rSAMAJ KALYAN PARISHAD-i (M O D IN A G A R )
Smt. Dayawati Modi F ounder & President
If you are ever in doubt whether what you are going to do is right or wrong —h ere’s a test I suggest. Think o f the poorest man you ve ever seen and ask yourself: ‘Will what I am planning to do benefit him ?' If the answer is ‘y es’ —then you are on the right track. Try this test whenever you are in doubt. It never fails. —Mahatma Gandhi
Samaj Kalvan Parishad & Smt. Dayawati Modi I s altruism only th e dom ain of one w ho renounces his th ro n e and bride and child for enlightenm ent ? O r the one w h o serenely ascends to the cross for the sins o f all mankind? H istory w ould p rep o n d eran tly seem to answer in the affirmative. However, a closer look reveals —among these p ro p o u n d ers of great religions, m ovem ents, and causes —h ere an d there, other m en and w o m en w hose reverence for life, w h o se love for fellow hum an beings has been no less. Such a person is Smt. Dayawati Modi. Born in 1915, she w as religiously inclined from h er early years. Soon after h er m arriage to Late Rai Bahadur G ujar Mai Modi in 1932, the star o f th e Modi industrial en terp rise began to rise. While this grow th, on the o n e hand c o n trib u ted to the introduction of technology to a traditionally agrarian country, on the o th er it p ro v id ed Smt. Modi w ith th e resources to m ount her public serv ice activities full scale. In 1954 Smt. Modi founded th e Samaj Kalyan Parishad at M odinagar. Thirty tw o years have passed since then, yet if anything, the Parishad continues to be the lengthened shadow o f o n e w om an —Smt. Dayawati Modi. She is called ‘Maji’ not o n ly by her children, but by h er co-workers, by those p o o r an d dow n tro d d en folks w hose lives have been to u ch ed by hers. You may call h er w ork — philanthropy’, or ‘act of love', o r you may simply define it as th e ‘will to do good’. The following pages offer glimpses of the w ork the Parishad does u n d er Smt. M odi’s stewardship.
Welfare of women & children
Widow rehabilitation In Modinagar, a woman’s education and training centre has b e e n d o ing c o m m en d ab le w o rk sin ce 1970. Right n o w
about 100 destitute children and widows are being provided for by the centre. But our greatest joy is in seeing parentless children find new homes, in seeing widows reclaimed to the dignity of family lives through re-marriage. For their sake, we hope they all live happily ever after.
Rural Education & Vocational Training Adult Education T oday Asim Kumar is an Assistant Engineer in BHEL ( Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.), Bhopal. Recently we received a letter from him thanking Maji for the financial help she had extended to him when economic constraints had almost made him give up any hope of studying beyond the secondary level. Asim is one of those who made good with our helping hand. We are proud of all of them. A num ber of Junior High Schools nam ed after Dayawati Modi have been established in Rae Bareilly, Bhojpur, Abupur, Saidpur, Shahjahanpur, Sikri Kalan and D evendrapuri of N orth India. Presently 4047 rural children are being educated in these schools. Another 930 are being groomed in the Shri Chedalal Shishu Niketan, Kasganj. Rae Bareilly already has the first of what is planned to be a chain of Dayawati Modi Public Schools. Centres of vocational training in Modinagar, run by the
parishad - train women in various skills like tailoring and
embroider)'. On acquiring a certain level of proficiency in their chosen skills, these women are helped by us to make a living out of them.
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Smf. Dayawati Modi receiving the ‘Shiromani A w a r d for Sikh Studies’from President Giani Zail Singh, Dec. 25, 1982. Besides Samaj Kalyan Parishad, Smt. Dayawati M o d i is the patron o f the Modinagar Charitable S o ciety; President o f Mahila Club (recognised b y the All India Women’s Conference, N ew Delhi) and member o f the Planning Committee o f the All In dia Women’s Conference.
Leprosy Relief T h e parishad has donated a nine room block called the Dayawati Modi block in the Kushta Ashram, Lahra, in district Etha. Presently twenty patients are lodged in this block. Blankets and bedsheets are distributed to them, every alternate year, in the beginning of winter. Through intensive medical care and moral encouragement the parishad is working to return these people where they belong —the mainstream of life.
Eye Care & Family Planning Camps In September 1982 the parishad organized an eye-care cam p in village Kathwara, Rae Bareilly, 1045 people attended the cam p and 235 successful cataract operations w ere perform ed. This eye cam p - the biggest ever in Rae Bareilly and one of the best attended ones in N orth India —is exem plary of the w ork the parishad is doing in this respect. We are also spreading the w ord about family planning in the areas w here it’s m ost difficult to break the ice - in villages. And w e are giving such w ork a tangible dim ension with actual medical help.
T h e work of the Samaj Kalyan Parishad is a reflection of many things. Above all, it is an evidence of how much one woman, whose first altruistic activities began in a small post足 partition refugee camp, can do for her fellow beings.... with a little help from God and from other people dedicated to the same noble cause. In concluding we wish to appeal to you to join hands with the Samaj Kalyan Parishad. So that together we may lighten the suffering of our less fortunate brothers and sisters.