Vinayak Lohani IIT-IIM graduate founded the largest free residential school in East India

39-year-old Vinayak Lohani, even after earning degrees from IIT and IIM, followed his heart instead and now provides home and education to the poorest and most vulnerable of children through the largest free residential school in eastern India. Bhopal born Vinayak went to Bengal as a student, first to earn a degree in Mining Engineering from IIT Kharagpur and later an MBA from IIM Kolkata. It was while studying for his MBA that Vinayak opted out of campus placements. He was the only one in IIM Calcutta’s history to do so. He wanted to do something in the social space.

Vinayak started volunteering with NGOs. Parivaar, the ashram, was born in 2003. He prepared proposals, met people but no one wanted to support something that was the wishful thinking of one individual. He rented a building near Thakurpukur with his earnings from lectures and tuitions to MBA aspirants. “It was a hand-to-mouth existence. He spent whatever he earnt. In another six months, Vinayak had 55 children under his small roof. By the end of 2004, he had purchased a two-acre plot in Thakurpukur to build his dream brick by brick. Parivaar is currently spread across 20 acres and is eastern India’s largest free residential institution for children. Parivaar has two campuses that take in children between the ages of four and 10.