25-Yr Youth Icon Raunak Singh & His NGO Dedicated Towards Women Welfare, Distributed 1 Lakh Free Sanitary Pads

India is a young country as around 50 percent of the population is below the age of 25 years but the big question is what this young generation is really up to. While the majority of youngsters are busy in studies so that they can get a good job or set up a business, some are working hard to make big in the field of sports while several others are wasting their time in partying and other such activities but there are very few young Indians for whom helping others is the aim of life.

Raunak Singh from Cuttack, Odisha, is one of those few youngsters who have devoted their lives towards working for the welfare of their countrymen. What makes us admire Raunak Singh more is the fact that he is just a 25 years old B.Com graduate and at such a young age, he has not only founded an NGO titled as Sikh Aid but also saved around 10,000 lives during the second wave of COVID-19.

Though Raunak Singh is a well-known name nowadays, let us tell you some more about him so that you can know him better and it will be a matter of great happiness if some of us, especially the youngsters get inspired by him. Raunak follows the teachings of Sikh Gurus religiously as per which serving the humanity selflessly is the true way of worshipping the Supreme power. He started helping people by bringing the needy person and the donor face to face so that the latter can help the former as per the requirement. He also used to visit schools, colleges and societies for distributing stationery items free of cost to the poor students who find it difficult to purchase it on their own.

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the whole world in a negative manner and India was no exception to it. The government was forced to impose lockdown in order to save citizens from the life-taking virus but this decision hampered the lives of many, especially the poor and daily wage earners. The migrant workers chose to return to their native places rather than getting stuck in cities where they had moved for working purposes but what made it difficult for them was the fact that all the transportation mediums including the Indian Railways were halted by the government. The migrant workers decided to return to their homes by walking on the roads and it was really disturbing to see them walking with their family members.

Raunak Singh was very sad after seeing the condition of poor migrant workers and he took the responsibility of helping them by providing them food and arranging buses so that the migrant workers could reach their homes safely. He founded his NGO during the first wave of COVID-19 and helped many people in the critical times.

However, the second wave was more dangerous as the virus was stronger and the condition was so bad that even getting a bed in hospital was not an easy affair. Things turned uglier when the oxygen supply got dripped in hospitals but Raunak assisted the authorities by providing oxygen cylinders and concentrators to the hospitals of Odisha. He was really a savior for numerous people as he saved around 10,000 lives in that period.

Raunak Singh and his NGO Sikh Aid are also pretty active in the field of women welfare and till now he has distributed around 1 lakh sanitary pads to the poor women of Odisha. Sanitary pads play an important role in the Menstrual Hygiene Management of women but in the rural areas, women from poor households are forced to use cloth instead of sanitary pads as they can’t afford to spend on sanitary pads. Using cloth is very harmful as it increases the chances of infection diseases in the private parts of a woman and she may face problems in pregnancy if things get serious. One more problem regarding the sanitary pads is the lack of awareness and education regarding it and it is also considered a taboo to talk about it in some parts of the country.

Raunak and his NGO not only distribute 6,000-7000 sanitary pads every month but they also spread awareness about the need of using pads and discourage women from using cloth.

Raunak Singh is certainly an inspiration for all of us and even if we are not able to do social service at the same level as he does, we can at least help him in making more people smile.