Capital: New Delhi
Area: 3,287,263 km²
Population: more than a billion (July 2005)
Ethnic groups: Indo-Aryan, Dravidian
Official language(s): English and Hindi
Religion(s): Hindu, Muslim, Christian
Currency: 1 Indian rupee = 100 paise
SOS Children's Villages' activities in the country
In 1963 Hermann Gmeiner met Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, then Prime Minister of India, who was extremely impressed by the SOS Children's Village concept. Under the auspices of his daughter Indira Gandhi a committee and subsequently an association were founded, which immediately hastened the realization of the first SOS Children's Village Greenfields near Delhi. Of the founding members of the Indian SOS Children's Villages Association, J.N. Kaul became the first village director who in subsequent decades would greatly influence the SOS Children's Village work in this poor and densely populated country.
In 1967 Mrs. Indira Gandhi handed the chairmanship of the committee to Mrs. Tara Ali Baig, who presided over the SOS Children's Villages Association in India until her death in 1989. Since then Padashmi Shri J.N. Kaul has been heading the entire SOS Children's Village work in India.
Since the 1960's there has been a good cooperation between the exiled Tibetan Community and SOS-Kinderdorf International. Shortly after the Tibetans fled from their native country, the Dalai Lama founded the "Tibetan Children's Villages" in May 1960. In 1962 the "Tibetan Homes Foundation" was established. In 1971, from what was initially a make-shift children's home, the first Tibetan SOS Children's Village developed in Dharamsala, a city in the north of India where a large number of refugees had settled.
Over the years SOS Children's Villages for Tibetans could be built in seven locations. The economic plight and tense political situation in some areas of the Indian subcontinent led to a particularly intensive involvement of SOS Children's Villages, the work of which developed rapidly and resulted in the establishment of numerous SOS Children's Villages and additional SOS facilities.
Again and again India was rocked by unrest (1983 in Assam and 1994 as well as 2002 in Jammu and Kashmir) or was plagued by environmental and natural disasters like the toxic gas accident of 1984 in Bhopal, the devastating cyclones in 1996 in Visakhapatnam and in Orissa in 1999, the catastrophic earthquakes in Latur of 1993 and in Gujarat (2001), as well as in the Tsunami affected province of Tamil Nadu in 2004. The SOS Children's Villages rendered immediate assistance in all these catastrophes with emergency relief programmes, which were converted into permanent facilities, mostly SOS Children's Villages.
At present there are 39 SOS Children's Villages in India, with corresponding SOS Youth Facilities and SOS Kindergartens, 15 SOS Hermann Gmeiner Schools, 7 SOS Vocational Training Centres, 33 SOS Social Centres (Family Strengthening Programmes), and 9 SOS Medical Centres.
Website of SOS Children's Villages India (available in English)