The Vedicology Foundation
Section 8 non-profit, Chennai. Education for young women and vocational training for destitute women, in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The Vedicology Foundation is a Section 8 non-profit company, incorporated in Chennai on 3 April 2024 and founded by Praveen Saanker and Vandana Praveen. It funds two groups of women. Young women aged eighteen and above, through college, professional and vocational study. And destitute women, widowed or left or separated, through vocational training that leads to a livelihood. It works across Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and it does not fund minors. No money is given to a woman or to her family at any point.
The money never reaches a family
Every payment goes from the Foundation to a college, a hostel, a training institute or an examination body, on a woman's behalf. It is sent by bank transfer or through the institution's own fee portal. The institution confirms receipt in writing, to her and to the Foundation. A gift can be traced from one end to the other. And a woman is not handed cash and then asked to account for it.
Starting again, not starting out
A woman who has been widowed, or left by her husband, or separated from him is not a student who lost a parent. She is starting again, in her thirties or her forties. What she needs first is a skill that produces an income within months. The Foundation funds that training in full, and the fee goes to the training institute.
Most of the fee, not all of it
For scholarships the Foundation carries between half and three-quarters of the fees. The family carries the rest. A family that pays a part of it stays a partner in its daughter's education. Money that covers most of a cost also reaches more students than money that covers all of it. The share is set for each family separately. Where a family can manage very little, the Foundation carries more.
Somebody goes to the house first
A Programme Officer visits the home before anything is committed. It is a conversation about what the household earns and what it already carries. The share is set from that visit. It is not a form, and it is not one number applied to everybody. Nothing is charged to her at any stage. No application fee, no processing fee, and no fee for documents.
When there is no family at all
A young woman leaving a registered children's home has no family behind her to carry a remainder. For her the Foundation pays the whole of it. Tuition, hostel and examination fees, from the first day of the course to the last.
Seven situations, and they are written down
Eligibility is set out as seven situations. Both parents gone. A father who has died, or walked out, or is alive and unable to provide for reasons that are named rather than left vague. A young woman whose father left is not asked to produce a desertion certificate. The marks required are lowest for the one who has lost both parents. What is assessed is her situation. Not her background, not her religion, and not her community.
Two years, and the count is published
Three hundred and seventy-four young women have been funded since 2024. Twenty-nine institutions across the two states now take payment from the Foundation. Five hundred and fifty-one scholarships have gone to those three hundred and seventy-four. The difference is the ones who were funded again the next year, and the year after that. Eighty-nine lakh and ninety-two thousand rupees has been paid, all of it to institutions. The figures are stated as of March 2026.
Any of it can be checked
The corporate identity number, the 12A and 80G registrations, the NITI Aayog Darpan listing and the PAN are published together on the Foundation's site. Registration credentials are published there and financial statements are not. A Section 8 company cannot pay anything out privately, and its income may go only to its stated purpose. Vandana Praveen is Co-Founder and Director of Finance, with postgraduate qualifications in Finance and in Human Resources. Finance, accounts and programme administration are hers.
Why it is here at all
One of the situations the practice works on is a family that wants to give and has no structure for it. The same questions come up here. Who qualifies, how much of the cost, paid to whom, and who confirms that it arrived.
Where to go from here
Praveen Saanker. The record, in full.
Giving. What is done for a family that gives without a list.
vedicologyfoundation.com. The Foundation's own site.