A century of service
From trekking through hills, camping at the edge of forests to learning self-defence and first-aid skills, the girls belonging to this unique group are inculcated with a culture of being ready to serve society.
We are talking about the rangers, of course!
Rangering is a programme meant for young ladies between the ages of 15-25 to care, serve and protect her family, public, nature and its surroundings, which forms the integral part of ‘Rangering’.
This year marks the centenary celebration of this special wing, which began under the Scouts and Guides unit and was formed to play a constructive role in the society.
There are nearly 83,000 young women currently enrolled in the programme in India and with more than 25,000 of them from Karnataka, the state enjoys the pride of having the largest number of rangers in the country.
“There is nothing more satisfying than watching our rangers bloom into compassionate, strong-willed, independent individuals who face life confidently,” says Geetha Nataraj, Karnataka State Commissioner (Guides) and Vice President of the Bharat Scouts and Guides.
History of Rangering
Under the Girl Guides movement, founded in 1910 in the United Kingdom, the girls who were in the guiding group since its inception and with most of the skills mastered, were growing restless by the end of 1917 about teaming up with younger girls joining their team.
This prompted Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting and Guiding, to develop a separate wing for the senior girls who wished to continue Guiding.
With the motto of ‘Service’ the ‘Ranger’ was formed in June 1920 and Rose Kerr was given the responsibility of outlining a plan for the older girls.
The senior male counterparts were promoted from Scouting to Rovers, which was fully established by 1919.
Overall development
Rangering focuses on the overall development of the girls during their formative years, through activities such as hiking, trekking, nature study camp, community service, disaster preparedness, first-aid and training in life skills, tailoring, handicraft and even fashion designing.
With both theory and practical classes held during a week, most high schools and colleges with Rangering programmes also train the girls for march-past bands to take part during Independence Day, Republic Day, Gandhi Jayanthi and other festival celebrations.
Nayana, a Ranger for three years during her undergraduate days in the late 1990s, has vivid memories of being able to stand out from the rest of her college mates because of Rangering. “I became more courageous and social as we got to experience visiting different places and meeting different kinds of people, which would not have been possible otherwise at such a young age. It opened up the world outside of the small place like Puttur, where I lived,” she said.
Vivekananda Degree College, Puttur, in Dakshina Kannada, is a great example of having a successful track record of producing innumerable Rangers from the past 40 years. The current teachers heading the Rangering unit at the college are Deepika RR and Divyashree.
“After serving as a Ranger during my college days, I became a Rangewood leader in 2015 by completing a training program in Pilikula district training centre in Mangalore, to teach teen girls the life skills which has personally helped me immensely. It is a matter of pride to have more than 20 girls from our college who have won the Rajya Puraskar award under our guidance,” says Deepika.
Gowthami, a final year BSc student from Vivekananda College and Rajya Puraskar awardee, said that being the only child of a single parent, Rangering taught her leadership qualities and gave her the confidence to overcome hurdles. “With a rural-background which is predominantly male dominated, Rangering has made me an independent individual and paved the way to stand out from the rest of the crowd wherever I go,” she says.
Shilpa, another final year BSc student from Vivekananda College, said she had low self-esteem as a child, owing to her fear of the English language. “Rangering, however, transformed me completely as it taught me the power of good communication skills. The exposure we get through various platforms of public speaking and regular interaction with people helped me overcome all my inhibitions. My aim is to join the Indian Air Force,” she says.
Community service
The rangers across Karnataka have been working as frontline warriors since the outbreak of Covid-19, by distributing food and essential commodities.
That’s not all.
“The girls volunteered during the SSLC exams by helping out in maintaining social-distancing norms. This apart, nine lakh cloth masks were stitched and distributed across SSLC examination centres and one lakh masks to the police department,” says Geetha.
During the past year, 30 lakh seed balls were prepared and given to the Karnataka Forest Department. The rangers belonging to Hassan, Tumakuru and Chitradurga took up the responsibility of cleaning and restoring 30 abandoned water structures called kalyanis situated in these regions.
The rangers also provided voluntary service at the Mahamastakabhisheka Utsav at Shravanabelagola in 2019, by helping children climb the hill and even carried senior citizens and disabled persons from the base to the peak.
So how has it helped these women?
Bridget Aydline Pinto, who is now a qualified teacher, was once a Rajya Puraskar Ranger from the Bharat Scouts and Guides. “I learnt to be outgoing, patriotic, developed an attitude of service, and to be happy go lucky as a Ranger. These qualities helped me in captivating the attention and affection of children as a teacher after my post-graduation. As a teacher, I owe my positive attitude to the rangering programme,” she says.
Madhu Shree K S, another Rajya Puraskar Ranger from Government Science College, Bengaluru, says, “I am privileged to be a Ranger for the past three years, as it has made me develop self-confidence, owing to which I have learnt to face critical situations boldly. It has rendered me opportunities such as me being a part of International projects for the benefit of society, which otherwise would not have been possible,” she says.
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