DEHRADUN: Chidanand Saraswati, head of the largest ashram in Rishikesh, Parmarth Niketan, has been appointed as a member of the board of India Development Foundation of Overseas Indians (IDF-OI) along with Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar by the Modi government. The mandate of the government body which is under the ministry of external affairs, is to facilitate contributions by overseas Indians for social and developmental projects in the country for which the seers are expected to play a key role. After attending the 8th annual board meeting of the foundation chaired by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj in Delhi on Saturday, Saraswati, who is involved in a number of initiatives to clean the Ganga and promoting the use of toilets in rural communities, said that his role will be to motivate people to experience the joy of giving back to the country. Spirituality lays stress upon giving, since giving is living, he told TOI.

He added that in the board meeting, he had pointed out that people living abroad who are successful have an innate desire to give back to their motherland, but often dont know how to go about it. Our objective is to reach out to people and connect them with various development programmes that are being undertaken in the country for women empowerment, skill development, education and healthcare as well as the Namami Gange and Swachh Bharat initiatives. He added that all contributions will be deposited in the IDF-OI Fund. Often, people want to do something for their own village. They can accordingly sponsor construction of a school, toilet etc in their own village where the money given will be strictly utilised only for that.

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Head of largest ashram in Rishikesh appointed member of India ... - Times of India