NEW DELHI: A three-day national conference of workers and office-bearers of the Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (ABVKA) began in Haryana's Samalkha town on Friday.
The conference being held at Seva Sadhana and Gram Vikas Kendra was inaugurated by Ramesh Bhai Ojha, spiritual leader, preacher and the famous Bhagwat Kathakar of Gujarat.
Ramesh Bhaiji, addressing the representatives on the occasion, called upon the saints to reach out to the interior of forest regions and interact with communities, enlightening them with 'katha and pravachans' (religious discourses).
He cautioned, "If it is not done, someone else will reach there and the situation will result in conversion... And this situation challenges the national integrity."
He said that life should be lived in partnership. There are three messages in Bhagwat - how should humans behave with other human beings, how should they behave with the entire universe and with nature? These three actions take the yagya of man to heights which is helpful in the welfare of society and nation-building.
At the beginning of the conference, the tribal women from Sikkim presented the Buddha prayer.
RSS Sah-Sarkaryavah Ramdatt said in 2027, the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram will complete 75 years.
"All of us should take a resolution from here that we should expand our work among those tribes where we do not have any work, " he said.
Tribal representatives and workers across the country, including Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Purvanchal and South Indian states, were also present on the occasion.
In this conference, various issues including the activities and programmes of Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in different parts of the country will be discussed in about 12 sessions. Workers will report about their respective programmes and get guidance from the officials.
For the unversed, All India Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram is running 22, 152 projects of education, health, village development, self-reliance etc. for the all-round development of the tribal society through its affiliated units in different provinces at 17, 394 places in the country. All India Workers' Conference is organised by Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram every three years.