Social Responsibility

We are conscious of the fact that tourism can help sustain a community while it can also disturb its balance. We are also conscious of the need to help preserve our environment as well as assist in the social and economic development of the communities we visit.

We promote resorts that believe in conservation and eco-friendly usage of resources. We avoid the use of plastic where we can. We like organic and we like recycling; we like to see animals being treated with care and kindness; we like to see a glow on the faces of the people we visit… at the same time we ask you not to be judgemental…. it is a vast and diverse world. Among the projects taken up by our promoters and supported by us are schools in remote parts of Manipur in the North East; schools for girls in the village of Lauria in Bihar; training tribal communities in Sultan’ Battery in Wayanad; and schools and free hospitals for slum dwellers in and around Delhi. We have given details of two such enterprises here. The Shiksha Education Centres, run by Ajai Malhotra, a Russian speaking former diplomat who is also our adviser for the architectural heritage of India; and The Anaha Trust, set up by C Balagopal, founder of Terumo Penpol and a former civil servant in Manipur, now a public speaker, writer and philanthropist.

We support Shiksha, a charitable institution run by Ajai Malhotra and his family.

It was founded in 2002 by Ajai’s father, General OP Malhotra, PVSM, former Chief of Indian Army, to provide free educational and vocational training to underprivileged children and youth. The primary motivation is to enable children from poor families to join the educational process rather than be left behind due to lack of documentation, lack of prior education, social isolation (especially for children of rural migrant workers) or financial constraints.

Shiksha initially adopted a government school, providing basic facilities to its students, such as potable water, mid-day meal, functioning toilets, school uniforms, extracurricular activities and additional teachers. Subsequently, it started its own schools.

Shiksha Education Center, Mohyal Colony, Jharsa Village

The Mohyal Colony Educational Center has been operating since 2007 and is Shiksha's longest running and most successful project. It has 690 students - 664 attending regular classes plus 26 preparing for their National Insititute of Open Schooling exams. Originally run on the ground floor of a community center, a second floor was constructed to accommodate the increasing number of students wanting to attend the institution. In 2017, a new wing with three additional classrooms was added. The Center now has 18 classrooms a small library and a modest sized outdoor play area.

Shiksha Education Center, Wazirabad Village

The Wazirabad Education Center has 295 students. It was founded in 2003 to educate street children who would spent their days wandering and collecting scrap material in the slums to generate income. Shiksha has been managing it since 2010 when it rented a new location in the heart of a slum where it inaugurated a Shiksha Education Center. It has students up to Class V and 8 classrooms centred around an outdoor play area. The children at Wazirabad are creative and artistically inclined and the Center's mural covered walls reflect their passion for the arts.

Donate to Shiksha

Shiksha is part of the GlobalGiving ecosystem and can accept donations through its platform, which also extends tax deduction benefits to UK and US citizens.

Set up by another promoters of ours, C Balagopal, The Anaha Trust, is run by Bala with his wife Vinita. Anaha supports social projects in various parts of India including in Trivandrum and Wayanad in Kerala; Gudalur in Tamil Nadu; and Tamenglong in Manipur. We have featured Manipur here where Anaha has joined hands with Sunbird Trust (www.sunbirdtrust.com) that currently sponsors 3,300 children and has built or is building 14 institutions (schools and hostels) in remote parts of North East India.

Paangkriang Friendship School

One of the partner schools is the Paangkriang Friendship School located at Ijeirong Village in Manipur. The school has 450 tribal children, mainly of the Inpui Naga community and hailing from eight nearby villages, studying in classes from Nursery to Standard 10. Founded in 2008, the school had humble origins with the classes in tin sheet sheds with bamboo walls. After partnering with Sunbird Trust in 2014, joined in later by Anaha, the infrastructure and teaching standards of the school have increased dramatically. Where once the children did not have the opportunity to touch a magnet or a prism and far less a computer, the school now has a full-fledged science laboratory, an 18 terminal computer centre, a library and even a mini music academy.