Shashank Chouhan
While it takes only one Vivekananda to arouse the curiosity of the westerners into the mystique of India, it is the entire clan of Sisters who bear the great responsibility of a Mother Teresa after her passing. It is not just a Gandhi who is required for freedom- it is the men and women who carry out the Cause even in his absence. The great ones get their due place in the sun- the man in the street, with courage in heart and a cause to espouse, remains unsung.
Here are some of the movements and causes which brought the common man together on a mission and continue to change many lives without much ado.
One India: All the Kings were men
Vallabhbhai Patel was given the herculean task of bringing together the hundreds of princely states into what we know as today’s India. The task was not easy as the Kings wanted to remain in their position of authority. But the people wanted their own raj. In Jungarh plebiscite, 99% of the population voted for India. Maharaja of Bhavnagar and many other states saw reason in the new order and declared themselves in favour of a United India. The courage of the people who so valiantly fought for independence and the wisdom of their rulers who silently submitted to the will of their subjects resulted in an India united in letter and spirit.
Bhoodan: Sons of soil
After India gained independence, Vinoba Bhave started out on an unprecedented movement in recorded history, the Bhoodan (Land-Gift) Movement. On April 18th 1951 Vinoba entered Nalgonda district, the centre of Communist activity. The organizers had arranged Vinoba’s stay at Pochampalli, a large village with about 700 families, of whom two-thirds were landless.
The Harijans asked for 80 acres of land, forty wet, forty dry for forty families that would be enough. Then Vinoba asked,”If it is not possible to get land from the government, is there not something villagers themselves could do?” To everyone’s surprise, Ram Chandra Reddy, the local landlord, got up & said in a rather excited voice: “I will give you 100 acres for these people.” This incident, neither planned nor imagined, was the very genesis of the Bhoodan movement & it made Vinoba think that therein lay the potentiality of solving the land problem of India- direct contribution of the zamindaars and their ilk. Countless landlords, rich farmers came together in what became a phenomenal distribution of land.
Total Revolution: Sentinels of Emergency
Indira Gandhi proclaimed a national Emergency on the midnight of 25 June 1975, immediately after Jayprakash Narayan had called for the PM`s resignation and had asked the military and the police to disregard unconstitutional and immoral orders; JP, opposition leaders, and dissenting members (the `Young Turks`) of her own party were arrested on that day. Then arose hundreds of student leaders who left schools and colleges to fight for their rights.
Some went on to become Fernandes and Chandrashekhars of future. It was the strenghth of our innate sense of democracy and freedom that the people of India voted for those who were behind bars.
People power was truly on display when the Janata Party brought an end to years of unbroken one party rule.
Hugging life
Not many people know that over the last few centuries many communities in India have helped save nature. One such is the Bishnoi community of Rajasthan. The Chipko movement of 1973 was one of the most famous among these.
The first Chipko action took place spontaneously in April 1973 in the village of Mandal in the upper Alakananda valley and over the next five years spread to many districts of the Himalayas in Uttar Pradesh. Supporters of the Chipko movement, mainly village women, have successfully banned the felling of trees in a number of regions and influenced natural resource policy in India. Dhoom Singh Negi, Bachni Devi and many other village women, were the first to save trees by hugging them.
Sunderlal Bahuguna, a Gandhian activist and philosopher, whose appeal to Mrs Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, resulted in the green-felling ban. Mr Bahuguna coined the Chipko slogan: `Ecology is permanent economy`.
Rain catchers of India
Kovalamkuppam, tucked away from the East Coast Road that connects Chennai to Pondicherry, has become one of the first villages in post-Independence India to implement rainwater harvesting in the whole village. It had been years since Raju Narayanan, founder of Coastal and Rural Development Trust (CRDT), showed an active interest in rainwater harvesting (RWH) but never got the support from agencies specialised in managing water resource. A notification by the State government finally woke up the villagers.
They are now willing to listen to Narayanan. Where village welfare is concerned, these fishermen sink their differences and work together for the overall good of everyone. The village has done a lot. Long before the State government launched its scheme of rotating loans from a corpus fund to be managed by women, Kovalam had its own scheme going. Such and many other villagers who may be illiterate but understand the significance of community initiatives when it comes to the availability of basics are the true heroes of a changing India.
Bringing water within reach for everyone is Rajendra Singh’s mission and full-time occupation. After his early lessons with the Minhas, he realized this is what he had to do – find water for the thirsty villages of Rajasthan. The real beauty of the work that the Tarun Bharat Sangh (the voluntary organization that Singh created) is now doing lies in the simplicity of the tools they use. Involve the local people, explain everything to them, and get them to build small earthen storages near water sources. The toil of the last 16 years has indeed paid off. The construction of over 4500 check dams bringing water to and rejuvenating more than 1200 villages is living testimony of this man’s accomplishment.
The Magsaysay award in 2001 was a recognition of his efforts.
Green Revolution
Dr. Borlaug and Indian scientist Swaminathan ushered through their experiments and initiatives what came to known as Green revolution. From a country with a begging bowl to one of the largest exporters of grain, India has come a long way. This nation is yet to salute the scientists like Athwal, Kohli, Mathur and the like, who contributed in no less measure to this revolution that made India self-sufficient in food.
But the real unsung heroes of this green revolution, as the then Agriculture Minister Subramaniam himself put it, were Punjabi farmers. He said, "They were the pioneers in this technology and, but for them, I am convinced we would not have made a success of it ... They had developed into a very hardy lot of enterprising people ... And therefore when this new technology was offered to them they took to it like fish to water. Everybody vied with one another to demonstrate that he was best able to utilise the new technology." These are the real people behind the Green Revolution.
Unsung are also the strategies of Subramaniam who began to systematically set the stage for an overhaul of the way foodgrain was grown, sold and distributed. He started off with a remunerative price policy for farmers, which gave birth to the Agricultural Prices Commission and Food Corporation of India in 1965. His support and lead from top removed all obstacles from the path of India’s green riches.
Operation Flood: The taste of India
Operation Flood, launched in 1970, has been instrumental in helping the farmers mold their own development. Thus helping reach milk to consumers in 700 towns and cities through a National Milk Grid. When dairy farmers in Gujarat found it difficult to sell milk at fair prices, they thought of a novel way to market their produce- founding cooperatives, big and small groups to produce and sell milk and its products. The milk cooperatives under Operation Flood follow the Anand Pattern, which was pioneered by Dr Kurien.
Anand emerged in India as the largest rural employment scheme. The resilience of villagers and the support of Kurien made India the world`s highest milk producer and is all set to become the world`s largest food factory.
Storm in the Silent Valley
Silent Valley is a secluded forest tucked away in the Ghats, not far from Ooty. This remote valley triggered off one of the fiercest environmental disputes the country has known. It all began with a proposal put forward by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) to build a dam across the Kuntipuzha river to create a reservoir in Silent Valley, and then use the impounded water to generate electricity.
It was almost by accident that the proposal came to the attention of an official in the Central Government. Concerned about the protection of India’s environment, he asked for the project to be reconsidered. Non- governmental organizations like Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) were spearheading the conservation movement by convincing people with the help of street plays, dramas, public meetings, etc. Newspapers like The Hindu fully espoused the cause whole-heartedly.
Indira Gandhi constituted a Committee to look into the matter. The Committee pointed out that Silent Valley was the last remaining example of flora and fauna that had evolved to the fullest possible extent in a tropical rainforest, and was an ecosystem undisturbed by human interference. The concern of the people saved n entire ecology from destruction.
Mission of Service
“The other day I dreamed that I was at the gates of heaven....And St. Peter said, `Go back to Earth, there are no slums up here.” That was Mother Teresa. Through her efforts she managed to open several institutions to help the downtrodden e.g. `Missionaries of Charity`, ` Nirmal Hriday`, and `Shishu Bhavan` whish houses the mentally and physically challenged children. It is the thousands of Sisters and Brothers who have taken upon themselves the mission of Mother – to see and serve Christ in the poor and diseased. In serving the people abandoned by society, these unsung heroes have put love into action.
Undoubtedly it is the Mother’s spirit of giving that inspired many to follow her; and her work eventually expanded to many other parts of the world. Today over 5000 sisters, brothers, and volunteers run approximately 500 centers worldwide, feeding 500,000 families and helping 90,000 lepers every year.
Expecting nothing in return.
Fighting for a better India
Every morning the group of four men begin their day by paying homage to a statue of Mahatma Gandhi installed at the entrance to their village, Panimora, in Orissa`s Bargarh district, about 400 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar.
In the twilight of their lives, Chamaru Paradhia, Dayanidhi Naik, Madan Bhoi and Jitendra Pradhan are no longer the young men they used to be when they told the British to `Quit India`. But the zeal is intact, as is the vision for the future.
"We had thought our struggle for freedom will bring a solution to all problems. But it did not. We are forced to fight another battle, now for essential health services, roads and communications that we never thought of," said Paradhia, who at 96 is the oldest of the surviving four freedom fighters in the village.
After 60 years of being free, these and many other men continue to wage war against poverty, illiteracy and administrative apathy in their own little ways. Their struggle is a necessary price of democracy.
Right to Know
Common people have generally been denied access to basic information through successive governments. But the fight to guarantee the right to information was taken up by illiterate villagers in the state of Rajasthan.
Noted social activist Aruna Roy united the voice of these people under the organisation called the Empowerment of Workers and Peasants (MKSS) on May 1, 1990. She along with MKSS mastermind Nikhil Dey and Shankar Singh laid the foundation for a national RTI movement in India.
Other states also joined in and there were separate but simultaneous movement of a similar kind in Maharashtra and Meghalaya. All these combined with leading voices like that of bureaucrat-turned social activist Arvind Kejriwal bore fruit when the RTI Act came into being in 2005.
Administration today is more transparent, accessible and accountable to the common man than ever before. Any citizen of India can put in a request to see government files affecting his life.
Both Arvind Kejriwal and Aruna Roy were conferred with the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for their contribution in strengthening the voice of common people who were hitherto unheard and unnoticed.
Down, not out
The sting of terror began hurting India in the late 1980s when Pakistan launched a proxy war in Kashmir. While one section of people gave their support (at least vocal) to the terror outfits, the majority lived in fear – punctuated with bouts of courage. Be it Kashmir, Akshardham, Varanasi or Mumbai, people power has time and again come out in the open against divisive forces. While Hindus and Muslims prayed together in the Hanuman temple of Varanasi after the blasts, Mumbaikars were out in full force to lend a hand to reign in the chaos that followed train bombing there. The message has been sent to the militants loud and clear – we are united against forces against India.
Globalisation- New India
Kudos to you! Yes, the harbinger of the new and resurgent India! While Manmohan Singh began the process of opening India up to the markets of West, it is the burgeoning middle class that whole-heartedly accepted it. Out on streets, in the malls, in investing huge sums in companies, taking up a better life- that’s your doing. In whatever you do, it goes on to have an impact on the country – positive or negative.
These are but a few stories of those instilled with the spirit of initiative and courage. Every Indian who has the courage to stand up and speak out when a wrong is compounded, every Indian who has an idea, however small, to bring about a positive change; every Indian who can shed a tear for this country and toil for its progress; every Indian who has faith in the glorious destiny of India…..that every Indian is an unsung hero.
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