Vinayak Lohani | |
|---|---|
 Lohani receiving thePadma Shri in 2025 | |
| Born | (1978-04-12)12 April 1978 (age 47) |
| Citizenship | India |
| Education | B.Tech,MBA |
| Alma mater | IIT Kharagpur,IIM Calcutta |
| Known for | Founder of Parivaar,Social Entrepreneur |
| Awards | Padma Shri (2025) |
Vinayak Lohani is the founder of Parivaar, a humanitarian institution based inWest Bengal.[1] Lohani was influenced by the teachings ofRamakrishna andSwami Vivekananda, particularly Vivekananda's concept of serving the "Divine in Man.[2][3][4]
In January 2025, he was honored with thePadma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award, by theGovernment of India.[5][6]
Vinayak Lohani was born inBhopal,Madhya Pradesh and did his schooling there. His family roots are fromAlmora district of Kumaon region inUttarakhand. He went toIIT Kharagpur to do his B.Tech and thereafter worked forInfosys for a year. In 2001, he joinedIIM Calcutta to do hisMBA.[7][8]
AtIIM 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 for children from impoverished and destitute backgrounds in late 2003.[2] 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. As of December 2023 , there are more than 1900 resident children (girls and boys) at Parivaar, making it the largest and high-quality residential program for children from impoverished strata inWest Bengal.
In 2016–17, Parivaar also started working inMadhya Pradesh. It has started 832 Nutritional Meals cum Education centers for children in selected impoverished tribal and rural pockets called 'Sri Ramakrishna Vivekananda Seva Kutir' in 18 districts serving more than 40,000 children.[9] Parivaar also runs 2 residential schools and 2 hostels in the districts ofDewas,Sehore andMandla ofMadhya Pradesh. More than 1100 boys and girls from different tribal geographies of the state are residing in these campuses.[10] Apart from these, Parivaar also runs 93 free 24*7 ambulances[11] across 23 districts and 21 mobile medical clinics in 8 districts covering 982 villages[12] in Madhya Pradesh, under which more than 15 lac patients have been served till December 2024.Under its Vision Restoration Program, Parivaar has organized more than 5700 camps in 42 months in collaboration with several eye hospitals under which more than 6.48 lac patients have been served and 72 thousand free eye surgeries have been performed.[13]
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