How a National Volunteer Organisation Is Structured — Roles Explained संरचना और दायित्व

Levels of organisation

• Shakha — the daily local gathering, the basic unit.
• Basti / Mandal / Nagar — a locality, a group of villages or a town, made up of several shakhas.
• Khand — a rural block.
• Zila — a district.
• Vibhag — a division made up of several districts.
• Prant — an organisational province (not always the same as a state).
• Kshetra — a region made up of several prants.
• Akhil Bharatiya — the national level.

Roles in a shakha

• Mukhya Shikshak — conducts the daily programme.
• Karyavah — the shakha secretary, responsible for its organisational work and members.
• Gatanayak — keeps in touch with a small group of members in one area.
• Shikshak — instructors for physical training, songs and games.

Roles above the shakha

• Sanghchalak — an honorary guide or patron at each level, usually a respected senior figure.
• Karyavah — the secretary at each level, responsible for the work.
• Pracharak — a full-time worker who gives his life to the organisation, traditionally unmarried and unpaid; pracharaks hold organising responsibilities at every level from the district upwards.
• Vistarak — a volunteer who gives full time for a limited period.
• Sarkaryavah — the general secretary, elected every three years by the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha.
• Sarsanghchalak — the head and guide of the organisation, who names his successor.

Decision-making and training

The Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, an assembly of elected representatives, meets annually, elects the Sarkaryavah and passes resolutions; a smaller national executive meets between sessions. Volunteers are trained in residential camps held in stages, from short local camps to an advanced national camp at Nagpur.

Read more

• Glossary: organisation termsRashtriya Vichar Shabdakosh
• Directory of organisationsOrganisations

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