Meet Doctor Harminder Singh: The 'Father' Of Over 140 Homeless Girls In Punjab

While many people abandon girl child, and refuse to empower women, Doctor Harminder Singh came forward to empower women of the nation. He is a medical professional, who has built up an NGO named ‘Jyoti Sarup Kanya Asra’, a home for orphans and homeless girls.

It was 1998 when Dr. Harminder visited an orphanage and witnessed the incident which made him built his own organization. The orphanage refused to accommodate destitute, abandoned girls. However, Harminder decided to start his own organization to shelter girls.

He started with nine orphan girls in a rented place, and today he has over 135 girl children staying at the Jyoti Sarup Kanya Asra, which is built by public donations. Harminder struggled for over 17 years to build this home for the girls.

He said, "There are three types of girls that come to live in this home:

1. Whose parents abandon them.
2. Whose parents have died.
3. Who have single parent, but with the mother getting remarried after the death of the father."

All the girls are getting complete education as they go to schools, while some are pursuing higher studies such as B. Tech, MA, B.Ed. Not only education, Harminder has also married off 8 girls who are living a happy life in various parts of Punjab.

The girls at ‘Jyoti Sarup Kanya Asra’ consider Dr. Harminder as a father figure, and even call him ‘Papa’. Harminder Singh was also honoured with Sikh Achievers’ Award in 2019.