In a function held at the Institute of Culture, Kolkata, on 18 March, Swami Atmasthanandaji, President, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, presented the Vivekananda Award, comprising a cash award of one lakh rupees and a citation, to Sri Asim Chaudhuri of USA for his two books Swami Vivekananda in America – New Findings and Swami Vivekananda in Chicago – New Findings. Sri S.S. Nijjar, Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, presided over the meeting.

 Swami Atmasthanandaji, President, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, consecrated the newly built Sri Ramakrishna Temple at Ichapur Math on 3 April, the holy Rama Navami day. He also addressed the public meeting organized on this occasion along with Swami Prameyanandaji, Vice-President, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, and Swami Prabhanandaji, General Secretary, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. Thousands of devotees and 350 monks attended the four-day programme organized on this occasion from 2 to 5 April.

Swami Smarananandaji, Vice-President, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, laid the foundation stone for the proposed temple at Aurangabad Ashrama on 10 April.

1. Distress Relief: The following centres distributed various items, shown in brackets, to poor and needy people in their respective areas: Belgharia (136 saris, 397 pants, 379 shirts, 404 children’s garments, 4 blankets, 120 kg milk powder, etc), Jalpaiguri (250 saris), Kankurgachhi (300 saris).

Milk Distribution by Belgharia centre

4. Fire Relief: (a) Andhra Pradesh: Rajahmundry centre distributed 140 saris, 110 lungis, 110 vests, 250 bed-sheets, 252 towels, 110 plastic mats, 106 utensil sets (each set containing 3 cooking pots, 1 water pot, 1 bucket, 2 plates, 2 glasses and 3 ladles) to 103 families whose houses had been gutted by a ravaging fire at Rajavommangi, a tribal village in Andhra Pradesh.

                            Fire Relief Work by Rajahmundry centre

(b) Chandigarh centre provided, under Build Your Own House scheme, 73,500 bricks, 201 bags of cement, 15 trucks of sand, 210 asbestos cement sheets, 559 kg mild steel angles, 64 pairs of door and window frames, and 168 sq ft of Kota stone slabs to 70 poor families that had been rendered homeless by a devastating fire at a slum in Chandigarh.

                                  Fire Relief Work by Chandigarh centre

5. Economic Rehabilitation: Under self-employment programme, Antpur Math distributed 20 van rickshaws, 10 complete weaving sets and 146 weaving equipments (127 huddas, 10 dobis, 7 charkas, 1 tant and 1 guti), and Saradapitha (Belur) centre distributed 4 rickshaws to the needy.

On the initiative taken by Delhi Ashrama, a 32 ft x 14 ft mural was put up at Ramakrishna Ashram Marg Metro Railway Station, New Delhi, on 10 March, depicting the theme Harmony, using Sri Ramakrishna’s famous analogy of different people calling the same water by different names.

Delhi centre celebrated National Youth Day (12 January) by organizing essay competitions in which about 20,000 students participated.

Viveknagar (Tripura) centre organized an All Tripura Devotees’ Conference at the Ashrama on 8 March, which was attended by 521 devotees.

Swami Smarananandaji, Vice-President, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, inaugurated monks’ quarters and guesthouse at Mayavati Ashrama on 19 March.

During his visit to Bangalore in 1892, Swami Vivekananda sat and rested quite a few times on a stone slab, which was handed over to Bangalore centre by some devotees in 1997. A monument built at the centre to house the slab was inaugurated on 27 March.

Our centre in Nadi continued relief work among the flood victims in Fiji. It distributed 1035 textbooks, 851 notebooks, 421 school uniforms, 63 school bags, 930 pens, 1299 pencils, 1340 erasers, 279 rulers and 43 mathematical instrument sets to flood-affected students, value education book packs containing 50 titles each to the libraries of 14 schools, and school fees and bus fares to 398 students. The centre has also taken up construction of houses for 2 families who lost almost everything in the flood. 

Our centre in Nadi continued relief work among the flood victims in Fiji. It distributed 1035 textbooks, 851 notebooks, 421 school uniforms, 63 school bags, 930 pens, 1299 pencils, 1340 erasers, 279 rulers and 43 mathematical instrument sets to flood-affected students, value education book packs containing 50 titles each to the libraries of 14 schools, and school fees and bus fares to 398 students. The centre has also taken up construction of houses for 2 families who lost almost everything in the flood. 

Belgharia and Ooty centres distributed 990 and 300 blankets respectively to poor people, and Rajahmundry centre distributed 125 thick chadars to leprosy patients.

The following centres distributed various items, shown in brackets, to the needy in their respective areas: Belgaum (375 kg rice, 375 kg flour, 75 kg dal and 75 kg edible oil), Belgharia (1545 saris, 1135 dhotis, 487 lungis, 518 shirts and 2622 children’s garments), Chandigarh (plates, cups and glasses – 50 each), Katihar (65 sets of pants and shirts, and 15 cycles), Puri Math (dictionaries, pencils, scales, soap-bars and Dettol bottles – 100 each).

The birthday (tithi puja) of Sri Ramakrishna was celebrated at Belur Math on Friday, 27 February. Cooked prasad was served to about 29,000 devotees. Swami Prabhanandaji, General Secretary, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, presided over the public meeting held in the afternoon.

Ranchi Morabadi centre celebrated National Youth Day (12 January) with a procession and a meeting. On 26 January, Swami Smarananandaji, Vice-President, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, inaugurated the Divyayan laboratory building and seed processing plant building at the centre.

Ranchi Sanatorium centre celebrated National Youth Day (12 January) with a procession and a meeting. On 31 January, Swami Smarananandaji, Vice-President, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, inaugurated two renovated buildings at the centre which would be used as the outdoor block and an extension to the indoor ward of the hospital.

Swami Atmasthanandaji, President, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, consecrated the newly built Sri Ramakrishna Temple, with a marble image of Sri Ramakrishna, at Barisha Math, Kolkata, on 9 February, the sacred birthday of Swami Adbhutanandaji. Swami Atmasthanandaji, Swami Smarananandaji, Swami Prameyanandaji and Swami Prabhanandaji addressed the public meetings organized on this occasion. In all, about 450 monastics and more than 16,000 devotees attended the function.

Allahabad centre organized a medical camp, discourses, and an exhibition on Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda at Triveni Sangam on the occasion of Magh Mela from 9 January to 9 February. About 17,000 patients were treated at the medical camp and nearly 90,000 people witnessed the exhibition.

Prolonged torrential rains in the month of January caused one of the worst floods in decades in the western parts of Viti Levu (the largest island in the Republic of Fiji). Towns and villages were submerged for days and thousands of people huddled in emergency shelters.  Our centre in Nadi immediately started relief services to flood victims. The centre served 750 plates of cooked food, distributed 740 kg potatoes, 1200 packets of biscuits, 550 kg dal, 2100 kg rice, 96 packets of milk powder, 1080 litres of milk, 100 packets of salt, 250 packets of tea, 500 bottles of mineral water, etc to more than 1000 families and treated 165 patients in Lautoka, Nadi and Ba. The relief work is continuing.

The following centres conducted post-flood-relief work as stated below.
(a) Bihar:
(i) Katihar centre distributed 2500 blankets, 1671 shawls and 309 mufflers to the flood-affected families in Bihar.
(ii) Patna centre distributed 8250 blankets, 1000 shawls, 1000 woolen jackets and 24,750 garments to 4125 flood-affected families of 25 villages in Madhepura, Saharsa and Supaul districts this month.
(b) Orissa: Puri Math distributed 200 saris to flood victims of 3 villages in Orissa.
2.Winter Relief: 18,039 blankets were distributed through the following centres to poor people in their respective areas: Aalo – 1200, Antpur – 500, Asansol – 707, Bankura – 201, Baranagar Mission (Kolkata) – 500, Belgharia (Kolkata) – 770, Bhubaneswar – 500, Contai – 300, Cooch Behar – 300, Garbeta – 100, Ghatshila – 123, Guwahati – 250, Ichapur – 1100, Jayrambati – 1100, Kamarpukur – 1700, Kanpur – 347, Koalpara (Jayrambati) – 1852, Limbdi – 117, Muzaffarpur – 55, Puri Math – 1000, Ramharipur – 1500, Ranchi Morabadi – 500, Ranchi Sanatorium – 1002, Sikra Kulingram – 1115, Swamiji’s House (Kolkata) – 500, Taki – 700. Besides, the following centres distributed various winter garments, shown in brackets, to the needy: Belgharia (199 sweaters), Garbeta (125 sweaters), Ichapur (350 shawls), Kanpur (179 sweaters).
3.Distress Relief: The following centres distributed various items, shown in brackets, to poor and needy people in their respective areas: Agartala (400 saris, 110 dhotis and 100 children’s garments), Belgaum (375 kg rice, 375 kg flour, 75 kg edible oil and 75 kg dal), Belgharia (1422 saris, 1536 dhotis, 857 pants, 822 shirts and 1673 children’s garments in 8 villages of G Plot Panchayat, South 24 Parganas district), Bhubaneswar (3965 kg rice, 793 kg dal, 396 litre refined oil, 397 kg salt and 54 kg milk powder in 9 districts of Orissa), Chandigarh (180 kg rice, 180 kg flour, 36 kg dal, 18 kg oil, 36 kg salt and 36 kg sugar), Ichapur (2100 saris and 20 dhotis), Kanpur (50 bed sheets, 60 steel plates and 60 steel glasses), Muzaffarpur (60 saris and 55 dhotis), Porbandar (2756 kg rice, 1250 kg dal, 610 kg sugar, 610 kg oil, 76 kg tea powder and 300 packets of biscuits in 3 villages of Jamnagar and Porbandar districts), Sikra Kulingram (200 saris, 100 dhotis and 100 lungis), Taki (500 saris and 50 dhotis).