Today in the rural area between Navadwip and the town of Krishnanagar, sixty percent of the children drop out of school before the age of twelve, and more than half of the women are illiterate. Some seventy thousand villagers in the region drink arsenic-contaminated water, twenty-three thousand of them showing skin infections and lesions.

Within Ten Miles of Mayapur follows the work of Sri Mayapur Vikas Sangha (SMVS), a non-profit organization based in Iskcon Mayapur. Its mission is to fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s desire that no one should go hungry within a ten-mile radius of the ISKCON temple. For the last ten years, SMVS has worked to end the economic and social causes of poverty in the region. It is an NGO in West Bengal and has received grants from funding agencies worldwide including the United Nations.

SMVS has now borne the cost of producing and distributing Within Ten Miles of Mayapur on a search for new donors around the world to help Mayapur and its surrounding villages survive and prosper. SMVS approached Mayapur resident and film maker Vasudeva das who was happy to write and produce this 37minute documentary on a voluntary basis, free of charge.

Within Ten Miles of Mayapur is a BhakTV production and was premiered on the main stage at the Gaura Purnima Festival in Mayapur. DVD copies of the film are available by writing BhakTV at das1008@hotmail.com. To find out more about SMVS or to make a donation, please visit www.mayapurcare.org.