Our History

History

Mr. Ravindra Vaidya, founded Varhad in 2001, armed with the belief that rehabilitation is more effective than imprisonment, for changing the personality of a criminal.

An alumnus of (TISS) Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Ravindra has specialized in Criminology and Correctional Administration.

Prior to forming Varhad, his experience of working for PRAYAS (Social Work in Criminal Justice- a project of Tata institute of Social Sciences), drove him to

embrace the extraordinary belief, that crime is a sickness, which needs to be cured.

VARHAD began operations in Amravati, Maharashtra (India) with just two part-time workers.

Using the basement and first floor of his own house as an office and employing his personal funds (prior to corporate social funding), Ravindra and his team started work by supporting cases in the Amravati Central Prison, where innocent prisoners were languishing behind bars, for lack of knowledge of the CJS.

Within 3 years, with the support of philanthropic institutions such as the Sir DorabjeE Tata Trust, and a host of well wishers and volunteers, the team gradually expanded to 21 full-time paid Social workers, trainers, teachers and administrative staff & volunteers.