Society for Integrated Development and Social Reconstruction

SOCIETY FOR INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION

The Invisible Infrastructure of Hope in Prayagraj

The images from Prayagraj that travel the world are dazzling. Millions dipping at the Sangam, lights along the ghats, a city swollen with faith. What does not travel are the quieter pictures: a girl deciding to leave school because the walk is unsafe, a farmer staring at barren soil that has lost its strength, a mother hiding her daughter’s health worries because no one will talk about them.

It is here that the Society for Integrated Development and Social Reconstruction (SIDSR) has spent thirty years, almost unnoticed. Its work is not about scale but about intimacy, meeting people where silence is heaviest.

The challenges are stark, and the numbers speak clearly:

23% of young women in India are still married before 18 (NFHS-5, 2021).
Autism affects about 1 in 68 children in India between ages 2 and 9, with rural prevalence noted at 0.24% in some regions.
The Ganga basin, where Prayagraj sits, accounts for nearly 38% of India’s fertiliser use, leaving soils degraded and dependent.

Behind these figures are people. Girls in Prayagraj now ride donated bicycles to school rather than give up on learning. Children with autism who were once hidden inside homes now walk into classrooms. Farmers, trained in composting, can feel their soil breathe again. Mothers speak more openly about their daughters’ health.

None of this makes for spectacle. It is slow, uneven, and deeply human. In a city known for the world’s largest gathering, perhaps the truest measure of progress is in the small gatherings: a handful of children in a maths class, a circle of farmers around a compost pit, a mother and daughter talking without fear.

About Our Hero

Dr. Kavita Sripat Agarwal, founder of Society for Integrated Development & Social Reconstruction, is a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Allahabad University. She is a well-known Social Scientist and worked with Kamala Nehru Memorial Hospital, Allahabad for 03 decades.
She specializes in action research programmes, epidemiological studies on cancer, HIV/AIDS and Mother & child health in slums and rural areas. She had been Facilitator to National AIDS Control Organization for monitoring & evaluation of their projects on targeted intervention. She has completed a number of intervention projects on cancer, mother & child health and family planning from USAID, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Health Organization and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. Recruited and trained clinical psychologists for counseling in family planning programmes, maternal health, palliative care, and HIV/AIDS. Conducted assessment of suicidal tendencies in 600 engineering students and arranged for psychological counseling, to stop suicide among students.
With her love and passion for grass root level development, after retirement in 2018, Dr. Agarwal involved herself with NGOs and Trusts working on women empowerment, child protection and health. She has developed a network of different NGOs where they work in coordination, each having, sharing and facilitating their own expertise with other NGOs. Presently, Dr. Agarwal’s NGO is working in the various thematic areas including adolescent girls’ skill development, health and self-esteem; child protection, computer literacy among children; and bio-fertilizer in villages and slums of Proyagraj.