Shanti Bhavan: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty Through Education
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Show Notes:
In this episode, I, Adam Torres, have the privilege of hosting Abraham George, the esteemed founder of Shanti Bhavan. Join us as Abraham shares his inspiring journey, the mission behind Shanti Bhavan, and the transformative impact the organization has on underprivileged children. This insightful discussion covers the vision, challenges, and successes of Shanti Bhavan, offering a deep look into its significant role in changing lives through education and support.
About Abraham George
Dr. Abraham George is a visionary leader with over three decades of experience at the intersection of education, philanthropy, and social impact. His career spans business, academia, and nonprofit leadership, all unified by a deep commitment to breaking cycles of poverty and driving systemic change.
As the founder of Shanti Bhavan, Dr. George established a pioneering residential school in India that delivers high-quality education and holistic development to children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. Shanti Bhavan supports students from early childhood through their professional careers, empowering them to become leaders and changemakers in their communities.
In addition to his work in education, Dr. George serves as the president of the Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media (IIJNM)—a leading institution dedicated to strengthening press freedom and cultivating ethical, impactful journalism. Developed in partnership with Columbia University, IIJNM’s curriculum equips students to thrive in a rapidly evolving global media landscape.
Beyond these institutions, Dr. George plays an active role in global philanthropy and social innovation, including as a member of the Forbes Nonprofit Council. His work focuses on strategic planning, sustainable development, and policy advocacy aimed at expanding equitable opportunities worldwide.
Through every endeavor, Dr. Abraham George remains deeply committed to creating long-term, transformative impact—one individual, one community, and one generation at a time.
About Shanti Bhavan
Shanti Bhavan is a home and an exceptional school for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children of India’s lowest caste, the so-called “untouchables” or dalits.
The children come from families that have been denied basic human rights for centuries. They are victims of extreme social discrimination and are deprived of the opportunity to live with dignity and economic stability. Practically no children from these communities receive proper schooling to enable them to pursue higher education on merit.
The vicious cycle of poverty faced by the dalit community of nearly 300 million people can be remedied through quality education for their children from an early age through college. Shanti Bhavan, a non-sectarian institution, offers both a loving home and “world-class” education for all its children.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on Be Our Guest to Apply. All right, today’s a very special episode. We have Abraham George on the line and he is joining us.
From from India Remote Village in India. I’ll let him, him talk about that a bit. But Abraham is the founder of Ashanti Bavan and this is a charitable organization that has affected many, many lives and really worked towards ending India cycle of poverty and caste since 1997. So, you know, 27 plus years going on.
And there’s also an upcoming book that Abraham has that, we’ll get into all that. But first off Abraham, welcome to the show. Thank you. I look forward to our conversation. Alright, so first thing first I guess let, let’s go back to the Abraham when he is first getting started. You were, an army officer.
You had been in finance, many different complexions on your career and your journey. Where do you wanna start? like how did you get on this path to, really founding Shante Bowen? I can say in couple of sentences my background that I was trained as an officer of the Indian Army. Mm-hmm. Sent to the Chinese border.
So soon after China invaded India. Mm-hmm. In the sixties. And then I also served in the Pakistan border. We had a conflict with them. Mm-hmm. And subsequent to that number of things happened during that period that I decided that military service may not be the right thing for me.
It’s a normal service, but it’s not my calling. Mm-hmm. And I chose to come to Americas to Study and I did a couple of masters and a doctorate in international finance. and after a couple of years of working with the JP Morgan and others, I started my own company, which lasted some 25 years.
And all along during that period I was, always thinking about when I could enter the social arena, how could I contribute to alleviating poverty and social injustice. Hmm. And I came to India some 30 years ago to start a foundation, Ashanti Bawan and a school for children from very, very deprived backgrounds.
Hmm. That’s my background. I’ve been at it for the last, just as you said, through school started 27 years ago and still going. I wanna stay in those early days for just a little bit longer, because there’ll be some people that listen to this that of course we’re gonna get further into the mission, Ashanti Bavan, but there’ll be some people that listen to this, that maybe they have, you know, a idea or something.
Just like being an entrepreneur, being a social entrepreneur and, and starting organization to, you know, do something outside of traditional business and in the nonprofit and or helping others impact is on a lot of people’s hearts. So how, if you could give yourself some, tips about now, you know, you’re 27 years in, give yourself some tips to the Abraham who’s just getting started in this space.
What kind of things would you tell them? Well, you know the motivation could be. Religious calling, they want to serve humanity. It could be they have made enough money and feel that they haven’t achieved their purpose in life and they want to contribute again to society. Mm-hmm. And some people want a dual life, a corporate life, as well as a charitable life.
Engage in a hybrid mode doing their work in the companies they are in, and at the same time contributing by donations and otherwise, or being involved in a, a different way. Mm-hmm. So these are the things in my case, I had a life threatening accident. Oh, I was blown up. I was blown up in a dynamite incident.
Oh. That I was the Chinese border at 14,000 feet above sea level. Very cold, very, very harsh environment. I was blasting rocks and so on, and I hadn’t had this accident, and I asked myself why this happened to me and why was I spare? And sitting alone in this mountains the Himalayas and thinking about my life and its purpose, I came to the conclusion that at some point in life I should devote my life to, serving the poor. I was equally concerned about social discrimination there in India. I don’t know if you are aware that there’s a caste system, the untouchables and so on, and they’re treated very poorly and I felt this is not right. How do you break that? And that prompted me to think about ways I could serve.
It took me another. And the 25 years Yeah. Before I could start and before I turned 50. Yeah. I left my company, I sold my business and, and came over to this remote village. And ever since I’ve been here. I think that’s significant though because I think your story of it taking, you know, 20 some years to actually launch that idea just kind of lets other people know that maybe if they’ve been also sitting on an idea that would you agree?
It’s like it’s never too late to start right. Exactly. See most people want to do something good in their life. Yeah. I don’t think they just want their lives to pass without having done something. Mm-hmm. They may feel sympathy for the predicament of. Other human being who is suffering they may feel empathy.
Mm-hmm. They may even feel compassion. But none of those things make a difference to the person who is suffering until you decide to act on your compassion. So I call it compassionate in action. Mm-hmm. And I was always thinking through my graduate studies and during my business years, how do I.
I make a lot of money and then use it to serve people who need
mm-hmm. My help. Yeah. So Abraham, I know that one of your focuses is in this work is helping young girls and helping girls. what’s that focus like? Can you elaborate on why that’s so important?
You know, we all know that women are other caregivers in their homes. They are the ones who are with their children most of the time, and they’re the ones who motivate their children. And if they don’t have the ability to earn they may not be able to do what is needed for their children. The fathers may have other interests.
And I feel that if we bring up women, they will be apart from having two incomes they are able to find ways is to take them to.
Better life by giving them opportunities for caring, feel that, and contribute to the families and ultimately to their children. So, mm-hmm. I feel that women. Ought to be given preference in some ways, or men mm-hmm. In terms of having an opportunity to have a good education have a career and then they will in turn bring up their children on to higher studies and so on.
Hmm. I understand that you also have a book coming up. Talk to me about that. You have a book that you’ll be releasing. Yes, the book is called Mountains to Cross. It means that there are so many obstacles that the children I brought have been bringing up for the last 30 years. Hmm. From extremely poor families not even one meal a day type of environment.
Mm-hmm. And their social setup is very poor and they’re lived two lives. One when they go home on vacation for two, three months and otherwise they’re with us. And they have seen
suffering of their. Parents, their siblings who overcome those things and focus on building a career, doing excellent studies and succeeding in what they try to pursue. So the mountains across is the story of, in many ways the story of the children I brought up who have transform their lives by overcoming many hurdles.
Hmm. and when is this book expected to come out? Like when, when can we pick up a copy? Well, would like to get that advanced copy out by December, January, man. What was it like for you putting together a book? Like how was that? I know that’s never an easy, thing.
That’s true. You know, autobiographies in some ways is difficult because you have to be very careful how you work everything because you can’t sound pompous or you are, praising yourself. So that’s one aspect. But this book is more than autobiographies. The lessons that I learned that others can use if they ever want to go into social service, and I try to provide that guidance of what I.
had to do to overcome the hurdles I faced over these 30 years and how I was prepared. Mm-hmm. So in some ways it’s a sort of cookbook a cookbook for those who are budding social humanitarians and who are looking for ways to get involved. Abraham, this has been great having you on the show today and learning more about your background and all the great work that you’re doing over Atti Bavan.
If people want to get involved with the organization contribute or anything else how do they do that? It’s very simple. Look at my name. Abraham George stands for Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. Any website, so many websites, including the website. And from there it’ll take you.
Fantastic. And for everybody listening, just so you know, we’ll definitely put the link in the website so that you could just click on the link, and head right on over. And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button.
This is a daily show. Each and every day I’m bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way in your journey as well. So again, hit that subscribe or follow button. And Abraham, thanks again for coming on the show. Adam, thank you.