Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission:
(A) New centre
- Ramakrishna Sevashrama in Sitakunda, Bangladesh was made an affiliate of the Ramakrishna Mission.
- Malaysia centre started two new sub-centres in Johor and Perak.
- Sao Paulo centre, Brazil, started a sub-centre in Brasilia.
(B) Important News
- Baliati centre, Bangladesh, built an office building.
- Buenos Aires centre, Argentina, built a prayer-room.
- Colombo centre, Sri Lanka, unveiled a statue of Swami Vivekananda at on the campus of its Batticaloa sub-centre.
- Curitiba centre, Brazil, brought out two digital publications in Portuguese.
- Dinajpur centre, Bangladesh, released a documentary and a souvenir commemorating its centenary.
- Germany centre moved to a new campus in Berlin. A new shrine with the marble statue of Sri Ramakrishna was consecrated on this new campus.
- Hollywood centre, USA, installed a plaque at a nearby intersection which reads ‘Vedanta Square – Commemorating the message of peace, harmony and oneness brought to Los Angeles by Swami Vivekananda in 1899’.
- Jashore ashrama, Bangladesh, built monks’ quarters.
- Vedanta Society of New York, USA, was granted the status of an associate by the United Nations Department of Global Communications (UN-DGC).
- Vancouver centre, Canada, moved to its new premises in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver.
(C) Report of Activities
i. Relief & Rehabilitation Work:
Sl. | Type of Relief | Country | Conducted by (centres/sub-centres) |
1 | Flood Relief | Bangladesh | Bagerhat and Chittagong |
Sri Lanka | Batticaloa | ||
2 | Cyclone Relief | Bangladesh | Bagerhat |
3 | Distress Relief | Bangladesh | Bagerhat, Chittagong, Dhaka, Faridpur, Jashore and Mymensingh |
Fiji | Fiji | ||
South Africa | Durban and Phoenix | ||
Zambia | Lusaka | ||
Sri Lanka | Batticaloa | ||
Nepal | Kathmandu | ||
4 | Winter Relief | Bangladesh | Bagerhat, Chandpur, Chittagong, Dhaka, Faridpur, Jashore, Rangpur and Sitakunda |
Nepal | Kathmandu | ||
South Africa | Durban and Phoenix |
ii. Medical Work:
Units | No. of Units | Break-up of Patients | ||
Male | Female | Children | ||
Dispensaries | 15 | 59,019 | 71,418 | 19,303 |
Mobile Medical Units | 3 | 1,032 | 2,221 | 542 |
Medical Camps | 21 | 13,296 | 16,407 | 17,602 |
Total | 39 | 73,347 | 90,046 | 37,447 |
iii. Educational Work:
Institutions | No. of Units | No. of Students | ||
Boys | Girls | Total | ||
Secondary Schools (up to class 10) | 2 | 654 | 576 | 1230 |
Jr. Basic / UP / LP Schools (up to class 5) | 4 | 157 | 99 | 256 |
Pre-Basic / KG / Nursery Schools | 3 | 133 | 122 | 255 |
Hostels / Students’ Homes | 19 | 639 | 92 | 731 |
Orphanages | 3 | 53 | — | 53 |
Computer Training Centres | 6 | 305 | 65 | 370 |
Night School / Adult Education Centres | 1 | 10 | 7 | 17 |
Vocational Training Centres | 7 | 217 | 417 | 634 |
Coaching Centres | 99 | 1,428 | 1,173 | 2,601 |
Others | 2 | 70 | – | 70 |
Total | 146 | 3,666 | 2,551 | 6,217 |
iv. Vocational Training Units:
Vocational Courses | Batches Trained | No. of Students | ||
Boys | Girls | Total | ||
Agriculture, Horticulture, Floriculture, etc | 5 | 67 | 58 | 125 |
Cutting, Tailoring, etc | 4 | — | 75 | 75 |
Vocational Music & Dance | 1 | — | 32 | 32 |
Other | 18 | 50 | 111 | 161 |
Total | 28 | 117 | 276 | 393 |
v. Cultural Units:
Cultural Units / Camps / Seminars | No. of Units / Programmes | No. of Delegates / Participants |
Balak Sangha, Study Circles, etc | 53 | 706 |
Yoga & Meditation | 2 | 50 |
Values Education Programmes | 3 | 1,695 |
Youths’ Conventions / Workshops / Seminars | 9 | 403 |
Others | 3 | 600 |
Total | 70 | 3,454 |
vi. Welfare Work:
Type of Activity | Total No. of Beneficiaries |
Rice / Wheat etc (kg) | 4,496 |
Ration Bags1 | 15,795 |
Snacks / Tiffin | 12,940 |
Meals | 12,704 |
Buttermilk / Water Distribution | 300 |
Hygiene Kits2 | 2,851 |
Educational Kits3 | 568 |
Clothes | 10,420 |
Winter Clothes (blankets etc) | 3,130 |
Pecuniary Help | 84 |
Medical Help | 1,483 |
Educational Help | 1,043 |
Others | 1,175 |
1 Ration bags contained rice, pulses, salt, cooking oil, condiments, sugar, tea leaves, etc
2 Hygiene kits contained toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes, soap bars, antiseptics, nail-cutters, etc
3 Education kits contained textbooks, notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, geometry boxes, rulers, uniforms, etc
Moreover, relief items were distributed among 46,416 people.
vii. Spreading of Moral, Cultural and Spiritual Ideas: This was accomplished through several libraries, lectures, regular classes, public celebrations, etc.
The 24 libraries in various centres had 70,804 books, newspapers and 65 periodicals.
Our monks gave lectures at the centres and in colleges, universities, and other institutions, conducted religious classes, observed religious festivals with special worship, organized seminars and held retreats.
Details of the lectures etc conducted by the Math and Mission centres abroad during the year are given below:
Preaching / Lectures | No. of Classes | Attendance |
Classes / Lectures | 1,880 | 1,19,637 |
Spiritual Retreats | 27 | 1,500 |
Celebrations / Public Meetings | 159 | 1,86,271 |
Our centres published valuable books and 13 periodicals in 7 languages.
Publication Centres | Periodicals | Languages | |
Mission | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Math | 10 | 10 | 6 |