In 2003 Vinayak Lohani, a 25 year old young alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and IIM Calcutta, having opted out of placements towards a lucrative corporate career, was driven by the inspiring exhortation of Swami Vivekananda of selfless service to those in suffering and make one’s life one with them. This youngman, Vinayak Lohani, thus inspired by spiritual and humanistic ideals of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda, resolved to devote his entire life for serving ‘Divine in Man’ as taught by Swami Vivekananda. He gave up the prospect of a highly lucrative corporate career by not taking any placement from IIM. Immediately after passing out of IIM in 2003, with just 3 children in a small rented building on the outskirts of Kolkata, he started Parivaar. But he had no resources. So in order to kickstart his mission, till the level of 15 children at Parivaar, he used to take some lectures for students appearing for Management entrance examinations and through that could meet the expenses of the set-up. Gradually people began to be inspired by this dedicated service and started to support the initiative and the number of children at Parivaar grew.
At the end of 2004, Parivaar could purchase its own land to develop its permanent campus. Parivaar’s mission and theme began to attract dedicated youth, many of whom joined Parivaar as resident workers and began to become bearers of this mission. As on January 2024, Parivaar’s Bengal Residential Institutions have more than 2100 resident children and is considered to be a model institution for caretaking and overall development of children from destitute backgrounds in a residential setting. It is also the largest free residential institution for children from impoverished backgrounds in the whole of West Bengal.
n 2016, after 14 years of relentless service in Bengal and with many youth inspired to join him, Vinayak Lohani, in 2016, expanded Parivaar’s footprints into Madhya Pradesh. Great strides have been made since then.
In the year 2021, several ancillary initiatives based on the seva kutir platfrom have also been started. These are
(a) 24*7 Ambulance Services
(b) Vision Restoration Programme
(c) Mobile Health Clinics
(d) Mother-Infant Care(Prenatal to First 1000 days) Programme
AWARDS & HONOURS
National Award for Child Welfare 2011 presented by the Hon. President of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Sanskriti Award 2011, country’s premier award for young achievers in 2011 from the Former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
Sri Sathya Sai Award’ presented by the Vice President of India, Dr Venkaiya Naidu, in November 2018.
Madhya Pradesh Gaurav Samman presented by the Hon. Governor and Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh in November 2022.
‘Swami Rama Humanitarian Award 2015’ presented by Hon. Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.
Nivedita Samman 2019 presented by West Bengal Governor Shri Jagdeep Dhankar.
CNN-IBN’s ‘Young Indian Leader of the Year Award’ for 2012.
IIM Calcutta’s ‘Distinguished Alumnus Award’ (one of the 9 recipients selected out of 8000 alumni of the institute in last 50 years) awarded in 2011 on occasion of Institute’s Golden Jubilee
IIT Kharagpur’s ‘Distinguished Alumnus Award’ awarded in 2014- Youngest recipient in the history of the award.
Swami Ranganathananda Memorial Humanitarian Award 2014 presented at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture Calcutta.
Bhaorao Deoras Sewa Samman’ 2015 presented at Lucknow by Hon Governor, Uttar Pradesh.
Vivekananda Seva Samman 2016 presented by Hon. Governor, West Bengal.
Telegraph ‘Special Honour’ conferred by Telegraph Education Foundation Calcutta in 2014.
True Legends Award’ presented by ‘The Telegraph’ in April 2015.
First position in Bengal Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Social leadership awards, 2022.
Second position in Bengal Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Social Leadership Awards, 2023.
Eastern India Leadership awards for the Best organisation in the field of Education, 2024.
Special Award for Service among the Baiga tribal community conferred by Union Minister Shri Phaggan Singh Kulaste in 2024.
Publications
Publications Vinayak Lohani is the author of three books - 'Bhupendranath Datta - Patriot, Scholar and Revolutionary', 'Almora's Couple Extraordinary - Boshi Sen and Gertrude Emerson', and 'The Three Torch-bearers of the Holy Trio'. He has published several articles and essays in publications like the Economic and Political Weekly, The Times of India, The Wire, Swarajyamag, LiveHistoryIndia, Outlook etc. He also writes fiction in genres of short stories and plays and his English fiction has been published in the Sahitya Akademi Journal. Many of his writings can be read at vinayaklohani.in
Roles with Government of India
Induction into Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) (2015 onwards), the apex consultational forum in Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India
Induction into the National Committee for Promotion of Social and Economic Welfare constituted by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India (2014-2017).
Inducted into the Management Committee and Governing Board of Childline India Foundation (2014 onwards), constituted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development which manages 24 hour child helpline services across nearly 500 districts in India.
