Activities

American Service To India

Selected Programs

For the last three decades ASTI has forwarded funds to India from private donations in the United States.

Support is provided in the areas of education, medical and health-related assistance and disaster relief. As a donor driven organization, ASTI depends entirely on the public for support of qualifying programs.

The programs selected at the institutions ASTI supports are noteworthy because of the efficiency and dedication of the staffs involved. Directors of ASTI’s board travel to India, at their own expense, to assess and evaluate the work being done at the recipient organizations to which monies have been provided, reporting back to the public through ASTI’s annual newsletter.

With respect to education, the focus is in four areas:

Scholastic fundamentals and prep for advanced studies
Education in healthcare for tribal families
Vocational and skill training for men and women
Vocational and skill training for the mentally and physically challenged

Thirty endowments are providing nurses’ training for young women at five teaching hospitals. Hospitals and dispensaries in India and Bangladesh receive cash to assist them in implementing their work.

Mobile medical units at eight hospitals and/or dispensaries are guaranteed continued maintenance and/or eventual replacement when ASTI provided a permanent fund with the understanding that the interest only be used for the above. Model projects, some of which have received international and national awards, receive support from ASTI. These populations have created sustainable economies in villages and remote mountain areas. 

Two-thirds of ASTI’s support comes from generous Indian-American benefactors in the United States. The remaining one-third comes from the Americans sympathetic to India’s problems.