Directions of Sewa Karya - Madhav Mahendale

EDUCATION:

Ever since the sixth decade of the past century, R.S.S. leaders were deeply concerned about the lack of educational facilities in tribal (vanvasi) & rural areas of our country. Late Shri Bhaurao Deoras, brother of Late Shri. Balasaheb Deoras the second  sarasanghchalak considered the concept of Ekal Vidyalaya on experimental basis in the then South Bihar. The main objective of Ekal Vidyalaya was to re-enroll school drop outs, both boys & girls in the vanavasi or rural areas so as to provide them meaningful education. The Vidya Bharati  chain of schools was instructed to enroll in each school a minimum of 20% students from the under developed communities & groups of our society. Since its very inception, the Sewa Vibhag decided to allot top priority to education in Sevakaryas, as well as to focus on Vanvasi areas, followed by rural areas and city slums. Other Matru-Samsthas followed suit, with an integrated grand vision that no person in these areas or localities remain illiterate by the year 2020.

All efforts & Education projects of our organizations in the field of education bear their distinct “Character” because they introduce Samskrit, Yoga, group singing of patriotic songs, games (Khel - Khood) right from the pre-KG, standards. Such aspects may not be on priority in schools run by Missions or Govt. Then again, punctuality & discipline together with academic excellence, viz. 100% success in each public exam, identify our schools where ever they operate.

As of now, educational activities of Sewa Bharati cover as many as 20 different programs. They cater to the needs of students right from pre-KG to doctoral level. Yet the focus obviously is on spreading education where there it is lacking.

Brief cumulative quoted below needs no further education viz.

1.    Balwadis & Shishu Mandirs

2.    Primary Schools up to IV Standard

3.    Primary Schools Up to VII Standard

4.    Ekal Vidyalayas In Jammu Kashmir & Laddakh

5.    Samskar Vargas

6.    Students Hostels for standards I to X

7.    Day Schools for disabled children

Supportive Efforts:

In addition to schools, wherever necessary, the following activities are conducted to complement the on-going routine education:

1.    Book Banks – mainly Text Books & Reference Books.

2.    Tuition Classes – Usually free of charge.

3.    Reading and / or study rooms for quiet, undisturbed study in slums or other over-crowded / disturbed localities.

4.    Mobile Laboratories for demonstrating various scientific experiments in remote, rural areas.

5.    ‘Bal Gokulams’ for cultural & moral education of children below 14 years or so.

Indicators of Impact of our efforts:

1.    There is an ever increasing demand in Nagaland for starting our schools with text-books in Hindi. For many subjects & options to answer exams in Hindi.

2.    Invariably there is a long waiting list of students for admissions in each & every place where our schools operate.

3.    Our schools top the list of schools in respective places or districts vis-à-vis academic, sports & cultural performances, winning several medals, prizes and scholarships every year. A few students shine in state level public exams too.

4.    Our biennial sports meets are attended by experts from the Police sports organizations & Armed forces, sports executives with a view to select prospective sports talent in various sports disciplines such as running, archery etc. Quite a few of our students are selected in sports academies every time.

HEALTH

Despite over sixty years of independence, there still remains several (tribal) vanvasi areas and rural places where core health services are not available. Such conditions were all the more grave four or five decades ago. The RSS and like-minded organizations then started clinics and hospitals in a few places. But the real boost for organizing health care services where they were needed most was received in early 1990s. In that year RSS added a separate wing entitled, “Sewa Vibhag” to its organizational set up. Shri K. Suryanarayana Rao a senior pracharak was appointed as the All India Chief of Sewa Vibhag.

Falling inline with the national policy vis-a-vis Sevakarya. It was decided to conduct health care services giving priority to Vanavasi areas, then rural areas, and then urban slums & general localities. A few specialised services & activities would also be operated in cities for supporting mass scale efforts in areas stated above.

Guidelines were clearly laid down viz. Treatment of patients approaching our centres would be given without prejudice or discrimination with regard to religion, faith, caste or creed. Medical service involves huge costs. Therefore patients may be required to pay nominal charges for their treatment. Yet no patient would ever be denied treatment just because he or she is unable to pay the prescribed charges. Further, our workers would be instructed that they should never adversely criticise or abuse any medical therapy. In fact we would have treatment centres in Allopathy, Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, nature cure etc. Indeed for us, any treatment that cures disease or mitigates suffering of the patients would be acceptable. Appropriate counselling for the patient and /or community specific Health Education should constitute an integral part of each health activity or program. Patients would never be forced to accept treatment under a specific therapy.

Over a period of time, the health care services, operated by Sewa Bharati & associated organisations can be broadly grouped under the following categories:

A. Medical Treatment of patients:

1. Hospitals with indoor & outdoor departments.

2. Static clinic at centrally located places as OPDs.

3. Mobile treatment vans catering several places as OPDs.

4. Intelligent First Aid through voluntary Arogya Mitras Additionally. Nature cure, neurotherapy & yoga therapy are also available in a few places in our country.

Health Services.

B. Support Services:

1. Ambulances :

2. Blood Banks :

3. Blood Donors on call :

4. Eye Banks :

C. Specific Services & Rehabilitation:

1. Institutions involved in Leprosy eradication.

2. Institutions for the differently abled persons.

3. Physio-therapy.

4. Artificial limbs, aids & equipment to the needy.

D. Health Promotion:

1. Health Education Programs, exhibitions, Distributing printed Materials.

2. Counselling centres   54

3. Yoga centres            1071

The figures stated above speak for our massive inputs. A few instances of the impact of our health services are as under:

• Our neighbouring nations Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, Srilanka have enquired about our training programmes, methodology & services of Arogya Mitras. Perfected in Assam by 1998 under the guidance of our Sevapramukh of NE  Zone.

• Our Yoga training is now accepted in several urban areas/cities Govt. Offices, corporate offices etc.

• Our Blood Banks invariably top in providing blood in places wherever they operate. In fact several of their directors represent on decision taking committees in respective states.

• Our concept of keeping ready, classified lists of "Blood donors on call" has now been adopted by several other organisations.

• Our Matru - samsthas have now been able to reach such areas & zones where until recent times they could not even enter. Indeed they are now openly lauded for their services, particularly in Bodoland, Karbionglong, Nagaland, etc.

'Inherent unity despite of external diversity', has been the foundation of Hindu way of Iife. RSS has been inculcating the values of Social Equality, in behaviour & treatment of their brethren without discrimination vice-a-versa caste, sect, social status etc, in its Swayamsevaks right from its inception. This very principle of Social Equality has been the guiding principle of Sewa Bharati & all other like-minded organizations.

Therefore, Sewa-Karyas focused on social unity have been designed and implemented for all age groups in our society. In addition, these Seva-Karyas are active in various dimensions related to our society while keeping social unity as main focus.

Such activities and programmes could be broadly categorized as follows:

I) Children Welfare:

1. Matruchhaya (Orphanages)

2. Creches (Day care facility for children)

3. Shishu Palan Griha

(Bringing up children - Age group 6 - 12)

4. Balak— Balika Sadan

(Bringing up children - Age   group 6 - 18)

II) Women Organisations:

1. Kishori Vikas (Grooming of Adolescent girl)

2. Bhajan Mandali (Chorus singing of religious, patriotic songs)

3. Mahila Mandali (social get together, gatherings etc.)

4. Kanya Poojan (worshiping 10 young girls as goddess)

Ill) Activities based on Special Needs:

1. De-addiction centres

2. Legal help centres

3. Free food & beverages distribution

4. Protecting ecological environment in hospitals & other places

5. Jhola Pustakalaya (Mobile library — with door to door delivery facility (Books related to our culture, history)

IV) Programs for Religious Places:

1.    Management of Temples etc.

2.    Training youths as Purohits / Pujaris, so that they could conduct all routine rituals, worship rites; usually youths from SC / ST & OBC groups are selected

3.    Appointing Trained young Purohits, Pujaris from SC/ST/OBC classes in local temples

4.    Conducting Havans in slums & other places

5.    Conducting cultural programs like Deep-Pooja, etc at Temples to make them one of the key centres of social unity.

V) Incidental & Occasional:

1. Distribution of food, water, offering medical help etc during local festivals, melas etc.

2. Managing vehicular traffic during above mentioned occasions.

3. Offering help/ protection of disabled, aged women & children during above mentioned occasions.

VI) Disaster Management:

During partition in 1947, RSS Swayamsevaks repaired an airstrip in the midst of firing from  

Pakistani Soldiers. Indian soldiers could land on this air strip and save Kashmir. In the same way, during partition, Swayamsevaks escorted millions of Hindus from West-Pakistan to India safely and organized shelter for them.

Swayamsevak always have been the front runner to offer help whenever a disaster had hit our nation — whether it was flood in AP or Orissa or earthquake in Gujarat or Latur.

Indian Soldiers, Police have praised Swayamsevak for their speed, method, skill, honesty, team work & selfless services rendered without any discrimination whatsoever vis-a-viz religion, caste, creed, etc of the victims.

Their services during the recent massive destructing floods in Uttarkhand were openly lauded by our Army & others. So also during the famine in 2013, the RSS Jankalyan Samiti in Maharashtra, single handedly overcame the problem in 164 villages in 48 tehsils of 12 districts in Maharashtra. The Samiti provided water tanks & opened 7 shelter stables, saving over 1100 cattle heads in 78 villages.

Such efficiency is a result of constant emphasis on organised help and training in disaster management imparted in all regions to Swayamsevaks. In fact a unique technique has been developed to handle such disasters. This technique has 4 key steps: Establishing contact immediately after the disaster strikes, reaching the site with food/ water/ medicine/ clothes, etc; Studying the intensity and spread of the damage, preparing for the future course of action.

Here are few a noticeable changes due to above mentioned actions:

1) Over 3000 people from SC/ST/OBC have been appointed as pujaris in temples. Also surrounding community pays equal respect to them. These people were not even allowed to enter normal temples in the recent past.

2) Mobile library helped to change the culture of the families which were using them. It also made a positive impact on the local surroundings.

3) Along with improving the overall state of affair at temple, Deepa Pooja also helped in improving the ecology in the Village. Different communities in the village came closer. A lot of programs were started during the occasion of Deepa Pooja. Some of these functions are: Mahila Mandali, Self-help group, celebrating festivals together, etc.

SELF RELIANCE:

One of the main principles or objectives of our service (sevakaryas) is to generate confidence amongst beneficiaries (Sevits), so as to make them self-reliant. That is why in our policy, planning and implementation of economic development programs there is no place for long-term subsidies repeated doling out of cash & kind. Instead, we believe in empowering the economically weak or underdeveloped sevits in a way that they themselves come out of poverty in shortest time period. Not only that, many of the beneficiaries refuse to be categorized as “Below Poverty Line” (BPL) and even return their already held BPL cards to the appropriate authorities.

In line with our national policy, self-reliance programs are prioritized in the following order: Tribal, Rural, Urban slums & finally – general public. For these four groups , as many as 450 organisations (SAMSTHAS) are running more than 7000 economic development projects & programs. This is inaddition to over 62197 self-help groups – mostly organized for women. For instance vocational training is imparted in well over 25 disciplines for illiterates, literates, moderately educated persons, both men and women, with emphasis on empowering youth, widows, single women, single parents, differently abled people.

Yet, more increase in the sevit’s income is not the end or final goal of our training programs. The trainees are mentored to ensure that they avoid un-necessary spending, improve their existing standard of living, food habits, get a good education for their children (especially girls), repaying their debts and obligatons, and above all, actively participate in one or more of the initiatives of the alma-mater (Matru-Samstha).

Space constraints in this article inhibit us from describing each & every one of our hundreds of note-worthy programs or activities. Hence we limit ourselves to mentioning below, just two samples of trail-blazing programs, one in the tribal & rural areas & the other in a metropolitan city.

Chandrika Bhabi, daughter of a mill worker in Ahmedabad, started stitching childrens’ garments & did embroidery work to complement the meager income of her family. Soon they organised a team of house –

wives from her neighbourhood & started various activities in addition to tailoring. They started manufacturing towels. They received contracts for sitting & cleaning wheat, rice, pulses, etc.  from several shopkeepers from whom the ladies accepted payments in kind, wheat, rice, pulses etc. Eventually this group developed a standard protocol for preparing & selling high quality wholesome meals, sold to over 2800 customers through over 100 odd bakeries. All of their activities are now conducted under the umbrella of “UDYOG VARDHINI”. Their tailoring & embroidery training school has, by now, trained over 2500 women of which over 740 have started their own tailoring shops. In future, Udyog Wardhini plans to establish a “Super Bazar” through efforts of their chain of self help groups.

Several other groups have organised similar activities not only in Delhi, Bhopal, Bangaluru, Kanyakumari but also in other big cities with large population living in slums.