The service projects being run by RSS swayamsevaks across the country under different banners have registered a phenomenal growth. The total number of service projects has been accounted as 1,57,776 as on March 31. It includes 59,498 projects of education, 38,582 projects of health, 42,304 projects of social and 17,392 projects of self-reliance.
According to the latest edition of Seva Disha 2009, the report of RSS service activities published from Pune after every five years, a total of 59,076 service projects are run by Rashtriya Sewa Bharati, 13,969 projects by Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, 72,370 by Vishwa Hindu Parishad, 461 by Rashtra Sevika Samiti, 9,682 by Vidya Bharati, 1,000 by Deendayal Research Institute and 168 projects are run by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.
Rashtriya Sewa Bharati compiles these statistics after every five years. Started in 1995 with the cooperation of Seva Vardhini, Pune, this report was previously published in 1997 and 2004. The total service projects run by swayamsevaks then were 15063 in 1997, which grew to 43,386 in 2004 and 1,57,776 till March 31 this year. To collect, collate and present the ever-growing vast data of all these social service projects is a tough task and Seva Vardhini has done it in quite an appreciable way. Along with statistical data, the report presents salient features of some path breaking experiments going on in the various parts of the country.
Seva Disha 2009, published on the occasion of annual meeting of Prant Pracharaks in Meerut, also highlighted some remarkable features of the growth of social service projects. The service activities have grown by more than one lakh as compared to 2004. But it is not just statistical growth the dimensions of the various projects touch almost every section of the society. The Arogya Rakshak scheme being run in remote villages of various states specially in north-eastern states, the ‘Bal Gokulam’ of Kerala, the ‘Char Sutri Dhan’ scheme of Maharashtra, the self-help groups of Tamil Nadu, projects for ‘street children’ in Delhi and other metros, the ‘education for child labour project’ in Andhra Pradesh, are but sample examples of the all encompassing initiatives of swayamsevaks in social service field. The complete issue of Seva Disha 2009 will be available on RSS website shortly.
