The History of Calcutta Cathedral Relief Service

•         Founded by the late Revd. Canon Subir Biswas in 1963.

•         Initial work was with refugees in camps in Nadia, Salt Lake and Kalyani along the borders of West Bengal.

•         In 1971, CRS became the first relief and rehabilitation agency to work with the refugees in Bangladesh.

•         From 1972 onwards, CRS focused on the slums in urban Kolkata, while the emphasis continued to be relief-centric.

•         In the mid-80s, most activities centered around community development and community participation, with a gradual shift in focus from a relief-centric to a development agency.

•         In 2005 the Rights-based Approach was incorporated in each component of the overall programme to give the communities greater control over their social and economic development.