Minutes of the meeting on Saturday, July 8, 2006
(Minutes by Ravi)

Present:

Amit Rao, Dileep, Kumar, Sridhar, Ravi, Kavitha, Jalpa, Ravinder,
Manju, Vikas.

1. Discussions on RTE: Sridhar started the discussions by presenting some 
highlights of the RTE, and informed that Asha Seattle was working on a 
paper for an Asha wide response to this bill. The paper will be 
circulated Asha wide for discussions. If the paper receives necessary 
support, it might become a Asha response to the bill, which is expected 
to be submitted to the Government of India. The discussion continued 
touching various aspects of the bill. The meeting felt that this bill is 
important for the primary education in India, and decided to have more 
discussions and some meetings exclusively on the bill.

2. Vasundhara project: Vikas briefed about the progress of the Vasundhara 
project and budget needs for the 2006-07 academic year. The meeting felt 
that it was a good project and contributed to the teaching of science in 
the schools. However, it was felt that there is a need to raise local 
resources. It was decided to support the project at $7000 and propose a 
matching grant up to $1500. The expectation is that if the Vasundhara 
project raises local funds to the tune of $1500, the chapter would grant 
another $1500. The support for the year would be $7000 plus $1500 in 
matching grant.

3. WAH update: Dileep provided updates on WAH projects. Eleven projects 
have been selected for the WAH this year. A chapter can adopt one or more 
projects for fund raising, and/or participate in publicity. Jalpa 
provided outline of some of the projects, and the meeting reviewed if any 
projects could be adopted. Based on the previous experience with WAH at 
the chapter level, it was decided to participate in the publicity.

4. Marathon update: Sridhar updated the progress of the marathon. There 
are 10 runners, and five of them are volunteers. Need for web support and 
during the Sunday training was discussed. It was also decided to have a 
runners appreciation day soon, and provide help in the fund raising.


Ravi.