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and there. I should particularly like to mention the group formed in 1918 at the A.P. Mission School, Dehra Dun with Rev. H. R. Ferger as the Scoutmaster. Later on when Mr. Langley Moon was appointed a full time Provincial Commissioner, more scout troops were formed in different parts of the Province. These troops were affiliated with the Indian Boy Scouts Association, Madras. Side by side, a small seed, acorn, in the form of a boys’ group called Bal Sevak Dal, was sworn in 1913 by Pandit Shri Ram Bajpai at Shahjahanpur. Within a short time it grew into a mighty tree, attaining its full stature as the Hindustan Scout Association in 1938. The specific contributions of this organisation to Indian Scouting were that although it drew its inspiration from the fundamental principles of the Scout Law and the Promise as laid down by the Founder, in its objectives it was fully in tune with the aspirations of Young India for the attainment of Swaraj based on the best elements in India’s past heritage; and that it provided meaningful idealism to the boys under its fold by encouraging them to participate in the social welfare needs of the country.

While Dr. Annie Besant and her friends were agitating in the South for the recognition of the eligibility of Indian boys for enrolment as Scouts in the movement, the matter received serious attention in the North also from prominent educationists and public men of eminence like Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya. Pandit H.N. Kunzru, Dr. G S. Arundale, etc. At the invitation of the Prayag Samiti in 1918 Pandit Shri Ram Bajpai brought his volunteers to the Kumbh Mela at Allahabad. The dedicated services rendered by the group in controlling the crowds and offering assistance to the pilgrims impressed the leaders of the Seva Samiti Organisation- so much so, that both Pandit Malaviya and Pandit Kunzru prevailed upon Bajpai to stay on at Allahabad and organise scouting through the Seva Samiti Organisation. Thus on December 1, 1918 the Seva Samiti Scout Association was inaugurated with its headquarters at the Seva Samiti Building at Allahabad, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya was its first Chief Scout and Pandit H.N. Kunzru its first Chief Commissioner. Shri Ram Bajpai was appointed Chief Organising Commissioner.

The dynamism of Shri Ram Bajpai and the selfless leadership of Pandit Kunzru drew a large number of prominent men and women into the fold of the organisation. Besides the service oriented activities of the scouts and the emphasis laid on