Ex-IPS officer Sudhir Pratap Singh’s NGO for senior citizens

FORMER IPS officer Sudhir Pratap Singh’s long career in serving the nation began in 1981. Throughout his tenure, former Director General of The National Security Guard (NSG) Sudhir Pratap Singh’s heart was always focused on going above and beyond to serve the most downtrodden sections of society and transform their lives. Throughout the years, his work earned him the President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service and President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service. His work saw him form partnerships with government bodies to help women and children and address issues such as gender based violence, long before he founded his NGO for senior citizens.  

Sudhir Pratap Singh identified senior citizens as a neglected group of people who are abused and abandoned by both their own families and strangers. He realized that without help, these elders would be homeless and suffer from starvation, deteriorating health and a slow and painful death. He decided to co-found an NGO for senior citizens in 2004 called Sapna which serves the needs of elderly people through its old age home Anandam. The 140 senior residents of Anandam have access to safe shelter, nutritious food, medical care, recreational activities and people who care for their needs and well being. Many of the residents are elders who have been abandoned by their families, so the personal care and affection of the NGO and the other residents encourage them to have a brighter outlook on life.

In this short video, ex-IPS officer Sudhir Pratap Singh shares his vision to help abused and abandoned senior citizens live a better life through Sapna’s old age home, Anandam:

Ex-IPS officer Sudhir Pratap Singh’s mission 

Sudhir Pratap Singh was shocked to see the suffering of senior citizens one fateful day around two decades ago. In his own words, “I witnessed the plight of old people suffering without food and shelter near hospitals in Delhi. This was sometime in 2002. I did not know what to do but I decided to serve them in whatever capacity I could. For me, my duty as an IPS officer was never just a job but was service to the community. When I got involved in social causes, it was just the next chapter in my journey.” This was the incident that set in motion this National Defence College alumni to establish his own organization to cater to the needs of abandoned elders. 

Sapna’s old age home Anandam 

Anandam is home to more than 140 senior citizens who have been thrown out of their homes and have nowhere else to go but the dangerous streets. Sudhir Pratap Singh shares that “the majority of people who live with us at Anandam have been abandoned by their families and have severe physical and mental health issues. First, their bodies are in a malnourished condition and this increases their suffering. The elders are prone to various diseases, such as Tuberculosis, and other severe infections after having lived on the streets for such a long time. Their condition even reaches a point where they are considered mentally unsound or unstable.” 

The older people get, the more care and attention they need. Elders, after a lifetime of caring for their children, are abused and abandoned by the ones they love. For reasons such as money, property or not wanting to care for elders anymore, people abandon senior citizens without a care as to where they will live, what they will eat, how they will get their medicines or how much longer they will stay alive. 

How Anandam cares for abandoned seniors

Former Indian Police Service officer Sudhir Pratap Singh takes in these abandoned senior citizens who are forced to spend the last years of their lives without a single person to care for them. The NGO for senior citizens provides them with a roof over their heads, regular meals to eat, doctor’s appointments, medicines, psychological support and personal care. For the first time since their abandonment, these seniors have people who care about helping them live happy and secure lives. 

The NGO for senior citizens also does its best to reunite the elders with their families. In some cases, the residents have found themselves at Sapna after having left their houses due to a dispute at home. Sapna attempts to resolve these disputes and also checks that they are doing well. But for the majority, the reason they are at an NGO for senior citizens is because their families no longer want them. For them, Anandam welcomes them with open arms and a promise that they will no longer be on the streets. 

A broken leg, but not a broken spirit

Here is the story of Lakshmi, one of the women who lives in Sapna’s old age home – Anandam. 15 years ago, her husband died and since then she had been working as a daily wage laborer. On her meager income, she had to make ends meet and raise her son, who is blind. Lakshmi’s life was spent in great hardship. Even though she was getting old, she had to keep working to support herself and her son. But things were about to get worse for Lakshmi. She had an accident at the construction site where she works and broke her leg. Lakshmi had no one, absolutely no one, to help her survive with her broken leg. Unable to work, Lakshmi lost her job and soon had nowhere to live. Sudhir Pratap Singh’s NGO for senior citizens took her in, cared for her and gave her a place to call home for the rest of her life.

Help ex-IPS office Sudhir Pratap Singh

Sudhir Pratap Singh needs support to continue helping more senior citizens through his NGO for senior citizens, Sapna. He appeals, “we believe that our purpose here is to save these people and our responsibility is to serve others. I appeal and request everyone to provide your support to this cause looking at the merit of our work and service so we can help more abandoned elders.” To support, you can donate here:

Support ex-IPS officer Sudhir Pratap Singh

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Shirley Bobby

Shirley has been in the development sector for over 10 years and is passionate about making a change in the world around her, including adopting dogs and writing to make a difference.