3rd Floor, Social Development Centre, Dr. Camil Bulcke Path, Ranchi - 834001, Jharkhand, India

History

Sometime in 1992 the noble thought of the cross cuttings issues of Social Development were conceived in the minds of Diocesan Priests of then Bihar, now Bihar and Jharkhand. Efforts was made to materialize the conceived thoughts to the ground reality in their respective areas. In the year 1998-99 the conceived thought was tried to put into action. Finally, it was registered under the Society Registration Act 1860, in the year 2002-2003 as “BIHAN SOCIAL SERVICE SOCIETY” (BIHAN means Bihar and Andaman).

Six months later a resolution was passed to change the name from “BIHAN SOCIAL SERVICE SOCIETY” to “BIJHAN SOCIAL SERVICE SOCIETY” because of the creation of Jharkhand (BIJHAN means Bihar, Jharkhand and Andaman) in 2000.

The registered office was in Sewa Kendra, Sadquat Ashram, Patna and Bro Bernard, was the Secretary for Bihar and Fr. C.R. Prabhu was agreed to take care of Jharkhand. Forum was not registered with Home Ministry of India to receive foreign funds and so all the funds used to get channeled through Catholic Charities, Jamshedpur.

At the initial stage the mandate was to build the capacity of the diocesan Partners catering the need of 12 Dioceses of Bihar (Patna, Betiah, Muzaferpur and Bhagalpur) and Jharkhand (Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dumka, Gumla, Simdega, Khunti, Daltonganj, Hazaribagh).

Right from the beginning Fr. C. R. Prabhu as the first Secretary of BIJHAN Social Service Society continued guiding all the dioceses of Jharkhand till 2004.

From 2004 to 2007 Fr. Bipin Kumar Pani, remaining as the Director of Catholic Charities, Jamshedpur also served BIJHAN Social Service Society as the Second secretary of BIJHAN Social Service Society. During his tenure capacity building of Diocesan Partners was done in different dioceses.

From 2007 to 2009 Fr. Augustine Topno, from Jamshedpur Diocese, became the first full time Director of BIJHAN Social Service Society. He started staying in Ranchi, but BSSS was still receiving funds through Catholic Charities, Jamshedpur. During his tenure drought preparedness program was implemented in 125 villages.

In 2009, Fr. S. Christu Das, from Dumka Diocese, succeeded Fr. Augustine Topno. He, on 22nd December 2009, with the consultation of the Governing Board got registered afresh the Social Service Society of Jharkhand under the Society Registration Act 1860, as Social Initiatives for Growth and Networking (SIGN), Jharkhand and 3rd Floor, Social Development Center, CamilBulke Path, Ranchi, Jharkhand as its registered office. Now it is registered with Home Ministry of India for receiving foreign funds. It also has tax exemption under 12A and 80G. Since, then SIGN is catering the need of 8 Dioceses of Jharkhand and Port Blair Diocese in Andamans. During his tenure agriculture and health program was implemented in all the dioceses of Jharkhand.

From 2011 onwards SIGN started putting the efforts to promote and strengthen tribal values under the project “Awakening Tribal Soul. Thereafter, SIGN conducted many workshops, seminars in every diocese. It went on till 2017.

In 2012, in order to strengthen nurse sisters engaged in health ministry in rural area, SIGN, in collaboration with ‘Community Development Medicinal Unit (CDMU)’ of Kolkata, launched ‘Standard Treatment Guideline (STG)’, a handy and practical support to the Sisters working in the remote villages of Jharkhand.

In 2013, Child Protection Policy, Procurement Policy, Gender Policy and Finance & Accounting Guidelines were formulated and Governing Board approved these policies to be implemented in the Organization.

In 2014, seminars and workshops were organized on Catholic Social Teaching. This is the year when SIGN also worked on Clinical Establishment Act for the benefit of health centres located at the rural area. Second edition of ‘Standard Treatment Guideline’ was published. Human Resource Policy of SIGN was passed by the Governing Board.

8 Ecclesiastical Dioceses in the Archdiocese of Ranchi
  • Ranchi (May 25, 1927 form Archdiocese of Calcutta)
  • Jamshedpur (July 2, 1962)
  • Dumka (August 8, 1962)
  • Daltonganj (June 5, 1971)
  • Gumla (July 1, 1993)
  • Simdega (July 1, 1993)
  • Hazaribagh (May 12, 1995)
  • Khunti (May 12, 1995)

One of the highlights of SIGN during the tenure of Fr. Christu Das was to take over the Child Sponsorship program from Ranchi Archdiocese. Since 2015, SIGN entered into a special partnership with Fondazione FratelliDimenticati, Italy to further its thrust of education, through Child Sponsorship program. SIGN started supporting the poor children of 80 centers in the districts of Ranchi, Lohardga, Gumla, Simdega and Khunti.

From 2016 SIGN started promoting System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method. In the same year SIGN started working on Mother and Child health care program in collaboration of UNICEF in 5 hard to reach districts Viz. Pakur, Sahibganj, Latehar, Palamau, W. Singhbhum of Jharkhand targeting total Immunization, Prevention and management of diarrhoea & Pneumonia, Nutritional Promotion. In the same year, SIGN, with support of Manos Unidas, started forming Farmers’ Clubs in all the partner diocese

Since 2016 to 2017, SIGN organized many workshops on Laudato Si and Sustainable Development Goal

In 2018, SIGN, with the support of Kindermissionswerk extended its Mother and Child Health care program in 5 hard to reach districts Viz. Pakur, Sahibganj, Latehar, Palamau, W. Singhbhum of Jharkhand

In June 2019 Fr. Bipin Kumar Pani, took over from Fr. Christu Das. Since then SIGN is implementing Capacity Building program for its partners. SIGN, with the support of Kindermissionswerk, is also implementing Mother and Child health care project in 5 districts of Jharkhand and agriculture program in 5 dioceses.

2020 was the year, when COVID-19 brought hardship to many families, SIGN used this time to serve the suffering community. With the support of Missio, Fondazione FratelliDimenticati and JivDaya Foundation, SIGN could extend its services in relief work mainly distributing ration among the daily wage earners, rag pickers, people from begging community, people affected with leprosy, cleaners, maids, hawkers, sex workers, blind beggars among others. It is also an important year, when due to amendment made in Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), SIGN changed its approach from coordinating NGO to implementing NGO.

In September 2020 SIGN revisited its Vision and Mission and came up with new Strategic Planning, where Safeguarding the children and Vulnerable Adults, Safe Migration, Resource Mobilization were the new thrust area along with the old thrust areas of Natural Resource Management, Gender Equality, Education for all, Health for all, Institutional Development and Good Governance, Inter Religious Harmony and Networking with likeminded NGOs.

In 2021,Since it was difficult to visit the corona patients or do any field activities SIGN with the support and guidance of Catholic Relief Services and Caritas India, and with the help of 339 volunteers, and thus saved the life of about 10000 people bringing awareness to 2595 Families on Corona Appropriate Behaviours and prepared them to take Vaccination. It was for the first time, SIGN worked on online project.

SIGN, for the first time got Tax Exemption from 24th September 2021 to AY 2024-25as per the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961. 80G Unique Registration Number of SIGN is AAEAS6072PE20218.

In 2021 itself GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES informed that SIGN has been registered for undertaking CSR activities and the Registration number is CSR00015862.

In 2022, Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs Foreign Division, renewed the FCRA registration of SIGN with the registration number 337800203 and nature of Nature: 337800203 Economic,Educational,Social for five years i.e., from 1st April, 20222 to 31st March 2027 with designated/exclusive bank account 40098449782 in STATE BANK OF INDIA, 11Sansad Marg, New Delhi 110 001, New Delhi, Delhi, Delhi, 110001.

In the same year, SIGN also got Tax Exemption renewed from AY 2022-23 to AY 2026-27as per the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The 12A Unique Registration Number is AAEAS6072PE20210

On 25th July 2023, in its meeting the Governing Board of SIGN approved Safeguarding Policy for Child and Vulnerable Adults. SIGN, with the support of Manos Unidas, built the capacity of four selected Diocesan Partners.

In 2024, SIGN, with the support of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), organized many orientation program on safeguarding for the religious institution. This year, SIGN also puts effort to preserve, protect, promote Tribal heritage and culture in 210 villages of seven districts viz. Ranchi, Khunti, Lohardaga, Gumla, Simdega, Latehar and Garhua.

8 Diocesan Social Service Societies
  • Daltonganj – Samaj Vikas Sanstha
  • Dumka – Social and Education Development Centre
  • Gumla – Gram Uthan kendra
  • Hazaribagh – Jan Vikas Kendra
  • Jamshedpur – Catholic Charity/Samekit Jan Vikas Kendra
  • Khunti – Hoffmann social Service Society
  • Ranchi – Catholic Charity
  • Simdega – Vikas Kendra
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