Thaindian News

Bangalore, Dec 3 (IANS) Spiritual guru and founder of the Art of Living (AoL) Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said Friday that Indians were torn between “slum India and scam India” and urged NGOs to join the effort to root out corruption in the country.

“”We are torn between slum India and scam India. We need to keep our integrity and walk the talk,” he said addressing representatives of over 1,000 NGOs at a meeting organised by AoL and Confederation of NGOs for Rural India (CNRI) at his complex on the outskirts of Bangalore.

“NGOs are the bridging gap between the governments and the people and they have a pivotal role to play in rooting out corruption from society,” he said.

Karnataka Governor H.R. Bhardwaj told the representatives of the need to empower women and save the girl child. “There is also a dire need to bring education to the rural and the remote areas and this is where the NGO’S have to play a major role,” he said.

Bhardwaj inaugurated the conference titled ‘Fostering Human Values Through Service to Humanity’.

The conference was a platform to all the NGOs across the country to come together, network, share knowledge and develop partnerships with peer groups, regional workers, donor agencies, governmental agencies, scientists, researchers and domain specialists, the AoL said.

The three-day conference will be addressed by leaders in education, health care, environment sustainability, agriculture and self-sustaining economic empowerment.

Around 400 youth leaders of the Art of living who have been actively working at the grass root level in the villages across India are also attending the conference, the AoL said.