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Cherie
Blair-headed trust walks the NRP conclave talk
WSN
Bureau
 Chandigarh: Within
days of a whole lot of Non-Resident Punjabis (NRPs) meeting in
Chandigarh and Jalandhar in a bid to find ways as to how they can
engage with the development of Punjab and helping out the motherland
in core areas of education and health comes a prime example of
'doers' scoring a win over 'talkers'.
Cherie Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has
signed a memorandum of understanding with the Punjab government on
behalf of the London-based Loomba Trust for setting up a Rs 10 mn 'Adarsh'
(model) school in Dhilwan village of Punjab's Kapurthala district.
Cherie's special new year gift to the children of Punjab came after
she said she was pained by the lack of sanitation facilities in
schools in the state.
Blair was in Punjab as she heads the UK-based Loomba Trust, the
prime force behind the venture. "I visited Punjab and I witnessed
lack of sanitation facilities in the schools there. Lack of
sanitation facilities is a major reason for young girls dropping out
of schools," she said.
The MOU was signed on behalf of the Loomba Trust by Cherie with
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at a dinner meeting here
Friday evening. KBS Sidhu, the Principal Secretary School Education,
signed on behalf of the Punjab Government.
The school will be set up in Dhilwan village, nearly 200 km from
here. The village is the native place of Raj Loomba who had last
week promised to grant Rs 5 mn (Rs 50 lakh) for the school. Badal
had promised to pool in another Rs 5 mn as matching grant from the
Punjab government.
Adarsh schools are a concept introduced by the Badal government to
provide better educational facilities for children in select
villages in Punjab. Punjab government based on the modern school
would set up more such schools across the state.
Cherie also visited the Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple ), the
holiest of Sikh shrines, in Amritsar. She spent a total of four days
in India, and also went to Delhi.
The Loomba Trust has been spearheading the cause of poor widows and
children in India , South Africa , Sri Lanka , Bangladesh , Nepal ,
Uganda and Kenya . The trust supports over 3,600 children in India.
Loomba, who hails from Dhilwan, said he wanted to do something for
his native place and was happy that CM Badal responded positively to
his offer of giving a grant for Rs 5 mn for the school there by
promising to match it with an equal amount of grant by the state
government.
The school will be renamed as Shri Jagiri Lal Loomba memorial school
after Loomba's father.
Loomba said that he set up the Loomba Trust a decade ago after
getting inspiration from his mother, who was widowed at a young age
but brought up her children single-handedly to become successful in
life.
Getting nostalgic, Blair recounted how her own mother had been
abandoned by her father and struggles she underwent thereafter. She
said, another cause that was important for her was the uplift of the
widows not only in India but across the world.
Raj Loomba said he set up the trust in the memory of his mother who
single-handedly took care of him and his siblings after the death of
their father. Elaborating on the activities of the trust, he said it
has tied up Sir Richard Branson to look after children of people who
have died because of HIV/AIDS.
Significantly, the WSN, which had released a Special Edition
dedicated to the NRP conclave, had argued exactly along the lines
that Cherie and the trust headed by her have taken.
Cherie at Golden Temple
Cherie Blair on Saturday paid obeisance at the Golden Temple, the
holiest of Sikh shrines, in this city during her maiden visit to
Punjab. Accompanied by Raj Loomba, Blair remained at Harmandir Sahib
for nearly 30 minutes. Dressed in trousers and a kurta-shirt with a
dupatta to cover her head, Blair went around the shrine before
paying obeisance. 'I feel honoured to visit this holy and spiritual
place,' she wrote in the visitors' book of the temple.
16 January 2008
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