Brief Report – Ekta Parishad South India for April 2021
· On the 1st of April we visited the Gurukulam Kasturba Vidyalaya in Vedaranyam Nagapattinam. Shri. Vedaratinamji of the Gurukulam has agreed to be the chairperson of our rural economic centre in P R Puram.
· General Body Meeting of CESCI Organics was held in our rural economic centre in P R Puram. An action plan including oil production and sales outlet was prepared and approved in this meeting.
· In order to understand the ground reality of released bonded labourers three day trip was organized through Trichy, Perambalur and Villupuram. A detailed report is available for those who are interested.
· Substantial time was devoted to reshape the Jai Jagat centre in Chettikuppam near Pondicherry. A team of volunteers including Biju, Avani Kumar, Ajith, Anish (Small) devoted their time in order to reshape the centre. This centre was created by Mr Jean-louis Bato and Francine through many years of their efforts. This is also their gift to the Civil Society Organizations in India.
· A visit by Ms.Anuradha Shankar ADGP, Madhya Pradesh to Jai Jagat centre was an interesting event. Friends from Pondicherry also participated in this important discussion on nonviolence and governance.
· A visit of Mr Panchaksharam Director, SIPA and Mr. Sridhar a consultant to Jai Jagat centre was also an interesting event. With their help we were able to look at the issues like rural economy and peace tourism, etc. Both of them have agreed to support this process.
· A visit of Prof. Ananta Giri at Jai Jagat centre and the discussion with him has opened up the possibility to restart of the Nonviolence Ahimsa Journal through an online platform. He also presented a copy of the Book written by Mamaji to Ekta Parishad.
· A trip to organic market headed by Mr. Anandu in Chennai has given many ideas in terms of linking rural products with urban marketing.
· A trip to Shimoga, Tumkur, and Bangalore opened up many contacts for South India network. There is a lot to learn from the work of Prasannaji of shramjivi aashram in Sagar, Dr. Manjunath of Gandhi natural farming school, Tumkur and Siddharth of Fireflies from Bangalore. Shri. Subba Raoji’s presence in Bangalore is also a great blessing.
· In CESCI Centre this is the time for repair and maintenance. We are in the process of upgrading the centre before the season will begin.
· Some contacts were established with Sadhana forest through Ms. Riya and Mr. Minn. This contact will be very useful in developing our agenda of nonviolence in theory and action.
· This was a month of election in three states of South India. We have used strong advocacy strategies to get our agenda of peace ministry, forest right act (FRA), land reform and poverty eradication through discussions at various levels. We hope that this advocacy will bring some result when the new government will get formed.
· There were many webinars related to Jia Jagat and our solidarity action with Myanmar. There is a separate report on Ekta Parishad South Indian vision building webinar for those who are interested.
· We were also trying to find ways to support the farmers movement by talking to decision makers at different level
This month is mainly devoted in order to build a vision and also contacts in South India
With thanks
Rajagopal.P.V
K. Biju
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