Vivekanandar Illam (Tamil: விவேகானந்தர் இல்லம்) or Vivekananda House (Tamil: விவேகானந்தர் வீடு), earlier known as Ice House or Castle Kernan at Chennai, India is an important place for the Ramakrishna Movement in South India. It is remembered as the place where Swami Vivekananda stayed for nine days when he visited Chennai (dinesh) in 1897. Vivekananda House now houses a Permanent Exhibition on Indian Culture and Swamiji’s Life, maintained by the Chennai branch of the Ramakrishna Math and is a source of inspiration to thousands of people who visit it every year.
Honorary Swami Vivekananda Way, Chicago
Swami Vivekananda International Airport
Swami Vivekananda International Airport (IATA( International Air Transport Association airport code): RPR, ICAO( International Civil Aviation Organization): VERP), formerly known as Raipur International Airport, is the primary airport serving the state of Chhattisgarh, India. The airport is located at Mana between Raipur (15 km (9.3 mi)) and Naya Raipur 10 km (6.2 mi).[5] It is the 30th busiest airport in India by passenger traffic and 31st busiest by aircraft movement.
On 24 January 2012, the airport was renamed after Swami Vivekananda, as a tribute to the popular saint who spent two of his teenage years in Raipur.
Airfield
Swami Vivekananda International Airport has a single runway—Runway 06/24—measuring 2,286 m (7,500 ft) in length and 45 m (148 ft) in width.
The airfield is equipped with night landing facilities such as CAT-1 Instrument Landing System (ILS) at Runway 24, and navigational aids such as DVOR, DME, NDB, and PAPI.
The apron has five parking bays that can accommodate A320/B737 category of aircraft and a helipad. The airport is equipped with category VI firefighting and rescue capability with provisions for category VII on demand.
Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Contai
Contai Temple
The Math & Mission centres were started in 1913 and taken over in 1928.
Activities of the Math centre:
- Daily worship and fortnightly Ramnam Sankirtan.
- Regular classes and public lectures on and off the ashrama premises.
- Celebration of the birthdays of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda, and also Durga Puja and Kali Puja.
Activities of the Mission centre:
- A library and a reading room with 5164 books and 16 periodicals and newspapers.
- A charitable allopathic-cum-homeopathic dispensary, which treated 7558 cases this year.
- Three medical camps (368 patients treated).
- A students’ home with 29 students.
- An audio-visual unit, which screened educative films in 6 villages benefiting more than 2200 people.
- Welfare work by way of providing books and stipends to students, and financial help, food grains, blankets, clothing, etc to needy persons.
- A rural development project consisting of 8 charitable mobile homeopathic dispensaries (total patients: 27,026), 5 non-formal education centres and 6 coaching centres with 429 students, and a vocational training centre imparting training in carpentry, tailoring and maintenance of electrical appliances with 29 trainees.
Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Coimbatore
RKMVU – Faculty of Disability Management and Special Education (FDMSE)
The centre was started in 1930 and made a branch of the Mission in 1934. It is a comprehensive educational institution, spread over an extensive plot of land on the Coimbatore-Ootacamund Road, 19 km from the town.
Activities:
An autonomous arts and science college, which offers degree, postgraduate, M.Phil. and Ph.D. courses (roll strength – 1175). It also offered Bachelors of vocational training courses in technical subjects (96 students).
A self-financing college of arts and science, which offers B.Com, B.Sc., BCA and MCA courses (roll strength – 845).
A higher secondary school having 1688 students (of whom 433 girls and 9 disabled). Special coaching facilities are provided to them in certain sports and games besides academic education.
A residential high school with 264 students. Integrated education was provided to 6 blind boys along with other students.
A senior basic school having 563 students, of whom 220 were girls.
A residential autonomous teachers’ training college offering B.Ed., M.Ed., M.Phil. and Ph.D. courses. It had 42 students during the year. The attached research department conducts educational research and publishes a quarterly journal.
A residential secondary grade teachers’ training institute with 45 students.
The Faculty of Disability Management and Special Education under Vivekananda University offered one-year diploma course in Sign-language Interpretation, two-year diploma and one-year B.Ed. and M.Ed. courses in Special Education in visual and hearing impairment and mental retardation, and two-year Ph.D research programme in Special Education. In all 72 students studied under this faculty. Its Braille production unit produced 2500 Braille books. The Faculty centre for Agricultural Education and Research under Vivekananda University offered three-year degree course in Agriculture to 124 students. The Faculty centre for Computer Science Applications and Research under Vivekananda University offered five-year M.Sc. course for 42 students.
A college of physical education with 123 students. Its fitness centre had 743 members. The Faculty of General and Adapted Physical Education and Yoga, attached to College of Physical Education, offered diploma, graduation and post-graduation degrees, besides offering M.Phil and Ph.D research programmes and add-on programmes in Special Olympics, Yoga and Fitness under Vivekananda University (222 boys).
An autonomous polytechnic, which offers diploma courses in information technology, civil, mechanical and electrical & electronics engineering. It had 762 students this year.
An industrial training institute offering two-year courses in fitting, turning, draughtsmanship, motor mechanics, electrical wiring and machining, and a one-year course in welding. It registered 379 students this year. Besides, 280 unemployed women were given short-term skill training in CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine operation, tailoring, arecanut leaf plate making and non-woven bag making.
An industrial section, a key maintenance wing, which looks after the repair and maintenance needs of the various institutions of the Vidyalaya.
A printing press to take care of almost all printing needs of the Vidyalaya.
An institute of agriculture, which offers a two-year diploma course. It had 101 students during the year.
Sixteen libraries of the Vidyalaya, which had 1,63,735 books and 439 periodicals and newspapers.
Sixteen hostels with 1752 students.
A personality development camp (attended by 101 students).
A charitable dispensary (12,606 patients treated) and medical camps (620 patients treated).
Shrine
Vivekananda Park
Ramayana Park
Ramakrishna Math, Coimbatore
Temple
This centre, which was functioning as the town centre of Coimbatore Mission branch, was made a full-fledged Math centre in 2005.
Activities:
- Daily worship, weekly religious classes and fortnightly Ramnam Sankirtan.
- Celebration of festivals like Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Christmas Eve, Shivaratri, etc and the birthdays of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda and other spiritual luminaries.
- Free coaching classes with 154 students who were given nutritious food daily and also uniforms and other educational materials.
Shrine
Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Cherrapunjee
Cherrapunjee Ashrama
The centre was started in 1931.
Activities at Cherrapunjee:
- A higher secondary school with 520 boys and 379 girls.
- A small vocational school for teaching weaving, tailoring and knitting.
- A computer training centre with 252 students.
- A hostel with 61 boys.
- A mobile audio-visual unit which screened 69 educative films in 38 remote villages with 8531 viewers.
- A charitable dispensary (14,727 patients treated) and two mobile medical units (9369 patients treated).
- Special medical camps (1474 patients treated) and health awareness camps in rural areas (nearly 3685 people attended).
- Two libraries with attached reading rooms had 21,435 books and 22 periodicals and newspapers.
- A museum depicting tribal culture.
- A bakery, a dairy and a printing press.
- Welfare work by way of distributing milk, blankets, clothes, bee boxes, honey toolkits, etc to the poor in various remote villages.
- Celebration of the birthdays of religious personalities.
Sohbar sub-centre (Sohbarpunjee, PIN 793 108): This sub-centre, about 18 km down Cherrapunjee, was started in 1928.
Activities at Sohbar sub-centre:
- A lower and an upper primary school, and a secondary school.
- A vocational training centre (weaving).
- Two hostels: one for 50 tribal boys and another for 50 tribal girls.
Shella sub-centre (Disong Shella Village, P.O. Shella Bazar, PIN 793112): This sub-centre was started in 1924.
Activities at Shella sub-centre:
- A lower and an upper primary school and a secondary school.
- A small library.
- Celebration of the birthdays of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, and Swami Vivekananda, as also Durga Puja, Kali Puja, etc.
The centre also runs primary and secondary schools at other places. In all, it runs 1 higher secondary school, 9 secondary schools, 18 upper primary schools and 38 lower primary schools. 9607 students studied in these schools during the year.
Sohbar sub-centre (Sohbarpunjee, PIN 793108):This sub-centre, about 18 km down Cherrapunjee, was started in 1928.
- Activities at Sohbar sub-centre:
- A lower and an upper primary school, and a secondary school with 139 boys and 185 girls.
- A vocational training centre (weaving).
Shella sub-centre (Disong Shella Village, P.O. Shella Bazar, PIN 793112): This sub-centre was started in 1924.
- Activities at Shella sub-centre:
- A lower and an upper primary school and a secondary school with 179 boys and 183 girls.
- A small library.
- Celebration of the birthdays of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, and Swami Vivekananda, as also Durga Puja, Kali Puja, etc.
- The centre also runs similar schools at other places. In all, it runs 1 higher secondary school, 9 secondary schools, 18 M. E. schools and 38 lower primary schools. 9440 students studied in these schools during the year.
School
Welfare
Folk Culture Program
Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith, Chennai
Vivekananda College
This centre was started in 1946.
Activities:
- Vivekananda College, an arts, science and commerce college for men, with 1741 students. It offers five undergraduate courses in Humanities and Languages, five in Physical and Natural Sciences and one in Commerce. Postgraduate courses are offered in three disciplines of Humanities and four of Science. Besides, research scholars work for M.Phil and Ph.D degrees in its Botany, Chemistry, Economics, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics and Sanskrit departments. The NCC and NSS units had a large number of students on their rolls. The college library had 95,449 books and 72 periodicals. Scholarships given to the students amounted to Rs. 26,30,178/-.
- An evening college, which offers eight undergraduate and two postgraduate courses with 2250 students, has a library with 10,270 books and 21 periodicals.
- A hostel with 57 students.
- An Institute for Vivekananda Studies. It has a small library of its own.
- Two research institutes: (i) Vivekananda Institute of Tropical Mycology (VINSTROM), recognized by the Dept. of Bio-technology, of India, is engaged mainly in studying the biodiversity and technological potential of microfungi in forests and other environments, and (ii) Vivekananda Institute of Algal Technology (VIAT) conducts algae-based research and consultancy activities relating to industrial effluents treatment, algal biomass utilization etc.
Shrine
Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home, Chennai
Chennai Students’ Home
Started by Swami Ramakrishnananda (a monastic disciple of Sri Ramakrishna) in 1905 and made a branch of the Mission in 1918, this Home provides free board, lodging and education to orphan / destitute children.
Activities:
- A free residential high school with 221 boys.
- A free residential polytechnic college providing three-year diploma courses with 385 students.
- A centenary primary school with 40 children.
- A free hostel with 629 boys.
- A library with 10,870 books and 76 newspapers and periodicals.
- Computer training in Tally software for 24 boys and 51 girls.
- Celebration of the birthdays of religious personalities, Vidyarthi Homa, conducting religious classes, seminars, cultural competitions for students, etc.
Chennai Students’ Home – Shrine
Ramakrishna Mission Sarada Vidyalaya, Chennai
School Building
The centre was started in 1921.
Activities:
- Three higher secondary schools for girls with 3218 students.
- A middle school with 103 students.
- A primary school with 216 children.
- Two hostels: one with 71 boarders and another with 9 orphans.
- Five libraries with 33,367 books and 14 newspapers and periodicals.
- Apart from teaching normal students, special care is given for slow learners and students suffering from hearing impairment, dyslexia and paralysed hand.
- Religious activities: Providing moral and religious instructions to the students and observing the birthdays of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda and other religious teachers.
Shrine