REPORT ON

IIT KHARAGPUR
VOLUNTEER CHAPTER
OF CRY
CRY- AN INTRODUCTION
Way back in the 1970s, Rippan Kapur, a young airline purser, was driven by the
extraordinary dream to see a day when no Indian child would be deprived of
rights as basic as survival, participation, protection and development. Like
many of us, Rippan too was upset when he saw disparities between privileged
and underprivileged children. He hated to see children begging and working as
servants. Unlike most of us though, he did something about it. He joined his
school’s social service club and read to the blind, visited children in hospitals,
held reading and writing classes for street children, and started a free dispensary
at a slum the club adopted. To raise funds for these activities, the club sold milk.
It even won a shield for the best Interact club! These qualities of
resourcefulness and determination came in handy.
In 1979 Rippan and 6 friends started CRY with Rs 50 around his mother’s
dining table. They felt that something needed to be done to improve the
situation of the underprivileged Indian child. Uncharacteristically, given their
backgrounds and motivations, they chose not to start a grassroots-level
implementing organisation working directly with and for underprivileged
children. They opted instead to make CRY a link between the millions of
Indians who could provide resources and thousands of dedicated people and
organisations at the grassroots-level who are struggling to function for lack of
them. This “link” or enabling position has determined CRY’s strategic choices
at every juncture – from the fundraising methods it employs, to the nature of its
relationship with the NGOs it partners with.
CRY IIT KHARAGPUR VOLUNTEER CHAPTER
To bring a change was the thought of a handful of students of IIT Kharagpur, in
March 2010. They joined hands under the leadership of Ramanuj Lal and
Monish Salhotra to bring about a change in the lives of the underprivileged
children in and around their campus and formed CRY IIT Kharagpur Volunteer
Chapter. With the help of Saptak Mohanta, a former intern at CRY Kolkata and
few other motivated acquaintances, a strategic team was formed. It has
gradually become a decent group of students from various fields of engineering,
science, law and management. The initiative was flagged off with the launch of
a photography contest in the campus which witnessed participants submitting
their entries on issues of child rights in and around their campus which often
remains unnoticed. At present in this chapter there are 45 active volunteers
consisting of Under Graduates, Post Graduates and Research Scholars (Ph.D.)
working under the guidance of IIT Kharagpur professors, Prof. Priyadarshi
Patnaik (HSS Dept.) and Prof. Ashok Kumar Pradhan (Elect. Engg. Dept.).
UNDERGRADUATE:
COMMUNITY CLASSES:
Community classes are an initiative taken by the undergraduate students of IIT
Kharagpur where they visit the nearby villages and other underdeveloped areas
where education facilities are inadequate or inaccessible to conduct classes on a
regular basis to make the students aware of subjects like science, social studies
and English. Many kids have been beneficial due to this activity.
COMMUNITY MEETING-
The aim of the community meeting was social connectedness and the cohesion
of the community which has a direct relationship to good health and
development, progress and growth of society. These factors also encourage and
stimulates civic participation in changing conditions that affect group goals.
CRY IIT Kharagpur volunteer chapter had organized a community meeting in
Amlatoria and Arashini villages in West Bengal to discuss the issues fabricated
after village surveys. The community meeting is a regular activity taken care by
the student volunteers and active participation of village community is also one
of the motivational and encouraging tenor for its success. The issues which
were taken care in the meeting were ethical behavior and importance and issues
relating to it and making of certificates and cards like Birth Certificates, Caste
Certificates, Bank Account, Ration card, Aadhaar card. 95% of all the people
who attended the community meeting were women. The main objective of the
meeting was to make the people aware about these issues and help them
overcome it by educating and enlightening them.
In the continuation of the IIT Karagpur’s initiative of the community meeting,
they addressed the villagers about the importance of education and its necessity
and various opportunities and schemes provided by the Government for their
children. Some real-life examples where education played a very important and
vital role in changing an individual's life were also given.
MEDICAL CAMP
The aim of the medical camp was to provide necessary medical services and
needed and essential consultations to village people, at their very doorsteps.
These camps have also helped on building awareness and consciousness
regarding common ailments, diseases, nutrition and hygiene and sanitation.
In Arasini and Amlatoria villages, West Bengal, the population has minimal or
can be said negligent access to health facilities. Wide exposure and
advertisement of the camp was done in advance in surrounding areas by the
CRY (Child Rights And You) volunteers, students, school teachers and the
Principal. The camp was organized and conducted at Arasini and Amlatoria
school and saw the attendance of more than 200 people.
A team of 16 excellent and eminent doctors from the R.G. Kar Medical College,
College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital attended the camp. The doctors
examined and diagnosed each and every patient individually. They checked the
eyes, lungs, functioning of heart and other parts of body. Prescribed medicines
were given free of charge to the patients.
There was excellent response to medical camp. The camp was a huge success
and a remarkable effort from the whole team. The patients and their families
praised and commended the efforts of the doctors and thanked them for giving
their time freely. IIT Kharagpur also thanked their donors who sponsored this
medical camp as well as the school principal and school management team for
providing the venue for the medical camp to be conducted. The team will
continue to address the common issues observed, through community meetings
and school sessions in the village. The institution also thanked the CRY
volunteers from R.G. Kar Medical College for collaborating with them and also
look forward for more such initiatives in future.
POST GRADUATE PROJECTS:
PROJECT BAALRAKSHAK INITIATIVE OF MASTER & PHD
SCHOLARS: TEAM OF AROUND 11
Project Baalrakshak was initiated by Rajarshi Debnath, a Ph.D. student in
September 2016. The basic aim behind initiating this campaign was to fight
child sexual abuse. It had a purpose to make children aware about what is the
difference between a good and a bad touch. It also wanted to educate the parents
on how they can prevent abusers from reaching their children. Since its
inception 70+ sessions have been conducted with students of various school
ranging from nursery to senior secondary years and 20+ sessions have been
conducted with the parents to sensitize them on various issues.
The sessions involving children is usually started with humorous interactions
with the children to make them feel comfortable and open to the idea of
listening to the session carefully. They are made to understand which are their
private parts and which all touch come under good and bad touch. For students
above class 2, methods to prevent and how to respond to bad touch is discussed.
For students of class 9th-12th, additional topics like masturbation and
menstruation is discussed.
In the sessions involving parents, they are generally made aware about how
important is it to discuss the topic of sexual abuse with children and break the
stereotype of not discussing sex to make their children aware of different
connotations of abuse. They are shown clips of various shows discussing child
sex abuse. They are subjected to two basics topics, the first being how to
prevent their children from being a victim of sexual abuse and secondly, what
are the symptoms of a victim. Lastly, pamphlets depicting the above discussed
point and more are shared with the parents and teacher in various languages to
spread awareness.
This project has been acclaimed to be really impactful which can be seen in the
fact that children led to confess on instances of child sex abuse, they broke their
silence about the abuser, legal machinery to prevent child sexual abuse were put
in place and sensitization programs were organised in Kharagpur district where
teacher/ head masters/ councillors of wards were educated on the sensitive issue
of child sexual abuse.
This project has received support from police as well as the media as it has been
featured in local and national dailies multiple number of times for its unique
approach. Team "Project Baalrakshak" has secured "3rd Prize" for presenting
"Poster" regarding the work on "Child Sexual Abuse" in "2nd International
Workshop (The Science of Happiness) - Happiness and Wellbeing: The Road
Beyond" which was conducted by Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of
Happiness at IIT Kharagpur from 4-6 April 2019. They keep on posting pictures
and information on how to report and prevent sexual abuse of a child on the
internet for spreading awareness. Rajarshi Debnath founder of Team "Project
Baalrakshak" is one of the "National Finalist" of iVolunteer Awards 2019 in the
category of #VolunteerHero.
YEAR WISE CHILDREN INTERVENED:

MEDIA COVERAGE:
NAME OF THE NEWSPAPER CATEGORY

Dainik Jagraan Kharagpur Regional

Anandabazar Patrika Regional
Times of India National
Eastern Chronicle Kolkata Regional
The Statesman National
Sangbad Pratidin Regional
Bartman Regional
Ei Samay Regional
Aaj Kal Regional
Salam Duniya Regional
Amar Kagoj Regional
Yuva Shakti Regional
ANI National
Zee Bangla Regional
News 18 Bangla Regional
GNE Bangla Reuters Regional
Channel One National
Business Chronicles National
Eenadu Regional
The Samaja Odia Regional