How often do you see community projects, initiatives and organisations that focus on providing for the needy? Very often. But how often do you see initiatives focusing on bridging the digital divide in India? Right To Live is one such NGO that aims at transforming lives of the destitute through quality education and health.

The birth

Right To Live was started in 2012 as an initiative of the Kote Foundation. In the 10 odd years since its inception, the organisation has supported over 14,000 beneficiaries and is growing in strength every day. The founder’s vision of Right To Live was to make a difference in the society by supporting the underprivileged. The initial focus of this altruistic initiative was to support poor patients who are unfortunately afflicted with chronic diseases like Cancer, Kidney failure, etc.

“Being entrepreneurs from the IT industry, the founding team created India’s first crowd donation platform. Another lofty ideal was not to use any donor’s funds to run the organisation – meaning 100 per cent of the donors’ fund will be used for the cause, something which we are adhering to even today,” the Executive Director, T.V. Sridhar revealed. He is an IIM graduate possessing a rich experience of almost three decades in the IT industry! He took voluntary retirement and has been associated with Right To Live since 2016. At Right to Live, he is in charge of all our program strategies and development initiatives.

Objectives of Right To Live

Right To Live is an initiative with the vision of bringing a positive change for the poor and the disadvantaged by collaborating with corporates, donors, philanthropists, volunteers, not-for-profits, governments and service providers. Their core values include being respectful of their donor’s funds, assuring transparency in their approach, reliability in their work, and authenticity in their dealings.

How’s Right To Live different from others?

The organisation is popular amongst the generous contributors for its transparency and accountability in every action. Unambiguous information is provided on the source and utilisation of the funds. Right To Live does not deduct any amount for running the administration of the organisation from its donors’ funds. Such operation expenses are borne by their Trust.

What’s more, their Annual Reports and Financial Statements are displayed on their website! Such transparency is much required when it comes to making a contribution through an organisation for the betterment of the deprived.

The pandemic and other difficulties

The Program Manager of Right To Live, Shambhavi R, disclosed that the pandemic heavily affected their offline classes where students were required to attend schools. However, they adapted to the new situation, and created programs that could be executed remotely. “Case in point is the Remote 1×1 Mentoring program for Government School students, where corporate employees connect with our students through Google Meet or WhatsApp to mentor and motivate the students,” she said. While the journey was eventful, it was not without its challenges. Sourcing funds from individuals and corporations has been a challenge for the initiative, especially in the premise of the competition with other NGOs that possess larger brand images. Nonetheless, the quality of service and commitment by the team of Right To Live has made a huge difference. Many donors and corporations place their trust in the service and have continued to work with Right To Live for more than 5 years. 

Impressions and impacts

Starting with Healthcare for BPL (Below Poverty Line) patients, Right to Live has now expanded into areas of education for the underprivileged students in government schools and colleges.

The team works with passion and deep commitment to ensure donor funds are utilised for projects that create high impact. “For example, we have set up Smart Classrooms in 50 Government schools in association with BYJUs, donated over 100 laptops to poor students, provided scholarships to over 150 students and treated over 250 patients with critical illness among other services,” the Program Manager said. The initiative has impacted over 1500 beneficiaries such as poor patients and students from government schools through their projects! 

What’s in store for tomorrow?

The digital divide has long existed in the country. But the pandemic has acted as a catalyst in widening the gap between those who have access to technology with other such resources and those who do not, especially between the urban and the rural areas. Right To Live is presently crafting new programs to improve digital literacy of high school and college students. The problem of poor connectivity in rural regions is another area of work that the initiative is focusing on, with ISP service providers to provide internet connectivity to schools. “Another important project we are working on is setting up a Digital Library in schools and colleges where students can access latest and advanced academic content,” the Executive Director informed.

Right To Live constantly looks for paths to improve the lives of the destitute of our society. For the success of their projects, nevertheless, they need committed donors who share their vision and ideology. “We are reaching out to corporates in India, and trusts or foundations abroad who believe in our vision to make a difference to the society,” Shambhavi R concluded.