An Opportunity of Personality Development through Community Service
In India, the idea of involving students in the task of National Service dates back to the times of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of Nation. The Central theme which he tried to impress upon his student audience time and again was that they should always keep before them, their social responsibility. The first duty of the students should be, not to treat their period of study as one of the opportunities for indulgence in intellectual luxury, but for preparing themselves for final dedication in the service of those who provide the sinews of the nation with the national goods and services so essential to society. Advising them to form a living contact with the community in whose midst their institution is located. He suggested that instead of undertaking academic research about economic and social disability, the students should do “something positive so that the life of the villagers might be raised to a higher material and moral level.”
The Education commission headed by Dr. D.S Kothari (1964-66) also recommended that students at all stages of education should be associated with some form of social service
Thus, on September 24, 1969, NSS programme was launched in universities. It was appropriate that the programme was started during the Gandhi Centenary Year as it was Gandhi ji who inspired the Indian youth to participate in the movement for Indian independence and the social upliftment of the down-trodden masses of our nation. The scheme at +2 stage was introduced in 1985 in some states and by the year 1992 the NSS programme was extended to all the states.