Sunderlal Bahuguna

 

Sunderlal Bahuguna and his opposition to the Tehri dam have been a reference point for environmental movements in India. Diversely acclaimed as the father of the Chipko movement, a freedom fighter, a true disciple of Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave, an environmental thinker and writer, a gentle crusader, an unobtrusive messiah, a rishi, the face of TBVSS, convenor of Himalaya Bachao Andolan and much more, Bahuguna has maintained an important presence in the environmental movement of the country.

 

Sunderlal Bahuguna is an Indian eco-activist and Gandhian peace worker, famous for his invaluable contributions to environmental activities. Sunderlal Bahuguna has contributed globally through awareness raising measures concerning deforestation, the negative effects of liquor on mountain life, and the health of the Ganges River. Through his work, Sunderlal has become synonymous with the Chipko movement. He was one of the first people to point out the fallacies of judgment when creating the Tehri Dam. Sunderlal’s outspoken views have ignited the young people of India into action to perpetuate the protest against the ecological ruin imposed on India. He will be most remembered in history for igniting a grassroots movement for protecting the environment.

 

Sunderlal Bahuguna was born on 9th January 1927, in Maroda village near Tehri in Uttar Pradesh. His father was a forest officer in the Garhwal region of Uttar Pradesh. He was the youngest of five children. Sunderlal was originally named Gangaram, but Bahuguna had a sister named Ganga which confused matters for their parents, when either of them was called. “Since I was a beautiful child, they renamed me Sunderlal,” recalls Bahuguna.

 

Initially, Sunderlal Bahuguna fought against untouchability and later started an anti-liquor drive in the Garhwal region with the support of local women. He started social activities at the age of thirteen under the guidance of Shri Dev Suman, who was a nationalist and a Gandhian, spreading the message of non-violence. Bahuguna also mobilised people against colonial rule before 1947. He adopted Gandhian principles in his life and married a woman named Vimla, with the condition that they would live amongst rural people and establish an ashram in a village in Garhwal. Inspired by Gandhi, he walked through Himalayan forests and hills, covering more than 4,700 kilometers by foot and observed the damage done by mega developmental projects on the fragile eco-system of Himalayas and the subsequent degradation of social life in villages.

 

Chipko movement: 

The Chipko movement or Chipko Andolan is a movement that practiced the Gandhian methods of satyagraha and non-violent resistance, through the act of hugging trees to protect them from being felled. The idea of 'Chipko' was that of Sunderlal Bahugana's wife and the action was adopted by him. The word 'Chipko' was a loose translation of the word "angal waltha" in the Garhwali language meaning "embrace", which was later was adapted to the Hindi word, Chipko, which means “stick” by Chandi Prasad Bhatt, a noted environmentalist.

 

In Garhwal, the movement started at first between the contractors and people, due to loss of livelihoods. The forest trees were cut down for making sports equipment. The local people were the ones most affected by the rampant deforestation, which led to a lack of firewood and fodder as well as water for drinking and irrigation. Forest cover started decreasing at an alarming rate, resulting in hardships for those involved in labour-intensive fodder and firewood collection. This also led to deterioration in the soil conditions and erosion in the area. As water sources dried up in the hills, water shortages became widespread. Subsequently, communities gave up raising livestock, which added to the problems of malnutrition in the region. 

 

This crisis was heightened by the fact that forest conservation policies, like the Indian Forest Act, 1927, traditionally restricted the access of local communities to the forests, resulting in scarce farm lands in an over-populated and extremely poor area, despite all of its natural wealth. Thus, the sharp decline in the local agrarian economy, lead to migration of people into the plains in search of jobs, leaving behind several de-populated villages in the 1960s.

 

Gradually, rising awareness of the ecological crisis, which came from an immediate loss of livelihood caused by it, resulted in the growth of political activism in the region. The local people established the Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS), a Garhwal Dasholi Village society for self-rule. This action was led by Sunderlal Bahuguna and Chandi Prasad Bhatt in Gopeshwar, with an aim to set up small industries using the resources of the forest. 

 

The area had restrictive forest policies, a hangover from colonial era, as well as the "contractor system", in which tracts of forest land were commodified and auctioned to big contractors, usually from the plains, who brought along their own skilled and semiskilled laborers, leaving only the menial jobs like hauling rocks for the hill people, and paying them next to nothing. On the other hand, the hill regions saw an influx of more people from the outside, which only added to the already strained ecological balance.

 

Hastened by increasing hardships, the Garhwal Himalayas soon became the centre for a rising ecological awareness of how reckless deforestation had denuded much of the forest cover, resulting in the devastating Alaknanda River floods of July 1970, when a major landslide blocked the river and affected an area starting from Hanuman chatti, near Badrinath to 350 km downstream till Haridwar. Further, numerous villages, bridges and roads were washed away. Thereafter, incidences of landslides and land subsidence became common in an area which is experiencing a rapid increase in civil engineering projects.

 

Soon villagers, especially women, started organizing themselves under Bahuguna's leadership, into several smaller groups, taking up local causes with the authorities, and standing up against commercial logging operations that threatened their livelihoods.

 

In October, 1971, the Dasholi Sangh workers held a demonstration in Gopeshwar to protest against the policies of the Forest Department. More rallies and marches were held in late 1972, but with little effect, until a decision to take direct action was taken. The first such occasion occurred when the Forest Department turned down the Sangh’s annual request for ten ash trees for its farm tools workshop, and instead awarded a contract for 300 trees to Simon Company, a sports goods manufacturer in distant Allahabad, to make tennis rackets.

 

In March, 1973, the lumbermen arrived at Gopeshwar, and after a couple of weeks, they were confronted at village Mandal on April 24, where about hundred villagers and DGSS workers beat drums and shouted slogans, thus forcing the contractors and their lumbermen to retreat. This was the first confrontation of the movement. The contract was eventually cancelled and awarded to the Sangh instead. But, the issue had grown beyond the mere procurement of annual quota of three ash trees, and encompassed a growing concern over commercial logging and the Government's forest policy, which the villagers saw as unfavourable towards them. The Sangh also decided to resort to tree-hugging, or Chipko, as a means of non-violent protest.

 

But the struggle was far from over, as the same company was awarded more ash trees, in the Phata forest, 80 km away from Gopeshwar. Here again, due to local opposition, starting on June 20, 1973, the contractors retreated after a stand-off that lasted for a few days. Thereafter, the villagers of Phata and Tarsali formed a vigil group and watched over the trees till December 1973, when they had another successful stand-off, when the activists reached the site in time. The lumbermen retreated leaving behind five felled ash trees.

 

The final flash point began a few months later, when the Government announced an auction scheduled in January, 1974, for 2,500 trees near Reni village, overlooking the Alaknanda River. Bhatt and Sunderlal Bahuguna set out for the villages in the Reni area, and incited the villagers, who decided to protest against the actions of the Government by hugging the trees. Over the next few weeks, rallies and meetings continued in the Reni area

 

On March 26, 1974, the day the lumbermen were to cut the trees, the men of the Reni village and DGSS workers were called to Chamoli by Uttar Pradesh state government and contractors for fictional compensation payment. Meanwhile labourers arrived by the truckload at Reni village to start logging operations. A local girl, on seeing them, rushed to inform Gaura Devi, the head of the village Mahila Mangal Dal, at Reni village. Gaura Devi led 27 of the village women to the site and confronted the loggers. When all the talking failed and the loggers started to shout and abuse the women and threatening them with guns, the women resorted to hugging the trees to stop them from being felled. The women kept an all-night vigil guarding their trees from the cutters till a few of them relented and left the village. The next day, when the men and leaders returned, the news of the movement spread to the neighbouring Laata and others villages including Henwalghati, and more people joined in. Eventually, after a four-day stand-off, the contractors left. The then state Chief Minister, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, set up a committee to look into the matter, which eventually ruled in favour of the villagers. This became a turning point in the history of ecodevelopment struggles in the Region and around the world.

 

The struggle soon spread across many parts of the Region, and such spontaneous stand-offs between the local community and timber merchants occurred at several locations, with hill women demonstrating their new-found power as non-violent activists. As the movement gathered shape under its leaders, the name Chipko Movement was attached to their activities. Subsequently, over the next five years the movement spread to many districts in the Region, and within a decade throughout the Uttarakhand Himalayas. Larger issues of ecological and economic exploitation of the region were also raised.

 

The villagers demanded that no forest-exploiting contracts should be given to outsiders and that local communities should have effective control over natural resources like land, water, and forests. They wanted the Government to provide low-cost materials to small industries and ensure development of the Region, without disturbing the ecological balance. The movement took up economic issues of landless forest workers and asked for guarantees of minimum wage. Globally, Chipko demonstrated how environment causes, up until then considered an activity of the rich, were a matter of life and death for the poor, who were all too often, the first ones to be devastated by an environmental tragedy. Several scholarly studies were made in the aftermath of the movement. The movement achieved a victory when the Government issued a ban on felling of trees in the Himalayan regions for fifteen years in 1980, by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, until the green cover was fully restored. Sunderlal Bahuguna, took a 5,000-kilometre trans-Himalaya foot march in 1981–83, spreading the Chipko message to a far greater area.

Gradually, women set up cooperatives to guard local forests, and also organized fodder production at rates conducive to local environment. Next, they joined in land rotation schemes for fodder collection, helped replant degraded land and established and ran nurseries, stocked with species they selected.

 

The Chipko movement, though primarily a livelihood protection movement rather than a forest conservation or an eco-activism movement, went on to become a rallying point for many future environmentalists, environmental protests and movements all over the world and created a precedent for non-violent protest. 

 

It occurred at a time when there was hardly any environmental movement in the developing world, and its success meant that the world immediately took notice of this non-violent movement, which was to inspire in time many such eco-groups by helping to slow down the rapid deforestation, expose vested interests, increase ecological awareness and demonstrate the viability of
people's power. Above all, it stirred up the existing civil society in India, which began to address the issues of tribal and marginalized people. So much so that 25 years later, 'India Today' mentioned that the people behind the "forest satyagraha" of the Chipko movement as amongst “100 people who shaped India”.

 

In 1977, Women’s participation in the Chipko agitation was a very novel aspect of the movement. Although many of its leaders were men, women were not only its backbone, but also its mainstay. Over the years, they also became the primary stakeholders in a majority of the afforestation work that happened under the Chipko movement.

 

In the Uttarakhand Region, the communication media underlying the Chipko movement was remarkably small-scale and lowtech, emphasizing local knowledge, local resources, local leadership, local language and locally relevant methods of communication. Poets and singers were frontline motivators, writing verses and songs for public performance to inspire grassroots participation. Ghanshyam Sailani emerged as the poet laureate of Chipko, penning such verses as: 
“Let us protect and plant the trees,Go awaken the villages,And drive away the axemen."

 

Anti-Liquor movement:

Sunderlal bahuguna saw the devastation in Uttaranchal, caused by alcohol. Sunderlal began moving throughout the mountains and providing strength and encouragement to the mountain women to eradicate alcohol from the mountains. Traditionally, these Hindu people do not consume alcohol; however the drink was flowing heavily between India and China, influencing many in its path. The forest contractors of the Region usually doubled up as suppliers of alcohol to men. Women held sustained agitations against the habit of alcoholism.

 

Anti Tehri dam protest: 

The Tehri dam built on the Himalayan Rivers of Bhagirathi and Bhilangana for irrigation and hydel power. Sunderlal Bahuguna and his long-standing opposition to the Tehri dam in Garhwal, have been significant markers in the environmental movements of India in general and for struggles against big dams in particular.  For Bahuguna, the construction of Tehri dam is related to a development system which, according to him, is based on two lies -nature is a commodity and society comprises only of human beings. This system, he claims was born and developed in the west, where the state had vast colonies to exploit, less population, and a big area. However, its application to densely populated countries has created a host of problems, and the crisis of Ganga is one of them. The basis of development, he argues, should be cultural values, and its objective should be the achievement of peace and fulfillment, instead of affluence. It is not the dam, but Ganga that can solve the problems of the Region. He stresses the tradition of worshipping the Ganga, which should be strengthened with scientific support.

 

Sundarlal Bahuguna’s concerns also gave birth to the Save Himalaya Movement, which asks for “a Himalayan policy in which inspiring aspect of Himalaya is maintained”. It states that the Himalaya should remain a living space for its permanent residents, spiritual seekers, pilgrims and tourists visiting for peace and for enjoying scenic beauty. There should be a ban on indiscriminate exploitation and on construction of big dams. He along with his associates formed the Tehri Bandh Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti (Committee for Struggle against Tehri Dam henceforth TBVSS).

 

Four major effects of Tehri dam: atrocities, displacement, corruption and genocide to the local people. Though the reservoir is likely to irrigate 2,70,000 hectares of land, and generate 346 MW of hydel power, the dam submergence area includes the town of Tehri and 23 villages in the vicinity, while 72 other villages are partially submerged. Nearly 5,200 hectares of land is lost to the reservoir. In addition, about 85,000 persons have been fully or partially displaced.

 

Sundarlal Bahuguna remained behind the anti-Tehri Dam protests for decades; he used the Satyagraha methods, and repeatedly went on hunger strikes at the banks of Bhagirathi as a mark of his protest. In 1995, he called off a 45-day-long fast following an assurance from the then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao of the appointment of a review committee on the ecological impacts of the dam. Thereafter he went on another long fast which lasted for 74 days at Gandhi Samadhi, Raj Ghat, during the tenure of Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda who gave personal undertaking of project review. However, despite a court case which ran in the Supreme Court for over a decade, work resumed at the Tehri dam in 2001, following which he was arrested on April 20, 2001. Eventually, the dam reservoir started filling up in 2004, and on July 31, 2004 he was finally evacuated to a new accommodation at Koti, a little hillock, along the Bhagirathi continues his environment work.

 

Sunderlal Bahuguna has been a passionate defender of the Himalayan people, working for temperance, the plight of the hill people (especially working women). He has also struggled to defend India's rivers. The opposition to the Tehri dam was not just a simple disagreement on the safety, viability-nonviability, costs-benefits, and displacement-resettlement of a big project. It struck right at the heart of philosophical, cultural, religious, political, moral debates around contemporary developmental efforts and increasing references and emphasis by Sunderlal, on the purity and holiness of Ganga.

 

Environmental effects on Himalayas: 

On June 16, 2013, a Multi-day cloudburst centered on the North Indian state of Uttarakhand caused devastating floods and landslides in the country's worst natural disaster, since the 2004 tsunami. The unprecedented destruction witnessed in Uttarakhand state was attributed, by environmentalists, to unscientific developmental activities undertaken in recent decades contributing to high level of loss of property and lives.

 

The environmental experts reported that the tunnels built and blasts undertaken for the 70 hydro electric projects, contributed to the ecological imbalance in the State, with the flow of river waters restricted and the stream-side development activity contributing to a higher number of landslides and more flooding.

Though, parts of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh experienced the flood, over 95% of the casualties occurred in Uttarakhand. As of 16th July 2013, according to figures provided by the Uttarakhand government, more than 5,700 people were "presumed dead." This total included 934 local residents.

Destruction of bridges and roads left about 100,000 pilgrims and tourists trapped in the valleys leading to three of the four Hindu Char Dham pilgrimage sites. The Indian Air Force, the Indian Army, and paramilitary troops evacuated more than 1,10,000 people from the flood ravaged area.
This disaster, brings to the notice, the warnings given by Sunderlal. He said “It [building the dam] is a temporary solution to a permanent problem. It will benefit the richest farmers, it will uproot the forests of Tehri. The benefits will go to the rich farmers of Western UP and to Delhi’s residents. They say the dam will withstand earthquakes. But these hills will not. Already there are cracks visible in some hills. If the dam breaks, within 12 hours the entire region up to Bulandshahar will be wiped out. Look around, even America is breaking their big dams.”

 

The Great man's views on the environment:

Bahuguna, who represents India’s first generation of green crusaders, said that the days of Himalayan rivers were numbered, which further accentuated the need to preserve the Western Ghats that stretch from Dhule in Maharashtra to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.

 

Everything in a forest is dependent on each other,” he said, deploring the trend of artificial forestry. “Today our forests have become plantations. These artificial plantations in the name of forests must stop. Wildlife is an integral part of forests,” 
"Consumerist culture is destroying nature which has become a commodity. Hills, rivers and trees are in danger. The Himalayas have to be saved from the rising temperature. Let us not disturb the flow of rivers," said Bahuguna.“The source of the Ganges at Gangotri is expected to run dry in 2030” 

Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA): 

Narmada Bachao Andolan is a social movement, following Bahuguna's principals, consisting of adivasis, farmers, environmentalists, and human rights activists against a number of large dams being built across the Narmada River

Bahuguna said that the need of the hour was to enhance forest cover in India. “A forest is a community of living things"

 

Jal Satyagraha:

Jal Satyagraha was started on 9th September 2013, in Madhya Pradesh state. Due to the Indira Sagar Dam, the local people's livelihoods will be destroyed, it will submerge hundreds of villages. They demanded a conclusive answer to various serious issues such as compensation for illegal submergence caused due to the release of waters from the upstream Sardar Sarovar dam, into the reservoir, land-based rehabilitation of more than 1,500 adivasi families, ensuring community forest rights etc.

Satyagraha is the struggle for the Truth, a Gandhian way of fighting injustice with the power of the Truth. Jal means water and the two words indicate a powerful means of struggle in the Narmada valley. Hundreds of people are now standing in the waters of the sacred river in the three districts of Khandwa, Hrada and Dewas, in the state of Madhya Pradesh, demanding justice and the implementation of the law. 

Eco-activists like Medha Patkar, Rajendra Singh and Nigamanda saraswathi, Anil Agarwal, Baba Amte and Sam Pitroda are actively taking on environmental issues. It is heartening to see the next generation take inspiration from Sunderlal and fight for the sustainable development of environment.
A prolific writer and communicator, Bahuguna has himself written many articles, leaflets and booklets. His remarkable physical endurance, sage-like apearance,simple living, personal asceticism and effective communication are constantly marvelled at.

 

Awards:

In 1981 Government of India awarded with Padma Shree, but he politely refused saying that "I do not deserve it till flesh and blood (top soil) of India was flowing down to the sea." He got Jamnalal Bajaj Award for constructive work in 1986, Right Livelihood Award (Chipko Movement) in 1987, Honorary Degree of Doctor of Social Sciences was conferred by IIT Roorkee in
1989 and Padma Vibhushan in 2009.

 

Conclusion:

Thus, Sunderlal Bahuguna, Garhwali environmentalist, Chipko movement leader and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of Non-violence and Satyagraha, has been fighting for the preservation of forests in the Himalayas, first as a member of the Chipko movement, and later as he spearheaded the Anti-Tehri Dam movement till early 2004. He is one of the early environmentalists of India, and later he and people associated with the Chipko movement started taking up environmental issues, against large dams, mining and deforestation, across the country. The nation pays him a tribute for his contribution for
the trees.  

 

 

Ela Ramesh Bhatt

Ela Ramesh Bhatt was born on 7th September 1933 in Ahmadabad, India. Ela bhatt grew up in Surat, Gujarat. Her family was deeply interested and active in social causes. Her father's name was Sumant Bhatt, he worked as a lawyer and as a district magistrate. After that he wasappointed Charity Commissioner for the Maharashtra and Gujarat states. Her mother's name was Vanalila Vyas. Her mother was a social worker and participated actively in the women's movements. Her mother served a little time in Gujarat's branch of the All India Women's Conference. The conference focused on educational and social reforms. She became the coordinator for women's organization nationwide. Ela's maternal grandfather was a doctor and a Gandhi follower. He was jailed three times for participating in the Sathyagraha movement.

Ela completed her schooling in Sarwajanik Girls High School in Surat from 1940 to 1948. She completed her intermediate in MTB collage in Surat. She completed Bachelor of Arts in English from Gujarat University in 1952. She received her Law degree and a gold medal for her outstanding work, in Sir LA shah Law College in Ahmadabad from Gujarat University. During her graduation, she participated as a volunteer on the 1951 census. This experience made a deep impression on her. As she had a first-hand experience of the dismal conditions of the poor people, she devoted her life to working for them.

Bhatt's life was greatly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi spent his life in Ahmadabad, after he come back from South Africa. Gandhi established Sabarmati ashram in Ahmadabad. Gandhi carried out his fast on behalf of the textile workers in Ahmadabad, which was a city famous for its cotton mills. Ela was greatly influenced by the writings of Tolstoy, Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave and Gandhian economist JC Kumarappa. She was also influenced by Ramesh, a senior she met while doing her graduation. Ramesh was an active student leader and also a Gandhi follower. He was a guide to Ela. They eventually got married in 1956. Ramesh joined as an economic faculty in the Gujarat Vidyapath National University in Ahmadabad. Meanwhile, she became a coordinator of the Consumer Education and Research Centre. He was active as the president of the Gujarat University Area Teacher's Association and was the founder of the Gujarat Economic Association.

In 1971, Ela received a degree in International Diploma of Labour Cooperative from Afro-Asian Institution of Labour and Cooperative in Tel Aviv in Israel. Ela started her career teaching English for a short time at Shrimati Nathibai Damodardas Thackarsey Womens's University in Mumbai. She realized, teaching was not her profession. She worked for sometime in the Gujarat Government. In 1961, she returned to join in the Labour Ministry of Gujarat as an Employment officer. University Employment and information Bureau of Gujarat University, Ahmadabad gave charge to her to provide vocational guidance and training to candidates in addition to job placement. Next, she was sent as an in-charge of Occupation Information to Pusa Institute of employment and training in New Delhi from 1966-1968. She explored new employment opportunities, reviewed existing definitions of various occupations in the National Code of occupation and framed definition for new occupations. Ela has worked for a long time for Textile Labour Association (TLA) and SEWA.

Ela took on the challenge of helping depressed women. In 1955, she joined in the legal department of the TLA in Ahmadabad. It was founded by the 'Father of modern India,' Mahatma Gandhi, in 1920 with 1,20,000 members in 60 textile mills in Ahmadabad. This association bargained with employers for better working conditions, seeking better health and social and spiritual advancement for members' families, many of whom came from the Harijans or Untouchables. In 1968, Ela became head of Women's Wing of TLA, for four years. TLA had men and women members, but women members were less. Women's wing focused on increasing women members and to improve families' income. It was to retain women workers to get jobs and to train wives and daughters of male workers in specific vocations and trades. Ela went to Israel and studied 'International Diploma of labour and Cooperatives'. This was her first formal training in organizing and managing unions and cooperatives. Impressed to see that every sector of Israeli labour was organized even the wives of workers were union members--she began to think of how to put such concepts into operation in Ahmadabad.

The women's wing had formed four sections-training, production,unionization and research sections. Under training section - it trained women on sewing, embroidery, knitting, doll making, printing, radio servicing and home help services. All these women were under the age of 25years and they had not completed formal schooling. Under production section- women made hand-woven cotton cloth garments to sell to men workers in union stores. This section conducted educational, health and welfare programmes for these women.

Ela has influenced thousands of self employed women. They contributed to the family income. These women included weavers, stitchers, cigarette rollers, fruit vendors, fish and vegetable vendors, fire wood and waste papers pickers and road construction workers. In Ahmadabad, Most women were subjected to high rents for stalls or the tools of their trade and also to routine exploitation or harassment by money lenders, employers and officials. There were state laws protecting only those who were solely industrial workers and not self employed women. She discovered that self employed women were not even included as workers in the 1971 census. And that, Self-employed women were often shuttling between the urban areas and nearby villages, they were unorganized, unprotected, and economically weak and they did not have any bargaining power. She was determined to work for their cause on their behalf.

Ela and her co-worker Grim found that 97% of self-employed women lived in slums. Women had, on average four children and 93% of women were illiterates. Self employed women's monthly incomes ranged from Rs. 50, for the garment workers to Rs. 355, for vegetable vendors. Most Self employed women took money as debt from money lenders- 25% of the junk smiths, 35% of the milk producers, 44% of the garment makers, 46% of the handcraft pullers, 61% of the garment vendors and 79% of the vegetable sellers. Women were taking children to the worksite. Women had common problems like shortage of capital, shortage of raw material, inadequacy of work place and extremely high interest rates on money borrowed.

Ela and Aravind Buch (President of TLA) organized these self employedwomen into a union under the auspices of the Women's Wing of the TLA. Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) was established in 1972 under the Trade Union Act of 1926, Aravind Buch was the President, Ela served as General Secretary from 1972-1996. Ela organized self-employed women- who often were the wives and daughters of textiles workers with support of Association. Within three years the organization had enlisted over 5000 members and won the privilege of registration with the government as a trade union.

SEWA's goal is to work towards full employment and self reliance. It is working in 14 states of India and 6 other South Asian countries, namely, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It has 17,32,728 all India members.

SWEA has rescued thousands of women from money lenders and their personal possessions from pawnbrokers, allowing them to accumulate land, small assets and means of production. 96% of members are repaying loans regularly. SEWA was governed by an executive committee  and a representative board, made up of elected leaders from the seven different sections of the membership like garment makers, used garment dealers, hand craft pullers, vegetable vendors, junk smiths, milk producers and miscellaneous workers. Each group's leaders met every month for review and they provided the link between the membership and executive committee.

Human labour is much cheaper than mechanical labour in Ahmadabad, as throughout India. Handcart pullers are to transport heavy loads of coal, timber, grain, cloths bales, iron bars, machinery and household items such as furniture and refrigerators from one place to another place. In most parts of India, this work is done by men but in Ahmadabad, it is normally done by women and men together as a team.

They were working in the hot sun and barefoot, the work was very strenuous and tiring. Women were usually married to the men in the same work and frequently continue their hard work up to six months of pregnancy. They get general fatigue, sores on the skin, back pain and breathlessness, as well as other ailments, even under normal conditions. Large percentage of women takes their children along with them to work place.

SEWA helped handcart pullers, with support of LD Engineering College and the National Occupational health Institute, designed a new cart. New cart alleviated some of the problems like reducing excessive strain on abdominal muscles. Also, the new carts included extra space for carrying a baby underneath, as well as a braking system. Women sold vegetables in Ahmadabad, as it is an important part of the daily diet in India. They visit door to door and every nook and corner around the city, women carry vegetable baskets on their heads or on small carts. Skilled black smiths work from their home; they purchase the raw materials such as barrels, tar, chemical tin sheets and other metal goods from scattered shops and factories. The work is hard, hot and demanding but they are the lowest income group. They produced necessary items like buckets, stoves, pans, toys, racks and tin boxes.

Ahmadabad had a dairy to cater to the milk needs of its citizens and it served only a third of the population. Self employed women served milk to citizens for two thirds of the population. These women get up at 4am to feed their cattle, milk them, put the milk in containers and deliver. After that they return home to clean cattle shed, wash containers and take care of the needs of their families. Average milk producers have about five cows or buffalos. Finally, they sleep by midnight. These women joined SEWA as members. At first, 2000 handloom members opened handloom centres in Bhavnagar, now there are 10,667 members in the city. In addition to bringing together women from a variety of occupations, SEWA has been successful in joining women from different tribes--Waghris, Rabaris and Marwaris for example--who were previously divided by religious and cultural differences.

Self employed women depend on money lenders for debt at high interest rate. SEWA's first concern was the protection of its members from exploitation and to alleviate this dependency and provide financial loans to its members. Ela's next answer was creation of the Mahila SEWA Cooperative bank. In 1973, SEWA decided to form a women's Cooperative bank because SEWA members asked SEWA for bank facility. In 1974, Gujarat government inaugurated the Shri Mahila SEWA Sahakari Bank Limited (The Mahila SEWA Cooperative Bank. Ltd). Every member donated Rs 10. The Bank now has over 4,500 shareholders, and some 10,000 women have deposited in this bank. One year later bank capital was Rs 3,00,000 and increased to 10,44,932 by February 1976. Most members deposited modest savings and most can qualify to receive low interest loans of between Rs 250 and Rs 1000. Bank instituted simple identification procedure, each member has a card with her photograph. In the beginning the bank made Its loans through the established nationalised banks; today the bank makes its own loans. The purpose of the bank goes beyond making it possible for members to obtain low interest loans. The bank's function is also to teach members how to make their money more productive, encourage savings and develop a sense of independence; the women are discouraged from bringing their husbands along when they make transactions. In addition, the bank will provide guidance for financial management, marketing of goods and purchase of necessary materials.

Bank puts focus on repayment of loans because it has been a constant concern to the members. Recovery section officers go to field and collect the money from the members on time. Ela found that 44% of the members repaid their installments regularly, 43% irregularly and only 13% were serious defaulters. Ever aware of the need to understand the membership. Ela has studied the major reasons behind the lack of repayments. Most of the time self employed women are unable to make the payment because of family reasons such as recurring sickness in the family, unsteady employment of the husband and frequent pregnancies leading to loss of work time and attending and spending on social customs.

A second major group of reasons for lack of repayment by borrowers, relates to professional difficulties: limited resources for buying goods, lack of marketing skills, inability to find market space and, associated with the latter, police harassment.

Cases of intentional fraud on the part of borrowers have been few and BHATT remains optimistic that members will remain conscientious and honourable. Guiding her is the belief that if SEWA, the union, creates the motivation, and SEWA, the bank, provides financial and managerial skills, the self-employed worker will soon rise and be able to stand on their feet. Ela watched that self employed women were illiterates, if they can read; women become more proficient in their livelihood.

SEWA members have acquired new negotiating power with their employers.They have established health, death and maternity benefits schemes to give them security. They have setup 71 cooperatives of various trade groups to share skills and expertise, to develop new tools, designs and techniques and engage in bulk buying and joint marketing. The cooperative have an average of over 1000 members each.

SEWA has established a literacy programme to teach members to read but has had little positive response; the women's energies are directed towards earning a living. A welfare section focuses upon solving some of the major social problems. It provides a child care center for vegetable vendors and plans for similar centers for other groups. It has been negotiating with the State Housing Board for low cost housing for 1,000 SEWA members. After studying the medical conditions of its participants, SEWA set up the Mahila SEWA Trust which provides health, maternity, widowhood and death benefits for members at a modest price.

Eye checkups are made and glasses have been provided to a number of members. Self employed women were facing harassment by the police. In 1975, there were 796 complaints registered, 745 were solved by the field filed staff with legal support of SEWA.

SEWA works to increase the profit and productivity of workers. Union purchases discarded material from textile mills and sell them to members at cost. This eliminates the middlemen. They bought motorized sewing machines at low cost. Junk smith women work on modern tools and methods of work. Markets provide better facilities for vegetable vendors and milk producers are trained and educated on nutrition,cattle caring and sale of milk.

SEWA sponsored different programmes for the different groups to be aware of their rights as workers and their duties as citizens. At the same time studies are continuously underway to determine the needs of the membership and of other segments of society.

Ela has done studies on the conditions of unemployed textile works andon the indebtedness of textile workers in general and those of the Sarsapur Mills in particular. She has completed research projects on Cooperative Credits societies of the Mills' Employees, the impact of Welfare on the State Transport Employees of Gujarat and Economic participation of Cottonpod openers.

Ela's publications are Gujarat-ni-Nari (Women of Gujarat), The Impact of Education on Women of the Harijan Community and Profiles of Self Employed Women. She has authored 'We Are Poor But So Many' book published by Oxford University Press, NY in 2006.

Ela leads an active and busy life, in her work with TLA and the SEWA union. She is the managing Director of the SEWA bank and Vice President of the Gujarat agriculture Workers' Union, the self Employed Workers' Organization and the construction Workers' Union. She has found time to serve on the advisory boards of the Gujarat State Adult Education committee and the International SOS Village. Because of her experience in developing SEWA, BHATT has often been asked to participate in international meetings and conferences. In 1972, she attended the Women's Leadership Seminar in Japan and in 1975 she participated as a panelist on the topic of "Women at Work" in Mexico in a UN-sponsored International Women's Year Conference. She travelled to the United States in 1973 under a U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) grant, and to England in 1977 as a Study Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies of the University of Sussex where she delivered a paper, "An Approach to the Rural Poor." In 1977 she also became a consultant to UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Fund) for the Bangladesh Women's Department.

As the guiding spirit behind SEWA and its many projects, ELA RAMESH BHATT has shown that the weak and the poor can, through their collective strength, overcome numerous handicaps. Her great confidence in the ability of selfemployed women is seen in the structure of SEWA; it is a grass-roots organization which genuinely utilizes the talents and knowledge of its members. One who has observed her at work has said of ELA BHATT: "She is an extraordinarily calm, strong person whose gentleness and patience with the women is certainly one of the most important reasons for the success of SEWA."

Ela has joined The Elders group. A Gandhian practitioner of non violence, Ela also travelled to the Middle East with Elders delegations in August 2009 and October 2010. She is particularly involved in The Elders initiative on equality for women and girls, including on the issue of child marriage. In February 2012, Ela travelled to Bihar with fellow elders Desmond Tutu, Gro harlem Brundtland and Mary Robinson. Together, the Elders visited Jagriti to youth led project aimed at preventing child marriage and encouraged the state government's efforts to tackle the issue.

Ela, one of the founder of Women's World banking, She has served as chairman of the SEWA cooperative bank, former director of (women in informal employment: globalizing and Organizing) WIEGO and trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Ela was honoured with Ramon Magsaysay award for community leadership in 1977. She was honoured with the Right Livelihood Award in 1984. She was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1985, and Padma Bhushan in 1986. Ela was nominated by the President of India to be a member of the Indian Parliament from 19861989. She was a member of the Planning Commission of India from 1989-91. She was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize and the first ever Global Fairness Award in 2010. Harvard University awarded her the Radcliffe Institute Medal for her life and work in 2011 and she was appointed to the Board of the Reserve Bank of India. And also she was selected for the prestigious, Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development in 2011, for her life time achievement, in empowering women through grassroots entrepreneurship. 








 

Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay

 

A Gandhian, a freedom fighter, a social reformer,  a trade unionist, a patron of arts and a revolutionary of her times, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay will be long remembered for her enormous efforts in organizing women around various causes and for working towards improving the lives and livelihoods of the artisans of the country.

Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay was born to Ananthaya Dhareshwar and Girijabai on April 3rd, 1903. They were an aristocratic family from Mangalore. Kamaladevi lost her father at a very young age and was brought up by her mother. Kamaladevi was a bright student. She studied Sanskrit drama tradition of Kerala – Kutivattam during school.

In 1917, when she was only fourteen years of age, she was married to Krishna Rao, and was widowed within two years, while she was still at school. According to orthodox Hindu rules of the times, being a widow she was not allowed to continue her education, yet she defiantly moved to Chennai, and continued her education from St. Mary’s School, Chennai and finally completed her high school in 1918. There she met a well-known poet, playwright, actor and brother of Sarojini Naidu, Harindranath Chattopadhyay and married him. The couple had one son. Shortly after marriage, Kamaladevi accompanied her husband to London where she received a diploma in Sociology from
University of London. It was during this time that Kamaladevi heard about Gandhi and his non-cooperation movement. She returned to India and joined Gandhi’s Seva Dal to work for upliftment.
As in-charge of the women’s section she was involved in recruiting, training and organizing girls and women of all ages across India to become voluntary workers. Kamaladevi soon became an active organizer of the women and youth wing of the Indian National Congress. She truly represented the changing face of the 20th Century Indian women. She was the first woman to run for a Legislative seat in India.

Kamaladevi founded the All India Women’s Conference, which soon became a reputed national organization working for legislative reforms. She travelled to many European nations during this time and got inspired to establish educational institutions run for and by women. Lady Irwin College for Home Sciences in New Delhi, thus came into existence, apart from many others. She was a part of the seven member lead team, announced by Mahatma Gandhi, in the famous Salt Satyagraha (1930), to prepare Salt at the Bombay beachfront, the only other women volunteer of the team was Avantikabai Gokhale. Later in a startling move, she went up to a nearby High Court, and asked a
magistrate present there, whether he would be interested in buying the ‘Freedom Salt’ she had just prepared.

On 26th January, 1930 she captured the imagination of the entire nation, when in a scuffle she clung to the Indian tricolor to protect it. In the 1930s, she was arrested for entering the Bombay Stock Exchange to sell packets of contraband salt, and spent almost a year in prison. In 1936, she became President of the Congress Socialist Party, working alongside Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia and Minoo Masani. When World War II broke out in the 1940s, she was in England, and she immediately began a world tour to represent India’s situation to other countries and drum up support for Independence after the war.

Kamaladevi also acted in a few films. In an era when acting was considered unsuitable for women from respected families. In her first stint, she acted in two silent films, including the first silent film of Kannada film industry Mricchakatika (Vasantasena, 1931), based on a famous play by Sadraka, also strarring Yenaskhi Rama Rao and directed by pioneering Kannada director, Mohan Dayaram Bhavanin. In her second stint in films, she acted in a 1943, Hindi film Tansen also starring K.C. Saigal and Khursheed, followed by Shankar Parvati (1943) and Dhanna Bhagat (1945).

In post-independent India, Kamaladevi worked relentlessly with more than 50,000 refugees in establishing new homes, new professions -for which they were trained in new skills. Thus, began the second phase of her life’s work, in rehabilitation of people as well as their lost crafts, she is considered as being single-handedly responsible for the great revival of Indian handicrafts and handloom, in post-independence era, and it is considered her greatest legacy to modern India.

 

All-India Women’s Conference (AIWC):

After Independence, while some nationalist leaders assumed the responsibility of running the administration, others, notably the socialists, opted for an opposition role to strive for a two party system and to bring their socialist preferences to bear on policy-making, Kamaladevi represented a third category of leaders who took up nongovernmental constructive work. She set out to establish co-operatives. As running co-operatives came naturally to women, she involved herself in the activities of the All-India Women’s Conference (AIWC), not as a fiery feminist.

Among specific campaign issues taken up by Kamaladevi and her colleagues, was plugging the loopholes in the Sarada Act, as the Prevention of Child Marriage Act was known. Kamaladevi’s approach was two-fold: to expose and fight against gender injustice of all kinds and simultaneously to strive for the upliftment of women. In that context, she planted the seed of what later became the Lady Irwin College in New Delhi by campaigning for improving the quality and practical value of women’s education.

Meanwhile, the post-partition situation offered a ready-made problem for Kamaladevi to take up. Tens of thousands of refugees from mainly West Punjab were in Delhi looking for shelter and work. Many of them had lost vast property, when they fled their hearths and homes in the wake of mass killings. As many as 10,000 of them, were huddled in tents and makeshift shelters in and around Delhi. Pucca buildings like bungalows and homes vacated by Muslims who had migrated to Pakistan were evacuee property to be allotted by the government to the dispossessed from Pakistan. But it was a time-consuming process, whereas the approaching Delhi winter would make the lives of
the men, women and children in makeshift habitats miserable. She decided that co-operative house building was the solution. It was a long-term problem, in fact a problem for life, as far as the refugees were concerned.

There was no possibility of their going back to the property that they were forced to abandon in Pakistan. Secondly, it would be callous and inhuman to expect them to live in the makeshift structures, until the government was able to rehabilitate them. Running free kitchens and providing doles to them would be an insult to the pride of the Punjabis for whom living on alms was anathema. The result was the Indian co-operative union, which established co-operative farmers-cum-houses at Chattarpur and Jaitpur in the Mehrauli area of the Qutab Minar in Delhi. The Idea was that
the refugees would resume their traditional occupation of farming by growing vegetables and some grain on land to be given to them on a co-operative basis.  

Simultaneously, when the Chattarpur farm was on its feet, Kamaladevi embarked on an industrial township at Faridabad (now in Haryana), where 30,000 refugees were settled. Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the Ex. President of India, had agreed to be the Chairman of the Faridabad Development Board set up under the umbrella of the Indian Cooperative Union and then, the Central Cottage Industries Emporium, a government establishment. It included pottery, woodwork, carvings, metal artifacts, jewellery, furniture accessories and decorative items, besides designer clothes. Through training courses for talent, scouted from different parts of the country with the emphasis on ethnic
traditions, the Emporium has grown into a workshop for imparting new skills to artisans, weavers and crafts persons, besides marketing their handiwork.

Concurrently, Kamaladevi launched the Indian National Theatre (INT), as a means for the national movement to find expression through the arts, including theatre, with her natural flair for the theatre as an instrument of educating the people and spreading awareness of values in them, while reviving the nation’s cultural heritage. The entertainment dimension was an added boon. The INT, which had been confining itself to largely Gujarati plays, made a debut in Delhi with a ballet in English, based on Nehru’s book, The Discovery of India, highlighting the Pan-Asian aspect of Indian nationalism. It was staged at the 1946 Asian Relations Conference, at Purana Qila in Delhi. Overwhelmed, Nehru said that the ballet was “much better than my book”.

Kamaladevi went on to rejuvenate the traditional industries like weaving and handicrafts. As chief of the Board of Handicrafts, she started a pension system for the craftsmen. She set up a series of craft museums like the Theatre Crafts Museum in Delhi, to promote India’s indigenous arts and crafts and to serve as a storehouse for indigenous knowledge. She instituted the National Awards for Master Craftsmen. A culmination of her enterprising spirit lead to the setting up of Central Cottage Industries Emporia, throughout the nation to cater to the tastes of a nation, rising to its ancient glory.

In 1946, Kamaladevi started the Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography (NIKC), Bangalore, under the aegis of Bharatiya Natya Sangh, affiliated to the UNESCO. She was instrumental in setting up the All India Handicrafts Board, and The Crafts Council of India. She was the first President of World Crafts Council, Asia Pacific Region. She also set up the National School of Drama and later headed the Sangeet Natak Academy and went on to become a member of UNESCO.

In 2007, the Outlook magazine chose Kamaladevi amongst it's list of 60 Great Indians and she was one of India Today’s 100 Millennium People. Today, the World Crafts Council gives two awards in her memory, the Kamaladevi Awards and the Kamala Sammaan, for exceptional craft persons or to individuals for their outstanding contribution to the field of crafts. The crafts council of Karnataka also gives the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Vishwakarma Awards, each year to noteworthy crafts persons. For over three decades now, Bharatiya Natya Sangha has been awarding the ‘Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Award’ for the best play of the year.

Awards and honors:

The Government of India conferred on Kamaladevi, Padma Bhushan in 1955 and Padma Vibhushan in 1987. She also received the Ramon Megasaysay Award (1966) for community Leadership. She was awarded the Sangeet Natak Academy Fellowship, Ratna Sadhya in 1974. UNESCO honoured her with an award in 1977, for her contribution towards the promotion of handicrafts. Shantinikethan honoured her with the Desikottama, its highest award. UNIMA (Union Internationals de la Marlonette), International Puppetry Organization, also made her their Member of Honour.

Kamaladevi is an accomplished writer. Some of her books include The Awakening of Indian women, Everyman’s Press, Socialism and Society, Chetana and Traditions of Indian Folk Dance. Her autobiography Inner Recesses and Outer Spaces: Memoir, became very famous.

Kamaladevi’s immense contribution in working with women, refugees and artisans will continue to inspire us. She was truly a woman ahead of her times. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay died on October 29th 1988.

Books by Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay:

• The Awakening of Indian women, Everyman’s Press, 1939
• Japan-its weakness and strength, Padma Publications 1943
• Uncle Sam's empire, Padma publications Ltd, 1944
• In war-torn China, Padma Publications, 1944
• Towards a National theatre, (All India Women's Conference, Cultural Section. Cultural books),
• America: The land of superlatives, Phoenix Publications, 1946

 

 

• At the Cross Roads, National Information and Publications, 1947
• Socialism and Society, Chetana, 1950
• Tribalism in India, Brill Academic Pub, 1978, ISBN 0706906527
• Handicrafts of India, Indian Council for Cultural Relations & New Age International Pub. Ltd., New Delhi, India, 1995.
• Indian Women’s Battle for Freedom. South Asia Books, 1983. ISBN 0-8364-0948-5
• Indian Carpets and Floor Coverings, All India Handicrafts Board, 1974
• Indian embroidery, Wiley Eastern, 1977
• India's Craft Tradition, Publications Division, Ministry of I & B, Govt. of India, 2000. ISBN 81-230-0774-4
• Indian Handicrafts Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd, Bombay India, 1963
• Traditions of Indian Folk Dance
• The Glory of Indian Handicrafts, New Delhi, India: Clarion Books, 1985
• Inner Recesses, Outer Spaces: Memoirs, 1986. ISBN 81-7013-038-7

Books on Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya:

• Sakuntala Narasimhan, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. New Dawn Books, 1999. ISBN 81-207-2120-9
• S.R. Bakshi, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya : Role for Women’s Welfare, Om, 2000, ISBN 81-86867-34-1
• Reena Nanda, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya: A Biography (Modern Indian Greats), Oxford University Press, USA,
2002, ISBN 0-19-565364-5
•Jamila Brij Bhushan, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya - Portrait of a Rebel, Abhinav Pub, 2003. ISBN 81-7017-033-8
• M.V. Narayana Rao (Ed.), Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay: A True Karmayogi. The Crafts Council of Karnataka:
Bangalore. 2003
• Malvika Singh, the Iconic Women of Modern India - Freeing the Spirit. Penguin, 2006, ISBN 0-14-310082-3

As a young lady from a Sarawat Brahmin family, Kamaladevi had a child marriage at the age of 14. She lost her husband early and become a widow. Here she crossed many hurdles of Hindu rites and got re-married in those days and pursued her higher education in London. She is a true role model, not only for the women of today, but for every Indian. Her work in various fields and areas for the up-liftment of people and for promoting ethnic arts and crafts, will always be remembered.  

 

S R Sankaran

 

S.R. Shankaran (1934-2010) inspired number of people in the development sector those who committed economic and social justice in the country.  He spent 51 years in the service of the poor and downtrodden people across the country. In 1959 he joined as Sub-collector of Ongole in Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh. In the early 1960 he became Collector, in  1970’s he worked as Secretary  and Principle Secretary of Social Welfare  of Andhra Pradesh and in early 1980 he worked as Chief Secretary of Tripura state. 

S.R. Mr. Sankaran set standards of integrity and service to the most disadvantaged, for a whole generation of public officials. His courage and convictions inspired human rights activists. Despite his uncompromising opposition to violence, he was revered by Maoists as much as by Gandhians. And a lifetime of egalitarian compassion bound him to masses of India’s poorest people, disadvantaged by indigence, caste, gender and disability. Mr. Mr. Sankaran firmly believed that the foremost duty of the State was to uphold the dignity, rights and freedoms of India’s most oppressed people, and his life’s work demonstrated what a democratic government could indeed accomplish if it included persons like him. He drew up laws for land reforms, and pushed governments to implement
these. He conceived of the Tribal Sub-Plan and Special Component Plan, to compel governments to set aside significant proportions of the state budgets for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Tribes.

 

He designed many programmes for justice and welfare of these most deprived communities, including establishing thousands of residential schools for the education of tribal boys and girls. He crafted laws for the release bonded workers. Among the many legends which have grown up around his life’s work, the story is often recounted of how a powerful Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh was furious when, as Secretary- Social Welfare, Mr. Sankaran organized campaigns to release bonded workers from generations of debt bondage. The Chief Minister announced in a cabinet meeting
that Mr. Sankaran was a trouble-maker, who went from village to village, held meetings with poorest people, instigated them by declaring that they had the right to be free, and mobilized them to rebel against a lifetime of bondage. Soft-spoken Mr. Sankaran retorted that this indeed was what he did, and this was his duty. This enraged the Chief Minister further, and he asserted in the cabinet meeting itself that such subversives had no place in his government. Mr. Sankaran replied in his customary low voice that he too did not want to work in his government, and proceeded on long leave.

Mr. Sankaran’s moral power was backed by his intellectual capabilities, administrative skills, unfailing memory of the rules, regulations, procedures, laws and several legislations. He was able to recall the detailed provisions of any Act from his memory with an unbelievable ease. His colleagues, superiors, political authorities depended on his advice, support and trusted him to an extent that they would endorse his meticulous notings without even going through them. For Mr. Sankaran, the formal positions that he held at various levels was a trust that the people and the nation reposed in him. He carried that trust with great sanctity. This, he did not only when he negotiated with different
national agencies, but also international institutions. For instance when he was to negotiate for a loan from Asian Development Bank for power, he refused to sign a MOU which insisted on prior approval of any law that Indian Government would enact on power. He signed only when they dropped this provision. Once he refused to meet a World Bank team as Secretary to Govt. of India, when they wanted to see him without prior intimation. When higher authorities advised him, he retorted that “Can an Indian officer walk into World Bank office without prior intimation?”

Once when the Indian Army entered Tripura without prior intimation to the State authorities, he said that it was violation of federal arrangement of power and the defense forces had to retreat under the pressure. This adamant Mr. Sankaran was the one into whose office any common man could walk into. He got a standing order issued to the security at Andhra Pradesh secretariat that any poor rural and innocent looking person coming for him should be allowed without insisting on any of the procedural rigmarole. When he was the District collector of Nellore, there was a telling incident that while a well off person was waiting for the collector, an agricultural laborer walked into his office to represent the matter and went out. The well off person questioned Mr. Sankaran’s decorum of
behaviour. Mr. Sankaran told him that waiting for him does not cost much, but for a daily wage laborer it means a loss of wage for the day, which means going without food for the entire family.  

There can be any number of such instances from his life and work. The firm and determined Mr. Sankaran was the same Mr. Sankaran who was so kind and compassionate. He carried his mission with courage of conviction and honesty of purpose. This conviction had roots in Indian Constitution and its egalitarian vision: the Indian State has been mandated to carry forward the vision and Mr. Sankaran believed as a civil servant that it was this task that he was to carry on. He was so clear in his goals that either the political power or vested interests could hardly obstruct his work and whenever they interfered he educated them, persuaded them, if necessary defied them holding that the
constitutional mandate was far superior to all the pragmatic political compulsions and other considerations. He demonstrated beyond any doubt that civil servant can carry on social purpose if only the legal rational authority backed by the requisite individual moral authority. Having served the Indian people through the State for almost three and half decades, he superannuated and sought no other positions of power. He chose to live in the state of Andhra Pradesh, which he served with great pride and dedication. In the early 1990s, when he returned to the state after serving as secretary Rural Development, Government of India, the Naxalite movement picked up further momentum and the State not being able to respond to the demands of the movement mounted up lawless violence to contain the movement resulting into spiral of violence and counter violence. Mr. Sankaran thought and believed that Naxal movement was a political question and they did represent the aspirations of the poor and deprived. It was his deep concern for the poor that propelled him to carry on another significant experiment of his life. 

This proved a fortuitous turning point in his life. The legendary Marxist Chief Minister of Tripura, Nripen Chakravarthy, invited him to shift to Tripura and serve there as Chief Secretary. Both austere bachelors, fiercely honest, had few worldly belongings, and even washed their own clothes. They formed a unique partnership, leading the state for six years. Few governments in India earned such a reputation of integrity, service and justice for the under-privileged. He was instrumental in resettling many daily wage construction workers in the southern part of the erstwhile Bihar, when he found that they were forcibly transported to Tripura by the unethical contractors and forced to work at low wages, under sub-human conditions.

Mr. Sankaran gained national fame when he was kidnapped by Naxalites from the jungles of Andhra Pradesh. After his retirement from government, he constituted a Concerned Citizens Committee, to mediate with government to end its human rights violations in its military-like offensive against the armed rebels, and its policy of ‘encounter’ killings of alleged Naxalites, which he condemned as ‘targeted extralegal executions’. Many tribal or dalit youth, or their loved ones, would desperately contact Mr. Sankaran when they were in danger of being eliminated in fake encounters, and
it was Mr. Sankaran’s mediation which saved several of them. He reminded government tirelessly that it was decades, indeed centuries, of injustice against tribal people — their brutal dispossession from their lands and forests — which was the true source of the insurgency in the jungles of the state.
But, Mr. Sankaran was equally unsparing in condemning the violence of the Naxalites, and their focus on ‘military actions rather than on the mobilization of people for social transformation’. He was convinced that this contributed to ‘further brutalize the society and lead to the shrinkage of democratic space for mobilization and direct participation of the people, impairing the very process of transformation that the movements claim to stand for’.

 

It was due to his unique moral stature that both government and the Maoists felt compelled to respond to his appeals, and defend to him their policies. It is another matter that neither altered their basic approaches to the conflict, and the unabated blood-letting by both sides of the conflict caused him great anguish. The efforts of this Committee dominated a decade of Mr. Sankaran’s life, and he grieved until his end that he could not free his people from the mutually reinforcing cycles of violence, and reclaim for them enduring peace and justice.

Another task to which he devoted a significant part of his time after he retired was to lead the ‘Safai Karmchari Andolan’, an exceptional campaign for ending the humiliating age-old practice of people of particular castes being forced to clean dry latrines with their bare hands, and carry human excreta in baskets on their heads. He regarded this to be the most dreadful manifestation of untouchability and caste. A decade of Mr. Sankaran’s leadership of the ‘Andolan’ led to the substantial decimation of this centuries-old evil in many parts of India. This was through a combination of judicial interventions, compelling accountability of public officials, and a non-violent mass campaign
for self-respect by people engaged in this vocation in which they burned their baskets and demolished dry latrines and as mentor to the Safai Karmachari Andolan, he saw the number of women manually cleaning excreta decline from 13 lakh to 3 lakh.

Mr. Sankaran set aside a significant portion of his salary, and his pension after he retired, to educate dalit children. He never spoke of this to anyone, but when he first suffered a heart attack, many young men competed to keep vigil at his bedside. We learnt later from this assortment of doctors, civil servants, engineers and teachers that whatever they achieved in their lives was due to Mr. Sankaran.

 

He never married, but clearly several loved and revered him like a father. He was an intensely ethical person, but never didactic or judgemental. He displayed an unexpected impish sense of
humor and mischief. After he retired from government, he lived in a small unpretentious and sparsely furnished apartment, which looked more like the home of a retired school teacher than a senior civil servant. Even the few pieces of furniture and gadgets in his house were forced on him by those who loved him. When he received his pension arrears, he was alarmed by this very modest swelling of his bank balance, and quickly distributed the money to street children’s homes, and an organization for disabled persons.

He also served as the commissioner of the Supreme Court -appointed panel on food security (2003). As one of the Commissioners appointed by the Supreme Court, he argued that how the State had the constitutional obligation to eliminate hunger and secure right to food to the people. In order to achieve this, he emphasized on labor power which is the only productive asset of the poor for securing a living? Further, he asserted that right to food and right to work are closely interlinked, as work is the main source of purchasing power. Therefore, minimum wage connotes a statutorily laid down wage which is needed to take care of the bare minimum needs for food and other necessities. In
this way his efforts has indirectly contributed to the formulation of NREGA.

The clash of interest between the poor and rich can be resolved either by a benevolent State Power or Revolution. But these two are alternative and clashing forces. Mr. SR wanted State to solve the problem of this clash of interest. He is a realist enough to understand that this does not always happen. Certainly not to the extent required. Hence, his silent sympathy, for the revolutionaries, who are the Last resort of the poor against exploitation. He is conscious of the inadequacies of the Social Activists and Revolutionaries, their processes and modalities. He wished and worked for
improvement on these fronts rather than dismissing the need for an alternative or check on the State Power. In that sense he is not a partisan but an umpire between the State power and the Revolutionary’s gun.

 

There are many custodians of interests of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and marginalized groups viz; (i) Tribes Advisory Council in States with Scheduled Tribes, (ii &iii) National Commissions for SCs under Act 338 and National Commission for STs under 338, (iv) National Human Rights Commission, (v) the National Commission for Women, (vi) the National Commission for the Rights of Children (vii) National Commission for Minorities and (viii) National Commission for Safai Karmachari. There is neither clear focus nor dynamic coordination among all these venerable
institutions. Their studies, reports and recommendations languish without any interest whatsoever.

 

The Expert Group seriously urges consultation among all these bodies and launching of joint initiatives for concerted and compulsory action on their joint recommendations, which should become mandatory for Chief Ministers. There are counterpart commissions in the States. In addition, there is a standing Parliamentary Committee on SC & ST.

Mr. Sankaran’s life and work illuminated the lives of literally millions of India’s most dispossessed people with dignity, justice and hope. His compassion, simplicity and lifetime of public service will continue to light the way, both of those who work within government, and others who choose to struggle against it. His enduring legacy will be to demonstrate what true and authentic goodness in public and personal life can accomplish, to make this world a better, kinder place.  

Verghese Kurien

'India's Place in the Sun Would Come from the Partnership between Wisdom of its Rural People and Skill of its Professionals'-Dr Verghese Kurien

This is the story of Dr. Verghese Kurien, a young engineer from Calicut who became a legend in his lifetime for building a cooperative movement that transformed the lives of poor farmers and made India self-reliant in milk production.

Kurien (26 November 1921 – 9 September 2012), one of the greatest proponents of the cooperative movement in the world was a renowned Indian social entrepreneur and is best known as the "Father of the White Revolution", for his 'billion-litre idea' Operation Flood. The operation took India from being a milk-deficient nation, to the largest milk producer in the world, surpassing the United States of America in 1998. In 2010-11, India contributed to 17 percent of global milk output. This meant that in a span of 3 decades, the availability of milk per person doubled. Dairy farming became India’s largest self-sustaining industry. He made the country self-sufficient in edible oils too later on,
taking head-on the powerful and entrenched oil supplying lobby.

Kurien established nearly 30 institutions and inspired number of cooperatives such as fishermen cooperatives, livestock rearing people cooperatives, Non Timber Forest Producers (NTFP) cooperatives, farmer’s cooperatives, thrift and credit cooperatives, agriculture unions, Self Help Groups (SHGs), federations etc. 

He spent almost 60 years in building and nurturing the poor people’s institutions. Kurien was an excellent social  entrepreneur, he developed a small and marginal dairy farmer’s enterprise, AMUL, as a successful people's enterprise model in the country.  He tried to replicate this model in vegetable and oil seeds products. He believed that cooperatives should do three things;  1. Eliminate middle men in the product value chain. 2. Ensure member’s control on procurement, processing and marketing. 3. Establish professionalism in cooperative function. He strived
for decades to inculcate these principles in AMUL. He believed that the political leaders and bureaucrats' involvement had ruined the cooperatives and he made continuos efforts against their involvement in cooperative management. He separated roles of cooperative board members and professionals in management. He believed that board members should limit themselves to policies making and leave the operational work to the professionals,  who will be accountable to the cooperative board. He practiced this method in AMUL.

Kurien was born in Calicut (Present Kozhikode), Kerala into a Syrian Christian family headed by his civil surgeon father.  He completed bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Madras. After his graduation, Kurien continued his studies by joining the Tata Iron and Steel Company Technical Institute in Jamshedpur, from where he graduated in 1946. Further bolstering his academic record, Kurien applied for a government funded Masters program at Michigan State University. The government supported Kurien to specialize in dairy engineering against his pleas to stay in the field of engineering. “What do you know about pasteurisation,” an interviewer asked the young man who had applied for a Government of India fellowship for a Masters in Engineering abroad. “Something to do with milk?” was the uncertain reply. The year was 1946. In his biography From Anand: The story of Verghese Kurien, M.V. Kamath recounts the story of how the youngster was selected to do a Masters in dairy engineering by a government committee that was impervious to his pleas that he be allowed to specialise in metallurgy instead.
As it turned out, Michigan State University did not have dairy engineering, and Verghese Kurien was able to do metallurgy and Physics. But when he came back to India in 1948, it was to a small and unknown village in Gujarat called Anand that he was sent, to work out his two-year bond at the Government creamery on a salary of Rs.600 per month. Hating his job because of lack of work, he waited impatiently for his fetters to loosen. Every month he used to send his complaint about lack of work and used to offer his resignation along with his work report. That did not happen. What it did was that V. Kurien, by the conjunction of politics, nationalism and professional challenge, decided to stay on. He would transform rural India. The timing of V Kurien’s arrival in Anand coincided with a difficult time for small, local dairy farmers who, without an efficient way to get their milk to market, were frequently exploited by larger dairies whose money, resources, and governmental connections allowed them unique benefits.   During that time there was only one dairy in the district of Anand and in Gujarat known as Polson Dairy which had been established in 1930. Polson Dairy was providing
superior quality dairy products to up-market consumers. However it was involved in the exploitation of Indian farmers by not providing sufficient amount to them for milk and also not allowing them to sell milk to other vendors.

Earlier in the decade, and in response to this, local farmers led by Tribhuvandas Patel had started the first dairy ooperative.  Initially it supplied milk and other dairy products without any formalized distribution network or any supply chain in place. The brand name AMUL had not been adopted at that time and it was called KDCMPUL (Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producer’s union Limited). It started initially with two dairy co-operative societies and 247 liters of milk only. Later, this led to the formation of AMUL on 14th December 1946 by Kurien.

But it was Kurien who would revolutionize the movement. Kurien’s unhappiness in his job and his intense loneliness had led him to reach out to the local farmers, including Patel. The earnest efforts of this cooperative and the crippling unfairness of the status quo inspired Kurien, and so when he was asked to help the cooperative expand he eagerly agreed. Straight away he insisted that they purchase a pasteurizing machine at the cost of 60,000 rupees. It was a large outlay but an investment that paid off for the small band. Milk could now be transported to Mumbai without it spoiling and the cooperative flourished.

It became the success story of the area, with local farmers from other districts travelling to learn from the cooperative and from Kurien himself. Amongst those who made the pilgrimage were a large number of landless labourers whose assets were few but often included a sole cow or buffalo. H.M Dalaya further aided the movement when he invented the process of turning buffalo milk into skim milk powder or condensed milk. This breakthrough allowed the cooperative to capitalize on the abundance of buffalo in India and to compete against multi-national corporations who relied solely on cow milk.

Kurien along with Mr. Tribhuvandas Patel started developing co-operatives in the Kheda district. These co-operative societies had the task of collecting milk from the village farmers twice a day. The payment was made to the farmers according to the fat content in the milk. Sufficient steps (such as standard fat measurement machine, surprise checks, educating farmers etc.) were taken to prevent malpractices and enhance the overall process.  These milk cans were then transferred to nearby Milk Chiller Unit on the same day. It was kept in storage there for few hours then they were transferred for the pasteurization and finally to the cooling and packaging unit. After that milk was delivered to the wholesale distributor and then to the retailers and finally to the consumer thus following two-level
distribution marketing channel.  The upstream supply chain was entirely designed by Dr. Kurien and Mr. Tribhuvandas Patel – as a result of which the co-operative mechanism kept getting better and by the end of 1960 AMUL had become a success story in Gujarat.

Mr. Kurien however wanted to give KDCMPUL a unique name which could be easily pronounced by all and which could also help in growth of the union. Suggestions were asked from various employees and farmers for an appropriate name. Soon, a quality control supervisor recommended the name “AMULya” which is derived from a Sanskrit word meaning priceless and implies unmatchable excellence. The name was modified to “AMUL” to make the union also a part of this name and hence brand AMUL- Anand Milk Union Limited, came into existence.

The vast success of AMUL, as the organization had been titled, put the area and Kurien on the governmental map. As the company grew into the biggest food brand in India, Kurien nevertheless remained in Anand, enjoying the prestige he maintained in the town, and veering away from national politics.

Operation Flood – The white Revolution: The year was 1964 when our Prime Minister Mr. Lal Bahadur Shastri was invited to Anand to inaugurate the new cattle-feed plant of AMUL. He was supposed to return back by end of the day but after reaching Anand he insisted to stay there to learn about the success of the co-operatives. He visited almost all the co-operatives with Dr. Kurien and was impressed with the process with which AMUL was sourcing the milk from farmers and at the same time helping them to improve their economic condition. Later, he returned to Delhi and asked Dr. Kurien to replicate the AMUL pattern across the country. The combined effort resulted in
creation of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in the year 1965. Dr. Kurien took charge of NDDB and began the herculean task of replicating the overall pattern of the working at Anand to other parts of the country. By this time the demand for milk was growing at a faster rate than the supply of milk. India could have easily become the largest importer of milk like Sri Lanka were, had sufficient steps not been taken at that time by the Indian government and NDDB. Money was the biggest problem faced by NDDB during that period and was a critical resource needed to revolutionize the milk industry. To deal with it, NDDB tried to pursue World Bank for loans and
other grants with no conditions at all. When the President of World Bank came to India in 1969, Dr. Kurien told him –
“Give me money and forget about it”. A few days later, World Bank approved the loan for NDDB without even a single condition. This help was part of an operation, later known as Operation Flood.
In 1973, Kurien pioneered Operation Flood (or ‘the white revolution’), a move which would make India self-reliant in milk production. Kurien replicated the cooperatives and setup the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) in order to sell the combined produce of the disparate dairies under the same AMUL brand name both nationally and overseas. Operation Flood was subsequently implemented in India in three phases adding around 0.1 million co-operatives and 5 million milk producers.

Kurien recognized that the lack of professionalism as the main obstacle in cooperatives' development. He believed that professionals are the key players in cooperatives' development.  Initially he used to get professionals from competent institutions. But he faced problems in getting professionals to work for cooperatives. He started the Shiksha Dairy Institute to nurture professionals. Later it led to the establishment of IRMA – Institute of Rural Management Anand in 1979, to pass on the gained knowledge to future generations and to place rural India on the front map. Dr. Kurien also took several other measures such as developing milk powder, several varieties of dairy products, and development of vaccines along with an emphasis on the health of cattle etc.

As a result of these combined efforts, AMUL currently boasts of 15 million milk producers pouring their milk in 1,44,246 dairy co-operative societies across the country – a huge chain that has resulted in us being  the largest milk producing country today. Speaking about AMUL, the successful cooperative he founded, he explained the rationale behind Operation Flood – the strategy that made India self-reliant in milk production — and why it succeeded. He summarised it as follows:
“Over the last 20 years India’s milk production has tripled; it has increased from 20 million tonnes per annum to 60 million tonnes per annum. What is the value of one tonne of milk? At Rs.6 a litre, the value of the increased production of milk is Rs.2,400 crore. An additional Rs.2,400 crore goes yearly into the villages and this has been achieved in 20 years, thanks to Operation Flood I, II and III. The total investment was Rs.2,000 crore, and that was not from the state exchequer. The input-output ratio is staggering. The money also goes to those who own one or two buffaloes — the small farmer, the marginal farmer, the landless labourer. Dairying has become the largest rural employment scheme in this country. And the government has had very little to do with it, even though we are a
government institution.” Kurien always focused on the quality. He facilitated AMUL products to become synonymous with good quality. He was cautious in quality matters. The payment was fixed on the quality of the milk supplied. He strictly prohibited the malpractices in product processing. He made it a point to protect the consumers’ confidence in AMUL products and was committed to provide justice to the consumers for their investment on AMUL products. It led to AMUL
becoming the "taste of India". He was reluctant to increase the milk products’ prices. He was focused on exceeding the expectations of the AMUL consumers.

Kurien recognized the need for development of capacity building of cooperative leaders in cooperative management in milk procurement, quality assessment, processing, marketing, book keeping, auditing and monitoring the staff on a continuos basis. He found that members' control in cooperative management is a critical thing in sustainable development. He realized that political leaders and bureaucrats’ involvement spoilt the cooperatives, a number of unsuccessful cooperatives are live examples for this. Kurien never allowed the political leaders and bureaucrats' involvement in cooperative management.

By creating a self-sufficient dairy system in India, Kurien revolutionized rural India and dramatically improved the lives of the poor living in those areas. The cooperative system has given millions of landless labourers and small farmers a regular income, whilst stabilizing domestic milk prices in India, thus making hygienic milk easily available even amongst the poorest communities. 
In 1989 Kurien was awarded the World Food Prize for “his recognition that feeding the world’s citizens includes coordinating breakthroughs in production with effective management and distribution strategies.” Under Kurien’s model, India became the world’s biggest producer of milk, increasing production from 20 million metric tons in the 1960s to 120 million by 2011.

Kurien's dairy cooperative movement inspired all types of cooperatives in the country. It gave a new lease of life to the cooperative movement. AMUL became a live example to sustainable development through members’ controlled institutions by cooperative method. Many organizations started visiting AMUL to learn cooperative management. Also, delegates from countries like Russia, Great Britain, Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc. visited AMUL and requested Kurien to assist them in the development of dairy cooperatives in their countries.

Beyond the dairy cooperatives, Kurien also sought to apply the model to vegetable oil in the 1980s, an industry controlled once again by a small and powerful group of select families. Later in life, Kurien was a vocal critic of the liberalization of India which he saw as putting India at risk of unfair competition by large multinational companies, frequently speaking out during interviews on the issues of liberalization and globalization. When presented with the criticism that the cooperative movement could not replicate the successes of the Anand model in other parts of India, Mr. Kurien agreed but was unfazed by it, contesting it soundly. “Is the democratic form of government
successful in all parts of India? But the solution to the problems of democracy is more democracy. There can be no democracy in India unless you erect a plurality of democratic structures to underpin democracy, like the village cooperative which is a people’s institution.”

If in 2012, India is the largest producer of milk in the world, contributing six per cent to the national GDP and 26 percent to the agricultural GDP, it is Verghese Kurien, with his socialist vision and technology-led approach, which made it possible. He died in Nadiad, in western India, on the 9th of September 2012 aged 90. By the time of his death, he had been awarded 17 honourary doctorates and numerous national and international accolades. To give a short selection of them: nationally, the Padmashri (1965); Padmabhushan (1966); Krishi Ratna (1986); and the Padma
Vibhushan (1999). Outside India, it was the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership (1963); the “Wateler Peace Prize” Award of the Carnegie Foundation for the year 1986; the World Food Prize award for the year 1989; the “International Person of the year” by the World Dairy Expo, Wisconsin, U.S. (1993), the “Ordre du Merite Agricole” by the Government of France (in March 1997); and the Regional Award 2000 from the Asian Productivity Organization, Japan.
Kuriens’ professionalism, integrity and thrust for excellence in each and every thing he did were really remarkable. He transformed even problems into opportunities. He always strived to set standards in every work. He believed that giving more responsibilities was the key to developing people.  He had tremendous confidence on people’s capacities and cooperation and he believed that poverty reduction and people’s prosperity can be achieved through cooperatives. 

Kurien often said that "if cooperatives failed, strive to build cooperatives in a more professional way and if democracy failed, strive to achieve more democracy was the only way". He showed the world that an honest person can never be defeated. He was a role model, with his honesty and professionalism, in the development sector.