AICUF  ANNUAL REPORT (WB) :2005-06 With victory at the past year makes one feel like returning from a battlefield. Though there is still much more to achieve yet there is a satisfaction within which always pushes us forward with the motto-''keep it up''. So  with this spirit we are definitely going to work in our future days . The success story of last year has to be glanced back again in order to inculcate within us the same thriving spirit for the forthcoming year. 17th NATIONAL COUNCIL, Aug. '05 : The 17th national council was held at AICUF House Chennai, from 10th-14th Aug, 2005. AICUF representatives from various states took part in it including the West Bengal comprising Mathew Jacob (NT), Prakash  Thomas(NC),Yamini Gojjala(ft) and fr.felix Raj (state advisor).It was 5 days of thorough programme and discussion. On  the 3rd day  reports of each state was presented where doubts were systematically clarified.apart from these there were dalit commission,women commission and tribal commission reports.The West Bengal state representatives were alert and active in all the discussions that took place. AYCM   (Adivasi Yuva Chetna Manch), Aug.'05 : 7th  august was celebrated as an indigenous day based on the theme :   "Adivasi ----  Kal Aaj Aur Kal" Tribal students from different colleges, schools, parishes, hostels took part which was organised by the off shoots of AICUF, the AYCM members of St. Xavier's College. Resource persons from tribal backgrounds gave relevant talks, which helped the students to enrich their minds as well as spirit. The latter part was pretty interesting when cultured programs were preformed by the students and finally concluded  with the traditional tribal stance pulling in almost 200 students on the dance floor. STATE TEAM ORIENTATION, AUGUST 2005 : From 27th -28th august, 2005, Fr. Felix Raj , S.J. ( state advisor) organised a 2 days orientation programme for the state team in order to prepare them for the challenges and to build team spirit which would enable them to work together and thus fulfill the aims and objectives of AICUF. Sessions were taken by Prof. Lobwo on SWAT analysis to understand our strength and weakness in order to face challenges of life. Ms. Cheryl Francis spoke on social analysis and responsibilities of the individual. Prof. S.M. Gomes provided with the functioning of AICUF and activities that needed to be done. Finally Fr. Felix Raj guidelined the history and contribution of AICUF which are the very roots of the entire proceeds, ending off by giving due importance to the motto "we are born in an unjust society and we are determined not to leave it as we have found it"  MID STATE COUNCIL MEETING, SEPTEMBER 2005 : On 11th September , the state team members organised a pre puja meeting where the different units office bearers ( president, vice presidents . and treasurers ) were present. The meeting focused on plans for unit visits as will as the soon to be held puja camp. This council meeting was presided by Mr. kiro (AYCM), VINAY EKKA  (chattisgarh ex - full timer) , Frampton and Ujjwal Dev who enlightened on leadership and motivation. It concluded with on open discussion on the various plans. SCHOLARSHIP CEREMONY, OCTOBER 2005: The AICUF educational scholarship programme was held on 4th Oct. , 2005, Fr. George Pattery , the provincial  of Kolkata province, was the chief guest .and distributed the scholarships. Fr. Felix Raj welcomed the guests, recipients and the gathering by explaining the origin of this scholarship. The AICUF scholarship carries an award of Rs. 2000/- each. Twenty students received the award. Seven received memorial scholarship while others receive AICUF scholarship award. The programme ended with tea. WEST BENGAL STATE PUJA CAMP, OCT. 2005 : "Lets be the voice of the silenced ".  AICUF puja camp was held at St. Paul's High School, Raghabpur, which is a school set up in the rural area run by the Jesuits Mission. It was held from 9th - 15th October. Resource person included Fr. Henry Jerome, S.J. (national advisor), Prof. Sunder James (national animator), Aaron and Dally (N F T ) and Bipul Gonsalves (IMCS FULL TIMER).State resource persons included Prof. S.M. Gomes (state animator). Prof. S. lobo , Ms Cheryl Francis (N.S.S. Director) and Ex AICUFer, Frampton Martin and Ujjwal Dev. The important idea was to interact and introspect which would be converted into action. Camp war composed of 65-70 students from the various unit of West Bengal. These sessions include "urgency to humanize the world" by Fr. Henry Jerome, "Globalisation" by Prof. Sunder james "Lend your voice for the silenced and social analysis" by Ms Cheryl Francis, "identify the silenced around you" by Prof. S. lobo , "Today's leader" by Dally Ignatius, "groaned valitios and analysis of the exposure" by Fr. Pat Walsh and finally Bipul Gonsalves spoke on the BCSM ( Bangladesh Christian Student's movement). The camp concluded with the evaluation of the camp by the state team. There was a one day village exposure where the entire campers were divided into groups which went to different villages and tried to understand the life of the rural poor and problems that they face in everyday scenario. It was a grand success. ST. FRANCIS XAVIER'S FEAST, DEC, 2005: On 3rd  Dec, 2005 AICUFers, celebrated the feast of St. Xavier's with due solemnity, and grandeous. Mass was celebrated by Rev. Lucas Sircar and the priests of the college. Refreshments were served followed by a seminar on W T O and GATTS  Fr. Felix Raj and Fr. Dominic Savio spoke of the forthcoming meeting to be held in Hong Kong and enlightened on the on the pros and cons of WTO.  OLD AGE HOME VISIT, DEC 2005: On 11th December 2005 AICUF students of St. Xavier's College visited the Lawrence D'souza home with 20 students altogether. They decorated the place with streamers and balloons and started the day with an ice-breaking session by introducing its climax in the "passing the balloons" game where each student was made to pick a chit and follow the instructions written on then after which each received a gift. Finally music was loud enough to make the oldies forget their knee and back aches. Each and everyone of them was given gift hamper and a snack packet which made them feel very excited as if receiving pre Christmas presents. CHRISTMAS GATHERING OF DEC, 2005 :On 18th December, 2005, Bengali unit of St. Xavier's college organized the Christmas gathering. Members from various units took part in various items such as dance,skit , songs as well as mimicry. Around 75 students had gathered which brought in the Christmas sprit in each one of them much before Christmas had arrived. STATE CONVENTION, FEB 2006: It was held on the 3rd of February, 2005. Theme of the convention was "There are numerous strings in his lute, let me add my own among them which was attended by around 150 members from all over the state. Convention began with the eucharistic celebration by Fr. Felix Raj, S.J. (state advisor ). He enlightened the participants on the "golden age"of the AICUF, the motto and aims of the movement. Ms. C. Francis in her session accentuated on the need for higher education, especially among the Christian students. With the help of some stimulatory games, she made us aware of the causes and unfortunate results of unequal distribution of wealth in society Prof. S.M. Gomes conducted an input session, which stressed on one's ability to think and to discover oneself. It gave us an insight to our ' private and public self ' and also the sessions for our success and failure. The first day concluded with the prizes to the two most active AICUFer's of the day. STATE COUNCIL, FEB 2006: The state council meet on 4th February, 2006. All the office bearers from different parts of the state took part in it. Fr. Felix Raj , S.J. started the day by explaining the structure of AICUF at the national and state level. Ms. C. Francis in her session emphasized on the qualities a potential leader should possess. The office bearers proposed the state plans and strategies for the year 2006-2007. This was followed by the state team election for the same year. The names of the elected members were Patrick Anthony (state convenor), Manik Das (state co-convenor ), Sussana Benjamin, Amit Tete, Biswajit Das, Sudip Ignesious Murmu (state team members), Antonita Madonna Devotta (national council member) The mid term state council was held on 26th march, 2006, attended by 35 office bearers from different units, at St. Xavier's College, Kolkata. The purpose of the council was to enlighten the office bearers on state policy document- their obligations and responsibilities. Fr. Felix Raj explained and clarified all queries on the SPD. During Prof. S.M. Gomes session, recommendations were given for the next orientation along with plans for the next two months. Thus, having planned so the AICUF of with Bengal was 'ready' and "steady" to go.......... STATE TEAM ORIENTATION, Nov 2006.: The first orientation for the new state team was held on the 11th and 12th November, 2006 at Dhyan Ashram. The state advisor, Fr. Felix Raj S.J., state animator,  Prof. S.M. Gomes and Mr. Cheryl Francis were the resource persons for the orientation who discussed on the individual's worldview, the motivation a leader should have, and the collective responsibility of a team, respectively, the orientation ended successfully with the evaluation which showed  very positive result. AYCM ELECTIONS : On the 1st of February, 2006, a fresh team of office bearers took change of AYCM - The democratic election of the office bearers have once again put the movement into the hands of responsible people. Elected members were Abraham Minj (convenor), Alok Barla (secretary), Eric Kujur (joint secretary) and W.C. Kujur (Treasurer). The new team net to decide on the new plans on the 23rd of February, 2006 when they, proposed for the celebration of the 'Adivasi Divas' in the month of August, puja camp to be held in N. Bengal and the santhal festival 'SOHRAI' to be celebrated in order to commemorate the 50 years of the santhal population. INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY, MAR 2006: It was celebrated on the 8th of march, 2006 at St. Xavier's College. A city based NGO thought shop foundation in association. The theme for the day was that takes ovaries based on a collection of short stories by some female american writers the session was conducted by Mrs. Kekkar and Ms. Revathi in which they invited participants to share their struggle. The Indian idol finalist, Monali Thakur began the interactive session with her shocking report in the obstacles that she faced in the journey. Many others who narrated their takes of bravery in times of courageously followed her agony.

EASTER GATHERING, APRIL 2006: Was held on 8th April, 2006, organised by the XIA unit. Compared by the state convenor, Patrick Anthony, the programme began with the re-launching of the AICUF newsletter 'YUVA PRAGATI' BY Fr. Felix Raj S.J. (state animator), Prof. S.M. Gomes (state animator) and Ms. Cheryl Francis. This was followed by an ice breaking session in which all participants were given a list criterion to fill up by getting to know the other participants. Each unit then put up a 5 minute performance. The main attraction of the evening was the searching of an "Easter egg" hidden by organisers. Finally, Ian D'rozario succeeded in finding it. It was represented by all the St. Xavier's units and St. Teresa's and St. Paul's unit. The programme ended with a dance and the distribution of snakes. UNIT VISIT: The state team visited all the units in the state in the month of September, October and November to motivate them to continue the good work and revitalizing the dormant units in the state. The visit helped us to get to know about their activities and the difficulties faced by them. INTER UNIT ACTIVITIES : A drawing competition was held on 18th September, 2005 which was organized by the Hindi unit of st. Xavier's College. Participants from units of Raghabpur, St. Teresa's, St. Paul's, Loreto college, Bengali, Hindi, Santhali and English unit of St. Xavier's College took part. There was "just world". Ishita Chakraborty bagged the 1st prize plus there were two 2nd and 3rd prizes. The AICUF inter unit debate competition was held on 25th September, 2005 on the topic "the world is bad not because of the activities of the bad people but because of the inactivates of the good people." It was conducted participated by various units including 11th A , English, Hindi,  Bengali, santhali, loreto, St. Paul's and Raghabur. Fr. P. Jacob S.J. and Prof. S.M. Gomes judged the debate and moderated by Fr. Jimmy James .The award for the best speaker was given to Rianne Selwya of Loreto unit. The 2nd position was divided by Prajsha S. Jacob 11th A and Angelina Nayar (loreto). An essay competition was held on 27th November, 2005 by the English unit of St. Xavier's College. Topics suggested for the competition were  1.      Are refugees a liability? 2.      Women empowerment 3.      Terrorism  4.Globalization. The competition ended successfully after short refreshment  Inter unit quiz competition was organized by the Bengali unit on the 19th of mar, 2006. The quiz was on various topics such as general knowledge, sports, history, geography, literature, current affairs, the gospel of St. Xavier's college , loreto unit and St. Teresa's participated in it. Loreto unit logged the 1st prize followed by St. Teresa's and English unit respectively. The success of the competition was highly encouraging for the office bearers whose hard efforts did not go in vain. STATE COUNCIL ORIENTATION, 2006 : The orientation was organized for all its present office bearers at Dhyan Ashram from the 29th of April to 1st of may, 2006. Fr. Felix Raj emphasized that the fruit of prayer experiencing divinity. He spoke of changing ourselves in order to change the society. The council was also led into a weather meditation which helped them to communicated a least on the ' lack of motivation and antisition among the Catholics. Prof. Michael Gomes gave the task of identifying two social realities and then presenting the response and reactions to work them. With the help of a stimulating game the animator gave an insight as to how conflicts in a group should be managed and resolved. The session conducted by Prof. Cheryl Francis helped to discover oneself and brought forward the positive trait's. the AICUF editorial board conducted a session In which the members were introduced to the council and were benefited on the forthcoming Issue of the "YUVA PRAGATI"  The last session of the orientation was conducted by the state convenor, Patrick Anthony who highlighted the importance of managing group, stressing on cooperation, communication and coordination among the office bearers. This was followed by an evaluation. NATIONAL CAMPS : National women's commission camp, Mumbai - A national workshop / training programme on 'trafficking of women in India " was held from the 4th - 8th of june , 2006. It was attended by Antonita Devotta, Pooja D'Costa, Victoria  N. Bara, Saurabh and Patrick Anthony . resource persons consisted of Mr. Praveen Pathar , Dr. Vibhuti Patel, Mrs. Lorine D'Souza, Ms. Abhilasha Rawat, advocate Ashley Varghese, Ms. Veena Moitra, Vijay Rayhanan, Prof. Sundar James (national animator). the participants were also went for an exposure to a home and to the Kanathipura area which is the largest red light area in Asia. The west Bengal action plan included awareness programs, education of the under privileged, plans to minimize these illegal things and trying with rehabilitation centers.  RE 1 PRAYAS : College to Village and Village to College is an age-old effort by St. Xavier's College, Kolkata to reach out to the rural population. In keeping with this noble tradition, the B. Com. Students have begun a project called PRAYAS meaning effort, in January 2006. This effort was a result of a challenge thrown to the first year students of B. Com,. by their Vice Principal Fr. Felix Raj, SJ. The challenge was whether they could reach out to the hundreds of rural children who are less fortunate. The response was overwhelming. The class representatives efficiently coordinated the project. Every student contributed Re. 1/- per day. Fr. Raj insisted, "the contribution must come from within and be a sacrifice, a sacrifice of one cigarette, one Pepsi, one tea or one samosa a day. This would be the greatest contribution towards the project." Inspired by the initiative of the B. Com. students, the B. B. A. students also joined in. the collection was sent every month to two villages; Pandua and Gurap, for the educational needs of 50 children in each village.   The prayas didn't stop there. It was felt that this project could become more meaningful if the college students visited the two villages, interacted with the children, their parents and understood their problems. As a response to this, two groups of students spent 10 days each in Pandua and Gurap teaching the children English, Maths, Science etc. besides they also taught them songs, games and drama. The students to Kolkata darshans for the children, which was a worthwhile trip as it was for the first time that these children visited the city. It took only Re. 1/-, a generous heart and some time to bring smiles on the faces of the less fortunate. This is only the beginning. The genuine effort of the young college students will surely bear much fruit. It is a Prayas of the Xaverians to keep alive the motto of Nihil Ultra - Nothing Beyond. The project is coordinated by the Social Work Department (NSS) of the college and the AICUF. HUMAN RIGHTS : In the comp organized by the national team on human rights in chennai had seven participants. The camp was largely in a village called Gandhipet. It helped us to know mare about the human rights violation in our country especially the marginalised rights. TOWARDS AYCM CONVENTION : The National Adivasi Yuva Chetna Manch organized a summer programme at Don Bosco Youth Centre, Bariyatu, Ranchi, Jharkhand from the 10th of June till the 13th of June 2006. The theme for the programme was "Towards AYCM Convention". Representatives from 9 AICUF states attended the camp. Eric Kujur, Youzin Ekka and Anup Xaxa represented the West Bengal. The programme started on the 10th morning with the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Sri. Meghanath, a professor of St. Xavier's College, Ranchi, commenced upon the first day with a talk on "History of Adivasis and their rough pre-independence struggle". Each day had been pre-scheduled with the morning gathering before we started for a session with a resource person. The afternoon was for discussion and the evening for evaluation.  Mr. Bahurai Ekka caught our attention on the "Sanskriti of Adivasis". Mr. Jerome Kujur, Mr. Sunil Minz and Mr. Vinay, visited the camp and enlightened us with the struggles of AYCM during their time with examples of their AICUF life. Campers were also showed movie on the various issues threatening the Tea Gardeners in West Bengal and Assam and communalism in Gujrat. The last day was concentrated on the theme of having AYCM convention. Various issues were raised by the campers and insisted on having that AYCM convention for eradication of these issues the camp ended very successfully leaving a strong message in the minds of the campers­-"We must have AYCM Convention" NATIONAL DALIT CONVENTION : The national dalit convention in secunderabad was attended by 10 Aicufers from our state . It was an enriching experience for all of them as they understood the dalit reality in our country. YUVA PRGATI: The quarterly magazine of West Bengal YUVA PRAGATI was published in a form of a news letter with the theme of the state convention. The second quarterly issue was published with the theme "We are determined not to leave society unjust and divided ". We are currently working on the third issue based on the theme "uplifting the marginalised-looking through their perceptive ".

Relief and Rehabilitaton Work in Malda AICUFers collected and distributed relief materials in cash and kind to the Malda flood victims in 1998. AICUF built 50 houses in different villages of Malda. During a summer work camp in 2000, AICUFers built one relief center and a school for two different villages in Malda. They distributed study materials to the poor students.

Relief and Rehabilitation Work in Malda by AICUF

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