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Seva Bharati was inspired by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as well as the official community service umbrella of allied organisations. The Akhil Bharatiya Saha Seva Pramukh (All India Joint Service Chief) of the RSS guides the organisation, which is also represented in the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, the highest decision-making body of the Sangh Parivar.[1]
Volunteers with the children with cancer at Kidwai hospital, Bangalore
The Seva Bharati organisational report states that the organisation operates over 5,000 healthcare centres spread across India, including 4200 rural healthcare centres, 960 mobile clinics, 480 resident clinics in urban areas, 200 counselling centres, 6500 ambulances, and 7 leprosy medication and rehabilitation centres. Furthermore, it operates a chain of 450 blood banks, alongside over 300 blood donation centres that serve in times of emergency.[3][4] Additionally, Seva Bharati provides free or subsidised medicines to indigent patients. It is reported that although the organisation runs on a "shoestring budget," it has been considered a "saviour for those desperately in need of unaffordable medicines."[5] Furthermore, according to several media reports, it is estimated that there are 234 such medicine collection and redistribution centres across India.[3]
Secondly, Rashtriya Seva Bharati has partnered with several premier technological institutions to modernise India's health infrastructure. In a project partnered with the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, telemedicine centres have been established with the aim of delivering healthcare services across distances using telecommunication. Using the internet and the software "Remedy Kit," developed by the institute, patients' vital health information, including pulse rate, heartbeat, blood pressure, and ECG, can be transferred over the broadband link from Seva Bharti to Medical Centre, Bits-pilani. Eventually, the healthcare personnel at the Medical Centre can not only analyse and diagnose an individual's health conditions but also prescribe medicines that are available at Seva Bharti Complex. As a result of implementing these technologies, the entire procedure usually lasts between 3 and 5 minutes. Additionally, these techniques are particularly beneficial for improving healthcare accessibility, immunisation drives, and educating young mothers and children about hygiene and general cleanliness.[6] Free healthcare camps are organised in slums and economically impoverished areas with the assistance of hospitals, where hundreds of patients undergo medical examinations, including being examined for cardiac and diabetic ailments. In these camps, teams of technicians, conduct charge-free electrocardiography (ECG), echocardiography, and blood glucose monitoring. Apart from check-ups, dietitians advise patients on healthy diets, physical exercises, and medicines. Furthermore, medicines are distributed free of cost, and counselling on psychiatric ailments is also provided.[7][8][9][10] Seva Bharati also organises naturopathy and other wellness camps for the general public, with the organisation's reports indicating that these camps have been generally widely attended.
AIDS awareness
Amongst a wide range of activities, Seva Bharati also conducts AIDS awareness programs targeting lorry drivers, taxi drivers, dhaba owners, and the youth. Hundreds of participants attend these sessions, which cover topics such as "General Health and Hygiene", "Sexually transmitted infection Symptoms and Modes of Transmission", "HIV/AIDS Symptoms and Modes of Transmission," and "Safe Sex." Exhibitions are also organised, and literature is distributed to raise awareness of the disease and its prevention.[11] Moreover, the organisation regularly organises health awareness drives, similar to the ones on World Heart Day.[12]
The team of RSS workers, which included medical professionals, assisted the staff of the screening centres. They distributed leaflets across numerous housing societies, intending to reach over 1,000 societies in this way.[14]
Empowering children with different disabilities
Children at a center for special needs in Bangalore
Seva Bharati operates numerous schools, rehabilitation and recreation centres for children and adults with disabilities and special needs.[15] The organisation reports that it has 179 such centres across India, including special schools, hostels, and recreation centres.[3]
It also organises awareness days on the subject of the needs of children with special needs.[15] Special meetings for people with disabilities held by the organisation serve as a platform for them to interact with specialists and others associated with them. Paediatricians, gynaecologists, audiologists, ophthalmologists, and other specialists participate in such camps.[16]
Activities for the visually impaired
Seva Bharati and allied organisations operate several eye banks that regularly conduct eye donation camps. Among others, they have provided ocular prosthesis or visual prosthesis for hundreds of blind or partially sighted individuals.[17][18] The organisation, in collaboration with other ophthalmological hospitals, runs eye care initiatives for the indigent citizens. These initiatives have covered thousands of slum children and aim at eradicating blindness and eye diseases in children.[19][20] In one of the initiatives to provide free paediatric ophthalmological care to slum children, held in association with the Narayana Nethralaya in Bengaluru, over 1,010 slum children underwent eye examinations. Consequently, 200 children were diagnosed with ophthalmological disorders, with some of the conditions detected including corneal disorders (18), squint (11), retinal diseases (9), eyelid issues (16), and cataracts (3). All of these children, who required ophthalmic surgery or noninvasive eye treatment, received the charge-free treatment at Narayana Nethralaya, with over 143 children undergoing various eye surgeries. The project's target was to provide eye examinations for 10,000 children from slums by the end of 2009. In the last two camps, a team of doctors, paramedical workers, and volunteers from different non-governmental organisations examined and treated over 2,400 children and even operated those requiring surgery – free of cost.[21] Camps are also held in which corneal transplantation is performed on hundreds of patients, curing their eye ailments and enabling them to regain their eyesight.[18]
Rehabilitating lepers
Seva Bharati has rehabilitation centres for lepers. One such centre is near Rajamundry in Andhra Pradesh. The centre was founded in 1975 by Colonel D.S. Raju who had been a personal doctor to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in INA. In 1982, it was handed over to the RSS and since then has been managed by RSS and Seva Bharati volunteers. It houses 106 leprosy patients and has a hospital adjoining the centre that caters to their medication needs. The 11 acres (45,000m2) is surrounded by greenery and also maintains a 'goshala' and a library.[22] The yeomen service rendered by the organisation has found mention in the case study in rehabilitation of leprosy patients authored by Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the former President of India.[23]
Education
Seva Bharati operates hostels for economically underprivileged children across the country, especially among tribal and rural communities.[24] The organisation reports more than 10,000 educational projects in India, including hostels for boys and girls, primary‑education centres in rural areas and slums, adult and informal‑education centres for street children, and single‑teacher schools in remote parts of the country.[3] It also helps students from remote tribal areas to enrol in schools in different parts of the country and sponsors their educational and other needs.[25] It conducts camps for children that teach folk songs and dance, arts and crafts, and painting to encourage creativity.[26]
The organisation has run many literacy initiatives for adults and children. A project in the slums of Delhi aims to make the city fully literate.[27]
Empowerment of women
British Deputy High Commissioner Stuart Innes visiting a Seva Bharati rehabilitation centre for child labour, Telangana
Seva Bharati runs centres that provide vocational training to economically underprivileged women. It trains women in making handicrafts and decorative items, and helps to market these products. Over the years, many girls trained by Seva Bharati have developed handicrafts as a cottage industry, particularly in the north-eastern states of India. Seva Bharati also conducts camps and organises exhibitions of handicrafts produced at such camps, and supports marketing of these items. Participants are trained in fabric painting, hand stitching, pot painting, glass painting, jute work, flower making, cane and bamboo craft, and pith and banana fibre craft. The handicrafts are sold across India.[28]
Seva Bharati reports that it operates 1,404 such training projects across India, including centres that teach computers, tailoring, shorthand, stitching, sweater making, typing, carpentry, and nursing,[29] as well as arts, handicrafts, and recreational activities.[30]These training programmes aim to help participants find jobs and earn a livelihood.
Seva Bharati also runs initiatives to raise awareness among women regarding socio-economic programmes and health. The programmes cover minor ailments, health, hygiene and nutrition, environment, pregnancy, and women’s rights, as well as prevention of addiction.[31]
Fighting for the rights of underprivileged women
Seva Bharati is also known for fighting for the rights of women who are taken as domestic help to the cities and are exploited and abused. It has taken up issues such as wage deprivation, assault, and abuse and has also represented its concerns to various governmental bodies.[32] It has coordinated with the governmental agencies to save rescue girls from abuse and harassment.[33][34]
Relief and rehabilitation during natural calamities
Following the 2001 Gujarat Earthquake
As many as 25,000 volunteers, including 600 doctors, from Seva Bharati worked to rescue and rehabilitate victims of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake. Nearly 10,000 operations were performed, and over 19,000 patients were treated for injuries and other ailments. Additionally, the organisation sent large amounts of relief material to quake-affected victims from various parts of the country.[35]
The news magazine Outlook reported: "Literally within minutes the RSS / Seva Bharati volunteers were at the scenes of distress. Across Gujarat, the (RSS) cadres were the saviours. Even the state machinery went comatose in the first two days after the quake, the cadre-based machinery of the Sangh fanned out throughout the state. Approximately 35,000 RSS members in uniform were pressed into service." [citation needed]
District Collector of Ahmedabad K. Srinivas said: "This is an old tradition in the RSS. To be the first at any disaster strike: floods, cyclones, drought and now quake. In Kachchh, too, the RSS / Seva Bharati was the first to reach the affected areas. At Anjar, a town in ruins, the RSS was present much before the Army and took the lead in finding survivors and fishing out the dead."
India Today reported in its issue of 12 February 2001: "It is conceded by even their worst detractors that the RSS through Seva Bharati has been in the forefront of the non-official rescue and relief (operations). This has led to an upsurge of goodwill for the Sangh".[36]
Following the 2004 tsunami
When the 2004 tsunami struck the southern coasts of India, thousands of volunteers affiliated with Seva Bharati engaged in relief work. Working with organisations such as Ramakrishna Mutt in Tamil Nadu, Nair Service Society, Sri Narayana Guru Dharma Paripalana Yogam and Mata Amrithanandamayi Mutt in Kerala, and Janakshema Samiti in Andhra Pradesh, they set up relief camps in tsunami‑affected districts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Volunteers distributed thousands of food packets, organised teams of doctors, and performed cremations for thousands of victims.
Thuglak, a Chennai‑based magazine, reported on relief work after the tsunami in Tamil Nadu. It wrote that when the tsunami left government machinery paralysed, immediate relief work by Seva Bharati saved hundreds of lives: “Seva Bharati had started rehabilitating people fleeing from the waves, losing their houses, boats, nets, etc., by feeding them [and] settling them in dry places during the first day itself. Medical relief was also made available in all the 208 places spread over nine districts.” It further stated: “The task of even taking the dead bodies to the medical centres appeared too daunting. It was the Seva Bharati workers who dared to venture into seashores and retrieve the bodies. From the beginning of the calamity on the morning of the 26th up to writing this on 2 January, the number of dead retrieved by Seva Bharati is 2,469. There have been occasions when some have been rescued alive while searching for bodies.” The editor, Cho Ramaswamy, added: “The concerned authorities admit privately that it was the RSS‑sponsored Seva Bharati which did yeoman service everywhere. Politics forbids them to acknowledge this in public.”[37]
After the tsunami, Seva Bharati and allied organisations conducted surveys of affected areas and supported rehabilitation of the worst‑hit villages, including assistance to rebuild homes and basic infrastructure. It also conducted counselling sessions, especially for children, to help address trauma following the calamity.[38][39][40][41][42]
During the 2009 South India floods
Floods swept across the southern states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
In the first phase of relief operations, volunteers distributed over 100,000 food packets collected from neighbouring villages and districts in the interior rural areas of Kurnool, Mahbubnagar, and Nalgonda districts. Since links to Kurnool had been cut off, material was brought in from Anantapur, Kadapa, and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, and Raichur in Karnataka. Relief camps were set up in Kurnool at Saraswati Sishu Mandir and G. Pulla Reddy Engineering College. Volunteers from Adoni cleaned the Raghavendra Swamy temple in Mantralayam, cleared the carcasses of cattle and other animals, and handed them over to the police.[43]
In Hyderabad, 2,000 volunteers went around the city collecting money, food, and other materials needed for the flood‑affected. Two donation collection centres were set up at the state headquarters of the RSS and the Keshav Memorial School. Each day, four truckloads of food and two truckloads of other essentials were dispatched to flood‑affected areas, and 200 city volunteers were engaged in sanitation work there.[43]
In the second phase of relief operations, the organisation surveyed affected areas of Mahbubnagar district and found that 58 villages were severely damaged and 16,000 families were devastated. It decided to supply kits to 5,000 families to help them resume normal life; each kit consisted of kitchen utensils, food grains, and other daily‑use materials.[43]
In Kurnool district, 250–300 villages remained underwater, hampering the survey. In the third and final phase, the organisation planned to rehabilitate affected people and reconstruct destroyed villages. “We have identified various means of rehabilitation of people, like supplying them implements required for their occupation,” volunteers said, adding that several voluntary organisations were involved.[43][44]
Following the 2013 Uttarakhand Floods
In the Floods and cloudburst that created havoc and mayhem in Uttarakhand, in June 2013 Seva Bharathi had 5,000 RSS volunteers take up relief and rescue along with the Indian Armed forces. The Largest ever rescue mission for the 100,000 pilgrims and locals. From day 1 (16-June) till now 20 truckloads of relief material sent to flood-affected areas from Dehradun. RSS Sewa Vibhag surveying the area assessing the loss of life property, 1.Badrinath-Hemkund Sahib, 2. Kedarnath, 3. Gangotri-Yamunotri. Approx. 200 villages are worst affected in the floods and some of them are totally washed out. [45]
During floods in Chennai (2015)
Following the 2015 flood in Chennai, about 5900 Volunteers from Seva Bharati participated in rescue and relief work in flood-affected areas. According to a press note, the relief work was divided into 15 departments i.e. medical, rescue, distribution of relief materials, counselling, preparing and distributing food (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), coordinating, etc. Around 12,00,000 food packets were distributed. Medicines, dress materials, and water were distributed. Seva Bharati volunteers also helped the Indian Army in various rescue operations.[46]
2018 Kerala floods
Seva Bharati organised relief camps across flood-affected districts, providing food, shelter, and medical services with support from volunteers and donors.[47][48][49]
Three hundred and fifty Seva Bharati units and 5,000 volunteers participated in relief operations. They distributed 350,000 food packets, organised ten blood-donation camps within a week, and held 20 medical camps in the Kuttanadu region of Alappuzha district. Forty Seva Bharati ambulances operated in various areas. In each district, collection centres were set up to receive donations of clothing, food grains, drinking water, and other essentials, which were then transported to relief sites. State-level Seva Bharati officials monitored activities in every district.
Other activities
Drinking water
It has several schemes that provide drinking water to the remote parts of India, mostly those facing water scarcity.[50] Places that face severe water shortage are supplied water through the tankers at subsidised rates or for free.[51] Free food distribution is also conducted in hospitals for ailing poor patients.[52] It distributes warm clothing and sweaters for underprivileged children to cope with the chilling winters. Under the aegis of Seva Bharathi, a water conservation forum Jala Bharathi has been started. Jala Bharathi organises seminars and training programs on water conservation and rainwater harvesting. [53]
Environment awareness
The organisation conducts environmental awareness programs among the general public. Such awareness campaigns have resulted in many environmentally friendly steps being taken by the people. A pledge to shun environmentally hazardous disposable plastic items was taken by the residents of Jakkacombai Badaga hamlet in a remote part of Kotagiri a small village on the tip of Nilgiri hills.[54]
Activities for senior citizens
Seva Bharati has a day-care centre named 'Aasare' for senior citizens who face constant neglect from their families and society.[55]
Volunteer activities
Seva Bharati serves as a platform for volunteers who help manage large community events. The volunteers have helped in crowd management, maintaining order, and providing essential services to the pilgrims in centres that witness a huge number of people like the Sabarimala temple in the South Indian state of Kerala.[56][57] They set up medical camps and provide basic amenities such as drinking water.[58] The organisations help is regularly sought by Governmental agencies in maintaining order during festivals.[59] Seva Bharati organises blood donation camps where volunteers and other youth are encouraged to donate blood.[4]
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