Hindu Sewa Pratishthan, Bangalore, opened the third branch of ?Nele?, a unique shelter house for rag-picking children of Bangalore. The project was inaugurated by Pejawar Swami Vishveshteertha at the outskirts of Bangalore city on December 1.
There are about 80,000 estimated rag-picking children in Bangalore city alone. In this city, crores of rupees get transacted at some places and at another end there are children for whom the next meals is at the waste bin. This city has made a big name in the field of IT (Information Technology), BT (Bio-Technology), IP (Intellectual Property), etc. But there are some generous people, who can understand this glaring difference of wealth and facilities and are coming forward to lessen the gap between ?haves? and ?have-nots?. For them the concept of ?Nele? enters direct to their heart. Thus, within a short span, ?Nele? got tremendous response.
Most of the rag-pickers are orphanage children and few of them are slum boys with no parental attention. Hindu Sewa Pratishthan, which is inspired by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, took initiative for this most neglected part of the society and provided a temporary shelter to them. Result was not so encouraging initially. Those wandering children did not have the habit of sticking to a place and initially their reaction was to oppose this ?home arrest?. Then a little modification was done in order to keep them attached to ?Nele?. They were given freedom to go out during the daytime. They should come to ?Nele? at the end of the day. Early in the morning, an atmosphere was created for them?to recite shlokas daily bathing and breakfast. Slowly children learnt to stay at ?Nele?. This project was started this year itself with 14 children and now has grown to 100 in strength and to three branches.
After the ?Nivedita Nele?, a shelter house exclusively for girl children and ?Narendra Nele? a shelter house for boys, the third one was inaugurated by the name of ?Nele Namma Mane? (A shelter, our home). Inaugurating the ?Nele?, Pejawar Swami Vishveshteertha, who is also the chancellor of Hindu Sewa Pratishthan, said, ?If there is a ditch on ground you need to take soil from other crust portion and fill that dig. It won'tbe filled up unless external work is done. But in a pond if you take out a mug of water then the whole water will rush into the area where mug of water is taken out. The scene of ?haves? and ?have-nots? does not arise. This should be a lesson for us all that wealth should not be short somewhere and plenty at another place.?
Noted industrialist Shri T.S. Satish and Bangalore Down Town Rotary president Shri Janardhana Reddy were the chief guests at the function. Karnataka Prant Sanghachalak Shri M. Venkataramu presided over the function. Shri Sridhar Sagar, director of Hindu Sewa Pratishthan, gave a brief report on the concept of ?Nele?. The donors and different kinds of contributors to the project were felicitated by Pejawar Swami. (VSK, Bangalore)
