In 1984, at the invitation of the Government of India, Professor O.P. Dwivedi took a tour of one of the poorest and heavily populated provinces of India – Uttar Pradesh. During that study tour, two glaring gaps in the health-care and educational sectors became evident. Despite provincial government’s efforts, the problem remained with delivery of services as well as mismanagement of such facilities. To assist in a small way, we started on an experimental basis, an elementary school in a town Bindki in 1985; this school later became a junior high school with the enrolment of about 250 students. The school was funded by the Dwivedi family in Guelph; soon, there was demand from other rural areas to expand our services.  And as funding such activities became too onerous for our family, it was decided to convert that private effort into a charitable entity so that donations (both personal and from others) could be properly channelled.  Thus, came the creation of the D.D. Foundation in 1993 with the Ontario Government Public Trustee granting Letters of Patent on 23 September 1994; subsequently, the Foundation was approved by Revenue Canada (Government of Canada) as Registered Charity for the income tax purposes. 

Following are the five main AIMS AND OBJECTIVES of the DD Foundation:

1. 1.to promote health, education and welfare of the poor people in India and neighboring nations so that they may live in dignity and peace
   

2. 2.to assist poor students in securing higher education, technical/scientific training, and conducting research
   

3. 3.to promote nature conservation, enhance environmental protection & quality of life, and foster respect for God’s creation
   

4. 4.to provide psychological, psychiatric, medicinal and spiritual guidance and care for infirm, mentally challenged, and poor people with the help of trained and qualified professionals in the area of health care by using alternate medicines, psychological services, parapsychology, naturopathy, spiritualism, and medicinal uses of astrology
   

5. 5.to provide facilities for physical and intellectual development by organizing training camps in Yoga, lectures on world cultures, and spirituality, and seminars on socio-economic issues.
   

CURRENT PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES OF THE DD FOUNDATION

The D.D. Foundation (Guelph, Canada) was requested and has responded to help two separate rural communities in India by providing health-care facilities and educational assistance by funding.  The Foundation is assisting two non-profit organizations in India to manage a Junior High School for poor students, and an Eye Hospital for rural poor. For the Eye Hospital, we have selected a small town of Bithoor (near Kanpur city, India) by assisting through funding and expert advice (for example, assistance in the purchase of equipments for the hospital).  Towards this, the Foundation with the assistance of its sister arm, DD Trust (Kanpur, India) has secured land (on long-term lease) to construct two buildings. These two buildings (one meant for residential purposes where hospital employees stay; and the other main building where patient care, operation and treatments are done) have been functional since 2004 and 2007 respectively. In addition, each year, our hospital organizes eye-care fairs by selecting a rural village setting.

Why the Eye Hospital and Walk-in Clinic in Bithoor town?

Bithoor is a small town with about 25,000 people. It does not have a government hospital; and the nearest hospital is about 25 km away. Each year, two large country fairs take place in Bithoor when thousands of people come to visit local temples and to take a holy dip in the River Ganges. At that time, medical services are in great demand but these are nearly non-existent. Finally, the nearest city, Kanpur is quite far away for rural people who do not have an easy access to swift and cost-effective mode of transportation to the big city. Thus, when the DD Foundation was requested by villagers to help them by starting a health-care facility, we in 2002, assembled land and started constructing buildings.  Two buildings were constructed: one is for the staff quarters, and the other is health-care wing.

By assisting an educational institution and running a walk-in clinic, the DD Foundation is attempting to fulfill some of its objectives. But the start of an eye-clinic requires a higher level of financial commitment which is over the savings available from the pension received by Professor Dwivedi; thus is this request for sharing the cost of opening an eye-clinic in Bithoor.