15. Why do Hindu organisations not do social service, as a counter measure to what the Christians have done?

      It is an anti-Hindu propaganda that Hindus do not undertake social service. If one looks at the post-independence period, one will see that the Hindus have come forward in substantial numbers to undertake social service. This is not only in terms of establishing educational facilities, but also health service, and other noble causes. However, such institutes are not identified as Hindu organisations - as per the practice of secularism in our country. Social service organisations like Rotary and Lions are manned by Hindus in very large numbers.
   During the colonial times, Hindus were restricted from undertaking charity which is an integral part of Hindu culture. Simultaneously, the colonial masters gave large assistance to the missionary institutes, both administrative and financial. The latter was from the taxes that were levied on the people of this country. Given that the prosperous section of the society was Hindu, obviously it was the Hindu money that was provided for the missionaries. In addition, land and institutes belonging to the Hindu temples were appropriated and given to the missionaries.
    In the post-independence period, these missionary institutes continue to receive state aid for much of their activities. In quite a few cases, because the infrastructure was built and in place, the missionary institutes were not disbanded or replaced. A Hindu sees nothing wrong in this, and rightly so. But, to call such state funded institutes as missionary is a misnomer.          
    To give an example of the work done by the Rashtriay Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the field of education, the number of schools in the Vidya Bharati fold is 10,945, and 55 colleges. The total number of teachers in these schools in 74,000 and there are 17 lakh students. In addition, there are more than 2000 one-teacher schools being run in the tribal areas.
    Other projects of the RSS amount to 17,071, with and involvement of nearly 50,000 volunteers. The number of beneficiaries is more than 50 lakhs, of which 23% are from the rural areas, 42% in tribal and 35% poor urban. The Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, a unit promosted by the RSS to service the tribal population, runs nearly 10,000 projects, out of which half are in education and others in social-cultural areas. There are 1200 full time workers, besides thousands who devote part of their time.
    As part of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad itself, there are more than 1390 service projects all over the country. There are other Hindu organisations that are running education institutes, like Ramkrishna Mission, Swami Chinmayanand Mission, etc. In addition, there are Hindu philanthropists that are also doing similar work all over the country.

Hindu Vivek Kendra, 5/12, Kamat Industrial Estate,
Opp. Siddhivinayak Mandir, Prabhadevi, Mumbai - 400 025
Tel: (91-22) 422 1440, 422 5639 Fax: (91-22) 436 3756