Many Members Of The Extended Family Of RSS

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

• 6,000 pracharaks

• 15-20 lakh participants in 57,000 daily, 14,000 weekly and 7,000 monthly shakhas

• 37 affiliates

• 60 lakh alumni + affiliate volunteers manage about

• 1.65 lakh projects

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Politics and Religion

Bharatiya Janata Party: Political arm succeeding the Bharatiya Jana Sangh

• 11 crore members

• Around 35 sub-organisations and fronts, including Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (5 crore overlapping members)

Vishwa Hindu Parishad: Hindu religious organisation

•  65 lakh members

• 20 sub-organisations, including Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini

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Labour/Trade/Industries

• Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh: India’s largest labour union (1.7 crore members and 4,300 affiliate unions)

• Bharatiya Kisan Sangh: India’s largest farmer union (32 lakh farmers in 26 states)

• Swadeshi Jagaran Manch: Economy think-tank

• Grahak Panchayat: Consumer protection

• Laghu Udyog Bharati: Small industries

• Sahakar Bharati: Cooperatives

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Culture

• Kreeda Bharati: Sports

• Sanskar Bharati: Arts/artists

• Sanskrit Bharati: Sanskrit

• Sahitya Parishad: Literature

• Kutumb Prabodhan: Family values (reached out to 1.25 crore people and 20 lakh families)

• Balagokulam: Cultural training for children

• Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojana: Write/rewrite history

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Social Sector

• Seva Bharati: Social service; apex body of 972 organisations. Runs 80,870 projects in 30,909 places, while rest of Sangh and its affiliates oversee more than 74,700 projects.

• Bharat Vikas Parishad: Social service NGO

• Deendayal Shodh Sansthan: Rural development

• Gram Vikas: Village development

• Seema Jankalyan Samiti: Border area development

• Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram: Tribal welfare (20,026 projects in 14,166 places)

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Education

• Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal: Education advocacy

• Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh: Teachers’ union (76 affiliate associations)

• Pragya Pravah: Right-wing intelligentsia

• Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad: University students’ union (32 lakh members)

• Vidya Bharati Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan: School education (32.92 lakh students taught by 1.5 lakh teachers in 12,754 formal schools, including Saraswati Sishu Mandirs plus 12,618 informal schools)

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Community Groups

• Rashtriya Sevika Samiti: Women’s group (4 lakh active members with 4,500 regular shakhas in 10 countries running around 500 projects)

• Rashtriya Sikh Sangat: 500 branches in India

• Rashtriya Muslim Manch: Islamic wing, formed recently

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Health

• National Medicos Organisation: Doctors’ association

• Arogya Bharati: Public health

• Kushth Rog Nivaran Samiti: NGO for leprosy patients

Source: The RSS: A View to the Inside by Walter K. Andersen; executive committees of various Sangh affiliates

Graphics by SAJI C.S.