Vinayak Lohani

Vinayak Lohani (Hindi: विनायक लोहनी,Bengali: বিনায়ক লোহনী) is the founder of Parivaar.^[1] He, inspired by the spiritual and humanistic ideals of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, decided to devote his entire life to serving the ‘Divine in Man’ as taught by Swami Vivekananda.^[2][3][4][5]

Early Life and Education

Vinayak Lohani was born in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh and did his schooling there. He went to IIT Kharagpur to do his B.Tech and thereafter worked for Infosys for a year. In 2001, he joined IIM Calcutta to do his MBA.^[6][7]

Career

At IIM Calcutta, Vinayak opted out of the placement process. After completing the MBA course, with just 3 children in a small rented building and almost no financial resources,he started Parivaar in late 2003.^[2][3] 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. Gradually people began to be inspired by his dedicated service and started to support the initiative. The number of children at Parivaar grew. At the end of 2004, Parivaar purchased its own land and developed its first campus: Parivaar Ashram. In 2011, Parivaar expanded to having separate campuses for boys and girls.^[7]

Vinayak with children at Parivaar

Vinayak has used the successes and lessons learned at Parivaar to mentor many organizations in different parts of India. He has helped these organizations grow through the collaborative platform of donors, volunteers, and service-delivery grassroots NGOs called Caring Friends. In 2011, the Government of India’s Ministry of Women and Child Development made him a member of the Ministry’s Task Force, one of the very few non-governmental/civil society sector persons to be included.

Many academic case-studies have been authored dealing with grassroots social entrepreneurship and organization-building, highlighting Vinayak and Parivaar. These cases have been taught and discussed at various business schools in India. Additionally, best-selling author Rashmi Bansal’s book I have a Dream has an entire chapter on Vinayak and the initial phase of Parivaar.

Over the years, Parivaar’s mission began to attract dedicated youth, many of whom joined Parivaar as resident workers, teachers, and support staff, called Seva-vratees. Along with Vinayak, they are now the bearers of this mission, and live and work at Parivaar bringing transformation to the lives of children, families, communities, and India.^[2]

Awards and Honors

• National Award for Child Welfare 2011 presented by the President of India.^[3][7]

• CNN-IBN’s Young Indian Leader of the Year Award 2012.^[3][8]

• Sanskriti Award, India’s premier award for young achievers in 2011.^{[3][7][9][10]}

• IIM Calcutta’s Distinguished Alumnus Award (1 of 9 recipients out of 8000 alumni).^[3][7][11]

• Spirit of Mastek Award conferred by the Mastek Corporation.^[7][12]

• Karmaveer Puraskaar Award presented by the International Confederation of NGOs in 2011.^[7][13][14]

• ‘Transforming India through Transforming Indians’ felicitation from Chinmaya Mission Kolkata.^[7][15]

• Rotary Club of Calcutta Megacity Vocational Excellence Award.^[7]

References

External links

• Parivaar Website
• Vinayak Lohani on Twitter