The Founder

Vinayak Lohani, the Founder of Parivaar, did B.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (2000) and MBA from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (2003). He did not appear for the placement process at IIM, and immediately after his MBA, started Parivaar. The normal career-path of a mainstream corporate career following degrees from two of the most prestigious institutes in India ensures a highly lucrative future, but Vinayak Lohani sacrificed this to pursue a life of humanitarian service.

He was inspired by the spiritual and humanistic ideals of Swami Vivekananda, and with just 3 children in a small rented building with almost no financial resources, Vinayak started Parivaar. As on January 2024, Parivaar’s Residential Institutions has 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.

In the year 2016 Vinayak expanded Parivaar to a new geography of Madhya Pradesh where it has started 778 Day Boarding (Meals & Education centres) for children in selected impoverished tribal and rural pockets called ‘Sri Ramakrishna Vivekananda Seva Kutir’ in Sheopur, Chhindwara, Betul, Dindori, Khandwa, Dewas, Sehore, Anuppur, Mandla, Shivpuri, Sidhi, Ratlam, Harda, Jhabua, Vidisha, Barwani and Balaghat districts. At these Kutirs more than 500,00 thousand children are getting nutritious meals (breakfast and dinner) along with Strongly Supplementary education along with overall child development over morning and evening shifts. Two residential educational institutions, modeled on lines of our Bengal institutions, have also been started. The one at Sandalpur village in Dewas district was started in December 2021 with more than 300 resident children initially, and will be gradually scaled up to a capacity of more than 2000 resident children. Another residential institution in Sehore district was started in July 2022. Parivaar has also started 2 hostels in Mandla for more than 200 children (both girls and boys). . Eventually one residential institution in each of the districts of MP where Seva Kutirs are under operation, will be set up. 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

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