Shoshit Seva Sangh expresses it's Vision and Mission Statement in the following words:

"Make us worthy O’ Lord, to serve those
people throughout the world who live and
die in poverty and hunger. Give them
through our hands, this day, their daily
bread and through our understanding
and love give them peace and joy”

Mother Teressa

Why Bihar?

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Bihar, the ancient land of Buddha, has witnessed the golden period of Indian history. It is the same land where the seeds of the first Republic were sown and which cultivated the first crop of democracy. Once the seat of powerful Kingdoms - the Mauryas and the Guptas which represent the golden age of Indian history, Bihar is today the poorest and the most backward State in India. Bihar ranked lowest in the Human Development Indices in the 2001 census. Literacy rates remain quite low and school drop-out rates are high. Among others, access to safe drinking water is below the national average, leading to widespread disease and higher mortality rates. With this picture in mind, Shoshit Seva Sangh has been conceived as an organization that will strive to bring about some improvement in the quality of life for those most deprived in Bihar. An estimated 55% of the State’s population of 82.8 million lives below the poverty line as against the national average of 25% (2002 estimate). According to the 2001 census as against average national literacy rate of 65.4% (76% for males and 55% for females), Bihar’s literacy rate stands at a dismal 47.5% (60.3% for males and 33.6% for females). Bihar is the only Indian State with a literacy rate of less than 50%.
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What SSS proposes to do

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Turning back the tide of poverty and backwardness in Bihar is a gigantic enterprise. But it is possible and we must not be daunted by the magnitude of the task.

What organizations like SSS can do is to make a dent in the overall level of deprivation in Bihar even though this may be like the proverbial drop in an ocean. However, we believe there are two key areas in which we can make a difference. Providing vocational and higher education for children of the most backward communities and low – cost housing for families which do not have a roof over their heads.

Project 1. The Mushars and other totally deprived lower caste landless labourers live much below the poverty line. With meagre income they live a sub-standard life. Generations have lived in deprivation mostly as landless labourers. Some graphics in the Website gives an idea of the level of deprivation. They live in huts made of mud walls and dried palm leafs or straw-thatched roofs. They are even denied access to potable water.

The SSS will take-up projects to provide better housing and potable water to these families - the most deprived among the deprived. The SSS will undertake to convert the mud houses into reasonable rooms with brick walls and brick flooring. Replace the palm leaf or straw-thatched roofs with asbestos or corrugated tin sheets. Also build for the community low cost latrines and install what is called an open tube-well with hand pumps for water. Normally 15 to 18 such families live in a cluster in the villages or semi-urban areas. The SSS intends to take up one such project as a pilot project from the interest accruing out of funds of the corpus. We are confident that this will lead to further generation of funds not only from individual donors but also from institutional donors to finance more such projects.

Project 2. What better way than helping the deprived to acquire the skills to improve his/her prospects in life. The effect is not just on that person, but the generations to follow. A small, but significant, effort towards this social engineering could be made by sponsoring or supporting reasonably good quality education for the children of the deprived. The project would be meant for the children of really low-income group parents who can at best afford to send their children to municipal schools in urban areas or village schools. The standard of education in such schools particularly in Bihar are woeful.

The SSS would identify and select children in the age group of 8 to 10 and those who have aptitude for studying and have supportive parents could be put in reasonably good private schools where they can get better education, learn English and get equipped to grab the opportunities in life. These children could be put in reasonably good private schools in Patna so that they have proper environment for studies, but are yet not far away from their parents and and the environment they are familiar with. The children who finish their schooling with distinction could be encouraged to take up higher studies. Others could be given vocational training in areas such as carpentry, auto-mechanics, computers, electricians course, plumbing etc. Accomplished in these fields, they can hope to get good employment in India or abroad, particularly in the Middle-East. India’s burgeoning economy will have plenty to offer.

As the SSS goes along and gains experience and acquires greater patronage as well as resources, it will be more than willing to fine-tune these projects as well as launch new ones for the benefit of the ‘Shoshit Samaj’ or the most exploited.

J.K. SINHA, Chairman and Founder of SSS

Shri Sinha is the founder and the Chairman of the SSS. He completed his schooling from St. Xavier’s School, Patna and then graduated in History (Honours) from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. He did his Master’s in History from the Delhi University. Subsequently, he joined the Indian Police Service in 1967 following in the footsteps of his father, late Shri M.K. Sinha, IP and his grand-father late Shri A.K. Sinha, IP.

His grandfather was the first Indian to become the Police Chief of a State when he became IG of Police, Bihar way back in 1939. On his retirement he devoted himself to social causes and was a great devotee of Swami Sivananda. He established the Divine Life Society in Patna. Shri M.K. Sinha capped his distinguished career in the Police by becoming the Police Chief of Bihar, in the footsteps of his father in 1951. Shri J.K. Sinha, after joining the Indian Police Service in 1967, came on deputation to the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India in 1971. He rose to the rank of Secretary in the Government of India and retired from service in 2005. During his 34 years of service with the Government of India, he worked in various capacities both in India and abroad.

Long experience and exposure has made him aware of, not only the strengths, but also, the weaknesses of India. The most important of these being the glaring disparities between the urban and the rural as well as the rich and the poor. He also realises that it is imperative for the civil society to reach out to the poorest of the poor and not to leave transformation solely to government machinery.

Within India exists the BIMARU states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh), but as proved by most recent development surveys, Bihar is perhaps the most sick. Not only is it ‘Maha’ BIMARU, but as commonly described, Bihar has fallen off the map of India.

When Bihar was in the grip of a famine in 1966-67, his father joined the Bihar Relief Committee (BRC) under the leadership of late Shri Jaya Prakash Narayan (JP). Following JP’s demise, his father took over the chairmanship of BRC and mainly concentrated on village upliftment programmes. He also presided over the organising committee of the Hanuman Temple in Patna, ending the corruption and inefficiency of the system. He had the famous temple rebuilt, and from the income generated by it, the temple now runs a hospital and a school. The former is 200 bed Cancer hospital, now a leading such institution in Eastern India and the latter, Gyan Niketan with 2000 students is regarded as one of the top public schools in Bihar.

Inspired by what his father did, Shri J.K. Sinha has chosen to
go back to Bihar and do his bit. After retirement, he had the option
to settle down in Delhi and lead a comfortable life, but having seen
the good that his father was able to do in Bihar, he has felt compelled to follow suit. He has experience, but more importantly, the drive
and the desire to help put Bihar back on the map of India!

In the very initial stage, the SSS would like to take up pilot projects in both the areas of its focus i.e. sponsoring education of under-privileged children and taking-up construction of very basic housing for the poorest of the poor in any one village. SSS would also establish what can be termed as a unique relationship between the benefactor and the beneficiary. The SSS proposes to establish this relationship through computers and the internet between the two. SSS will promote and ensure regular communication through E-mails, Voice-mails and transmission of video clips from the beneficiary to the benefactor. The benefactor must feel involved and derive satisfaction both spiritual and mental from actually seeing, viewing and knowing for himself how he has made a big difference to the life of a fellow human being through his effort, goodwill and contribution. What greater service to the Lord Almighty than helping his unfortunate children!

A contribution that you make to the SSS is like buying a share in a company in which the dividends will come in the form of grateful thanks from an under-privileged fellow human-being and blessings from the Lord Almighty! Can there be a better investment? Please pause and think! You may be investing thousands and even millions in buying shares etc., to earn monetary dividens to meet your wants, desires and ambitions in this life. Please think of investing just a fraction to earn the blessings of the Lord and also earn the grateful thanks of a fellow human-being whose life you will have changed remarkably.