Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement - SVYM

03/09/2025

Viveka Sainik School completes 3 years.

Though it still feels like yesterday, we have come a long way. And we thank all our partners, teachers, parents and above all the students for trusting us and becoming a part of this amazing journey.
We march ahead together.
Jai Hind

03/09/2025

31/08/2025

Nourishing a dream

Investing in our younger generation is the best investment any nation can make. At SVYM’s Viveka Tribal Centre For Learning (VTCL), our effort is to nurture a child’s physical, cognitive and emotional abilities, so the child can reach his or her full potential.

According to World Bank’s data, India ranks 115 out of 157 countries in the Human Capital Index with the HCI value at 0.44. The index measures the amount of human capital that a child born today can expect to attain by age 18, given the risks of poor health and poor education that prevail in the country where she lives. It is designed to highlight how improvements in current health and education outcomes shape the productivity of the next generation.

Providing the right nourishment at the school includes balanced meals that are planned keeping the traditional food practices of the tribal communities from where the children come. A variety of tubers (traditionally foraged by the indigenous tribals), ragi (millet) and greens that are grown in the school’s agricultural patch by the students themselves are served everyday.

We thank our partners for supporting us in nourishing the dream of VTCL students.

364 VTCL students, out of which nearly half are girls are supported by our partners Feeding India

27/08/2025

A beautiful Ganesha Idol made by students from our tribal school, Viveka Tribal Centre for Learning (VTCL). From paper, to clay, to plaster of paris and to metal, year after year, our students have moulded their creative ideas into beautiful forms with a touch of skills that they learn at Introduction to Basic Technology (IBT) classes. To make the idol, they used welding skills and an electrical circuit for adding spot lights.

If you happen to visit our school, you'll be greeted by many beautiful creations made by children that ornate the school.

We wish you auspicious beginnings.🙏🏽🌻

09/08/2025

A new trend, an ancient beat.

500 or so employees, all with djembe drums, one large hall with circular seating, aka a drum circle, is beating its way as a trending team building activity in the corporate world. It sounds sloppy at the start, like a construction site but surprisingly everyone begins to find the beat and the mood builds up into an ancient ceremony, tapping into a universal human rhythm that we all have, a hidden default setting that connects us, and in that moment, maybe the sales target is revealed too - making sure the heart doesn’t skip a beat (or atleast you don't notice it).

Before the entire thing was put through a wringer, somewhere in west Africa, from where the Djembe comes, this has been the way of celebrating co-existence. In Djembe, the "Dje" means gather and "be" means everyone, the drum used to summon the community. A little to the east, in southern Karnataka, Dolu is the name of the drum used by the Betta Kuruba tribe, often accompanied by a Peepe, a wind instrument that plays a looping melody, add to it, the voicings in chorus from anyone and everyone dancing in the circle. Interestingly, the indigenous communities anywhere in the world dance a circle, hand in hand, fingers locked, feet thumping in sync, spirits rising with each revolution, a bonfire in the centre as an elemental add on.

Being probably the oldest known dance formation, circle dancing is an ancient tradition for marking special occasions, rituals, strengthening community and encouraging togetherness. You can see a five year old and a fifty year old swirling around an invisible core, like the planets around the Sun.

The Betta Kuruba dance in a circle too is a powerful symbol of unity, tradition, and their deep-rooted bond with nature. Every step, every beat of the drum carries the spirit of their ancestors, celebrating life in its purest form. Witnessing their dance has taught us a thing or two about inclusiveness, like in the photo, we see that the drummer can be a young boy trained by the ear, the dancer could be an 80 year old man. An old woman would start out in a pitch she can manage and everyone would fill in. It may keep changing over and evolve. The concept that there are no wrong notes, but harmonies that enrich the emotion of existence make everything sound melodious.

The profoundness of being invited to be part of this circle under a full moon has taught SVYM in the most subtle way, that the values of equal partnership are rooted in being present - tucked tight in the group, realising that in gentle ‘push & pull’ lie our truest attempts to sync with a proprioceptive awareness that’s universal, that we are all a part of the world as one family. And with that one can find home in the most alien of places. SVYM found a home in the dense forests of Bandipur and a purpose to exist too.

Thank you to all our tribal brothers and sisters for having faith in us. International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples

08/08/2025

"Breastfeeding: Little Voices, Big Demand"

Children call on families and communities to stand by nursing mothers.

It is unique to have a movement led by young children coming together to draw attention to the fact that although nursing a baby is a mother’s superpower, the mother-baby duo need supporting actors too.

So little children participated by expressing in simple and powerful ways the importance of creating a supportive environment for mothers to breastfeed. Through their voices, the messages reached families and communities, reminding everyone that breastfeeding is not just a mother’s responsibility, it requires care, time, and support from those around her.

Breastmilk is every child’s right. By placing children at the center of this campaign, we tried to highlight both the impact of breastfeeding and the shared responsibility of ensuring that mothers are empowered and encouraged to feed their babies without barriers.

This initiative supported by our partner Wipro reminds us that the smallest voices can make the biggest difference when it comes to nurturing care.

The event for World Breastfeeding Week was also mapped on the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) website. https://worldbreastfeedingweek.org/pledge-map/

12/07/2025

How does one realise he or she is on the right path? If one does not, if the path disappears… it could just be the sign. Being unaware of taking the road less travelled and yet, in complete alignment with the compass within. Witnessing the unfolding of something great on every turn and yet, passing it as trivial. Drawn to destiny or deciphered to cause and effect, it is hard to explain, yet there's not the slightest fear or doubt. 

In the photo, a young community facilitator from SVYM is riding his motorcycle across the great and vast landscape covering the Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Kabini backwaters, dotted with tribal settlements, farmland bordering forest land and roadside junctures where wild animals are sighted frequently. 

Every day going up and down this road that stretches roughly 40 kilometers, he may be witnessing the contrast in lives that may span over decades. The last villages on the road do not have access to water and electricity.

But as he gets closer, somewhere someone is associating the sound of his bike’s horn with the coming of good news, somewhere someone is greeting him with a smile that makes him forget the soreness in his back and somewhere someone sees him with trust that in turn becomes his quiet conviction and fuels his hope that things can be better - and he clocks in another day to serve fellow brothers and sisters, with every step the path appears.

01/07/2025

Do you remember taking your toy doctor kit and fixing the 'ouche' on your grandpa's hand? Checking the heartbeat of a doll that maybe running a fever too? Dashing to your father and asking how to make a little kitten or puppy feel better cuz it is shivering out of cold on a rainy day? Try to fix the broken wing of a butterfly? It is true that a doctor is born long before a doctor is made. It is born in the conviction that healing is a power one must have to show kindness that we all deserve from each other. When the noble intentions become a profession, a doctor is finally made. An answer to a calling that was born way before. Happy National Doctor's Day.

29/06/2025

A one of its kind debate camp for high school students.

This week at SVYM’s V-LEAD Centre in Mysore, young students were seen refining their debating & public speaking skills as part of the Debate & Argumentation Workshop - the fourth one jointly conducted by SVYM and ILR School, Cornell University, USA. At the end of the 3 day workshop, the house unanimously believed that - the workshop was a unique learning experience for high school students, mentored by students from the USA, and India, a cross-cultural exchange fostering future global citizens.
An enriching addition to this year, the mentoring team included students from previous year’s debate workshop.
The Cornell team said “We saw a lot of positive results in oratory skills and debating techniques in the students who had come from different schools.
On the first day everybody was shy and quiet and on the last day everybody was vibrant and speaking with confidence.”
Bhavani who had participated in the debate camp six years ago expressed, “I had the opportunity to give back as a mentor this time. The workshop is a great platform for young girls to come forward and speak their minds.”

A total of 29 students participated in this year’s edition of the workshop.

Vivekananda Institute of Indian Studies (VIIS) and Cornell University partnered in 2011, together conducting the Global Service Learning program for Cornell’s School of ILR. Every summer, the students come to India to participate in 4 or 6 week service learning projects in SVYM project sites, some of which are located in rural & remote indigenous tribal areas and offer a unique and transformative experience to students who engage and contribute to SVYM’s programs in health, education, environment and women & youth.

10/06/2025

It was back in the 1990s, we were trying hard to convince Bommi, a pregnant woman living just outside the Bandipur forest, to come to our hospital.

We tried many times and failed. She wouldn’t agree no matter how hard we tried. She would just say …..If an elephant can give birth in the forest, why can’t I?

It was profound to hear those words. It showed how deeply rooted the beliefs of the tribal communities were. The fact that both the tribals and our doctors wanted the same - health and wellbeing of mother and her child - but had such different views became our guiding light to understand and work towards reducing maternal mortality - taking a non prescriptive approach and working along with the indigenous communities.

By the time our very first Reproductive and Child Health Project supported by the World Health Organisation ended in 2002, Institutional deliveries, which were non-existent when we started, had grown to 40%.

Today, virtually every tribal woman in the area comes to our hospitals or a public health centre to deliver their babies. Our Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) with Ashraya Hastha Trust now is written about and studied; Public Health practitioners and academicians are impressed with the falling maternal mortality and improved health outcomes. A recent impact assessment of the project by an external firm highlights the change - achieved over two decades - emphasising its critical importance in remote and inaccessible tribal settlements. Read report -https://svym.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/External-Evaluation-Report-of-RMNCH-A-Program-of-SVYM.pdf

Last year, Suma gave birth to a boy in our hospital. At 32 years of age, her second child came after a 15 year gap. It made her experience motherhood in an entirely new way.

Her first child was delivered at home by her mother on the day of a festival. No one was there to help. Her entire family has a history of home deliveries; Suma herself was born at home, and her mother delivered all five of her daughters without any medical assistance.

Suma and her husband kept trying for a second child. Being able to conceive after 15 years, they didn’t want to leave anything to chance. They delivered the second child at our hospital. It was Suma’s mother who encouraged them to take this decision.

Seeing Suma, now her relatives too have given birth to their babies at Vivekananda Memorial Hospital.

Suma’s decision to go for institutional delivery illustrates a change in mindset, reinforced by positive experiences. Suma’s mother stayed with her during her entire hospital stay. During pregnancy, Suma experienced leg swelling and headaches. The staff at VMH provided medication and made home visits to help her manage her symptoms as and when they appeared.

Such stories are a beacon of light guiding many families on a path of safe motherhood.

In 2024, with Ashraya Hasta Trust and the community, we were able to achieve a 99.81 institutional delivery rate and zero maternal deaths. It is an emotional moment for us all to see how far we have come together.

Mahatma Gandhi said, in a gentle way, you can shake the world. I’d like to say that this is how I see our partnership with Ashraya Hasta Trust.

Coming together to safeguard the most fragile and the most precious. Thank You Ashraya Hastha Trust