Civil Society News
New Delhi
IN 1998 Sandip Bhatnagar was just a small businessman
with a shop that did machine fabrication
in Indira Nagar’s maze of lanes in Lucknow. His
father had recently passed away and Bhatnagar fondly
recalled something he had said.
Every evening, when Bhatnagar ould down his shutters, he would
while away his time with friends.
His father had mildly disapproved
and had often advised him to do
something worthwhile.
As Bhatnagar finished tinkering
with his machines one evening he
noticed two small boys idly playing
marbles in 
he galli outside his shop.
He called them in, sat them down,
gave them paper and pencil and
then he began to teach. “The boys
were a little nervous at first,” he
recalls. Lesson over, the children
scampered home. Next evening, to
Bhatnagar’s surprise, they returned.
Teach us some more uncle, they
said.
Soon another eight to ten children
sauntered into Bhatnagar’s
impromptu pathshala. Word spread
andhis class swelled to 150. Bhatnagar found himself
eagerly playing a teacher’s role every evening. He
lost interest in his formerfriends. A local newspaper
wrote about him and this new phenomenon of outof-
school poor children coming on their own to enroll in Bhatnagar’s class.
mile Foundation, a non-profit in Delhi which
works with social entrpreneurs, started to mentor
him. Nine years later, Bhatnagar’s NGO, Jupiter
Academy, runs six centres in Lucknow at Takrohi,
Samaudipur, Prakash Lok and Sidhauli. It teaches
1,204 underprivileged children, 70 per cent of whom
are girls who work as domestic help.
Basic education is still the focus. The idea is to get
children through school. Some are even becoming
graduates.
It is no longer just Bhatnagar, but 22 teachers. Smile helps with salaries. Out of 14 students who appeared for the UP Board’s Class 12 exam last year, 12 got a first division. Children are coached and also admitted to government and private schools he has befriended. “The private schools willingly waive the admission fees and the monthly fee is cut by half,” he says. Over the years, Jupiter Academy has fine tuned its methods. Now a survey is done to identify out- of school children. Then the parents are contacted and encouraged to enroll their children. “If you call them with love the children willcome,”he says. “They confide their troubles to me.” Jupiter Academy also provides vocational training so that students can start small businesses. Courses include computers and software, chikankari work, jewellery design and soft toys. Bhatnagar has taught machine fabrication to some students too. Any academy of this size would have become a money making machine. Bhatnagar however regards Jupiter Academy as a cause. He doesn’t charge any money. Bhatnagar used to work for Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). He started his machine fabrication business with money from the Prime Minister’s rozgar yojana. Now he has his own rozgar scheme. He financesimpoverished young rural migrants who want to set up their own business with loans ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000. Andno he doesn’t charge any interest. He has always got his money back. Bhatnagar has just one condition: someone who takes a loan must pledge to send his or her children to school. If a poor man wants to start a business, Bhatnagar finds out his background.
Then he is given 15 days of training. “If somebody wants to become a barber he has to identify a spot to work from. I give him Rs 5,000 for equipment. For vegetable vending I get him a cart and vegetables and watch his progress for 15 days. If it is satisfactory I fund him,” he explains. That’s not all. His NGO has a Jupiter Health Club of women and teenage girls that won an award in March for being the best health club in Lucknow. It was conferred this honour by Doordarshan’s Kalyani programme. The club’s multifarious activities include water, sanitation, AIDs awareness, polio and health camps. The club got 12 toilets designed for women in Samaudipur village, lowering costs and making inexpensive construction techniques and labour available.“Smile Foundation listened to my ideas and helped me implement them,” says Bhatnagar. “Apart from funding they gave me guidelines, arranged for doctors for health camps and teacher training. If it wasn’t for them, especially Santanu Mishra who heads Smile, I would not have got this far,” he says. Bhatnagar’s wife, Sunita, who is a Hindi school teacher at Career Convent College, helps him too. Last year children from Jupiter Academy joined the Wada Na Todo Abhiyan. They journeyed to Delhi with Bhatnagar. “They took a ride on the Metro and asked me in wonder why this traindid not huff and puff.” What do his own children do? Bhatnagar looks puzzled. “Oh, I have no biological children,” he says.“You see all these 1,204 children are my own.”
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