Chaitanya Sravanti was launched in November 1987 by Dr S A Rahaman as a service organization to give a helping hand to underprivileged sections in the coastal city of Visakhapatnam.

The organization conducted free medical camps covering all areas of health check-up. Mostly women and children living in slums benefited from these medical camps.

Other welfare activities of the voluntary organization included free adult education, free distribution of books and magazines to libraries, supply of food during natural disasters, honoring service-minded Government employees and financial assistance to those in distress from fishing communities.

Focus on women empowerment

In 1995 Dr. Shirin Rahaman was elected as president of the organization. Since then she has made women empowerment the focus of the organization.Her strong belief is that a just and equitable society can be built only through support extended to women to empower them, particularly those living in poverty.

Since the focus shifted to women empowerment all the projects and initiatives undertaken by the organization have essentially aimed at inspiring women to join hands and work towards self-reliance.

The initiatives are designed to provide women with easy access to information, resources, education and vocational training that will shape them into confident individuals to lead free and dignified lives.

The initiatives have encouraged hundreds of women across barriers of culture, religion and politics to join hands in their fight against poverty.

Her practical approach to tackling women’s problems has resulted in thousands of women participating in income-generating programs through Self Help Group called Podupu Sanghams in local language (Telugu)

The micro credit programs she initiated became extremely popular as they enabled women to increase their incomes. The beneficiaries in turn invested their income in the education of their children.

Successful Campaign Against Lotteries

One of her earliest campaigns was against single-digit lotteries that resulted in men squandering their hard-earned money. The lure of these lotteries nullified the benefits of Prohibition imposed in the State of Andhra Pradesh in the late 90’s.

When women in the slums of Visakhapatnam felt their men folk were being robbed of their earnings she gave voice to their anguish through public processions.

Vision

He vision is to help women become economically independent and self-reliant and be in complete control of their destinies free from violence, exclusion and discrimination.

She started a free clinic in the slums of Visakhapatnam. This served as a focal point for all her women empowerment activities. She devotes herself fulltime to improving the lives of women who are vulnerable to extreme poverty and anti-social influences