Talcher Rifle Club, Talcher’ was formed in the year 1965 with a motto to impart rifle shooting training to civilians. Now the club has 13 life members & 89 annual members. Talcher Rifle Club is holding shooting competitions twice every year, for three days following  Dussehra and  for one day   in the month of January. In the year 1979 man-eating wolves were on rampage in Chhendipada Block. On the request of Collector club members had rushed to Chhendipada and were successful in killing some man-eating wolves.

          In 1986 club members had sent a team of members to give relief materials grief stricken people of Bhuban devastated by fire. Talcher Rifle Club sends team of shooters every to represent our State of Orissa  in National Shooting Championships, organized by National Rifle Association of India. The club meets these expenses from its own resources.

04.          Talcher Kishore Club

          Talcher Kishore Club was established in the year 1967 to   patronize  the sports and cultural activities of Talcher.   The club was registered in the year 1976  . The Raja of Talcher is its permanent President and Raja of Balarampur is its permanent Vice-President          . It has trained eminent sports persons who have represented the state in football. The club   organises volleyball matches at regular intervals to encourage the local teams  .  The bridge team of the club  has  come out successful  in various state & national level tournaments.   An annual sports and cultural festival is organized by the club every year during  Dushera festival. Various teams  from Talcher and outside Talcher take part in the competitions. The club also organizes eye check up camps & free medical camps in villages around Talcher.

05.    Utkal Nabajeevan Mandal

          Utkal Nabajeevan Mandal was established in 1948 by the veteran freedom fighters and Sarvodaya leaders like Gopabandhu Choudhury, Nabakrushna Choudhury,Krupasindhu Hota,Rama Devi and  Malati Choudhury. It works with a view to the upliftment of the poor and undeveloped sections of the society particularly belonging to the tribal areas of Orissa. Late Sarangadhar Das was the first President and Sri Gopabandhu Choudhury  was the first Secretary while Smt. Malati Devi was its first Treasurer. One women welfare training centre   is  functioning at Angul  under the supervision of this organization to train women in midwifery alongwith some handicraft. Students who have passed from this institute are adjusted as Sevikas for social works in tribal areas. This organization has also taken up child development programmes, rural development programme and management of NCLP schools.

06.     Jan Shikshan Sansthan(JSS)

          Jan Shikshan Sansthan, Angul was established in 2001. It has conducted various vocational & income generation training in trades like applique, computer office net, computer D.T.P, dress making embroidery , mushroom cultivation, handicraft Toy making.

07.          Foundation for Ecological Security

The Foundation for Ecological Security was established in February,2001. The mission and objectives of this society are to work towards the ecological restoration and conservation of land and water resources, in the uplands and in other eco-fragile, degraded and marginalized zones of the country.

          In order to do so, FES collaborates and works with   a range of democratic village institutions, their federal bodies, Civil Society Organizations, as well as governing bodies at the local, state as well as the national levels.

          The project in Angul works on the problems relating to degradation of lands. Till March 2003 the foundation has worked with 158 village institutions that includes Tree Growers’ Cooperatives on revenue wastelands and other existing village institutions on Gramya Jungles, Grazing lands and forestlands.

Details on other Voluntary Organisations can be found in official website (http://angul.nic.in). However a brief sketch of some of these organizations is given below:

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