Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust, is a registered charity that was established over 24 years ago by Mr Mahendra Mehta. It was set up in order to tackle the problems of poverty in Mumbai, especially amongst young children. From its humble origins as a family institution it has grown rapidly, and now its projects cover a wide range of activities located in both India and other developing countries, including Afghanistan, Sudan, Kenya and Burundi. Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust is committed to the welfare of people from the most underprivileged strata of society without distinction of caste, creed or color. Its emphasis is on assisting the children and youth who are the citizens of tomorrow and the disabled who need a support to help them join mainstream society. They aim a future in which each and every child can look forward to a new day, a day free of hunger, suffering, abuse and poverty. Also aim to reach out to children across the world, to give them new opportunities, and help them rise out of poverty.
Health and Mobility
By means of the mobility and hearing aids project, Ratna Nidhi Charitable trust aims to bequeath a new life to each of those who have been deprived of the basic privileges of mobility and hearing for most of their lives. With the gift of mobility, these people develop self confidence, have the abilities to lead near normal lives and have the potential to become contributive members of their society instead of being a burden on it.
Till date they have been able to reach out to an astounding figure of over 2,23,325 disabled beneficiaries. The camp at Palitana, Gujarat in 2009-10 was the largest of its kind giving a new lease of life to 28549 poorest of the poor disabled of Bhavnagar and adjoining districts. The camp was inaugurated by Honourable Chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi and was graced by the presence of His Holiness The Dalai lama.
These mobility camps provide various aids to support their mobility/audio receptivity. Children/youth affected by polio will be given calipers to support their limbs, limb amputees will be fitted with Jaipur foot prosthetics, Tricycles, wheelchairs and crutches will also be distributed on a need based assessment. People with hearing impairment will be given hearing aids in order to improve their audio receptivity.
Millions of children in India go to bed hungry because their parents/guardians are not able to purchase food for them. Most of them drop out from schools so that they can help their parents and supplement the family income.
Ratna Nidhi Charitable trust’s Food for Education program distributes free food prepared at their kitchens on a daily basis, to poor children if they attend any formal or non-formal educational class. It thus combines food with education. The programme has been very effective in arresting the drop-out rate in schools.
From 1998 till now they distributed over 2.5 crore meals.
RNCT Education Scholarship Program
In the past 15 years Mumbai has witnessed the most daunting terror attacks, costing the lives of many innocents. However, families of these terror victims were shattered with the sudden financial responsibilities. And in such situations it is undeniable that the children’s education takes a back step, further impacting their future.
Identifying the post terror impact on these little ones, Ratna Nidhi started Education Scholarship Program to support their education. The first set of scholarships was provided to the victims of Mumbai terror attack which took place on August 24, 2003. Till date this project has successfully covered 300 children, out of which, many of them have completed their education with flying colors.
Disaster Relief
At times of catastrophes, only a helping hand of support can revive hope and faith for the victims of the brutalities of nature.
Ratna Nidhi Charitable trust has always been in the forefront whenever such a natural upheaval has occurred by providing health, hygiene, education and survival kits to the victims. In addition to this they also provide prosthetic and orthopaedic aid to the injured, vocational training to the widows , temporary shelters, water storing facilities as well as schools.
They have always emerged with aid, all though the massive Gujarat Earthquake of 2001, the merciless tsunami of 2004 in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the violent flash floods in Mumbai of 2005, Bihar floods of 2008, Nargis Cyclone of Myanmar in 2008, Haiti Earthquake of 2010 and the Leh Ladhak floods of 2010.
Garment Distribution
Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust is working for the welfare of society since the last 25 years. Various welfare programs like Garment Project, Food for Education Programme, Mobility project, Book Donation project, Vocational Training project etc.
Concept :
To give an underprivileged person a pair of clothes is as good as dressing him with self-respect. With this objective we distribute usable garments to the poorest of the poor children, women and men of all ages. To ensure that it reach out to more and more poor and needy people we distribute these garments through a network of various institutions / NGOs/ Schools / Colleges who are working with the poor and underprivileged group of society. They in turn distribute the garments to individual beneficiaries.
The Method of Distribution:
- The applications are invited from various institutions / NGOs working with Tribal / backward areas / or in the interiors are given preference .
- The NGO’s are encouraged to do survey or to compile list of beneficiaries area / village / Location wise to facilitate packing and distribution, and to tabulate Age/ Sex/ Size requirement.
- The garment department sort clothes as per group age /sex and size wise, to remove torn cloths, to count, to pack and to transport the agency destination.
“The creation of Safe Kids Foundation in India is a logical continuation of the Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust’s work to help children of all backgrounds lead better lives.”
Safe Kids Foundation was set up in India in October of 2006 with the aim of preventing unintentional childhood injury. This is an addition to the Safe Kids Worldwide family of coalition partners. The organization works in close collaboration with Safe Kids Worldwide for the benefit of children in India. The target group and primary focus of our work is children below 14 years of age. On a worldwide level, accidents kill 1.3 million children annually. In India, this number is around 60, 000. Many more are disabled.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs 15, 935 children ages 14 and younger were reported as killed by unintentional injuries in India in 2010 (source: Accidental Deaths in India by National Crime Records Bureau) An injury or accident may permanently disable a child which is catastrophic for a family and has enormous emotional, social, and economic consequences for the family.
Research however shows that most accidents occur due to human error. With the right mix of education, environmental changes and people working together for the benefit of children, we could prevent many of the unintentional injuries and deaths that affect millions of families across globe.
Safe Kids Foundation started its work in the sphere of road safety by launching its first program ‘Walk This Way’ in October, 2007. This program educates both the school and non-school going children about ‘Pedestrian Safety’ thus creating and strengthening their awareness of the hazards on the road. It also conducts interactive sessions for parents, teachers and volunteers.
