The Servants of India Society

• Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866-1915), a liberal leader of the Indian National Congress, founded the Servants of India Society in 1905, with the help of M.G. Ranade.
• The aim of the society was to train national missionaries for the service of India; to promote, by all constitutional means, the true interests of the Indian people; and to prepare a cadre of selfless workers who were to devote their lives to the cause of the country in a religious spirit.
• In 1911, the Hitavada began to be published to project the views of the society.
• The society chose to remain aloof from political activities and organisations, like the Indian National Congress. After Gokhale’s death (1915), Srinivasa Shastri took over as president. The society still continues to function, though with a shrunken base, at many places in India. It works in the field of education, providing ashram type of schools for tribal girls and balwadis at many places.