Reeta Devi - Revision history

DigitalKush: revised

2025-09-07T17:59:35Z

revised

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{short description|Founder of the Indian NGO, Ila Trust}}
+'''Reeta Devi''' may refer to:
-==Biography==
+* [[Reeta Devi (social worker)]]
-{{quotebox|align = left|width=21em|''When you see a 13-year-old who has to abort a four-month foetus by her own father, then you realize your whole life has been wasted. You realize how useless you are. Between the law, the press, and the army of do-gooders, the child's put away in the cupboard,'' says Reeta Devi.<ref name="TOI" />}}
+* [[Reeta Devi (politician)]]
-Devi, an avid horse racing fan and a regular at the Friday races at the Kolkata Race Course, who gave a part of her winnings to the [[Missionaries of Charity]] of [[Mother Teresa]], led a busy social life.<ref name="TOI" /> She is reported to have been the subject of portraits of renowned photographers such as [[David Bailey]] and [[Anthony Snowdon]] and has made a cameo appearance, as herself, in the 1971 [[Satyajit Ray]] movie, [[Seemabaddha]].<ref name="TOI" />
+{{hndis|Devi, Reeta}}

->GreenC bot: Rescued 2 archive links. Wayback Medic 2.5

2021-08-09T02:56:25Z

Rescued 2 archive links. Wayback Medic 2.5

New page

{{short description|Founder of the Indian NGO, Ila Trust}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Reeta Devi
| image = The President, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil presenting the Padma Shri Award to Smt. Reeta Devi, at an Investiture Ceremony-II, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on April 04, 2012.jpg
| imagesize = 220px
| caption = The President, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil presenting the Padma Shri Award to Smt. Reeta Devi
| birth_date = {{Birth-date and age|11 October 1942}}
| birth_place = [[Assam]], India
| death_date =
| death_place =
| restingplace =
| restingplacecoordinates =
| othername =
| occupation = Social worker
| yearsactive =
| spouse = Manvendra Kishore Dev Burman
| domesticpartner =
| children =
| parents = Dhirendra Roy Chaudhary<br>Kamala
| website = {{URL||Official web site}}
| awards = [[Padma Shri]]
}}
'''Reeta Devi Varma''' is an Indian social worker and the founder of the Delhi-based non governmental organization, '''Ila Trust'''.<ref name="NGO listing">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eXxwB9R3BwUC&q=Reeta+Devi+Ila+trust&pg=PA619 | title=Principles of Perinatal and Pediatric HIV/AIDS | publisher=JP Medical Ltd | author=Lala Mamatha M, Merchant Rashid H | year=2011 | pages=617 of 671 pages | isbn=9789350251973}}</ref> She was honored by the [[Government of India]], in 2012, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of [[Padma Shri]].<ref name="Padma Shri">{{cite web | url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf | title=Padma Shri | publisher=Padma Shri | date=2014 | access-date=11 November 2014}}</ref>

==Biography==
{{quotebox|align = left|width=21em|''When you see a 13-year-old who has to abort a four-month foetus by her own father, then you realize your whole life has been wasted. You realize how useless you are. Between the law, the press, and the army of do-gooders, the child's put away in the cupboard,'' says Reeta Devi.<ref name="TOI" />}}
Reeta Devi, née Reeta Roy, was born on 11 October 1942,<ref name="My fair ladies: the costume designer and the altruist">{{cite journal | url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/columns/my-fair-ladies-the-costume-designer-and-the-altruist/article1-617011.aspx | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215091154/http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/columns/my-fair-ladies-the-costume-designer-and-the-altruist/article1-617011.aspx | url-status=dead | archive-date=15 December 2014 | title=My fair ladies: the costume designer and the altruist | author=Kushwant Singh | journal=The Hindustan Times |date=October 2010 }}</ref> in a rich [[zamindari]] family in Assam to Dhirendra Roy Chaudhary, a tea broker and Kamala, a doctoral degree holder and reported to be the first woman lecturer of Botany at the [[Cotton College, Guwahati]], Assam.<ref name="TOI">{{cite web | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/stoi/She-could-have-danced-all-night/articleshow/33153644.cms | title=TOI | publisher=TOI | date=28 January 2001 | access-date=5 December 2014}}</ref> After her graduation, she joined [[British Airways]] as an air hostess, against the will of her father, but later, moved to [[Air India]], when she felt the British airline did not offer her opportunity to fly to farther regions.<ref name="TOI" /> She got married in November 1964, to Manvendra Kishore Dev Burman (Bhim), who came from the royal family of Tripura and was the nephew of [[Gayatri Devi]], the third Maharani of Jaipur.<ref name="TOI" />

Devi, an avid horse racing fan and a regular at the Friday races at the Kolkata Race Course, who gave a part of her winnings to the [[Missionaries of Charity]] of [[Mother Teresa]], led a busy social life.<ref name="TOI" /> She is reported to have been the subject of portraits of renowned photographers such as [[David Bailey]] and [[Anthony Snowdon]] and has made a cameo appearance, as herself, in the 1971 [[Satyajit Ray]] movie, [[Seemabaddha]].<ref name="TOI" />

Manvendra Kishore Dev Burman, Devi's husband, whose favorite past time was twice daily feeding the stray dogs of [[Khan Market]] area of Delhi, has since died, leaving her no children.<ref name="TOI" /><ref name="My fair ladies: the costume designer and the altruist" /> She lives in Delhi, in the neighbourhood<ref name="New York Times">{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/15/world/new-delhi-journal-an-octogenarian-mixes-politics-sex-and-scotch.html | title=New York Times | date=15 September 1999 | access-date=6 December 2014}}</ref> where the renowned writer, [[Kushwant Singh]] lived, attending to her duties as the head of Ila Trust.<ref name="My fair ladies: the costume designer and the altruist" />

==Ila Trust and social career==
Reeta Devi has been associated with [[Mother Teresa]] from the age of sixteen and the ''Blessed Nun of Kolkata'' is reported to have inspired Devi in her social career. Devi visited the refugee camps in the aftermath of the 1971 [[Bangladesh Liberation War]], living in the camps to take care of the victims.<ref name="TOI" /> She used to be a frequent visitor to [[Kalighat Home for the Dying|Nirmal Hriday]], a hospice set up by Mother Teresa for the sick, destitute and the dying where she cleaned the floors and attended to the inmates.<ref name="TOI" />

In order to streamline her social activities, Reeta Devi founded '''Ila Trust''', a non governmental organization named after her mother in Law, Ila Devi,<ref name="Medicos India">{{cite web | url=http://www.medicosindia.com/taking-healtcare-to-the-needy/ | title=Medicos India | publisher=Medicos India | date=22 May 2014 | access-date=5 December 2014}}</ref> on 26 October 1994. The next year, she launched the first ambulance service with doctors and paramedical staff in [[Guwahati]] and in 1996, she assisted in the establishment of a hospice for the [[Missionaries of Charity]]. One year later, in 1997, she set up another hospice for AIDS victims at a tribal village in Assam.

Reeta Devi moved her activity to Delhi and the first mobile clinic for the capital city was started in 2003.<ref name="Medicos India" /> The same year, the trust built a hospice for HIV and Tuberculosis patients at Betkuchi, Guwahati. It is reported that Devi sold her vehicle to raise the money for the construction.<ref name="TOI" /> The centre, a twenty bedded unit, was donated to ''Snehalaya'',<ref name="Snehalaya">{{cite web | url=http://www.snehalaya.org/ | title=Snehalaya | publisher=Snehalaya | date=2014 | access-date=5 December 2014}}</ref> a charity organization run by Fatima sisters of the catholic community and is now called ''Ila Snehalaya''.<ref name="Church News Site">{{cite web | url=http://www.churchnewssite.com/portal/?p=59179 | title=Church News Site | publisher=Church News Site | date=2014 | access-date=5 December 2014}}</ref>

The second Delhi based unit was started in 2007 with the assistance of [[Elton John Aids Foundation]],<ref name="My fair ladies: the costume designer and the altruist" /> followed by the third unit in 2012. The mobile clinic network of Ila Trust is manned by 12 doctors, 4 pharmacists, 6 screeners, 3 drivers and 2 administration personnel.<ref name="Medicos India" /> Reeta Devi was successful in inducting a few highly trained medical doctors to work with the network.<ref name="Khushwant Singh">{{cite news | url=http://www.deccanherald.com/content/103405/content/217834/F | title=Healers and Dealers | work=Column | date=9 October 2010 | agency=Deccan Herlad | access-date=5 December 2014 | author=Khushwant Singh}}</ref> The mobile units provide medical service to the poor at various locations in Delhi six days a week and Diagnoses, tests, treatments and medicines are provided free of cost.<ref name="Medicos India" /> The units are equipped with Electronic Medical Record (EMR) System, developed by the Trust.<ref name="Medicos India" />

The Trust operates from its office at Sujan Singh Park, New Delhi<ref name="Location">{{cite web | url=http://www.startlocal.in/health_and_medical/ngo_non_government_organisation_/delhi/Ila_Trust_3322029.html | title=Location of Ila Trust | publisher=Star Local | date=2014 | access-date=5 December 2014}}</ref> and raises the required funds through donations<ref name="My fair ladies: the costume designer and the altruist" /> and charity events.<ref name="India Info Online">{{cite web | url=http://www.indiainfoline.com/article/print/news/deepa-mehta-and-salman-rushdie-attend-charity-screening-of-midnights-children-5592238498_1.html | title=India Info Online | publisher=India Info Online | date=23 January 2013 | access-date=5 December 2014}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Missionaries of Charity]]
* [[Mother Teresa]]
* [[Kalighat Home for the Dying|Nirmal Hriday]]
* [[Elton John Aids Foundation]]
{{div col end}}
{{portal|India}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal | url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/columns/my-fair-ladies-the-costume-designer-and-the-altruist/article1-617011.aspx | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215091154/http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/columns/my-fair-ladies-the-costume-designer-and-the-altruist/article1-617011.aspx | url-status=dead | archive-date=15 December 2014 | title=My fair ladies: the costume designer and the altruist | author=Kushwant Singh | journal=The Hindustan Times |date=October 2010 }}
* {{cite news | url=http://www.deccanherald.com/content/103405/content/217834/F | title=Healers and Dealers | work=Column | date=9 October 2010 | agency=Deccan Herlad | access-date=5 December 2014 | author=Khushwant Singh}}

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Social Work}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Reeta}}
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work]]
[[Category:Social workers from Delhi]]
[[Category:Social workers]]
[[Category:Social workers from Assam]]