Minutes of the Sept 15th Meeting

5th Pillar , a movement with prime goal of eliminating corruption from all levels of society conducted a campaign “Freedom from Corruption” from August 4th 2007 to September 14th 2007. Our 5th pillar covered all the 30 districts of Tamil Nadu and pondicherry in these forty days. Every day the team conducted RTI trainings and guest lectures on the topic "Freedom from corruption" three to four colleges/schools on an average.

In between the sessions, ‘zero rupee’ notes were distributed and the students pledged "Neither to accept nor give bribes”. They also took oath to “encourage, enable and empower every citizen of India to eliminate corruption at levels of society”.

The 5th Pillar headed by Mr. Vijay Anand, the president around 105 schools/colleges and met with more than 1.5 lakhs students. The students pledged against corruption, by signing on the 30x15 feet zero rupee banner. Totally about 2 lakhs zero rupee notes were distributed among the students and got around 2 lakh signatures two Zero rupee banners of 30x15 feet each.

The valedictory function of The August Campaign was held on 15th September 2007 at Vani Mahal auditorium, T.Nagar, Chennai-17 from 5 PM to 9 PM. The chief guest was Mr. N. Vittal, the former chief vigilance commissioner, Govt of India. The other delegates present were, Mr. Louis Menezes I.A.S., Convenor, Transperancy International (India), Mrs. Rokkaiah (a) Salma, Chairperson, Tamil Nadu Social Welfare Board. Apart from this, Mr. Uma Shanker I.A.S, the Chairperson, ELCOT, Govt of Tamil Nadu, had blessed the event by giving an inspiring speech and signed in the zero rupee banner in the dias.

The signed zero rupee banner and newspaper cuttings which was published in all the newspapers in all districts during the campaign were displayed for public exhibition at the meeting hall premises.
In the topic “Freedom from Corruption”, Mr. M.B Nirmal, the founder of 5th Pillar Exnora International addressed the gathering. “Students are ready to live without giving or accepting bribes, but Are we ready to live so ?” – Mr. Vijay Anand, the president of 5th Pillar Washington Tamil Sangam addressed the gathering.

Mr. Jayaram was glorified for his honest Govt services, who is working in the Directorate of School Education, Govt of Tamil Nadu. Similarly, best performer awards were presented to two of our 5th Pillar Coordinators namely, Mrs. M.Visali and Mr. P.Babu, coordinators of Thiruvannamalai and Kanyakumari district respectively.

The 5th Pillar , State President of Andhra Pradesh, Captain. Dr.Sathya Prasad and Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) 5th Pillar wing representatives, Mr. Ragul and Mr. Rajith participated in the event.

The Chennai District Coordinator, Mr.Nagarajan delivered the welcome address, Mrs. Surya Priya was the master of cermony and Mrs. M. Bhageerathi delivered the vote of thanks.

Effective Public Speaking Workshop for 5th Pillar Volunteers.

Effective Public Speaking Workshop
Date: 23rd September, Sunday 2007.
Time: 4.00 PM to 6.00 PM
Venue: 5th Pillar - Office
Trainer: Mr. Ranganathan, (Professional Personality DevelopmentTrainer).
Attendees:

1. Mr. Naveen (5th Pillar , Volunteer & Fashion Technology Student)
2. Mr. Kesav (5th Pillar , Volunteer & student of Nazerath college)
3. Mr. Joseph (Operations Manager - Ripple Soft Systems)
4. Mr. Veeramani (5th pillar - Public Relations Coordinator)
5. Mr. Ganesh (Regional Manager - Colgate Palmolive)
6. Mr. Bhagyaraj (Student, New College)

The session started with self introduction. Then the trainer asked the question "What are all the benefits of public speaking for the speaker?"Everyone said few points and at last the Trainer said, the benefits of public speaking for the speaker can be listed as follows:

1. Increase in Confidence level
2. Recognition as a Leader
3. Clarity of thinking
4. Obtains more knowledge
5. Broad-minded thinking
6. Obtains Fame and
7. Reputation.

Also discussed about, how people think that they are not good atspeaking and they think low of themselves.Only mind set moulds a speaker into a good speaker.Then every one spoke upon a topic to test their capabilities ofspeaking.

Mr. Naveen - spoke on the topic 5th Pillar .Mr. Veeramani also spoke on the topic 5th Pillar RTIMr. Kesav spoke on the topic 5th Pillar .Mr. Joseph spoke on the topic - Own experience with RTI.

As a conclusion, the Trainer said the next session will be upon threeC's. They are: Confidence, Content and Connectivity.A good speaker should have 50% of Confidence, 30% of Connectivity and20% of Content.

The session disolved at 6.00 PM and the date of the next session will beannounced later.

Minutes of meeting held on Sept 16 , 2007

5th Pillar - District Coordinators meeting held on 16th daySeptember 2007 at 2.00 PM in the 5th Pillar office.
The attendees of the meeting are:

1. Mr. Vijay Anand (President)
2. R. Venkatesan (Vilupuram)
3. P. Rajamanickam (Salem)
4. K. Jebaraj (Tirunelveli)
5. M. Visali (Cheyyar)
6. E. Kamalathan (Tharamani)
7. S. Nagarajan (Chennai)
8. S. Saminathan (Thoraipakkam)
9. S.P Narayanaswamy (Administrative Officer)
10. R.K Ravichandran (Iyyappanthangal)
11. S. Uma Suryapriya (Saidapet)
12. P. Babu (Nagercoil)
13. S.V Anandhan (Vellore)
14. T.R Sathish Kumar (Thoraipakkam)
15. S. Pandiyan (Thoraipakkam)
16. K. Pichandi (Triplicane)
17. P. Rajamanickam (Salem)
18. R. Venkatesan (Vilupuram)
19. T.S Balasubramaniam (Madipakkam)
20. Dr.S. Marceline (Lecturer, Anna Adarsh College)

The minutes of the meeting are as follows:

1. All the district should form the district committee as earlier as possible in the below hierarchical order:

• The district committee heads will be District President, District Secretary and District Treasurer.
• RVC - RTI & Vigilance Coordinator.This role is very important and the responsibility of this role isto give training/awareness to all the other district members, public and followup with the RTI related proceedings &vigilance actions. The person who is taking over this role should bededicated and well-trained in RTI and other social causes of the society.
• SDC - Sponsors & Donors Coordinator.This role is important to generate funds for the organisationand so the person who is handling this role should be trustful and honest person. The person should able to get sponsorships and donations for our programs, campaigns, meetings etc from well-wishers and like-minded individuals.
• MSC - Membership Services Coordinator.This role is important to increase the memberships. The person whois taking over this role will be responsible for the membership additionand thereby generating funds for the organisation through memberships.
• SBC/SGC - Students Boys Coordinator / Students Girls Coordinator.This role is important to accelerate the organisations strength in the student community. The person who is taking over this role should be from Student Community and he/she will arrange for meetings/chats withinthe students and give awareness/trainings about RTI and our organisation and accelerate the relationships and memberships.
• PRC - Public Relations Coordinator This role is very important to build the relationships with publicand also responsible for advertising about ourorganisation in public by different ways including media.

1. Every District Coordinators should have attended the RTI training andshould be knowledgable to answer any types of questions regarding RTI &other social issues.
2. Regarding issue of Identity Cards to all members will be considered.However President suggested that ID cards can be given after six monthsto one year after knowing whether the individual really interested inour organisation and its vision & principles or else making ourselvesclear that the member may stand with us being strong in the ideology ofeliminating corruption from the society.
3. Appointment Order letters for the District Committee who all arerecently elected will be issued soon.
4. It is decided to conduct regular meetings in all levels of the organisation without fail on monthly basis.The decided schedule for the monthly meeting in all levels of the organisations are as follows:

• Village/town panchayats level - 1st day of every month.
• Constituent Assembly level - 5th day of every month.
• District Level - 10th day of every month.
• Zonal Level - 20th day of every month.The state level meeting date will be announced in prior.

The meeting dissolved at 6.00 PM after resolving the above decisions.

NEWS ITEM ON 5TH PILLAR MOP VAISHNAV CAMPAIGN, September 7th 2007

NEWS ITEM ON 5TH PILLAR MOP VAISHNAV CAMPAIGN

5th Pillar , a non-profit social service organization with a vision to fight corruption in India using the Rights to Information Act 2005 as a tool, is on an awareness campaign since April 2007. In its first phase of the campaign, it covered almost all districts in Tamil Nadu, with specific focus on college students. Presentations followed by speech and interactive sessions were organized to make people aware of and how to use RTI as a tool to end corruption.

On 6th Sep 2007, 5th Pillar organized an awareness campaign at the M.O.P Vaishnav College for Women, Chennai that was well attended. Mr Vijay Anand, President of 5th Pillar about the rampant corruption prevalent in the country and RTI as a very powerful tool to liberate people from the evils of corruption. The enlightened audience jubilantly supported the cause and took a pledge to neither accept nor give bribe. He mentioned that in the last 3 months about 90,000 students all over Tamil Nadu have participated in such sessions and by end Sep, the total would reach 1,50,000. The phase 2 of the campaign which would commence by end of this year would be more intensive and cover the entire South India. The 5th Pillar, Andhra Chapter is already inaugurated and other Southern states would have their chapters very soon. It is expected that by March 2008, all states in India would have been covered with their respective chapters.

The campaign concluded with a vote of thanks. Apart from Mr Thiruvengadam, the Manager Administration of the college, M/s R Ravi, Veeramani and Navin, members of 5th Pillar were also present.

7-Sep-2007
Chennai

A One day Workshop- How to Utilize the Hidden Reservoir of One’s Brain

A One Day WorkShop on 7th Sense
By
M.B.Nirmal
Date: 6th October 2007, Saturday
Venue: Hotel Sangeetha, Koyambedu, Chennai.
Entry Fees: 5th Pillar members Rs.1000/-
Non members Rs.1500/-
Contact: Mr.Hemanth Mobile: 9884011333

For more Details visit : http://www.5thpillar.org/7thsense.html

The NRI Members can contribute for their Indian counterparts. To be a 5th Pillar Member you have to fill in the online application form and pay the membership. Please log on to http://www.5thpillar.org/member.html and be a member

Invite to FREEDOM FROM CORRUPTION - The August Campaign comes o an end at Chennai on September 15th 2007

5th PILLAR
cordially invites you for
"FREEDOM FROM CORRUPTION"

Date: 15th September, 2007, Saturday, Time: 5.00 P.M.
Venue: Vani Mahal, G.N. Chetty Road, T. Nagar, Chennai -600 017.

Welcome Address: Mr. S. NAGARAJAN,Convener, 5th Pillar, Chennai District.

Chief Guest
Mr. N. VITTAL
Former Chief Vigilance Commissioner, Govt. of India.

30 ft X 15 ft banner of Zero Rupee note with signatures of 1.5 lakh students who have pledged "I WILL NOT TAKE OR GIVE BRIBE" will be handed over to

Mr. Rathinaswamy, IAS, State Information Commissioner, SIC

Special Guests
Mrs. D.R. RAMATHAL - Chair Person. T.N. State Women's Commission.
Mrs. ROKKAIAH (a) SALMA - Chair Person, TN Social Welfare Board.
Mr. LOUIS MENEZES, I.A.S. - Convener, Transparency International, India, Chennai.

Ms.S.Jothi, Member TN Censor Board and former councillor, Karur Dt

"The 2nd FREEDOM Fight"

Mr. M.B.NIRMAL, Founder, 5th Pillar International & Exnora International
Campaign Experience by: Mr. M. VIJAY ANAND,
President, 5th Pillar & President, Washington Tamil Sangam.

30 days - 30 Districts – 100 Colleges/Schools – 1.5 Lakh StudentsCampaign

BEST PERFORMER AWARD
TO
1. Mrs. M. Visali, Convener, 5th Pillar, Tiruvannamalai District,
2. Mr. N. Babu, Convener, 5th Pillar, Kanyakumari District,

HONEST GOVT SERVICE AWARD
toMr. Jayaraman, formerly Personal Asst. to Dir. of School Edn., Ch.6.

Vote of Thanks: Mrs. B. Bhageerathi, Asst.Secy., 5th Pillar.

September 6th Thursday - Schedule for 5th Pillar team

• 9:30am Thanthai Hans Roever College, Perambalur
• 2:00pm John Dewey School, Panrutti - Cuddalore dist
• 3:00pm Bala Vihar Matric School,Punrutti - Cuddalore Dist
• 4:00pm Radhika Matriculation School , Punrutti - Cuddalore Dist
• 8:00pm Info Desk and Zero Rupee Note distribution at the wedding of Television Artiste, Kamalesh, at Sea Front towns (Sindhuri sea club)
  

We welcome Magnanimous contributions from all members and non members to help 5th Pillar to realize our common Dream "CORRUPTION FREE INDIA".

Please log on to http://www.5thpillar.org/donate.html#a .

Your support will enable us to continue to strengthen our programs, and to develop new and innovative projects to eradicate corruption in India.

Shobila
Program Associate