A Gift to the world - Dakshana

Dakshana is a sanskrit word meaning to give or receive a gift. The Dakshana Foundation is a young philanthropic foundation focused on providing world-class educational opportunities to economically and socially disadvantaged gifted children worldwide. The have targeted the 750 Million people living in India’s 640,000 villages.

Dakshana has partnered with the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV - http://navodaya.gov.in/) to provide 2 years of IIT JEE prep for about 300-400 Dakshana Scholars annually of the best and brightest students at 7 JNV campuses throughout India.

Dakshana was founded by Mr. Mohnish Pabrai and spouse, Ms. Harina Kapoor. They are inspired by Nobel laureate Mohammed Yunus (Grameen Bank), and intend to be a “non-loss entity.” They say:

"We believe in recycling most of their estate back to society. Effective giveback is very hard to do. One is forced to confront problems that have defied solutions for decades on end - after tremendous resources and brain power has been directed by them. Billions of humans still do not have the fundamentals of adequate food, shelter, education, healthcare and a sustainable livelihood. To this end, Dakshana's management is pragmatic. We do not believe we can solve the problems of the world. We do, however, believe that we can make a small dent if we approach charitable giveback with a laser-focus and a business mindset."

The first Dakshana Scholar is Shashank Dube of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, who was "awarded a full scholarship by the foundation to undergo 12 months of IIT JEE training at Bansal Classes - one of the best IIT JEE coaching centers in the world (www.bansaliitjee.com). Shashank is the son of a deceased pan shop owner who has virtually always topped his class. "

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