For Immediate Release

December 10, 2003

For more information, contact: Neesha Mirchandani, 919-696-4531,  info@niya.org

NIYA, SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL NON-PROFIT, LAUNCHES WEB SITE FOR WELL-KNOWN INDIAN AID GROUP, MAHAROGI SEWA SAMITI ( http://mss.niya.org)

Raleigh, NC: A new web site by Niya, a US-based nonprofit, takes visitors on a 'virtual' journey to Maharogi Sewa Samiti (MSS), Warora, one of India's oldest and most innovative social and environmental aid organizations. MSS has transformed the lives of thousands, and inspired millions in the Indian sub-continent. The objective of a new web site
( http://mss.niya.org) is to share MSS with the rest of the world.

In 1949, Baba Amte, left his wealthy Brahmin family and a successful law practice to start MSS. The organization started with six leprosy patients, fourteen rupees ($2), and a lame cow. Five decades later, MSS represents the triumph of an intricate development experiment by the most rejected and impoverished within Indian society - people with leprosy, people with disabilities, tribal people, rural youth, orphans, and the elderly.

Highlights of the new web site ( http://mss.niya.org):

- Explore a community, healed in body and spirit, actively involved in education, agriculture, industry and construction; creating food security and livelihoods for themselves, and for other disadvantaged communities.
- Learn how people rejected by society help the very people who rejected them - breaking the cycle of violence and prejudice.
- Meet the Madia Gonds tribe of Central India. MSS has provided free healthcare to 40,000 Madias each year for the past 30 years and protected their civil rights.
- Discover how MSS turns non-biodegradable plastic materials into profit-making, employment-generating ventures, and about its 'eco-brick' invention and earthquake-resistant Nubian homes.

Commenting on the new web site, Dr. Vikas Amte, Secretary & Medical Superintendent at MSS said: "May the new web site arouse interest among new friends globally to initiate collective action through common concern for our common cause."


Niya, project of IHC, North Carolina, USA ( http://www.niya.org): Named after a city on the ancient Silk Road, Niya is a US-based non-profit organization focused on solutions to social and environmental problems.

Maharogi Sewa Samiti (MSS), Warora, India ( http://mss.niya.org): Established in 1949 by Baba Amte, MSS is one of India's oldest and best-known NGOs.

- PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY -