Shantilal Muttha was born on 15th August 1954, in Dongarkinhi, a small village in Beed-a backward district of Maharashtra in a household with modest means. Raised and schooled without a mother whom he lost when he was only six months old, he had a difficult childhood experiencing the hardships that come with a migratory lifestyle. During his stay in a Jain boarding school from Std 8 to 11th in village Kada (dist. Beed) he closely experienced the stark social disparities and the exploitation of the marginalized at the hands of the rich. This left an indelible mark of anguish and compassion for the less fortunate on his young mind.

He subsequently went to Ahmednagar for his XII and Pune for graduation in BMCC; his first major exposure to the ways of city life. He had to fend for himself in the big city. He did odd jobs to fund his education and forged new relationships by networking with various NGOs & by working for the Jain community. Although after graduation he worked for different organizations he was constantly in pursuit of identifying the means to work for social causes due to the discomforting childhood experiences. He realized his inability to pursue his social goals by working under other people and for other NGOs. He figured out that in order to sustain his social work in a way and the scale at which he wanted, he had to have his own money. Hence he resolved to start his own business to gain financial independence for the larger cause of social development. He decided to put his social pursuits on the backfoot till he’d acquired sufficient financial capital.

From 1978-1985 he gradually established and greatly flourished in the business of real estate development. However at the age of 31, when he was at the peak of his business he radically decided to pursue his heart’s calling and foray into the realm of social development with an initial focus on family related issues. The impact of the malaise caused by regressive, inter connected practices like dowry, female foeticide and extravagant wedding expenditures had left deep imprints on his mind and this area was but a natural choice for him to venture into. He refrained from criticizing these traditional practices directly and instead chose to offer feasible, progressive alternatives to these deep rooted traditions and social norms. In order to champion for this cause he started an informal association Akhil Maharashtra Jain Sanghatana to mobilize people for supporting him in the years to come. In its wake, concepts like mass marriages, vadhu var parichay sammelans were offered and propagated as solutions to the wrongful practices of dowry and marriage extravaganza, similarly remarriages of widows/divorcees were brought to the fore.

In 1993 with the Latur earthquake, Shantilal Muttha ventured into disaster response. It is then that Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana was formerly registered as an NGO and a formalized structure of office bearers and volunteers fell into place. Subsequently under his leadership BJS also moved beyond education rehabilitation towards working for quality improvement in schools with a strong focus on values education.

His constant endeavours to delivering impactful, replicable solutions at the grassroots over last 30 years since 1985, have brought BJS in the reckoning for its work in social development, disaster response and education at the national and international level. Under his leadership BJS won the 2005 WANGO (World Association of NGOs) Education Award, the Qimpro Platinum Standard 2010 for Education and the ICHL 2013 Award for Excellence in Humanitarian Action in the category of Post-Disaster Relief Operations, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, instituted by IIM Raipur. The work of BJS during the Latur earthquake found a special mention in one of the proceedings of the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha. Similarly a special reference to the phenomenal work done by BJS during the J&K earthquake was made in the Lok Sabha proceedings in a statement made by the Ministry of Home Affairs in dated 28th November 2005.

He is a recipient of various awards for his exemplary work like the 1992 National Youth Award from Indian Institute of Youth Affairs in honour of Late Indira Gandhi, 1996 'Yuva Pune Gaurav Puraskar' given by Yuva Bharati, Pune at the hands of Mr.T.N.Seshan, 1998 Diwaliben Mohanlal Mehta Award from the Diwaliben Mohanlal Charitable Trust at the hands of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Life-time achievement award , 2012, instituted by CREDAI.

Vision

To collectively contribute towards Nation Building through Holistic Development of Society

Mission

BJS endeavors and strives to identify the major concerns of relevance to the society at large, and to come up with effective, meaningful and deliverable solutions, and also execute and implement those by leveraging its own resources of in-house professional expertise and the strength of its nation-wide presence through the network of dedicated volunteers ever committed to contribute their might, for the larger good & betterment of the society.

In order to stay focused on its stated mission, BJS primarily operates in two principal domains, apart from Education Quality Improvement
• Social Development
• Disaster Response

Social Development

1. BJS endeavors to identify socially relevant issues / concerns affecting a large segment of society
2. It analyses the issue and its various facets / aspects, and develops ameliorative interventions
3. Chalks down action plan that is deliverable, target driven and time bound with visible positive outcome
4. Strives to create awareness leveraging the different modes of communication and publicity
5. Executes the action plan leveraging its core strength of dedicated team of professionals and volunteers, under the close guidance, supervision and monitoring of the apex team at its head quarters

Disaster Response

1. BJS has the enviable legacy of responding to Natural calamities and disasters of gigantic magnitude in an ever alert, and effective manner
2. It has participated and carried out large scale relief and rehabilitation operations in almost every major natural disaster that the country has faced since Latur earthquake 1993
3. Chalks down action plan that is deliverable, target driven and time bound with visible positive outcome
4. Its mission has been to develop mechanisms to respond, assist and support during major disasters
5. Prepare comprehensive guidelines and training modules to empower stake holders for better response during crisis

At the organizational level, BJS organization is headed by a National Executive Council (NEC) comprising of members. The NEC is headed by the National President, Mr Prafulla Parakh, who leads a team of office bearers comprising of four Vice Presidents, one National General Secretary & two Assistant Secretaries.

Similarly, the organization has Executive Councils at State, Region, District & City levels also. THE NEC meets once in a quarter where in-depth deliberations are done on all the activities, nation wide execution at the field level, introduction of new initiatives etc., and appropriate decisions are taken on the issues deliberated. Brief profile of the NEC members are furnished in the following link:


View all NEC members

Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana is a registered NGO with a Board of Trustees at its apex, to govern & regulate the affairs of the organization, and lay out the guiding principles, broad framework and directions for BJS to carry out its activities within the set framework. It also monitors and guides the organization in the arena of statutory responsibilities & liabilities.

The Board consists of persons of eminence from the Jain community. The brief introduction about each member of the Board is furnished in the following link:


View all Trustee members

We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and inclusion.

State	NEC	SEC	REC/DEC	City(P/S)	Total
Maharashtra	12	34	401	98	533
Chhattisgarh	03	19	111	159	289
Madhya pradesh	05	26	72	25	123
Karnataka	01	15	118		133
Tamil nadu	04	49	46		95
Gujarat	02	29	62		91
Uttar pradesh		58	11	78	147
Andhra pradesh/Telangana	01	10		53	63
Other state	07	35			35
TOTAL	35	275	821	413	1509

Assam

BJS Districts - Jorhat, Guwahati

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Andhra Pradesh & Telangana

BJS Districts - Anantapur, Chittoor, East Godavari, Guntur, Kadapa, Kurnool, Nellore, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, West Godavari, Adilabad, Hyderabad, Nalgonda, Nizamabad

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Bihar

BJS Districts - Patna, Gaya, Gopalganj

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Chhattisgarh

BJS Districts - Balod, Bastar, Bilaspur, Dantewada, Dhamtari, Durg, Janjgir-Champa, Kondagaon, Korba, Koriya, Kanker, Kabirdham, Mahasamund, Mungeli, Raigarh, Rajnandgaon, Raipur, Surajpur, Surguja, Bhilai

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Maharashtra

BJS Districts - Akola, Amravati, Buldana, Yavatmal, Washim, Aurangabad,Beed, Hingoli, Jalna, Latur, Nanded, Osmanabad, Parbhani, Thane,Raigad, Ratnagiri, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Nagpur, Wardha, Ahmednagar, Dhule, Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Nashik, Kolhapur, Pune, Sangli, Solapur

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Madhya Pradesh

BJS Districts - Ashoknagar, Balaghat, Betul, Bhopal, Burhanpur, Chhindwara, Damoh, Datia, Dewas, Dhar, Dindori, Gwalior, Harda, Hoshangabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Jhabua, Katni, Khandwa, Khargone, Mandla, Mandsaur, Narsinghpur, Neemuch, Rajgarh, Ratlam, Sagar, Satna, Sehore, Seoni, Shajapur, Shivpuri, Tikamgarh, Ujjain, Vidisha

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Tamil Nadu

BJS Districts - Vellore, Cuddalore, Villupuram, Nagappattinam Cuddalore, Pondicherry, Salem, Villupuram, Kanchipuram, Coimbatore, Chennai, Madurai, Erode, Ooty, Sirkazi, Thanjavur, Vellore

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Karnataka

BJS Districts - Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Ballari, Vijayapura, Chitradurga, Dakshina Kannada, Davanagere, Dharwad, Gadag, Kalaburagi, Hassan, Haveri, Kolar, Koppal, Mandya, Mysore, Raichur, Shivamogga

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Uttar Pradesh

BJS Districts - Aligarh, Agra, Kanpur, Faizabad, Lucknow, Jhansi, Gwalior , Allahabad, Varanasi, Mirzapur

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Rajasthan

BJS Districts - Jaipur, Barmer, Jodhpur, Kota, Udaipur Bikaner, Banswara, Bhilwara, Ajmer Alwar,Dholpur, Jalor, Jhalawar, Pali Sirohi, Karauli, Kushalgarh, Beawar, Balotra

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Gujarat

BJS Districts - Ahmedabad, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Kutch,Morbi, Narmada, Navsari, Panchmahal Patan, Porbandar, Rajkot, Sabarkantha, Surat, Gandhidham, Vapi Surendranagar, Vadodara, Valsad

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Punjab

BJS Districts - Ludhiana, Faridkot, Jalandhar

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Delhi

BJS Districts - New Delhi

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West Bengal

BJS Districts - kolkata

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Jharkhand

BJS Districts - Ranchi

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Haryana

BJS Districts - Ambala, Kurukshetra, Chandigarh

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Jammu and Kashmir

BJS Districts - Jammu

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Orissa

BJS Districts - Bhubaneswar, Cuttack

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Nagaland

BJS Districts - Dimapur

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State	NEC	SEC	REC/ DEC	City P/S	Total
Gujarat	02	29	62		91
Karnataka	01	15	118		133
Andhra pradesh	01	10		53	63
Chhattisgarh	03	19	111	159	289
Maharashtra	12	34	401	98	533
Uttar pradesh	N/A	58	11	78	147
Tamil nadu	04	49	46		95
Madhya pradesh	05	26	72	25	123
Other state	07	35			35
TOTAL	35	275	821	413	1509