DARPAN SALUTES
SAMMAAN:
PROVIDING RESPECT AND BASIC RIGHT TO THE INDIAN COMMUNITY BY MRINALINI SUNDAR
S
ammaan in English means respect. It is a virtue that every human being deserves to live in this world. This not for profit organization was first established in 2007. The primary objective of the organization was to alleviate the life of rickshaw pullers and road vendors. The initiative started by providing value-added services such as water and new paper etc. on the rickshaws. Advertising was placed on rickshaws for additional income for the rickshaw pullers. This scheme was an overwhelming success and was soon adopted by other states in the country. The NGO’s socio-economic empowerment plan exclusively for rickshaw pullers was executed through a number of initiatives ranging from financial inclusion to health services. The NGO states that the initiative was to systematize the working of rickshaw and cart pullers by bringing them under one roof and modernize the sector with small, innovative, and meaningful changes helping the rickshaw and cart pullers to increase their earnings. Sammaan is registered under section 25 of the Indian Company’s Act 1956. The NGO has a long history of working in financial inclusion, livelihood, micro-entrepreneurship, health, and agriculture.
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Reflecting The South-Asian Lifestyle
DARPAN
According to its website, the organization has been actively engaged in community service through many grassroots initiatives including extensive work with rickshaw pullers and street vendors. As the organization grew, it later ventured into health services by launching mobile medical units, medical ambulances, and mortuary vans with the support of the State Health Society, Goverment of Bihar under National Health Mission, Government of India.
The Mani Man behind the NGO Internationally acclaimed entrepreneur Irfan Alam is the man of the hour at Sammaan. He is a Fulbright, Ford, and TED Fellow, and is also the winner of the CNBC Young Turk and CNN Young Indian Leader awards. He has been widely covered by The Economist, Fortune, for entrepreneurship and social innovation at the BoP. Currently, Alam serves as the founder and chairman of the Sammaan Foundation. Besides the rickshaw/cart cooperative model, Alam also helped Sammaan become one of the leading and most economical emergency ambulance service providers in the country. Another idea coming from him is the first-of-its-kind mortuary van service in partnership with the Government of Bihar, TM
which runs across the Bihar state through a 24 X 7 call center to carry dead bodies. The organization and Alam’s primary vision is to generate a meaningful understanding of the community, inspire their social inclusion, bring better services to the lives of people, and finally, create income opportunities for the unskilled.
Medical Ambulances and Mortuary Vans Sammaan Foundation has been working with the State Government of Bihar to improve emergency healthcare services in the state. The NGO caters to all 38 districts and six medical colleges as part of their advanced life support ambulances. All of the ambulances are equipped with over 40 advanced life-saving equipment such as oxygen, ventilator, cardiac monitor and defibrillator.
