Dr Narayan Singh Manaklao - Founder of SKSN Dr. Narayan Singh Manaklao, a college professor turned grass-roots social worker and reformer, was born in September 1942, in the village of Manaklao, from which he derives his surname. Dr. Manaklao is a Hindi laureate and holds a post-graduate degree in Hindi literature. He completed his doctoral work in Hindi from the Jai Narayan Vyas University, Jodhpur at the young age of 61.
In 1978, Dr Manaklao founded The Opium De-addiction Training, Treatment and Research Trust (ODTTRT), an institution which is fondly known as Manaklao Ashram. ODTTRT has conducted over 700 opium de-addiction camps both, at its main centre in Manaklao and in the rural interiors of the Thar Desert.
Dr Manaklao has detoxified more than 60,000 addicts from all parts of India, achieving a success rate of 80-85%. In acknowledgment of this landmark work, the United Nations Drug Control Program invited him to share his experiences and replicate his work in a number of countries. In recognition of this pioneering work, the Government of India bestowed him with a Padam Shree in 1986 and Padam Bhushan in 1991.
In 1991, in response to witnessing a physically challenged man constantly being chased away by the elders at a wedding, Dr Manaklao founded Sucheta Kriplani Shiksha Niketan - a residential senior secondary school for physically challenged children in the village of Manaklao. His dream was to provide every single disabled child with an education so that these children could learn to stand on their own feet. This institution began life simply, with a student population of about 20 children being taught under a tree.
Dr Manaklao was nominated as an MP to the Rajya Sabha (House of Lords) in August 2003.