Devendra Nath Pandya is a retired Principal and founder of Sevanjali Society. He laments that the present generation of youth give more importance to superficial pleasures and not real achievements in life.

Devendra Nath Pandya is a retired Principal from a Government Higher Secondary School in Bikaner. He has done B. Ed and M. Ed and M.A. and English Literature. He is running an NGO, the Sevanjali Society in Garhi in the Banswara district of Rajasthan.

Devendra shares that he started this NGO in 1981 and it is a registered society under the Rajasthan Societies Act. They work in the tribal belt of Southern Rajasthan in the fields of Education and Environment Awareness.

Talking about his work, he says that under Community Development their focus is on Social and Physical Development. They have planted around six lakh trees so far and have created awareness regarding nature and its importance among the tribals. They have their own Plant Nursery from where they distribute free plants to rural people. They have established their center in 32 villages. The survival rate of trees planted by them is 80 percent. They have been recognized by the Government as well and the Forest Department, Banswara has awarded them three times with honors like ‘Vriksh Vistarak Puraskar’, and ‘Vriksh Vardhak’ Puraskar. The District Administration has also awarded them on the Republic Day in 1994 for their exemplary contribution in the field of environment.

Devendra shares that under educational services they have established a Library cum Reading Room in a village. Devendra says that the village they were working in did not even have a newspaper distribution service. With the help of public contribution and government aid, they established a two-floor Library with a seating capacity of forty people. He says that students and other people are daily visitors to this library and sometimes they don’t even get a place to sit. With a financial contribution from organizations like ITC and Tata Trust, they are running libraries in six villages. They have also organized 64 awareness camps in villages to create awareness about Environment and Tree plantations. They have three categories of plants that they generally grow in their nursery: Fuel-Fodder, Ornamental, and Fruits.

Devendra was also awarded the ‘Ummed Mal Lodha Paryavaran Puraskar’ by Sevamandir in 2009.

Devendra considers Vaidya Narayan Shankar as his inspiration. Narayan Shankar has been working in the field of education awareness for the past seventy years. Devendra feels that work done with a selfless intention always results in positive outcomes. He says that he had never worked with an intention of economic gain and has always worked for people’s service.

Devendra feels that Education is the chief defense of any country. He says that education is very important in life. With Education comes Experience as well. Without Experience, no one can progress in life. He says that an intelligent person is one who learns from others’ mistakes, an average person is one who learns from their own mistakes and a foolish person is one who doesn’t learn even from his own mistakes.

Devendra feels that the youth is misguided in today’s time. They only worry about economic development and not about service to the nation. They need to learn the importance of Social Service in today’s times.

Though Devendra does not get much time from his organization, whenever he does, he likes to write essays and poems. Inspired by Bacon, the Father of Modern English Essays, he has written a collection of thirty-seven essays, titled ‘Pravah Pustaka’. He has also written a book, ‘Dastak Paryavaran’, which is a collection of thirty-two poems about the flora and fauna of Rajasthan. He has also written a Biography honoring Retd. IAS Officer and former Home Secretary, Rajasthan, Shiv Shankar Sharma.