Bengaluru: Giving home, education to trafficked women

Bengaluru: We all believe that women, men and children have the basic right to dignity and self-determination and that people should be given a fair opportunity to enhance their own potential and well-being. But not many come forward to do much about it. Vidyaranya, a non-profit and secular development organisation started in 1991 by like-minded people, believes in helping the underprivileged, trafficked women and children, the disabled and the aged.

“Vidyaranya was launched in 1991 by M.C. Ramesh at his village, Mandur. He opened the first unit there and now we work in six districts – Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Hassan, Chikkaballapura, Dharwad and Ramanagar,” says Bhasakar D., who is the chief executive officer of Vidyaranya.

“We focus on improving the educational, economical, social and cultural status of women, children, the aged and the differently abled. We also run a mobile health clinic, which has a team of professional doctors, physicists and nurses who do health check-ups and distribute free medicines,” says Mr Bhaskar.

“We rehabilitate victims of child trafficking and children begging on roads by providing them food, education and medical help," he says. The programme is run on a public-private partnership model where the government provides them unused classrooms at government schools which are converted into homes for these children. “Now, 75 girls from ages three to 17 are taking shelter at the Kodihalli Government Model Primary School behind Leela Palace. Apart from food and lodging, we also provide them with mainstream education in Kannada,” says Bhaskar.

The organisation is registered under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act 1960 and with the Ministry of Home Affairs to receive foreign grants and also with the Department of Income Tax for 12A and 80G under Income Tax Act 1961. It has 132 staff members, who work with various volunteers.

The focus of the NGO is not just providing shelter for the underprivileged but also making them employable. “We helped a woman get her two-year diploma in a dressmaking course and now she is working at a garment factory,” adds Bhaskar proudly. Also it has helped three children get enrolled into English medium schools through Right to Education (RTE).

The NGO is now working hard towards setting up fully functional training units for these women. These units will provide training in washing, artificial jewellery making, candle making and tailoring. “Our agenda for the future includes expansion of rehabilitation centres for troubled women and for the victims and trafficking. Resource is a constraint, but it will not stop us,” says Bhaskar.