Every journey we undertake in life chooses us as much as we choose the journey. I am thus both humbled and pleased to be part of the exciting and extremely enriching journey of Kumaun Sewa Samiti. Since becoming chair of the board, I have witnessed the rapid development and evolution of an organization that reaches out to children and women living in challenging terrains and with burdens that are unimaginable to most of us. Poverty and deprivation are just one aspect of the challenges these communities face, the utter neglect and marginalization by a system that is stacked against them is the tougher challenge. I can, with some measure of pride claim that KSS has been able to respond to these challenges effectively and timely.

The KSS vision is to empower people to discover their innate strength and self sustainable ways of living that are respectful of the environment. We believe this is the only way that leads to long lasting, inclusive change. Our work like many other similarly committed organizations is vital to reach those who have been left behind or completely left out in the rush of development.

I look forward to the coming years with great hope and optimism.

My organization is committed to creating bigger and more effective collaborations with organizations of all manners- corporate, employers groups, governments, non-government and international development agencies, professionals, policy makers, researchers, academic institutions, civil society and the United Nations to foster partnerships that build and execute programmes with far reaching positive impacts.

I, on behalf of KSS, invite you to join us on this truly special journey.