Mission impossible: Sam Singh gave Anupshahr girl power

Civil Society News

IF empowerment of young women is what is in mind, Anupshahr is not the easiest of places to begin. A dusty and conservative town, it is an example of how deeply entrenched feudal and patriarchal values are in rural India.

From an early age, girls in Anupshahr are in a queue to be married off and the possibility that they can have an education and find employment is not entertained by local families.

But it is here that Virendra Sam Singh succeeded in igniting the first sparks of social change. It has taken all of 24 years, but thanks to his efforts the lives of more than 8,000 girls have been impacted by quality education and many have gone on to get jobs in various sectors both in India and abroad.

It is not just about education. There are other signs of change as well. Each year, a pulsating half-marathon is run through the streets of the bleak town with girls and boys competing with one another in a zesty display of equality. Often the girls do better than the boys, showing what is possible when age-old restrictions are cast aside.

The half-marathon has become an event awaited with much anticipation locally. It is an example of the innumerable other ways the girls have been carving out space for themselves.

Over the years, Virendra Sam Singh, popularly called just Sam, had come to be seen as a local hero. And when he passed away on July 22, a pall of gloom descended on Anupshahr.

Sam’s end came in Virginia in America at the age of 84, surrounded by his family. But it was to Anupshahr that he was brought for cremation, surrounded by the thousands of girls whose lives he had changed.

Often, people go round the world only to discover that their true passion lies where they began. It was so for Sam who returned to Anupshahr because he wanted to dedicate himself to the educating of girls. A modern India would have to empower its women. Education was the key that had to be turned.

Sam grew up in Anupshahr in a patriarchal family. With all the benefits of a good education and training as an engineer, he settled in America. He retired as the South Asia head of Dupont, the multinational.

But when he sought to inject new meaning into his materially successful life, it was to Anupshahr that he returned to set up Pardada Pardadi Educational Society (PPES), an NGO. What better way could there have been to give back to a backward corner of the world where he had been a privileged beneficiary purely because of his gender?

The transition involved not just leaving the life he knew behind, but also his immediate family. In many ways, it was a crazy idea. It required complete dedication while being in Anupshahr. Over time, he set up two schools that offer holistic education, vocational training, day boarding, nutritious meals and a unique scholarship of `10 for daily attendance.

The schools at present fulfil the educational needs of over 3,500 girls from 120 villages. Every PPES graduate is either employed or earning an income or pursuing higher studies sponsored by the NGO.

“His passing leaves a gaping hole in my heart. But I am grateful for the gifts he leaves behind. Pardada Pardadi is his greatest gift,” says Renu Singh Agarwal, his elder daughter.

Sam’s sensitivity to gender inequality came out of his own upbringing in a typically feudal family. The privileges and opportunities he enjoyed, the girls in the family did not. He was affected by the unfairness of this regressive equation and it stayed with him even as he spent 40 years abroad.

Driven by the thought that he could be an instrument of change, he went in 1988 to the Dalai Lama’s school in Dharamsala, which made the base for his model for the schools that PPES would set up with their focus on universal educational values and livelihood skills.

“Sam wanted every girl of Anupshahr to be financially independent and so the day a girl child joins us in nursery, we give her a job guarantee. It is a bold statement to make but it is the driving force behind Pardada Pardadi,” says Lokender Pal Singh, who has worked closely with Sam over the years and now heads the PPES board as president.

“Sam was the kind of person who thought everything is possible. He wanted the girls to have the world’s best jobs,” he adds. Setting higher goals became the culture at PPES. “If a girl is excelling in sports, the next thought is of how she can  represent the country. If another is inclined towards science, then she gets the support she needs to become a doctor.”

Over the years, this vision has created stories of change and empowered many young girls to pursue dreams that they are otherwise taught to never speak of. For instance, Savita, who was introduced to Pardada Pardadi at the age of seven, is now a validation engineer who has become a role model for the girls in her village. Her new-found skills and resources have also helped her to design and project-manage the construction of a spacious three-bedroom house for her father, a single parent.

But the main thrust has been on enabling girls to get basic jobs and stable incomes which can make them independent.

“The ultimate aim is that no girl should be left behind. That’s the way he thought and we are determined to take his vision forward. He may not be physically present but he lives on with all of us at the organization,” says Lokender Pal Singh.

“While I grieve his passing, I am full of pride over the heirloom we now hold and I am optimistic about the future of Pardada Pardadi,” says his daughter.