Jana Sanghati Kendra

The organisation regularly organizes training and workshop sessions engaging the youth, women, and diverse groups across different districts of West Bengal. These sessions aim to educate participants about their rights and facilitate discussions on the local challenges they encounter. Issues such as women's safety, sanitation, and water shortages are explored, encouraging participants to brainstorm and identify potential solutions. Additionally, the workshops serve as a platform for honing soft skills such as team building and leadership.

JSK launched an initiative to support the local healthcare system in the Dantan 1 block of Paschim Medinipur through awareness and sensitization campaigns. The programme focused on promoting the use of masks, maintaining physical distance, practicing hand hygiene, and addressing vaccine hesitancy. Forty volunteers underwent training and were equipped with oximeters, thermal scanners, PPEs, and other essential materials.
These volunteers conducted visits to 1400 families in 21 villages, reaching approximately 7000 individuals. Through these efforts, 35 COVID-19 positive patients were identified and promptly referred to the Block Medical Officer of Health (BMOH) in June.
In collaboration with organizations such as the International Buddhist Confederation in New Delhi, JSK received donations of critical items like N-95 masks, PPE kits, oxygen concentrators, and cylinders. These contributions significantly enhanced the COVID-19 preparedness of the Dantan Block Primary Health Centre.

JSK has launched an Organic Kitchen Garden project with a special emphasis on empowering women to establish and cultivate their vegetable supplies. The project involves comprehensive training sessions covering activities ranging from reclaiming wasteland to producing organic fertilizers and pesticides. JSK has organized a series of training sessions to impart these skills to the trainers.
This initiative is designed to minimize expenses and eliminate the need to purchase anything from the market for items produced in the kitchen gardens. The goal is to promote sustainable and self-sufficient organic farming practices.

The organisation has established self-sustaining healthcare initiatives for the rural underprivileged. One such program involves delivering affordable allopathic treatment to villagers in remote areas through mobile health camps. This self-funded program serves approximately 10,000 patients annually.
Additionally, it operates a mobile medical service supported by funds from the National Rural Health Mission. This service provides the expertise of a doctor and their medical team, along with complimentary medicines, free pathological tests, and X-rays to residents of a remote area in the Purulia district.

JSK has played a pivotal role as the Secretariat for the West Bengal Right to Food and Work network. Its efforts involve raising awareness about the Right to Food and Work, as well as the Right to Health. It organizes meetings and workshops on these subjects and produces accessible educational materials. A JSK member has served as the West Bengal Advisor to the Commissioners of the Supreme Court in the Right to Food and Work Case, contributing to directing public and court attention to instances of hunger and starvation in West Bengal.

Since the 1990s, the organisation has actively engaged in prompt relief operations following significant floods and cyclones in West Bengal. The efforts extend to rehabilitation work and mobilizing communities in post-disaster scenarios to facilitate improved access and utilization of Government relief. Following Cyclone Amphan in 2020, it conducted a research study on 'alternatives in cyclone-affected housing,' resulting in the construction of two demonstration units in two of the districts of West Bengal.