VivekaVani
Parivaar - Changing Destinies
Parivaar is a humanitarian organization inspired by the spiritual and humanistic ideals of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, with its chief institutions based in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. For last 16 years, Parivaar has worked towards the total care and overall development of children who are highly vulnerable to exploitation, victimization and trafficking, including orphans, street children, abandoned children, and extremely impoverished children from tribal areas. It also conducts many more humanitarian activities for the destitute and uncared, including elderly and shelterless.
In Bengal Parivaar has two residential educational institutions – Parivaar Vivekananda Sevashrama for Boys and Parivaar Sarada Teertha for girls. With over 2100 resident children, these are West Bengal’s largest free residential institutions for children from deprived and destitute backgrounds. Parivaar provides all opportunities for education and overall child development in a loving and caring atmosphere for boys and girls from early age of 5 till their higher education – i.e. university level graduation and / or employability programs.
Parivaar’s Residential Institutions are seen as a model institution in the field of caretaking and overall development of vulnerable children. We have been the recipient of the 2011 National Award for Child Welfare from the President of India, the highest recognition by the Government of India.
In the year 2016 Parivaar began to expand to a new geography of Madhya Pradesh purchasing 17 acres of land at village Sandalpur in District Dewas along with a plot of land on banks of Narmada at village Navada. From 2017 onwards it has started 142 Day Boarding (Meals & Education centres) for children in selected impoverished tribal and rural pockets called ‘Sri Ramakrishna Vivekananda Seva Kutir’ in Dewas, Sehore, Mandla, Sheopur, and Chhindwara districts. At these Kutirs more than 14000 children are getting nutritious meals (breakfast and dinner) along with Strongly Supplementary education and Life-Skills over morning and evening shifts. We are endeavouring to set up 175 such Kutirs in MP by March 2020. Also, a residential educational institution, modeled on lines of our Bengal institutions, is right now under construction at Sandalpur which will house 500 resident children initially, and will be gradually scaled up to a capacity of more than 2000 resident children. Eventually one residential educational institution in each of the districts of MP where Seva Kutirs under operation, will be set up. In the interim Parivaar has also started 2 hostels on rental premises in Mandla for 92 children, and one hostel in Sehore district in village Diwadiya for 20 girls. They are called Parivaar Vivekananda Vidyarthi Sadan (boys’ hostel) and Parivaar Bhagini Nivedita Sadan (girls’ hostel).
The Background and Beginning:
In 2003, a 25 year old young alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and IIM Calcutta, having opted out of placements towards a lucrative corporate career, was driven by the inspiring exhortation of Swami Vivekananda of selfless service to those in suffering and make one’s life one with them. This youngman, Vinayak Lohani, thus inspired by spiritual and humanistic ideals of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, resolved to devote his entire life for serving ‘Divine in Man’ as taught by Swami Vivekananda. He gave up the prospect of highly lucrative corporate career by not taking any placement from IIM. Immediately after passing out of IIM in 2003, with just 3 children in a small rented building on outskirts of Kolkata, he started Parivaar.
But he had no resources. So in order to kickstart his mission, till the level of 15 children at Parivaar, he used to take some lectures for students appearing for Management entrance examinations and through that could meet the expenses of the set-up. Gradually people began to be inspired by this dedicated service and started to support the initiative and the number of children at Parivaar grew. At the end of 2004, Parivaar could purchase its own land to develop its permanent campus. Parivaar’s mission and theme began to attract dedicated youth, many of whom joined Parivaar as resident workers and began to become bearers of this mission.
In 2016, after 14 years of relentless service in Bengal and with many youth inspired to join him, Vinayak Lohani, in 2016, expanded Parivaar’s footprints into Madhya Pradesh.
For More Details Visit : www.parivaar.org
