No one should have no one.
Narmada Seva funds food, medicine, shelter and daily care for people in need across India: elders in old age homes, families hit by disaster, people with nowhere else to turn. We are new and we are small, so we are building it around one rule: every rupee shows up on a public ledger.
Who we stand with
Elders growing old alone
Children move away for work, and parents manage on their own or in small old age homes that run on whatever help arrives that month. This is where Narmada Seva begins.
Families hit by disaster
Floods, storms and bad seasons take the house, the medicines and the savings in one go. The people with the least always take the longest to recover.
People with nowhere to turn
The homes and shelters that take people in stretch every donation across food, medicines, caregiver salaries and repairs. A predictable little is worth more to them than an occasional lot.
Where your money goes
You donate to a common care fund
One fund, so help goes where the need is that month instead of chasing whichever story is loudest.
We pay the bills of partner homes and shelters
Groceries, medicines, caregiver salaries, repairs. Wherever possible we pay the vendor directly instead of handing over cash.
Everything goes on a public ledger
Every rupee in and every rupee out, with the partner named on each line, published monthly and open to anyone.
Our first partner
We are starting where we are: in conversations with old age homes and shelters in and around Guwahati, with more of India to follow. When we sign the first partnership, its name, location and monthly budget will be published here, and the ledger will show every payment we make to it.
Built to be checked
The rule: every donation in and every payment out goes on a public ledger, with the partner named on each line, updated monthly with dates.
The first ledger goes up together with our first partner. Until then, this rule is the standard you can hold us to.
Payment gateway fees and basic running costs come out of donations. The ledger shows exactly how much.
Donate
Fair questions
Who runs Narmada Seva?
Narmada Seva is run by its founder, Nikhil Sahu, and is named for his grandfather. It operates as a registered charitable organisation in India; write to hello@narmadaseva.org for our registration documents and we will send them.
Will I get a tax benefit?
We are not issuing 80G tax exemption certificates yet, so please donate on the basis that there is no tax deduction for now. Every donation still gets a receipt by email. When our 80G approval is published on this site, the donation form will offer the certificate.
Can I donate from outside India?
No. Narmada Seva is not registered under the FCRA, the law that governs foreign donations to Indian nonprofits, so we can only accept payments from Indian bank accounts, UPI and Indian cards. If that ever changes, this answer will.
How do I know the money reaches people?
A public ledger: every donation in, every payment out, with the partner home or shelter named on each line, updated monthly. We are new, so there is no annual report yet, and that ledger is our accountability until there is one.