Nobel Prize laureate Mother Teresa said, “Give your hands to serve, and your hearts to love”. In fact, the essence of human life is to show compassion and the will to help others. 42-year-old Smita Singh of Raipur has truly epitomised magnanimity by serving humanity for nearly two decades, and she has been eulogised and awarded by several reputed national and international organisations and by Raipur District Administration for her benevolent acts. Over the years, she has been a trusted social worker not only in Chhattisgarh but across the country and has been recognised by states like Kerala, Gujarat, Odisha, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi for her philanthropy. “Well! I believe in the philosophy that the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others,” said Smita Singh, who had done MA from Pandit Ravishankar University Raipur and had worked as Govt School teacher in Bastar and as a member of Central School Committee, Nava Raipur. For executing her noble vision of altruism, she founded an NGO named Shakuntala Foundation in 2007. Her work during the Corona waves had been quite exemplary for which she had been given the ‘Corona Warrior’ award by the Raipur District Collector and by most of the states across India. Also, her dedicated work during COVID-19 catastrophe had been appreciated by a renowned international organisation called Canada-India Foundation situated in Toronto, which speaks volumes about her empathy and goodness towards her fellow citizens during the pandemic. She distributed more than 50,000 face masks, arranged blood plasma for numerous needy patients, and closely worked with the Raipur district administration for the containment of Coronavirus.

Moreover, she had provided food and transportation to hundreds of migrating labourers during the lockdown period, thereby exhibiting her benignity. Her work for old people, children, differently-abled and abandoned persons has been laudable. “Most of our senior citizens suffer from old-age ailments. And it has been noticed that our elderly people often experience loneliness and depression, either as a result of living alone or due to a lack of close family ties and reduced connections with their friendship networks. Keeping these serious issues in mind, I have been running a center called ‘Bapu Ki Kotiya’ at Raipur Collectorate garden premises in which I have been organising health camps and conducting entertainment activities for our old people,” said kind-hearted Smita, who has also done a wonderful job in rehabilitating more than 50 old and deserted persons. “In the health camp, I have been inviting renowned doctors, who give free medical advice and medicines to the old people attending the camp,” she said. In yet another generous gesture, she provided medical treatment to more than 1000 impoverished and disabled persons at Govt and private hospitals under the aegis of Dr Khubchand Baghel Svasthya Sahayta Yojna. She had been giving free medicines, wheelchair, and walkers to the ailing poverty-stricken persons. Furthermore, she had helped more than 100 children suffering from heart disease and blood cancer and had arranged for their surgeries. “On my request, doctors of Private Hospitals waive off their consultancy fees for these needy patients,” said Smita, who has also done a commendable job in rehabilitating more than 60 mentally-retarded neglected people roaming on the streets with the help of local police. Highlighting another munificent mission, Smita said, “Cases of breast cancer and uterus cancer amongst females has been unfortunately increasing day by day. I have been organising many campaigns in Govt schools to spread awareness regarding it and have been distributing sanitary napkins free of cost to the school girls.

Also, I have been educating school kids about good touch and bad touch and acquainting them about POCSO Act”. The list of her activities in serving humanity does not end here. She had also been organising blood donation campaign and had been providing free legal aid to deprived women and old. In close association with Raipur Municipal Corporation, she had been actively participating in cleanliness drives in the city and had been doing mass plantation of medicinal plants for environment conservation. Smita, who has been appointed as the President of Rajput Yuva Veerangana Chhattisgarh, aspires to open an asylum for old and orphan children with a dispensary associated with it in the future.