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Going Back to Basics in 2020:
Selfless Services like the Amtes; Reviving our Financial Literacy Efforts |
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| Dear Moneylifers, |
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| Wish you all a very Happy New Year. The new year marks a time for us to reflect on our achievements, failures and missed opportunities of the past year. As we complete a decade of Moneylife Foundation in February, it is also a time for us to reflect on all the things that we have done in the past 10 years and also evaluate our objectives and challenges in the coming decade. |
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 We are marking our anniversary with a special talk and interaction with renowned social activists Dr Prakash and Dr Mandakini Amte as our chief guests. I am sure, most you are already aware of the amazing work that they have done at Hemalkasa in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra. Their courage, dedication and sacrifice in carrying forwarding the extraordinary legacy of Baba Amte in building the Lok Biradari Prakalp from scratch is already the subject of a well-known biopic. We hope you are just as excited as us, to hear them speak on 29th February. Do take a look at this short video to learn a bit about the selfless work that Dr Amte does and be sure to block your date - this is a programme you do not want to miss! |
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| After a bit of a hiatus we are re-starting our financial literacy seminars. For a while we thought that there are already so many videos of our seminars on Moneylife TV - our YouTube channel, that nothing more or new needs to be said. However, the PMC Bank debacle and crippling losses inflicted by savings in regulated companies make us realize that we need to change focus a little and re-start the effort. It is a shame to see the number of people losing money on a wide range of bad or faulty investments has increased over the years. Unfortunately, people are still making the same mistakes and are being scammed of their hard earned savings. We are less likely to make such mistakes if we are more aware and financially literate. |
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 My first session this year, will be on 17th January - Money Traps That Decimate Savings & The Revised Financial Sector Development & Resolution (FSDR) Bill. Start your new year on the right path, register now and come learn about various money schemes that you should avoid to keep your money safe. In the coming months, be on the lookout for more such seminars as we plan on making them a regular feature. |
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 The resounding success of our previous Brain Health workshop by motivational speaker K L Narayanan and his talented family, and the fact that we were over-booked last time and had to close registrations, has led us to organize another session of this immensely enjoyable and important talk on 18th January. |
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| This time we are having the event at a larger venue - at the ICICI Prudential Life Insurance's Venue to better showcase the various nuances of Team Narayan's talk, which includes dance, music and other unconventional methods. Don't miss this opportunity to register; attend to learn unique preventative techniques to keep your brain healthy. |
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| We also plan on continuing our discussions on Mumbai's urban infrastructure related issues, so do keep an eye out for these sessions as well. |
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| Programmes in December |
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| This month, we had a critical discussion on the need for Improving Justice Delivery Through Legal Transcriptions, with Adv Jamshed Mistry and businessman Amrish Kilachand. Adv. Mistry showcased how such transcriptions are the norm in most developed countries and need to be enforced in India as well. Mr Kilachand, a veteran of several litigations across multiple forums had a excellent exposition on the litigant's plight and why transcription of proceedings is critical for us. He was one of the petitioners on a Supreme Court case that asked for live streaming of court cases for the purposes of transparency. Although the court did rule in favour of live streaming of certain cases, legal transcriptions or a word for word recollection of the proceedings in the court are still missing. If you could not attend this enlightening session, you can read more about it here and you can also watch a video recording on our YouTube Channel. |
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| On the RTI front this month, we organised a discussion on RTI Issues and Ideas to Ensure Sec. 4 Disclosures with retired CIC Shaliesh Gandhi. He spoke on the importance of sections 4 and 18 of the RTI Act, explaining in details the various ways in which someone can get information under the act. The talk was followed by an interactive session discussing the role Supreme Court has played in diluting the RTI act and the possible ways we can resolve such issues. As always, if you could not attend the session you can check the video on our YouTube Channel. |
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| Interaction with Stanford Graduate School of Business: On 16th December we hosted 35 students plus faculty from the Stanford business school for a lively and interactive session on Financial Inclusion with Sucheta Dalal. The group represented multiple nationalities and had some sharp questions on the subject. |
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| If you are in Mumbai, please take advantage of the opportunity to come and learn from our experts, whether it be from Daily Counseling Sessions or from our occasional events. We regularly conduct counseling on various topics - Housing and Property, Right to Information, Consumer Issues, Insurance, Banking and more. |
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| If you are not located in Mumbai, you can still take advantage of our sessions by watching them live on Facebook and of course on our YouTube Channel where a video recording is published a few days after the event. |
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| Moneylife TV |
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| The Moneylife TV has reached over 32.30 lakh views with almost 31,300 active subscribers. You can watch our videos from almost any part of the globe and enrich yourself. If you do not want to miss out on any of our videos then do subscribe to the Moneylife channel on YouTube here. |
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| In an attempt to help citizens across the country get access to our sessions, we also live-stream them on our Facebook page live as they happen. Do like our Facebook Page so that you get constant updates of events. During events, you can also pose your questions and get it resolved from our experts. |
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| In case you are not a member of Moneylife Foundation, then do subscribe. Membership is completely free and join our family of over 1,16,567+ others so that you receive updates to our events, their coverage as well as access to our extremely valuable Credit Helpline and Legal Resource Centre absolutely free. To join now, click here |
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| Helplines |
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| Legal Resource Centre: We have handled 2,123 queries since inception, thanks to the generous help and guidance by senior activists. |
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| Every Monday, Mumbai-based "Free Press Journal" is publishing a column "Your Housing Problems & Solutions" based on queries answered by our Experts at the LRC. So far, we have provided answers to more than 295 queries from readers of the newspaper. |
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| Our FREE Credit Helpline has answered over 3,871 cases. Spread the word, so that those with a low score can get help from us. |
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| Remember, you can benefit from our work from all over the globe through our videos and helplines (Credit Helpline and Legal Helpline). They are all offered free of charge, but please do reciprocate by introducing our work to at least 10 people and getting them to become members. Also, if you have benefited from our work and would like to show your support, you can donate. |
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| Thank you for your support and look forward to your good wishes always. |
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| Best regards, |
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| Sucheta Dalal |
| Founder-Trustee, Moneylife Foundation |
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| Trustees: TS Krishnamurthy, Dr KC Chakrabarty, Walter Vieira, Sucheta Dalal, Debashis Basu and Dr Anupam Saraph. | | | | Moneylife Foundation is registered with the Charity Commissioner of Mumbai, is an Affiliate member of OECD's International Network on Financial Education, is a Supporter Member of Consumers International, Development Partner of Advocates for International Development (A4ID), and is a winner of the 10th MR Pai Memorial Award. | | |  | | | | Donations are eligible for tax benefits under Sec 80G of the Income Tax 1961 (50% tax exemption) and MLF is registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. 80(G) Reg No: DIT(E)/MC/80G/685/2010-11 dated 7.2.11 effective 8.+9.2010 | FCRA Registration No: 083781387   | | | |
