Skip to main content

For Land, Water, and Forest

“Ekta Parishad Jindabad,” (Long live Ekta Parishad) somebody shouted at a corner.

“Ekta Parishad Jindabad,” a chorus followed.

At a glance, people who were chanting the slogans looked feeble and powerless. Many didn’t have sleepers, showing cracks on their feet. Wrinkled on their faces told the story of hardships and struggles.

When they chanted the slogans, their fist clenched, a sudden determination emerged on their faces.

“Land, water, and forest must be under people’s control” another slogan emerged.


They were the people of Ekta Parishad. A Gandhian social movement active in India. Championing the rights of marginalized communities (Dalits and indegeneous communities) in India for their land rights.

Similar to Sarvodaya Movement in Sri Lanka, Ekta Parishad is a social movement and a federation of 11,000 communities spread over 12 Indian states. Like the Sarvodaya Movement, rooted in Gandhian values, Ekta Parishad is dedicated to non-violent social change. Their programs are geared towards building gram-swaraj (village self-governance) and local self-reliance.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

विद्यार्थी भर्ना मात्र गर्ने कि टिकाउने पनि !

नेपालमा नयाँ बर्षसँगै नयाँ शैक्षिक वर्ष पनि सुरु हुन्छ। यसैको मौकामा २०७५  साल सुरुवातमै प्रधानमन्त्री केपी शर्मा ओलीले  एक जना विद्यार्थी स्कुल भर्ना गर्नुभयो। अभियान सुरु गर्दै सबैलाई नेताहरुलाई ‍कम्तिमा एक जना विद्यार्थी भर्ना गर्न अाव्हान पनि गर्नुभयो। अहिले शिक्षामन्त्री, प्रदेश मुख्यमन्त्रीहरु, वरिष्ठ नेताहरु, सांसदहरु लगायतले विद्यार्थी भर्ना गराइरहेको समाचारले प्रमुखता पाइरहेको छ।संविधानले सबै बालबालिकासम्म शिक्षाको पहुँच ‍निर्दिष्टता गरेको ‍परिवेशमा देशको नेतृत्वले गरेको यो प्रयास सरहानीय ‍हो। तर नीतिनिर्माण तहमा रहेको नेतृत्वलाई यति कदममै रमाउने छुट भने छैन। शिक्षा मन्त्रलाय तथा अन्य अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय संस्थाको तथ्यांक अाधार मान्दा, भर्नाभन्दा पनि स्कुलसम्म पुगेका केटाकेटी त्यहाँ कसरी टिकाउने र गुणस्तरीय शिक्षा कसरी दिने भन्ने अबको धेय हुनु पर्ने देखिन्छ। अब पहुँचमा भन्दा गुणस्तरमा समय र परिश्रम धेरै गर्नु पर्ने देखिन्छ। शिक्षा मन्त्रालय, युनिसेफ, तथा विश्व बैंकका तथ्यांक अाधार मान्ने हो भने, नेपालमा ५-९ वर्ष उमेर समूहका झण्डै ९७ प्रतिशत केटाकेटी स्कुल भर्ना हुन्छन्। यो द
2 comments
Read more

Happy New Year To You All

It is the time again. To begin - a new year. Happy New Year to you all. May there be joy, happiness, love and prosperity in your life. Do you make resolutions? Normally, I don't. But, this year I will try one. My resolution to write more often. Let's see how do I do.
Post a Comment
Read more

Local solutions for education

  To ensure children continue to learn, federal, provincial, and local governments have to find locally adaptable solutions to support the learning opportunity for children.   According to UNESCO, globally about 1.6 billion children, which account for 91 percent of all learners, are currently affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Nepal’s over 7 million school-going children and additional university students have also been severely affected by the closure of educational institutions. When the government started lockdown on March 24, Nepal was already on the tail end of the school year, thus the first three weeks of the closure didn’t have a significant impact on students’ learning activities. However, since the academic year in Nepal starts in mid-April, the continued shutdown of academic institutions are now likely to put most children out of educational activities for several weeks. While children from higher-income families might have the opportunity to engage in a plethora of digital
12 comments
Read more