Bharat Scouts and Guides
Headquarters	New Delhi
Country	India
Founded	7 November 1950; 75 years ago (1950-11-07)
Awarded for	Peace Messenger Award Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration
Membership	6,251,269 Scout Wing 3,835,094 Guide Wing 2,416,175
Chief National Commissioner	K. K. Khandelwal
President	Dr.Anil Jain
Affiliation	World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts World Organization of the Scout Movement
Website bsgindia.org
Guide Scout rover
Scouting portal

TheBharat Scouts and Guides (BSG) is the nationalScouting andGuiding association of India. The national headquarters of BSG is recognised by theGovernment of India.^[1]

Scouting was founded in India in 1909 as an overseas branch ofthe Scout Association and became a member of theWorld Organization of the Scout Movement in 1938. Guiding in India started in 1911 and was amongst the founder members of theWorld Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 1928, also covering present-dayBangladesh andPakistan at that time. The BSG serves 3,835,094 Scouts (as of 2021)^[2][3] and 1,286,161 Guides (as of 2005).^[4][5]

Scouting was officially founded inBritish India in 1909, first starting at theBishop Cotton Boys' School inBangalore. Scouting for native Indians was started by JusticeVivian Bose,Madan Mohan,Hridayanath Kunzru,Girija Shankar Bajpai,Annie Besant andGeorge Arundale, in 1913. Prior to this date, Scouting was open only for British and foreign Scouts. In 1916, aCub section was started, followed by theRover section in 1918.

In 1916,Calcutta's Senior Deputy Commissioner of PoliceJ. S. Wilson introducedScouting for Boys as a textbook in the Calcutta Police Training School. Colonel Wilson volunteered his services to the District Scout Commissioner,Alfred Pickford, and in 1917 became Assistant Scoutmaster of the Old Mission Church Troop. Together the two struggled for the admission of Indian boys into theBoy Scouts Association, which had not been admitted due to aGovernment of India order against it because "Scouting might train them to become revolutionaries". Shortly Wilson was acting as Cubmaster and Scoutmaster, and succeeded Pickford as District Commissioner in May 1919 when Pickford was promoted to Chief Scout Commissioner for India.

As a way of getting around the Government Order, theBoy Scouts of Bengal was founded, with identical aims and methods. Many separate Scout organizations began to spring up, theIndian Boy Scouts Association, founded in 1916, based inMadras and headed by Annie Besant and George Arundale;Boy Scouts ofMysore;Boy Scouts ofBaroda;Nizam's Scouts inHyderabad;Seva Samiti Scout Association (Humanity Uplift Service Society), founded in 1917 by Madan Mohan Malaviya and Hridayanath Kunzru and based inAllahabad; the aforementionedBoy Scouts ofBengal and likely others. A conference was held in Calcutta in August 1920 in which Wilson staged a Scout Rally, and as a result theViceroy of India sent an invitation toLord Baden-Powell, by then Chief Scout of the World, to visit India. Lord andLady Baden-Powell arrived inBombay in late January 1921 for a short tour of the subcontinent before leaving Calcutta forRangoon. Alfred Pickford accompanied them and became one of their closest friends.

The result of this visit was a union of all of the Scout organizations except the Seva Samiti Scout Association intoThe Boy Scouts Association in India. In 1922 Pickford returned to England and was appointed Overseas Commissioner of The Boy Scouts Association at their headquarters in London, but his aim of adding Indian boys into the program had been fulfilled.^[6]

In 1938, a number of members left the Boy Scouts Association in India after a wave of nationalism. They formed – together with the Seva Samiti Scout Association and the newly foundedIndia National Scout Association – theHindustan Scout Association, the first coeducational Scouting and Guiding organisation in India.^[7] In the same year, the Boy Scouts Association in India became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement.

The first Girl Guides company was founded inJabalpur in 1911 atChrist Church School. The movement immediately grew: In 1915, more than fifty companies existed with a membership of over 1,200, all of them directly registered with theGirl Guide Association and all restricted to girls of European descent. These companies formed theAll India Girl Guides Association in 1916. In the same year the organisation opened for Indian girls.^[8][9]

J. S. Wilson provided transportation for Girl Guide rallies.

The girls themselves were never quite sure whether they preferred to ride in police vans or in the riot truck. The former concealed them from public view, but were very hot; the latter, being cages of expanded metal, were cooler, but reminiscent of theCalcutta Zoo!

In 1928, theAll India Girl Guides Association joined the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts as one of its founder members. This membership was renewed in 1948 after the independence of India and itspartition.^[9]

In the first years after India's independence leading politicians, includingJawaharlal Nehru,Maulana Abul Kalam Azad andMangal Das Pakvasa, as well as Scout leaders tried to unify India's Scouts and Guides. A first success was the merger of theBoy Scouts Association in India and theHindustan Scout Association forming the Bharat Scouts and Guides on 7 November 1950. About a year later, on 15 August 1951, theAll India Girl Guides Association joined this new organisation.^[8]

In 1959, the17th World Scout Conference in New Delhi was hosted by the BSG. TheSangam World Girl Guide/Girl Scout Center inPune,Maharashtra, India, opened in 1966. The idea for this fourthWorld Centre dates back to 1956 when it was developed during a WAGGGS International commissioners' meeting inNew Delhi.

TheUnited Nations selected the Bharat Scouts and Guides as honorary "Peace Messengers" for their significant and concrete contributions to theInternational Year of Peace in 1986.

Sethna's 18th West Bombay Scout Group is theoldest continuously running Scout Group in India.^[10] It was established in 1914, when Rustomji Edulji Sethna (1898–1954) came across the bookScouting for Boys, written by Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout movement. He was enamoured by the book and formed one of India's first Scout groups for native boys. Prior to that, there existed some Scout groups, but they were primarily for the British expatriates in India.

Sethna resisted joining one of the competing Scout associations and registering his troop until Scouting became open for all irrespective of color, caste, or creed. He wrote to Baden-Powell about this discrepancy. In 1921 the regulations were changed and all were allowed to become part of the Scout movement in India. The 18th West has been continuously running since the day it started. None of the World Wars or thePartition of India stopped the group from functioning.

Vivian Bose was a member of theWorld Scout Committee of the World Organization of the Scout Movement from 1947 until 1949.

In 1969, Mrs.Lakshmi Mazumdar was awarded theBronze Wolf, the only distinction of theWorld Organization of the Scout Movement, awarded by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting.

The association describes its aims in its mission:

The mission of Scouting is to contribute to the education of young people, through a value system based on the Scout Promise and Law to help build a better world where people are self-fulfilled as individuals and play a constructive role in society.^[11]

Scout and Guide units are separate although they have some coeducational activities such as Jamborees, rallies, and conferences. Differently-abled boys and girls also participate in the Scouting program.

The Scout emblem incorporates a wheel with twenty-four spokes, known as theAshoka Chakra, taken from theAshoka pillar atSarnath, in thegreen-and-saffron colors of theflag of India.

The association is divided in four (respective three) sections according to age:^[12]

Bunnies (Both Boys and Girls) - ages 3 to 5

Bharat Scouts

• Cubs - boys, ages 5 to 10
• Scouts - boys, ages 10 to 17
• Rovers - boys, ages 17 to 25

Bharat Guides

• Bulbuls - girls, ages 5 to 10
• Guides - girls, ages 10 to 17
• Rangers - girls, ages 17 to 25

Additionally, there are four special branches:^[12]

• Extension Scouting
• Sea Scouting
• Air Scouting
• Venture Club Scheme

The highest awards are

• for the Cubs/Bulbuls section the "Golden Arrow Award"
• for the Scout/Guide section the Rashtrapati Scout/Guide Award
• for the Rover/Ranger section the Rashtrapati Rover/Ranger Award^[12]

• Bunnies - Keep smiling
• Cubs/Bulbuls - Do your best
• Scouts/Guides - Be Prepared!
• Rovers/Rangers - Service

1. A Scout/Guide is trustworthy
2. A Scout/Guide is loyal
3. A Scout/Guide is a friend to all and a brother/sister to every other Scout/Guide.
4. A Scout/Guide is courteous
5. A Scout/Guide is a friend to animals and loves nature.
6. A Scout/Guide is disciplined and helps to protect public property.
7. A Scout/Guide is courageous.
8. A Scout/Guide is thrifty.
9. A Scout/Guide is pure in thought, word and deed.

1. Mangal Das Pakvasa 1953 to November 1960
2. Ammu Swaminathan November 1960 to March 1965
3. JusticeBhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha April 1965 to February 1967
4. SirChandulal M. Trivedi February 1967 to October 1973
5. Dharma Vira November 1973 to September 1976
6. Jagjivan Ram September 1976 to April 1983
7. Shankarrao Chavan April 1983 to November 1998
8. Rameshwar Thakur November 1998 to November 2001
9. Sharad Pawar November 2001 to November 2004
10. Rameshwar Thakur November 2004 to November 2013
11. Ashok Gehlot November 2013 to November 2016
12. Dr.Anil Jain November 2016 to present

1. Dr.Hridya Nath Kunzru 1952 to November 1957
2. JusticeVivian Bose November 1957 to November 1959
3. ProfessorMadan Mohan November 1959 to November 1960
4. Dr. Hridya Nath Kunzru November 1960 to November 1964
5. Mrs.Lakhshmi Mazumdar November 1964 to April 1983
6. Lakshman Singh April 1983 to November 1992
7. V.P. Deenadayalu Naidu November 1992 to November 1995
8. Lalit Mohan Jain November 1995 to November 2013
9. Bhaidas I. Nagarale November 2013 to 25 May 2017
10. Dr.Krishana Kumar Khandelwal 9 July 2017 to present

• Title of National Commissioner changed to Chief National Commissioner on 30 November 2014^[13]

The BSG maintains units for Indian citizens inSaudi Arabia,Qatar,Oman,United Arab Emirates, andYemen.

• Lakshmi Mazumdar
• Evelyn Norah Shullai
• Satish Ranjan Das
• Sangam World Girl Guide/Girl Scout Center

• Scouting 'Round the World,John S. Wilson, first edition, Blandford Press 1959 page 203.

• Official website
• Sethnas 18th West Bombay Scout Group India's oldest continuously running Scout troop

• World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts
• Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting
• World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts member organizations
• World Organization of the Scout Movement member organizations
• Scouting and Guiding in India
• Youth organizations established in 1950
• Organisations based in Delhi
• 1950 establishments in India
• Child-related organisations in India
• 1909 establishments in India
• Youth organizations established in 1909

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from June 2021
• Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia