ABOUT VOH

OUR WORK

Voice of Himachal (VOH) as a concept is growing and every other day we have new members joining us in the movement. As we have our individual interests, apart from the broader aim of catalysing the development process in the state, we have divided the work into various teams, according to the interests. So far we have started work on two projects i.e. himvani.com and rural tourism.

Some of us have been working on himvani.com for some time now and has been receiving rave reviews and encouragements from all walks of life — from ordinary citizens to students, entrepreneurs to government officials.

The rural tourism project is still in concept stage but it seems that we have a dedicated set of people who are interested in it and willing to take it forward.

We are also looking at setting up of another team which will work on designing and setting up low cost modular schools in Himachal. These schools will provide quality education and cheaper costs to the unprivileged in the state.

EXECUTIVE TEAM

Nirvan

Journalist by profession he works as with a leading English daily in Chandigarh. In his spare time Nirvan helps in mobilizing and editing content for HimVani.

Vividh

A rebel by nature and a journalist by profession, Vividh hopes to bring back the natural glory once Himachal enjoyed with abundant snow and lots of green. Besides a volunteer for VOH, he doubles up as the Editor and one of the Administrators of HimVani.com

Maverick

Varun has completed his masters in Rural Management from Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), Gujarat. He is a recipient of AMUL - TATA and IRMA fellowships. A social entrepreneur since college days he was instrumental in establishing one of the first tele-centre in Dharamshala serving the local community. The centre offered free computer courses to elderly people. Varun voluntarily looks into administrative and technology related issues for HimVani.com .

ADVISORS

Prof. Vikas Dogra

Vikas is a communication professional with expertise in communication research and an ongoing interest in public relations planning. He has rich experience in both traditional and new media and is deeply involved with development communication projects. He is currently employed as a senior faculty in Mass Communication with Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla.

Farhad Vania

Farhad Vania is Senior Program Advisor with the GTZ-supported project on Strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions in Himachal Pradesh. For the last 20 years he has been involved with the development sector in India. He holds an MSc in Human Ecology from the University of Edinburgh as well as a Masters in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), India. He has been professionally associated with academic institutions, NGOs and the private sector and his work experience includes projects related to governance (policy, panchayats & municipal bodies); forestry (people-forests-state interface, forest based livelihood options, policy); wildlife conservation (protected area management, community initiatives, legal & policy issues); land & water (agriculture, irrigation, watershed management, rural water supply); poverty (rural-urban livelihoods, underlying causes and social risk); resettlement & rehabilitation (surveys, planning, monitoring); sustainable development (policy & practice) These projects were commissioned by: central/state government departments in India, national/international NGOs, donor agencies and private sector organisations. He is married and based in Shimla since 2005.

SUPPORT US / CONTRIBUTE

Now to keep all these activities running we are seeking funds from members and well wishers of VOH. These funds will be utilized in furthering the objective of VOH such as payments to the writers who send their contributions. Organising workshops and contests. Supporting NGOs and Philanthropic initiatives. As we are moving towards a more formal and transparent system we will be needing funds to cover administrative costs as well.

We are also in the process of registering VOH as a non-profit organisation, the process for which is underway and this too will incur some costs. Once, we have the organisation registered, you can contribute directly to the organisations account.

As of now, those interested in giving financial support for the above said initiatives, can do so by depositing their contributions at local branches of HDFC or ICICI in the following accounts. Please send us an email to info [at] himvani [dot] com as soon as you make the contribution so that we can account for it.

ICICI Bank

Account name: Varun Singh

Account number: 630001516515

HDFC Bank

Account name: Varun Singh

Account number: 6051930000024

Note: Please read the email ids above without spaces. They have been munged to prevent spambots grabbing email ids. So read [at] as @ and [dot] as .

You can as well use the contact form below. We’ll definitely get back to you.

OUR PATRONS (this is only a indicative list)

Dr. Saroj Thakur

• Department of Applied Science and Humanities, National Institute of Technology ( NIT ) Hamirpur
• Doctorate in English literature
• Masters in Hindi literature
• Masters in Sociology
• PGDM in Human Resource Management
• Her other interests include Women Studies, Indian Literature, the Mahabharata studies and Culture of Himachal

Dr Pankaj Khullar

• Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Himachal Pradesh)
• Ex - Managing Director, HP State Forest Corporation Ltd.
• Ex - Managing Director, HP General Industries Corpn. Ltd.
• Ex - Managing Director, HPMC.
• Ex - UNDP Consultant, Papua New Guinea
• Visiting Faculty - NAAA (Shimla), HIPA (Shimla), NFA (Dehra Dun)

Prof Vepa Rao

• Former Head of Journalism Department, Himachal Pradesh University

Dr. Ila Patel

• Faculty and board member, Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA)