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Eight Years of Parivaar www.parivaar.org
What is Parivaar?
Parivaar is a humanitarian service organisation, based in 24 Parganas (S), West Bengal, and at present is chiefly working for total care and overall development of children from categories like orphans, girl children highly vulnerable to exploitation, victimization, and trafficking, street children, abandoned children, extremely impoverished children from tribal areas and other such highly vulnerable children at Parivaar Ashram, Village- Barkalikapur, P.O. Bakhrahat, District 24 Parganas (South), West Bengal.
Starting from scratch and thereafter developed brick by brick, Parivaar Ashram is being continuously developed and moulded into a unique institution transforming the lives of each of its residential members (children and adults) and acting as a training ground of highly dedicated life-committed grassroots workers. As on 15th Februrary ’11 there are 526 resident children and 45 Ashram Seva-Vratees (Resident Service Corps), 22 teaching staff (At Parivaar's Amar Bharat Vidyapeeth), and 40 other day-time workers at Parivaar - thus a team of about 110 fulltime persons.
Parivaar Ashram also acts as a hub for multifarious service activities for scores of the villages in the vicinity. At the Parivaar Ashram campus is also located Parivaar’s own Formal School ‘Amar Bharat Vidyapeeth’ in which the resident children of Parivaar study.
Children are admitted at a young age of 4 to 10 into Parivaar Ashram. Each resident child once admitted into Parivaar will be under the care and custody of Parivaar till higher education (graduation / post-graduation) and subsequent job placement and settlement into the future phase of life. Parivaar is and shall continue to be behind each child and pave his/her way into any future career which he/she is aspiring for and showing promise of making to, whether it is a stream graduation in humanities, commerce or sciences, or a professional degree education in engineering/medicine. For example, children showing aptitude for meritorious professional lines like engineering or medicine or any other such lines shall be trained and fully supported (just as parents do for their own children) till completion of that higher education and subsequent placement. Our eldest group of children (with whom Parivaar started in 2003) is already in Class 11 and despite the fact that they were late-starters in academic path (trained and initiated straight into Class 4 in 2004) they are outperforming children from educated households in their respective schools, and securing top-bracket ranks.
In the next 2 years, Parivaar is being developed to accommodate 1000 such resident children while ensuring the same high quality. A separate All-Girls Residential Institution is on the way of being developed which will be gradually expanded to accommodate 500 resident girls. Residential Institutions shall also be started in some of the far-off tribal areas where Parivaar is working.
Parivaar Ashram being the hub of training of Seva-vratis, is also the base for many other projects serving the rural areas in 24 Parganas district as well as far-off tribal areas in districts of Midnapore (West), Bankura, and Purulia in West Bengal and Singhbhum (East) in Jharkhand. Two main tribes, Sabar and Birhore, are the main beneficiaries of Parivaar's tribal service programs. 400 such families from highly impoverished tribal areas are enrolled in Parivaar's regular Foodstock Scheme whereby 9 tonnes (9000 Kg) of foodstock (Rice and Dal) are ferried and distributed by Parivaar Seva-vratis through most inaccessible terrains in these areas every month. 200 children from these Sabar and Birhore tribal areas have also been admitted at Parivaar Ashram Residential Institution.
Parivaar has also developed a wide field-base in various highly impoverished tribal areas in West Bengal and Jharkhand in districts of Midnapore (West), Purulia, Bankura in West Bengal, and Singhbhum (East) in Jharkhand. It has contact persons in about 100 villages in these districts.
In the Financial Year April '09- March '10, Parivaar spent than Rs 1.5 Cr on Parivaar Ashram Residential Institution, Amar Bharat Vidyapeeth, and host of the other initiatives in tribal areas in West Bengal and Jharkhand. About Rs 2.5 Crore were spent on infrastructure expansion at Parivaar Ashram and land purchase and ongoing construction for the separate All Girls' Residential Institution that Parivaar is developing. Towards this Parivaar received Rs 4.5 Cr in the said Finacial Year, by Parivaar supporters worldover. Out of this the bulk was from hundreds of individual supporters who inspired by Parivaar contribute to it magnanimously. Parivaar is a close associate of Caring Friends ( www.caringfriends.in ), a collaborative platform which, on one hand, does resource-mobilisation through donors (individual and institutional) and on the other, deploys these funds through a plethora of superlative NGOs for efficient social returns. Parivaar also has the affiliation to Give Foundation (www.giveindia.org and www.giveworld.org), a platform of Non-Government Organisations which comply with the ‘best organisational practices’ as recommended by Credibility Alliance (www.credall.org.in ).
Our Ethos and Inspiration
Parivaar’s mission is inspired by the clarion call of ‘Service of Divine in Man’ in a reverential spiritual attitude, in a spirit of worship’ given by Swami Vivekananda.
The Beginning
Parivaar was started by Vinayak Lohani (an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and IIM Calcutta), who, inspired by spiritual and humanistic ideals of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, decided to devote his entire life for serving ‘Divine in Man’ as taught by Swami Vivekananda. Immediately after passing out of IIM in 2003, with just 3 children in a small rented building with almost no financial resources, Vinayak started Parivaar. 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. 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 called Parivaar Ashram. Parivaar’s mission and theme began to attract dedicated youth, many of whom joined Parivaar Ashram as resident workers and began to become bearers of this mission.
Parivaar Ashram : Building of a Unique family
December ‘03 : Admission of 3 children at rented building at Bonogram near Thakurpukur, Kolkata.
June 30th ‘04: 59 children
Dec 29th ‘04: Purchase of land at Barkalikapur, Bakhrahat in 24 Parganas (South)
Dec 31st ’04: 67 children (all housed at Bonogram Centre)
June 30th ‘05: 110 children.
Dec 31st ‘05: 145 children.
June 30th ‘06: 200 children.
April 15th ‘07: 226 children.
May 15th '07: 250 children.
Oct 15th '07: 280 children.
Oct 15th ’08 : 335 children.
March 15th ’09 : 372 children
Aug 1st ’10 : 429 children
February 15th ’11 : 526 children
Parivaar’s Support Base
Indians all over the world have been influenced and inspired by Parivaar’s work. A large no. of working professionals including IIT and IIM alumni the world over support Parivaar. Parivaar is deeply fortunate and privileged to be a part of the extraordinary collaborative network of donors and NGOs - Caring Friends ( www.caringfriends.in ). Caring Friends has supported Parivaar since May 2004, and in FY 2010-11 more than Rs 80 Lacs were channeled to Parivaar through the efforts of this forum, particularly its conveners Mr Ramesh Kacholia and Mr Nimesh Sumati Shah.
Institutional Donors
There have been some important institutional donors supporting Parivaar too.
• CLSA Ltd, world's leading Financial Service firm has donated Rs 48 Lacs towards development of new campus for Girls' Residential Institution in the FY '08-09, and its employees contributed an additional Rs 12 Lacs.
• Edelweiss Capital ( www.edelcap.com ), and its CSR arm Edelgive Foundation, have been our regular major supporters, and have donated Rs 50 Lacs over the last 5 FYs.
• Mumbai based Charitable Foundation the Letz Dream Foundation ( www.letzdream.org ) has donated Rs 50 Lacs in last 3 FYs towards the infrastructure development of the Girls’ Residential institution.
• The Rohatyn Group, a New York-Singapore based Hedge Firm has donated Rs 50 Lacs over last 5 FYs.
• Netherlands based Fortis Investments has donated Rs 13 Lacs towards development of new campus for Girls' Residential Institution in one of the previous FYs.
• Monroe Street Journal of the Michigan University’s Stephen Ross School of Business has donated Rs 13 Lacs in two of the previous FYs.
• State Bank of India has donated Rs 5 Lacs in one of the previous FYs.
• United Bank of India has donated Rs. 5 Lacs in one of the previous FYs.
• UCO Bank has donated Rs 5 Lacs in one of the previous FYs.
• Credit Suisse Asia has donated Rs 4.5 Lacs in one of the previous FYs.
• US based PR3 Systems ( www.pr3systems.com) has donated Rs 13 Lacs in two of the previous FYs.
• Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. has donated Rs. 3.5 Lacs in one of the previous FYs.
• Cognizant Technology Solutions has donated Rs 3 Lacs in the last FY.
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