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Raji P. Srivastava and Kavita Singh started a programme to contribute old blankets, clothes and books, and have been able to help over 500 children so far.

Chandigarh: Winter is well and truly upon us in northern India, and for the destitute, the annual struggle to stay warm has begun. But this time they’re not alone — two woman IAS officers are trying to spread comfort among Punjab’s poor children.

Raji P. Srivastava, principal secretary of the department of social security, women and child development, and her department’s director Kavita Singh have started a programme to involve the community and share what they have with those who don’t.

The effort started on Diwali as an experiment, but has now become a unique altruistic movement across the state, bringing cheer to over 500 kids living in the Children Homes and Observation Homes run by the department.

How the movement began and expanded

“Just before Diwali, we decided that we should ask our employees to contribute various things which they did not want or had used only a little for these homes. As the message spread, a whole lot of employees began giving old and new stuff. That first step really encouraged us to involve more than just our employees,” said Srivastava.

The same message was then spread to their colleagues in the civil service and their spouses, through WhatsApp groups.

“That also had an extremely positive response, and very soon we had a steady stream of small and big contributions in the form of warm clothes, books, stationery, mattresses, utensils etc. coming in,” said Singh.

Soon, they felt emboldened to go beyond the known circle of employees and colleagues. “We shared the same message with people in other WhatsApp groups. Before we knew it, we had the general public coming to our offices in the districts with whatever they could spare,” said Srivastava.

Singh added: “We had basically requested people to share what they did not want and had not used in their houses for a long time. But we were surprised that many people had got absolutely brand new goods to be shared with our children. It was heartwarming to see such an overwhelming response to our request.”

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Plugging a gap

Although there is a budgetary allocation for providing basic facilities to the children residing in these homes, it’s never enough. For many of the kids, having warm clothes, sleeping in new mattresses and reading a new book was a novelty.

“There are almost 550 children residing in 19 such homes across the state. The children living in the Children Homes are destitute and belong to extremely poor families. They are in the care of the government and their living and education is our responsibility,” said Singh.

“The juveniles housed in the Observation Homes maybe in conflict with the law, but are children nonetheless. Whatever facilities are given to the children at the Children Homes are also provided to the ones in the Observation Homes.”

Srivastava added: “In a way, we are recycling something which is not wanted. But we decided not to spread the message too wide through newspaper advertisements, as we did not want a deluge. We did not want our homes to be used as a dumping ground.”

Everything that was received by the department was listed and a receipt given to the contributor. “NGOs do this kind of work all the time, but for us in the government, this was a new effort and we were learning as we went along. We created an inventory of the contributions we got or are still getting, and started distributing the contributions across these homes depending on where what was required,” said Srivastava.

“More than anything else, I am glad that none of the children in our homes will spend a cold winter. Thanks to the generosity of people, we have been given new blankets and warm clothes which should suffice for all of them,” added Singh.

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More new ideas

The success of this silent movement has given the department fresh ideas. “Soon, we will be asking people to contribute books for trunk libraries, which I intend to have in all the homes,” said Srivastava.

“We also asked old women who are residing in our old age homes and young women living in our shelters to start knitting and make woollens which can be used by the children. The idea is to keep them occupied, as also make them feel that despite their hardships, they are contributing in some way to the lives of others. Doing something for someone is almost like therapy — it makes you forget your own problems.”

Singh said the department is also thinking of how to secure the future of the children who leave the homes after coming of age.

“We can take care of them only till 18 or 21 years, after which we hope they will be able to take up higher education and manage their own lives. But not everyone is able to do that,” Singh said.

“To begin with, we have tied up with Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar to take responsibility for two of these children after class XII, and provide them higher education at the university’s cost. We are also thinking of tying up with other universities across the state.”

The department is also planning to put people’s cash contributions in banks as individual insurance for these children.

“We are tying up with LIC for this. The whole idea is that when these children go out of the Children Home, they have something, even a small amount in their kitty, which can help them educate themselves further or skill themselves for a job,” Singh added.

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