Moolchand Lodha

Moolchand Lodha is a social worker from Rajasthan who has spent his life working for poor and tribal people in the south of the state. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2023 in the field of social work, from Rajasthan ^[1].

Early work

Lodha was born on 15 March 1948 at Amet in Rajsamand district and earned a BA and BEd in Mumbai ^[2]. He was drawn to social service as a student ^[2]. He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and worked as a district pracharak, or organiser ^[2]. Posted to Pali district, he worked among the Garasia tribe of the Goria-Bhimana area, and during a severe famine there he organised food and medicine distribution, cattle camps and fodder centres ^[2].

In 1990 he became state organising secretary of Seva Bharati, a large voluntary organisation in Rajasthan, and ran training workshops for volunteers working among poor tribal communities ^[2].

A centre at Vagdari

In 2000 he founded the Jagaran Jan Seva Mandal in Majhola village in Dungarpur district, later moving it to Vagdari, where the state gave it land ^[2]. It provides food and free schooling to orphaned children, about 300 of whom have been helped so far ^[2].

In 2004 he opened the Acharya Mahapragya Eye Hospital in Vagdari ^[2]. Through 315 eye camps it has seen about 1,25,000 patients from the tribal area and carried out more than 18,000 eye operations ^[2]. A school for poor tribal families followed in 2005, and a dining hall for students, patients and workers in 2008 ^[2].