Bharath Scouts and Guides (BSG) situated on Kondajji Basappa Road, Chamarajpet has been putting their students on the road of social service. It has its Units in around 600 schools in the city.

The founder Lord Baden Powell, a British army man while in South Africa had the compulsion of using young boys and training them in the siege of a British fort. He was later impressed about the inclination of the boys towards their work.

In 1909 he called a rally for Scouts at Crystal Palace, where around 11,000 scouts had gathered with uniforms. Among those he noticed a small contingent of uniformed girls who on enquiry introduced themselves as girl scouts. Later on he named the girls troop as Guides under the guidance of his sister Agnes Baden Powell.

In India the first unit was started for the British Boys in Bishop Cotton School in Bangalore in 1909 with Capt. Baker as the unit leader where the Indian boys were not permitted. Later, in 1960 due to the efforts of Madam Anne Besant, Scouting was allowed for Indian boys also.

All the State Associations come under the National Association of BSG, New Delhi, which is the highest office. Karnataka State Association has the State Chief as the highest post who is elected by the state council.

The State Commissioners - Scouts and State Commissioner - Guides look after the two wings - the Scout wing and the Guide wing respectively.

These Scouts and Guides are divided into 3 sections. The Section for Scouts is Cubs, which is for boys aged five years and above, Scouts for 10 years and above, Rovers for 16 to 25 years. The Section for Guides is Bulbuls which is for girls aged five years and above, Guides for 10 years and above and Rangers for 16 years to 25 years

The highest award a Scout or Guide can win is the Rastrapathi Award, which carries a special badge and a certificate from the President of India.

For the Cubs and Bulbuls the highest award is the State Award, which carries a badge and a certificate from the Governor of the State.

Leadership training is taught to them by dividing them into small groups wherein the Cubs and Bulbuls groups are called as Sixers and the remaining groups as Patrol.

"These students have something called the Good Turn wherein they need to render help to a needy person without expecting anything in return. This puts them on road to bigger service," says T.S Lucos, State Secretary.

They have several badges for the services rendered like the Ambulance Man, Hospital Man, Sick Nurse, Public Health Man, Reserve Fire Fighter, Civil Defence, Aids Awareness, Blood Donor, World Conservation and many more.

To achieve this they have to go through several exams and should indulge in a project which is of community service.

The government of Karnataka provides grants for some specified activities for Scouts and Guides and also for training of unit leaders. Each unit or group is autonomous as they can raise funds locally from philanthropists as well as through the group committees. In addition there is a small fee permitted by the education department from all fee-paying students to meet them with minimum expenses of the unit in schools.

State Training Centre at Doddaballapur, Kondajji Bassappa Scouts & Guides Training Centre at Harihar Taluk and Shanti Gruha in Bangalore are the three training centres for BSG in the state.

Jai Prasad V.Rai

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