Posted: 30 Jan 2010 09:57 AM PST
Mumbai: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is changing its ways. Well, on the technology front. Once shy of state-of-the-art technology, the Sangh on Tuesday celebrated its annual Bharat mata pujan function in Lower Parel taking help of the social networking website, Orkut.
Insiders believe that the organisation has started transforming itself into a technology savvy outfit as a number of IT professionals have associated themselves with it in the past five years or so.
The Bharat mata pujan function is organised on January 26 every year. The swayamsevaks garland a photograph of Bharat mata and then officials deliver bouddhik (lecture).
“We have a community on Orkut. We invited members of the community for the function through the network. A member of this community is not necessarily a swayamsevak. In fact, more than 30 people present for the function came in touch with RSS for the first time on Tuesday,” said Praful Nikam, organiser of the function.
“Traditionally, RSS workers invite the people for its functions personally. But due to shortage of time and with availability of modern communication tools, the tradition has been left out in some way,” said an RSS official.
He added that the Sangh has adopted new technology to cope up with the changing times. “Our pracharaks (full time workers) now carry cell phones and many of them have their personal email addresses. These amenities were far away from their reach till a few years ago,” he said.
According to another official, the young pracharaks are well versed with modern technology. “It helps the organisation in many ways. Now, we are looking to start online shakhas so that we can easily get in touch with the young audience,” he said.
The Orkut community is popularly known in the RSS as Orkut Shakha. The organisation has also developed a website,www.rss.org, to keep the workers updated with the issues before the country and the organisation’s stand.
However, Indresh Kumar, an RSS official, appealed to swayamsevaks not to depend on technology too much. “If we give up our cultural values and go only for development, then such development will destroy us. The rise in pollution, imbalance in the eco system, global warming, corruption, inflation and terrorism is the result of giving up cultural values,” he said.
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