RSS and affiliate organisations’ Sewa work during Corona Disaster

 

RSS swayamsevaks reaching out first and working in and during natural and sometimes man-made disasters is well known. However, the Corona disaster is a very different kind of challenge. A highly infectious disease is around us; and people on the field are at the same risk as the medical and sanitation workers who are trying to mitigate the sufferings of the people. Only challenge of similar nature I recall is plague in Surat in 1993. Luckily it was localised crises, but RSS swayamsevaks who worked in the area faced huge challenge. When asked, one swayamsevak said, “We are not afraid, we have taken inoculation from Dr. Hedgewar.” (The founder of RSS)

 

Apart from direct risk to health, second challenge is logistics - restricted movement due to Lockdown and problem of procurement. In this restriction, it is difficult to imagine how organisations like Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram with 800 of its workers reached out to 2507 villages across 15 states in Bharat, serving 31279 families as on 13th April. VKA along with RSS supported 1000 North East students spread over India with every possible help they required. Chief Minister of Arunachal Prema Khandu appreciated all these efforts in a tweet.

 

 

 

It is beauty of RSS training that the initial response from RSS swayamsevaks and workers of allied organisations were spontaneous and localised. A swayamsevak running a very small shop in the chawls of Ghatkopar called me up to tell that he had made a list of 21 homes where daily wage earners did not have any ration. In Mumbai there are many people from outside, who don’t have local ration card, so they have no access to economic grains and government support. We collected some funds and transferred to his account. A trustee of a college opened up his college for community kitchen within two days. Within a few days, he was looking after cooking and distribution of 25000 food packets every day. As days passed by, mutual co-operation, information sharing, organising teams saw about 100,000 food packets being distributed every day to the needy. In two weeks 1.1 million food packets had been distributed. Dry ration was also provided to 28000 families in first two weeks and 205 bottles of blood collected. 12000 gloves to health related people, transport of patients, accommodation for doctors and employees of major hospitals apart from food as they could not go home, disinfection of 1500 premises are some activities carried out. We have seen reports of RSS volunteers also feeding animals, stray dogs and birds.

 

We heard story of Delhi where the teams reached out to local aged people living alone. We saw women associates of RSS making a list of sex workers in there and distributing food grain and essential items. There were young swayamsevaks who were seen sweeping and cleaning quarantine facilities and helping set up temporary hospitals in Kerala. In UP, an entire school building was handed over for quarantine. Many other RSS related schools were too used for people in trouble.

 

RSS and its associate organisations do not have enough resources to provide the relief of massive proportions. Local temple trusts, different Jain groups, trade bodies, caste based organisations, regional organisations and private philanthropist trusts were approached and all of them were prompt to respond. Out of 30 kitchens set up in Mumbai, some large kitchens are supported by private trusts. People have sought RSS members out to contribute to these efforts.

 

 

 

Quick response alertness of RSS swayamsevaks was tested to the core when man-made disaster of thousands of migrant labourers descended on UP border bus depots. They not only helped in crowd control, quick information passed on to the RSS units on the highways right upto Bihar resulted in setting up of relief camps for poor on the move, providing them resting places and guiding them to their destinations. Medical teams have been provided with masks, sanitisers and PPE suits. The relief work has not discriminated anyone on the basis of caste, creed or religion.

 

We feel that our youth is not serious about national issues. It is gratifying to see that nearly 30000 college students are on the field under ABVP guidance to support the fight against Corona. They set up a call centre and worked in 1558 locations in 796 districts serving 635,000 citizens. Vishwa Hindu Parishad, whose strong stand on Hindu issues overshadows its work in sewa, has done great work across Bharat. It is working in 2500 locations and 15000 of its workers on the field. They have served 150,000 families so far with food packets and dry rations. It also set up Call centres for prompt reach. Sewa Bharati too has set up call centres at state level.

 

It has been effort of the entire society and RSS has mostly acted as a co-ordinating agency and providing logistic and man power support. RSS and its associates are working in all the states of India. When this data was compiled from across India on 17th April 2020, it was found that 257,690 RSS volunteers working at 45,481 places have so far served 2.96 million citizens. Details of the sewa can be seen in the link provided at the end of the article by newsbharati.com with an interactive map where one can see the details of any state including a few photographs. It is a commendable data presentation by Newsbharati.

 

There is a word that carries more significance in RSS than in normal conversation. The word is ‘sampark’, that is ‘contact’ or ‘connect’. When an RSS person says, we are ‘in touch’ with each other, it is not just in touch but there is warmth and informality about it. I redirected atleast 10 cases of people in distress through RSS ‘sampark’ and the people received support within hours, sometimes within two hops. A friend in Powai was worried about his father in Vile Parle (12 km distance) who refused to move out of his home. Within two hours he was reached by volunteers. The beauty of our social warmth is that his neighbours told the volunteers that they need not come, they would take care! The case of an old couple in Vile Parle, Mumbai receiving help within hours of a message seeking support was flashed in Houston, USA. It went via 2 international and two domestic links. This warmth and informality of ‘sampark’ and confidence that the response will be prompt is one of the secrets of RSS outreach and strength.

 

We all know that it is a long battle. RSS and its associates are aware of this and preparing for the long haul. It would be great to see more and more people join in with resources to help our society tide over the tough times.