Although we say and almost all the citizens believe that we are living in a civilization, can we say with total conviction that our society is an entirely civilized one? A civilized society has complete peace, harmony, equality, justice, morality, health, education, progress and development opportunities for everyone, irrespective of their status. A society wholly free of any evils of poverty, oppression, violence, casteism, racism, illiteracy, and steep inequality, injustice and immorality.
Until and unless every individual in a society can boast that they are happy and satisfied living in that society, such a society could not be called civilized society. Instead of only wishing, hoping, and expecting for this happy civilized place, there is a need for the equal contribution of every able individual to help those who are not so able and are underprivileged, downtrodden, vulnerable and weaker section of the society. In our society, they are primarily women, children, the poor, and destitute people.
The cause is tremendous, the task is herculean, and the mission is humongous. However, with the force of compassionate, caring and committed social warriors, this war can be won with small-small victories battle by battle. The way Geetanjali Care–based in Gurugram but active all over India–is doing under its commander Ms Tina Phogat, the Founder.
One of the most formidable women in the realm of Real estate, Tina personifies unmatchable compassion and virtues. Advocating the principle of “sharing is caring” in her demeanour, she has always been positively inclined toward extending her helping hand to people in need of financial aid.
A Noble Inception of Social Reforms
She has always been forthcoming in demonstrating her kind behaviour in all her societal engagements. In order to manifest her desire to contribute more significantly to the cause of the needy ones by supplying them with the required resources, she’s delightfully introducing ‘Geetanjali Care”.
Tina shares, “Our Organization, Geetanjali Care, truly care in the right sense of the term. Being the founder of this organization, my aim has always been in the direction of establishing equal access of resources to the entire humankind, regardless of their gender, caste, class, race or creed.”
Geetanjali Care, a non-profit and a non-government organization, has been established in 2022 with the noble intention of improving the lifestyles of the underprivileged and downtrodden sections the society. Lava phone principle works in the direction of spreading awareness and running a campaign on prevalent social issues such as Child Education, Child Labor, Child Abuse, Hygiene, Health, Women’s Rights and Privileges, Education and Employment for Rural Women, Vocational Courses for Women, Literacy Drives, Menstruation, Sexual Harassment, Equality in Society, Pay Parity amongst multiple others.
Tina states, “In my most humble opinion, the USP of our firm is our ability to deeply empathize with the sufferers in society. Our work objective is not only limited to verbally spreading awareness about the social evils; we also believe in significantly contributing to improving the circumstances by making concrete help and assistance required by the people in need, mostly women and children without resources and privileges.”
Tina finds it extremely unfortunate that a significant proportion of the population in India is deprived of basic amenities and services like nourishing food, clean drinking water, an adequate health care system and proper educational institutes in the suburban and rural periphery of the country. Tina says, “Our offering is strictly oriented in the direction of making as many facilities available to the poor and the needy as we can.
Our inclusive approach and an affirmative attitude towards creating educational and employment opportunities in the regressive make us stand out in our contribution to society.”
Moreover, team Geetanjali Care doesn’t flinch away from raising a debate or a constructive dialogue on moot topics such as Menstruation, Women’s health and pregnancy, Sexual Harassment, and Drug Abuse amongst Children, Child Marriage and many more. “We believe in the motto: ‘Education is Empowerment and Employment is its visible Pillar.’ By aligning a holistic approach towards women’s education, empowerment and employment thus, our NGO stands indubitably out,” Tina adds.
The Dedicated Sociopreneur
Tina is an ambitious Sociopreneur: the social entrepreneur who believes in the motto of a ‘better life for all.’ Ever since she was a young girl, she could perceive the inequality and injustice that is deeply rooted in our country. There are practically so many aspects to be worked on. She also discovered that most of the facilities available were not affordable and pocket friendly. Therefore, she decided to come up with something that solely is dedicated to bringing positive changes.
The success of Geetanjali Care in the field of social reform is largely attributed to the combined efforts of all the team members and the perseverance to never give up on trying to devise new and engaging ways to spread happiness.
Regarding her professional qualities and values admired by the stakeholders’, Tina says, “I identify myself as an extremely ambitious and self-motivated individual. As far as my personal standards of values are concerned, I adhere to the principles of diligence, honesty, and transparency.”
A New Life
Tina further feels that if there is no trust and no transparency, there can be no ethical outcome to any of their endeavours. As an individual, she tends to employ a very optimistic approach in all her personal relationships as well as professional obligations. She believes these traits enable her to establish constructive relationships and associations in her professional engagements.
Tina says, “I would also like to take some space to add that for me, there is no replacement for commitment and dedication. If one is able to express undiluted commitment and conviction in one’s endeavour, there’s no stopping them.”
Being an experienced leader, Tina’s opinion on how adopting modern digital technologies impacts the social reform sector and how Geetanjali care is adapting to the change is full of optimism. She says that awareness is the key. According to her, we’re privileged and fortunate enough to be living in a century where multiple digital tools and resources are at our disposal. She adds, “We, at Geetanjali Care, absolutely believe in the power of digital technology in accelerating the process of spreading awareness and ensuring faster distribution of amenities and goods.” Everyone in society is acutely aware of the fact that most of the problems bring out due to ignorance and lack of awareness. Digital Technology has come as a respite for most of us as we can now connect the people in need with those who can help them.
Additionally, digital technology has multi-dimensionally transformed the way the data about various CSR activities, campaigns, workshops as well as seminars can be collated when it comes to the social reform sector. “It certainly helps us in measuring the speed as well as analyzing the quality of the services being provided,” thinks Tina.
Breaking the Ice of Ignorance
Speaking about the challenges she has to face, Tina says that, as has been reiterated in the preceding part as well, the lack of awareness among people about the various organizations and NGOs that can actually help them is a major block one cannot deny. Most of the time, it has been observed that rural people, especially the illiterate ones, are very paranoid and mistrustful of social initiatives. Tina feels, “I do not blame them because they probably have had past experiences of being wronged by certain people. I think we have to be extremely patient and compassionate towards them. Rather than imposing ourselves on them, educating the people about how they should reach out to NGOs to seek help on their own is one productive approach I can suggest.”
As the founder of Geetanjali Care, Tina has had multiple interactions with women and children from the rural strata of society. She and her team have gathered over time that they’re still hesitant about talking about their problems. They are sincerely working in this direction. Moreover, gathering adequate funds for an NGO has always been an eternal challenge.
Despite these minor challenges, Tina has an unshakeable faith in the constructive way her NGO, Geetanjali Care, has been successfully illuminating many lives and winning the trust and love of people it intends to help. Tina expresses, “I think that’s the most important thing, and everything else can be taken care of with time, patience and consistent efforts.”
Expanding the Social Horizons
Speaking about how Geetanjali Care has been expanding its social responsibility drive along with the corporates, Tina thinks that Social Responsibility, in her subjective understanding, has no limits. “I strongly feel that everyone deserves a life filled with love, dignity and pride. If I can do anything to make this country, and at large, this world, a better place to live in, why not?” conveys Tina adding, “My organization is always willing to integrate the most igniting topics of all times within its rubric.”
In addition to working towards collecting and providing resources to the people in need, they are expanding by leaps and bounds in the health care sector, where they have taken a step ahead and have included mental health issues among our most compelling concerns. Tina reveals, “Additionally, I would like to share that beyond the basic education for women, Geetanjali Care is actually empowering women and young girls to excel in the area of their interest.”
Sharing Her Social Wisdom
Tina’s advice to budding social entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the not-for-profit space is full of social wisdom. She says, “First of all, I would like to use this platform to encourage more and more youngsters and aspiring entrepreneurs to dedicate a part of their life and time towards social evils so that we can together create a world founded on equality and mutual respect for other human beings.”
Adding further, she says, “To the budding social entrepreneurs, I would like to suggest being always compassionate and patient.” Do not never let the light of philanthropy extinguish in you. Secondly, expand your network as much as you can as it helps you connect with like-minded people. Furthermore, use digital technology to the best advantage while simultaneously ensuring ground research. Supervise problems at a personal level to be able to provide authentic and relevant solutions.
Geetanjali Care’s Humanitarian Future
Envisioning her NGOs future, Tina says, “I am sure that we’re going to accelerate further our progress towards achieving concrete results on humanitarian grounds. I have built a robust team of dedicated and enthusiastic employees, and in the times to come, I intend to add more people to take our NGO to greater heights.”
Tina further states, “I also am working in the direction of multiplying employment opportunities for young women quite rigorously, and in the next few years to come, I am convinced that Geetanjali Care is going to be a name to reckon with.”
Social Praise:
As an individual, Tina is felicitated with multiple honours like:
- Real Super Women Award by Forever star India awards
- The Indian Women Talent Award
- Women of the decade in innovation and Enterprise
- Women leadership award for excellence in Real Estate
- India Inc’s Rising women leaders
- Women in leadership excellence award
- Young Women Business Achiever, Star
- Performer Awards, Iconic Achiever Award
- Most inspiring women in India award by the Asian literature
Geetanjali Care, as an NGO, has been recognized as The Best Social Impact Start Up of the Year 2022.
Tina says in gratitude, “I am extremely thankful for these recognitions and acknowledgements as they motivate me to continue working in the right direction.”
Finally, Tina concludes on an optimistic high, “There is still so much more to achieve for Geetanjali Care and for me. All we need is best wishes for the best intentions and support of the people who think about the social causes as we do.”