ABOUT SAMAJ

Dakshina Bharatha Mahila Samaj (DBMS) was established in Jamshedpur by a group of ladies from South India before the Indian Independence in 1944. While its initial purpose was to provide a social outlet to the South Indian Ladies in Jamshedpur, with their distinct languages and culture. It soon transformed itself into a social services organization, with education as its primary focus. Its motto is Vasudeva Kutumbakam the world is a Family.

The Founding Members of The Samaj were:

• Mrs. Kaveri Krishnaswamy
• Mrs. Kanaka Rajagopalan
• Mrs. Nirmala Krishnamurthy
• Mrs. Rajam Vishwanathan
• Mrs. Kalyani Ramaswamy
• Mrs. Lakshmi Kumaran
• Mrs. Soundaram Vishwanathan
• Mrs. Saraswati Anant
• Mrs. Shakuntala Raja
• Mrs. Saraswathy Moorthy
• Mrs. Sugandha Raman
• Dr. Dharmabal
• Mrs. Bhanumathi Neelakanthan
• Late Shri C. V. Kalyanakrishnan

The Samaj established its first school in 1961. It has since then added many academic institutions; while many of them are well known names in Jamshedpur, there are others for lesser privileged sections of society. The following lists the growth of the organisation over the years:

• D.B.M.S. Girls High School in 1961 for girls of the lower income group.
• D.B.M.S. English School in 1965 - English Medium ICSE School for Boys & Girls was started and today around 3000 students are on rolls.
• D.B.M.S. Career Academy in 1989 to provide self employment opportunities to women with quality career education.
• National Open School in 1992 to help out students unable to cope with the pressure of CBSE and ICSE.
• Binapani Vidyalaya: A tribal school at Dhanchatani village 40 miles away from Jamshedpur. Adopted the school in 2002- gives all facilities to students and the staff are paid a good salary.
• D.B.M.S. Kadma Girls School: in 2003.Took over a TATA STEEL run school in Hindi, Bengali Medium To-day around 1500 students are getting quality education in English Medium which is affiliated to CBSE Board.
• D.B.M.S. Lilliput School: This School was started for children below poverty line in 2004. Today around 700 students are studying, some of them who work as domestic servants also benefit from this school. This school runs from 2:00 p.m. in the D.B.M.S. English School premises.
• Chunnu Munnu Ki Sawari: This was started with a view to provide toys, books and educational CDs to slum children. Students and staff members carry the toys and books to underprivileged children by the school bus every Saturday.
• Akshardham: This was started in 2006 with a view to give minimum knowledge of reading and writing to women who never went to school, to make them more confident to face the challenges of life. Today around 45 ladies are benefiting from this project.
• Karnataka State Open University: Another milestone for D.B.M.S. to give higher education to the youth of Jamshedpur through M.Sc. (IT) and B.Sc.(IT). Started in 2006.
• Madurai Kamaraj University: Graduation, post-graduation and M.B.A. courses are offered. Started in 2008.

Bhanumathi Neelakantan Awards & Aid Trust

The Samaj also manages an annual award given to women from disadvantaged backgrounds. This award selects candidates in five categories each year for the award:

• Outstanding sports woman
• Outstanding student
• Physically challenged
• Woman entrepreneur
• Woman who spreads social awareness

The selected women are given Rs 10,000 each plus several gifts. This award was instituted by Mrs Bhanumathi Neelakantan's brothers in her name in 1995