Scouting has been acclaimed as a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their development to play constructive roles in society. The movement employs the "scout method," a programme of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities. The scout method is the main procedure by which the scouting organisations, boys and girls, operate their units. The World Organisation of the Scout Movement describes scouting as a "a voluntary, nonpolitical, educational movement for young people open to all without distinction of origin, race, or creed, in accordance with the purpose, principles and method conceived by the founder." The goal of scouting is to contribute to the development of young people in achieving their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potential as individuals, as responsible citizens, and as members of their local, national and international communities.
The Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha Inc of T&T, through the SDMS Hindu Cub Scouts Committee, has introduced scouting for boys and girls within its schools as another opportunity for assisting our youths to achieve their fullest potential and to mould their minds at the earliest stage of their development. This year, with the enrollment of girl cub scouts, the membership of boys and girls cub scouts within our 43 SDMS primary schools total approximately 2,500. There are over 31 million registered scouts and ten million guides around the world from 216 countries and territories, as of 2008. India, with 4,150,000 scouts and guides, ranks among the top three countries with scouting membership. Scouting was officially founded in British India in1909. However, membership into the movement was opened only to British and foreign nationals. This inequity of membership created a concern for Indian nationals and in 1913 native Indians were allowed membership into the scouting movement
It was in 1916 when Calcutta's Senior Deputy Commissioner of Police, JS Wilson, introduced Scouting for Boys as a textbook in the Calcutta Police Training School. Colonel Wilson volunteered his services to the District Scout Commissioner, Alfred Pickford. Together the two struggled for the admission of Indian boys into the Boys Scouts Association, which had not been admitted due to a Government of India order against it because "scouting might train them to become revolutionaries." Subsequently, a conference was held in Calcutta in August 1920 in which Wilson staged a scout rally. As a result, the Viceroy of India sent an invitation to Lord Baden-Powell, by then Chief Scout of the World, to visit India. Lord and Lady Baden-Powell arrived in Bombay in late January 1921 for a short tour of the subcontinent before leaving Calcutta for Rangoon.
The result of this visit was a union of all the scout organisations, except the Seva Samiti Scout Association, into the Boy Scouts Association in India. In 1922, Pickford returned to England and was appointed overseas commissioner of the Boy Scouts Association at their headquarters in London, but his dream of permitting local boys into the programme has been fulfilled. In 1938, a number of members left the Boy Scouts Association in India after a wave of nationalism. They formed-together with the Seva Samiti Scout Association and the newly founded India National Scout Association-the Hindustan Scout Association, the first coeducational scouting and guiding organisation in India. In the same year, the Boy Scouts Association in India became a member of the world organisation of the scout movement.
The first girl guides company was founded in Jabalpur in 1911. The movement immediately grew. In 1915, more than 50 companies existed with a membership of over 1,200, all of them directly registered with the Girl Guide Association and all restricted to girls of European descent. These companies formed the All India Girl Guides Association in 1916. In the same year the organisation opened for Indian girls. In 1959, the 17th World Scout Conference in New Delhi was hosted by the BSG. The United Nations selected the Bharat scouts and guides as honorary "peace messengers" for their significant and concrete contribution to the International Year of Peace in 1986. In his final letter to the Scouts, Lord Badan-Powell wrote:
"I believe that God put us in this jolly world to be happy and enjoy life. Nature study will show you how full of beautiful and wonderful things God has made the world for you to enjoy. But the real way to get happiness is by giving out happiness to other people." The Maha Sabha Board of Education subscribes to the aims of scouting for the education of young people, through a Hindu value system by encouraging trust, loyalty, helpfulness, courtesy, kindness, obedience, cheer, thrift, bravery, cleanliness and reverence. The values of scouting, such as honesty and a willingness to perform community service and respect for others with emphasis on personal development are particularly compatible with Hindu teachings.
• Satnarayan Maharaj is the secretary general of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha