Walkathon to Campaign for Masterplan Approach to Rural Change (M.A.R.Ch.)

Walkathon Details
Date & Time	9:00 AM, May 31, 2009
Begin & End	Woodlands Restaurant 11833 Artesia Boulevard Artesia, CA 90701
Route	From Woodlands Go on Pioneer Blvd (Left on)Del Amo(Left on) Norwalk(Right on)195th St(Left on)Shoemaker(Right on)South St.,(Left on)Carmenita (Left on)Artesia Blvd >>> To Elaine (7.5M upto here) & Retrace the same route to Woodlands
Registration	Walkathon: $20 Dinner: $20 *Family of upto 4 for both walkathon & dinner $120

Every year, Telugu Society of America (TELSA) organizes a walkathon called "M.A.R.Ch.", to campaign for Masterplan Approach to Rural Change. The purpose of the walkathon is two fold:

To focus attention on the need to develop Indian villages and,
To develop villages according to well laid-out master plans.

This year the emphasis is on living-wage-occupations, schools, water and sanitation in Indian villages. Up till now, rural development in India has been pursued in an ad hoc, disjointed, and band-aid approach, delivering benefits to just a few at the top. More recently, the tendency to resort to a welfare approach rather than a developmental one to addressing rural poverty is proving irresistible to policy makers. The TELSA campaign aims to promote the need for India to develop its villages according to time-bound master plans drawn up for each village to truly reach the status of a developed country. Tracing a direct connection between urban problems of congestion, poor amenities, slum proliferation, crime, ill health, pollution, poverty etc., and rural decay and distress migrations, the campaign advocates ‘in-place’ development making it possible to revive ‘cradle to grave’ living conditions that once characterized these villages. It calls for the revival of villages as production centers, development of rural scale power generation, technological innovation, provision of urban comforts without urban maladies and as places for transition to, and sustenance of, a large middle class.

TELSA Walkathon 2009 This year, the 15 mile walkathon starts at Woodlands Restaurant in Artesia, CA at 9:00 AM on Sunday, May 31, 2009, and passes through "Little India", the largest Indian shopping district in Southern California. The walkathon covers about 15 miles and ends at the restaurant. (The exact route will be announced soon.)There will be a dinner meeting at the restaurant at the end of the walkathon. A video presentation called, ‘Gateway to a Better India: Re-imagining the Indian Village’ lasting forty five minutes will be screened at the meeting. The video presentation, a result of a two year study funded in part by TELSA, documents the present conditions in the village of Marikal in Andhra Pradesh, and presents a master plan for Marikal's future development. The screening will be followed by a discussion and a simple vegetarian dinner.

Participating in the Walkathon

The success of the campaign depends on active participation from the telugu community. You can participate in one of several ways:

If you can, please register for the walkathon and walk all, or part of the distance. Registration is $20. You will get a TELSA T-shirt.
If you can not walk, consider sponsoring someone who will walk. The suggested pledge is $10 per mile, with a minimum of 5 miles. All donations to TELSA are tax-exempt.
Attend the dinner meeting at the end of the walk. Tickets to the dinner meeting are $20 per person. Be sure to RSVP early, because the restaurant has limited seating.
If you own a business, consider reserving a table for 10 people at the dinner meeting.
Join the other walkers at the end of the walkathon as a way of showing your support for the campaign.

For more information, contact us by email: info AT telsainc Dot com.