New Humanitarian Projects

Amma's 58th Birthday Celebrations
27 September 2011 – Amritapuri

Amma embraced a sea of over hundreds of thousands of people who  journeyed from all over the world to receive her hug on her birthday. Amma took this occasion as an opportunity to do what she does every day of her life, giving us the gift of her love and setting an example for all of humanity as what it truly means to celebrate life. Each year on Amma's birthday, M.A. Math inaugurates new charities and expands existing ones.

Two new projects were launched :

The Free Tuition Program project was launched by Sri. Vilasrao Deshmukh, the Honorable Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences. The pilot program will be launched first in Kerala and later will be extended to other States. Initial market survey conducted at colleges in Kerala found that students are highly interested in learning career opportunities in their respective fields and enhancing their soft skills. On that basis, to begin with, Amrita University has decided to start off free tuition program covering career awareness. Subsequently, other subjects will be added.

The online program is supported by the Ministry of Human Resources Development's (MHRD) National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NME-ICT) initiative.

This free tuition program will be transmitted through Amrita University's award winning E-Learning platform, A-VIEW (Amrita Virtual Interactive E-Learning World).

The  Amrita Santvanam project was launched by His Excellency K.Sankaranarayanan, the Governor of Maharashtra.

This project will be to train 10,000 women to be home nurses where MAM will provide the six-month training through Amrita network of medical institutions. Aside from training, room-and-board as well as a stipend will be provided to each trainee.

One of the distressing health trends that has emerged in the country is an increase in the number of aged people who are sick and disabled, but have nobody within the family to take care of them at home. This alarming social phenomenon has prompted MAM to launch a pioneering initiative to create a cadre of 10,000 home nurses in Kerala of which 1000
persons will undergo professional training immediately.

Extension to Ongoing projects included :

Amrita Nidhi pension program - providing widows and other disadvantaged individuals with monthly pension checks was extended to another 5,000 beneficiaries throughout India. The checks were officially presented to 25 beneficiaries by Sri. N. Peethambara Kurup, MP.

As part of AmritaSREE Suraksha - a joint venture between the Mata Amritanandamayi Math and the Life Insurance Corporation of India – 3,000 scholarships to children of members of AmritaSREE (Self Reliance Economic Empowerment) self-help groups were distributed by Sri. K.C. Venugopal, Honorable Union Minister of State for Power.

AmritaSREE is a program that was started in response to the crisis caused by the Indian Ocean Tsunami that seriously impacted the livelihood of the fishermen and their families. Amma felt that least one member of each family from the fishing community should become proficient in a trade not dependent on the sea. In order to help facilitate this, Amma launched the Mata Amritanandamayi Math's first community-based self-help-group (SHG) program. The program became known as Amrita SREE: Amrita Self-Reliance, Education & Employment Program.

Some of the fields in which Amrita SREE has helped create SHGs include: tailoring, handicrafts, electronic-repair, account systems, beauty-parlor management, feminine-hygiene products production, paper products, ready-made garments, leather products, bakery items, hand-looming, coir-making, garment-making, communal farming, food processing, banana culture and rice-flour production.

The Vidyamritam Scholarship Program, a program to provide scholarships to children of farmers living below the poverty line, was also extended. Sri. Vilasrao Deshmukh distributed the scholarships to 25 students, representing the 5,000 new beneficiaries.

Amma also conducted a mass marriage of dozens of underprivileged couples. As it does every year, the Mata Amritanandamayi Math provided all the requisite items for a traditional wedding, including gold necklace, bangles, wedding dresses for both bride & groom and feast for all family members.