SHISHU

MANDIR

MRP REPORT
BANGALORE CAMPUS
1
 CONTENTS

a) Brief History …………………………………………………………………………………………. 3

b) Shishu Mandir At A Glimpse………………………………………………………………….. 4
c) Aims & Objectives…………………………………………………………………………………. 5
d) Present Activities………………………………………………………………………………….. 6
e) Working Of Shishu Mandir………………………………..………………………………….. 9
f) Revenue Generation……………………………………………………………………………. 11
g) Project Area Analysis…………………………………………………………………………… 12

2
Briefing…..
The history of Shishu Mandir dates back to October 1973, when the
medical doctor couple Dwarka Das and Hella Mundhra emigrated from
Germany to set up a small hospital in Bangalore. They took up the
humanitarian work of extending their medical services to people in the
slums near their working place and particularly to children who often
suffered from chronic ailments brought about by unhygienic conditions,
malnutrition and infections.

The Mundhras began to admit children to their hospital with the idea of
providing long-term treatment and personal care along with the basic
necessities for a healthy life to experience a true sense of belonging.
Working towards this vision, in 1983 the Shishu Mandir Society was
formed, and by 1988, minimum 16 children were staying at the Shishu
Mandir Home permanently. In June 1994 a school experiment was
started in the premises of the Shishu Mandir Home and on December
16th 2000 a separate school building under the name Shishu Mandir
Education Centre (SMEC) was opened in the outskirts of Bangalore to
look after the educational needs of poor children.

3
Shishu Mandir At A Glance…..

During its 26 years of existence Shishu Mandir gave life to many destitute children in its 3 centres –
the Home, the School and the Vocational Training Centre. The
leading idea is to give the children and youngsters warmth and care
and respect. They all come from the lowest strata of the society
and are given everything
FREE. The children receive
their food, clothes and all
school material from Shishu
Mandir. They also take their
baths at the school. Many
extracurricular activities com-
plete their schooling, like dancing, singing, cycling, drawing,
sports including swimming. The children use their free time with
creating handicraft works like knitting, crochet, doll making etc.
Altogether they enjoy a rich childhood and youth to grow up into
people with self-
esteem and re-
sponsibility. The
children receive all medical treatment free, including
vaccinations. There are 70% girls and 30 % boys.

4
Aims & Objectives….

1. To establish Homes for underprivileged children irrespective of

community, language and religious affiliation from anywhere in India.

2. To establish educational institutions including pre-school centres for the

care of infants, for the advancement of academic and professional
training of underprivileged children to equip them for an independent
contribution to the society at large.

3. To promote vocational training in whatever callings that the children of

the home and school and surrounding communities would require to
equip them for work opportunities outside.

4. To promote ‘Education and social Services’ in terms of hygiene,

nutrition, of family planning and similar services.

5. To provide medical services of any kind towards all dependants of

Shishu Mandir as well as towards underprivileged people at large.

6. To run and manage all of the projects of the Society through internal
means or by agencies of its choice.

5
Present Activities…..

Shishu Mandir is a Centre for the REHABILITATION of children through the following
measures:

a) Children’s Home

The institution in Ulsoor is providing a homely care to children from disturbed families. With a
maximum space for 30 children there are at present 29 children who are being cared for at the
Shishu Mandir Home.

b) Child Adoption

Adoption is a method of rehabilitation in the best interest of the children who are orphaned and
neglected. The Shishu Mandir Home in Ulsoor is a licensed adoption agency recognized by the
Central Adoption Resource Agency India for in-country and inter-country adoption.

c) Educational Programmes

 At the Education Centre in Hella Nagar Shishu Mandir is providing free English medium
education for the children from poor and underprivileged families.
 The system of education is child oriented by providing a specially formed child friendly
syllabus for the children from Preparatory Classes to the 10th standard.
 Providing full support for their Higher Education/Vocational Training
 Providing a midday meal and in-between meals of high nutritional standard
 Providing vocational training in tailoring and carpentry during school life
 Providing the opportunity to learn skills like swimming and cycling

d) Vocational Training Courses

Shishu Mandir conducts one year vocational training courses for the school drop out youth which is
approved by the Ministry of Labour Government of India. The courses conducted are

 Computer
 Fitting
 Welding

6
  Electrical
 Fashion Designing

e) Community Development Activities

As the children of Shishu Mandir Education Centre are from the neighboring slums and villages, Shishu
Mandir extended its activities into these communities. These community development activities aim at
basic awareness about the reasons for their underprivileged living condition and participation by them
in their own development. However, the focus is on the liberation of children from their inner obstacles
for a healthy development. The institution aims at an integrated development of the community
through its extended development activities.

f) Infrastructure for Day Care Centres

Crèches were begun to provide a safe and healthy atmosphere to the children below school-going
age. At present there are 35 children in one crèche. This centre enables the mothers to be
employed and get additional income as well as the girl children to enjoy a good basis for their
education.

7
 g) Self-Employment Programmes
Shishu Mandir is providing income-generating programmes to women in self-help groups of the
surrounding villages. Women can earn their living while at home doing packing and candle
making etc. Unemployed women are encouraged to undergo training and be equipped for
subsequent self-employment. This has become a necessity as an alternative to the work in the
stone mines.

h) Awareness Programmes for Women and Youths

Through village level animation, awareness campaigns and discussion groups for women and
young people Shishu Mandir is organizing awareness programmes on different topics like health
and hygiene, human rights etc. to empower the people to take their development and progress
into their own hands.

i) Health and Hygiene

Regular medical camps and health awareness programmes have helped the villagers towards
better living conditions as individuals, families and as a village community. The people in the
villages, particularly the women, the aged and the children, are being benefited from these
programmes.

j) Construction of Public Toilets

Shishu Mandir constructed public toilets in one village thus promoting the scheme to keep the
village environment clean and improve the general health and hygiene of the public.

k) Women Cooperatives (Sanghas)

Shishu Mandir believes that the simplest, but strongest unit for women empowerment is the self-
help group (SHG) of women. There are presently 8 self-help groups functioning under the
guidance of Shishu Mandir. Some women of these SHGs have started self-employment ventures
and have become an additional earning member in their family.

l) Construction of a Community Hall

Shishu Mandir has constructed a community hall in one of the villages. At present this hall is
being utilized for activities as
 Running a kindergarten for little children
 Evening study classes for the students of the surrounding villages
 Any function of the villages like meetings, marriages etc.

m) De-Addiction Programme

Shishu Mandir began a de-addiction programme for Shishu Mandir School children’s parents
who were addicted to alcohol. In this programme the Siddha System of Medicine is followed.
This programme includes individual and group counseling, family counseling, special counseling
for the spouses and also a session on cooking nutritious food.

8
 Working Of Shishu Mandir
Our requirements are:

1. Food for the school children (225) - Rs. 2,500/day

2. Food for the home children (30) - Rs. 1,000/day

3. One child's education - Rs. 6,000/year

4. Treatment for a dialysis girl - Rs. 22,000/month

Provision items:

1. Rice – 500 kgs

2. Wheat – 20 kgs
3. Oil – 50 kgs
4. Ragi – 15 kgs
5. Rava – 15 kgs
6. Karamani – 7 kgs
7. Chenna dhal – 9 kgs
8. Chenna – 7 kgs
9. Kabul Chenna – 10 kgs
10. Salt – 30 kgs
11. Fried gram – 7 kgs
12. Groundnuts – 6 kgs
13. Semiya – 7 kgs
14. Biscuits (ordinary)
15. Lactogen (1st stage)
16. Toor dhal – 70 kgs
17. Plain noodles – 15 kgs
18. Beaten rice – 15 kgs
19. Dosa rice – 15 kgs
20. Idly rice – 15 kgs

9
 21. Urid dhal – 7 kgs
22. Masoor dhal – 7 kgs
23. Green grams – 7 kgs
24. Red chillies – 7 kgs
25. Moong dhal – 7 kgs
26. Dhaniya – 7 kgs
27. Jaggery – 6 kgs
28. Green peas – 7 kgs
29. Karamani – 7 kgs
30. Basin powder – 5 kgs

31. Washing soap – 30 nos.

32. Bathing soap – 30 nos.
33. Washing powder – 30 nos.
34. Vim bar – 30 nos.
35. Vim powder – 30 nos.
36. Sabeena powder – 7 kgs

Babies’ requirements

1. Huggies
2. Baby cream
3. Baby soap
4. Cotton
5. Rash free
6. Coconut oil

Games items

1. Tennicoit - 6 nos.

2. Carrom board - 3 nos.

3. Chinese checker - 5 nos.

4. Business games - 4 nos.

5. Throw ball - 4 nos.

10
Revenue Generation……

a) Donations
b) Sponsorships
c) Charity

11
Situational Analysis of the Project Area By Shishu
Mandir….

A survey conducted within a radius of 4 kms from the Shishu Mandir Education Centre revealed
the fact that 45 % of the children in the villages and slums were school dropouts and 80 % of the
youths were unskilled. The survey was carried out in Anandapura, Battarahalli,
Chikkabasavanapura, Halehalli, Janata Colony, Jyothynagar, Kithiganur, Kithiganur Colony,
Priyanka Nagar and Sudhanthira Nagar.

The important findings are:

Unemployment. Out of a total population of 187.400 80% of the villagers and slum dwellers do
not have regular jobs and therefore do not get sufficient income to feed their families.

Poverty. Poverty is the root cause of all these problems. Except for the landholders, who can
make a living out of their work, the others are still gripped by severe poverty. 90% of the
families cannot afford to have three meals a day.

Illiteracy. Illiteracy is the main drawback of the villagers and slums due to which the people are
not able to come up economically and socially. Most of them become dropouts from school,
since they cannot afford to pay the fees. Moreover the educational system itself pushes them out
of the school.

Poor health and sanitation: Most of the houses do not have toilet facilities. There are also no
common toilets in the villages. The toilets in the slums are not maintained properly and therefore
no one uses them. People cannot afford to go to the hospitals, since they are very expensive.
There are many physically and mentally challenged children in this locality.

Housing and settlement problems: A poor man in Bangalore cannot think of having his own
house. Few people were fortunate to have small houses of their own built by an NGO in
collaboration with the government and Misereor in the 1970s, when they were freed from
bondage. Since all the government land have been illegally grabbed by politically powerful
rowdies, the poor are unable to get even government land to put up a shed for their living. Most
often the slum dwellers are being pushed away from their places in the name of 'beautification of
the city'. They are not able to live near their work place, since they cannot afford to pay a house
rent.

Alcoholism and smoking: Even young children from the age of 12 onwards are already addicted
to alcohol and smoking. It is understood that this is a way of showing their frustration in life to
the society. 90% of the men do not spend their earnings for their families. They beat up their
wives when they refuse to give them money for buying alcohol. The children are forced to work

12
to get money for the father’s drinks. There are many cases where the wife was murdered for not
giving money to her husband.

Gambling: Gambling is common in all the villages. In some areas the whole family is involved
in it. According to some people this is the easiest way to earn (and lose) money.

Lack of recreational means: Youngsters have no means for recreation. They are not introduced into a
healthy life. Consequently most of them get into problems at an early age and fail to develop into a
stable personality.

School Drop-outs: School dropouts end up as child labourers. Some of them have to work even for 12
hours a day to earn a small amount for the family. Child marriage exists in plenty. Girls are removed
from school when they attain puberty to be settled in marriage. The existing schools do not work
professionally and even those children, who attend schools, do not know to read and to write.

Background of the Project Area

The project area comes under the Krishnarajpuram Municipal Corporation, which has a population of
187.400 people in 38.055 houses. It is a centre of small-scale industries and is a fast developing area
with more small-scale industries sprouting up and offering employment for skilled and trained
personnel.

A vocational training centre would be one of the interventional means to respond to the up-coming
needs of the people in this area. The Shishu Mandir Vocational Training Centre, whose construction has
just been started, will cater to the needs of the target group of 12 villages and 3 slums around SMEC.

Distance Under Occupation of

No. Village/Slum Population
in km BPL*) BPL*) Families
1 Bhattarahalli 0.5 4,314 50 % Coolies - daily wage
2 Jyothinagar 0.5 680 50 % Stone cutters
3 Kithiganur 0.75 1,100 35 % Brick quarry
4 Hala Halli 1 1,238 75 % Brick quarry
5 Janatha Colony 1 650 65 % Brick quarry
6 Parvathinagar 1.5 1,430 80 % Brick quarry
7 T.C. Palya 2 2,375 25 % Construction workers
8 Medahalli 2 3,040 30 % Head load workers

13
9 Anandapura 2.5 2,950 30 % Coolies - daily wages
10 Chikbasavanapura 3 2,459 60 % Stone cutters
11 Sudanthiranagar 3 1,850 60 % Stone cutters
12 Priankanagar 3.5 3,320 75 % Construction workers
13 Udhayanagar 4 8,530 40 % Construction workers
14 Vijinapura 4 5,800 40 % Coolies - daily wages
15 Seegahalli 4 5,250 50 % Construction workers
Total population 45.015 Aver. 47%
Total BPL population 21,204
*) BPL – below the poverty line

Geograhical location of the Project Area

Shishu Mandir Education Centre is located within the limits of Krishnarajpuram Municipality,
which is 12 km from Bangalore City Railway Station and 8 km from the Bangalore International
Airport. The Krishnarajpuram Municipal Corporation is spread over an area of 44 square kms.

14
 Bhattara Vijinapura
Ananda Slum Parvathi
pura Halli nagar

Udaya
nagar

Halehalli Swathanthra
nagar

Shishu
Kithiganur
TC Mandir
Palaya Education

Centre
Janata Slum

Udaya
Seegahalli Parvathi
nagar Slum nagar

Chikka Jyothinagar
Basavanapura

15
Beneficiaries

 Children’s Home – 30
 Education Centre – 185
 Vocational Training Centre – 50
 Child Care Centre – 70
 Prevention of the school dropout centre – 80

Total 415

16