Genesis

The idea of raising an organization for benefit of the mankind, investing the knowledge and experience gained during the service had been agitating the minds of few eminent retired officers. The challenges posed by post-conflict environments all over the World provided the desired platform. It was felt that it is in this milieu that the potential of ex-servicemen could be fully realized. This gave rise to founding of HORIZON as an Organisation for Post-conflict Environment Management, with acronym, HORIZON. Horizon is the first Indian NGO by, of and for Indian Ex Servicemen, dedicated to Post Conflict Environment Management with core competence in Humanitarian Demining. Founded by retired officers of the Indian Army in 2001, it recognizes the exceptional potential that the soldier acquires during the service and believes that it ought to be utilized towards humanitarian pursuits. Indian Ex Servicemen is its cutting edge. It offers him an opportunity to re-invent himself and improve his quality of life.

The modest proceeds are utilized towards betterment of Ex Servicemen and deprived sections of society. NGO was registered as a Society on 16 Jan 2002 as per Society Registration rules 1860 and formally registered as a charitable trust on 17 Aug 2004 under the legal provisions of Trusts Act 1950 prevalent in India (Registration Number is F 19513/Pune) by the Charity Commissioner, Pune, India. HORIZON is staffed primarily by ex-servicemen retired from the Indian Armed Forces.

Horizon Assignments (India) Private Limited was founded as an adjunct to HORIZON with a view to realizing its objectives of service to humanity and supplement its funding. It is an Ex Servicemen organization for Ex Servicemen (X FOR X). The Organisation was registered on 23 Oct 2003 under Companies Act 1956: Registration Number 25-18489 as Kshitij (India) Private Limited. The organization was rechristened as Horizon Assignments (India) Private Limited on 25 Apr 2004.

Since Ex-servicemen gain vast experience in handling of mines during their service, humanitarian demining presented an appropriate area in which to develop core competence utilizing the ex-servicemen potential. Though the task is replete with risks, it was felt that Indian soldier with his dedication, experience, and resilience will be able to execute demining task efficiently and generate lot of good will. In addition, this would also give them opportunity to discover a second career, when the opportunities apropos retirement are limited. Thus the organization initially focused on Humanitarian Demining.

Vision / Philosophy / Raison D'tre

The NGO recognizes the exceptional professional ability of the retired Indian Army soldier acquired during his service pursuits. Despite a variety of expensive and modern equipment available for demining, the manual method continues to remain the most reliable, dependable and indispensable way of demining. It is in this context that the Indian soldier with his perseverance, patience, dedication and simplicity is sure to excel in the field of humanitarian demining. This equally holds good for retired army officers of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army who during their service develop a cast experience in management of demining tasks. This is a resource, which is waiting to be tapped, and that is precisely the 'Raison D'tre' of HORIZON.

Objectives

▪ Expanding the horizon of humanity and human safety.
▪ Preserving environment and prevention of its degradation.
▪ Humanitarian demining, explosive detection and disposal.
▪ Contributing towards enhancement of Quality of life.
▪ Gainful utilisation of knowledge and experience of Indian ex-servicemen.