Starting of ‘Nivedita House’ : A New Residential Block for Children

In December ’08, we purchased a new building just outside the main Parivaar Ashram campus which has 4000 sq. ft. constructed area. We got it at a price of Rs 15 Lacs. Its price should have been in range of Rs 22-25 Lacs or so but we were sold considerably cheaply by the family which owned it in our village as they were completely shifting their interests to Kolkata city and wanted to sell-off their properties in our village. They were particularly keen on an institution like Parivaar to take up their ancestral property so we got it a considerably less price. The building has been named ‘Nivedita House’.

In just two months after we took the possession of the building, it is being used as a Residential Block for newly admitted Parivaar children. We have admitted 52 new resident children to Parivaar in December. (44 children from highly impoverished Sabar tribe in Belpahari block in Midnapore (west) and Purulia districts, and 8 more children a highly impoverished tribal belt in Chandakona Road area of Midnapore (East) district have been admitted. In all 97 children from these special tribal pockets have been admitted into Parivaar the last one and a half year.

Sabar and Birhore tribes are two of the PTGs (Primitive Tribal groups as classified by the Govt. of India). Starvation deaths are rampant among them. The 'renowned academic, field economist, Prof. Jean Dreze has also written about starvation among these tribes. One recent edition of Economic & Political Weekly also has an article on this by one social scientist Ms. Reetika Khera (EPW Vol: 43 Issue: 52 pp: 11-14).

On the link below are some pictures of the ‘Nivedita House’: