Recognizing Bravery of Various Kinds

Last week, Vivek Pandit and his wife Vidyullata were honoured with the Rotary Public Awards for Social Excellence. Also Swapnil Jadhav was honoured for his brave act of singlehandedly battling a gang of robbers in Navi Mumbai recently, and successfully capturing one.

Introducing Vivek and Vidyutalla Pandit, Rtn Kishor Kher said, “Most of us bemoan the system and often wish we could change it, but don’t have the courage. So when you come across a couple who have shown exemplary courage, and have successfully succeeded in fighting the evil, it is indeed unique.

“Are you aware that in Thane district, until about 20 years ago, there was bonded labour? By borrowing a paltry amount like Rs 1,000 from one of the money lenders, several generations of an Adivasi family became bonded labourers — virtually slaves. To fight this system with all its vested interests takes exceptional courage,” he said.

A printed note that was circulated said that the Pandits had started their journey of social service when they joined Jayprakash Narayan’s movement in the 1970s. “They participated in the Anti Emergency movement, but were disillusioned with the subsequent failure of the Janata Party to live upto its promise. They then moved from Mumbai to Dahisar of Thane District to serve the poor,” it said.

“In 1979, they formed the Vidhayak Sansad (Constructive Parliament) and in 1982 the Shramajeevi Sanghatana (Organization of Toiling People). These organizations worked for release and rehabilitation of bonded labourers not only in Thane District but in other parts of India as well. In a letter, they informed the Supreme Court of this deplorable system, and to its credit, the court admitted the letter as a writ petition and instituted the first enquiry committee to report on this matter.

“In due course, as a result of the Pandits’ sustained efforts, the bonded labour system was completely abolished from Thane District.

“Vivek attacked the castebased bonded labour system in Marathwada region and formed the Campaign for Human Rights to free Dalit labourers from bondage. He freed and rehabilitated bonded labourers in stone quarries of Madhya Pradesh and helped to organize Kamiyya Mukti Andolan in Nepal.

“In recognition of his consistent work in this field he was awarded the International Anti- Slavery Award and the Parliament of UK passed a resolution felicitating his work to end all forms of slavery.

“The Pandits’ work has not stopped at freeing bonded labour. They have organized the rural labourers, small and marginal farmers and fought for minimum wages, for restoration of alienated land to tribals, for the right to education of migrant child labourers at brick kilns and against all forms of exploitation and discrimination.

“Vivek led the Satyagraha for universalization of primary education in the State of Maharashtra leading to the formation of a task force on primary education of which he was a member. This task force prepared the Mahatma Phule Education Guarantee Programme ensuring primary education to every child in the state — setting a precedent in India.

“Today, Vidhayak Sansad is a large NGO in Maharashtra with several activities in five major field viz., Education, Fight against Poverty, Scientific Agriculture, Vocational Training and Women’s Upliftment. The secret of its success lies in sustained attention by a large number of volunteers and social workers that the Pandits were able to gather and lead.

“For all the outstanding work Vivek has been doing, he received the Ashoka Fellowship in 1982, the Advocacy Fellowship in 1990 and the Eisenhower Fellowship in 2000. He represented India at the United Nations’ International Human Rights Conference in Vienna. Recently, he delivered the keynote at the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations in USA. He has been awarded the Maharashtra Gaurav Award by the Maharashtra Government”, the note said.

RESPONDING to the award, Vivek Pandit said, “Thank you Rotarians for recognising our work. It is not about me or my wife, but about the work that we did for the last 28 years. When we moved out of Mumbai in 1979, we did not know what we were going to do. We had some vague idea about wanting to serve society.

“So we went to a nearby village and started a medical centre, paediatric clinic, leprosy centre, preschool class. Afterwards, we felt that we should involve ourselves in rural development. We soon realised that there were bonded labourers serving my own family, and not some distant landlord! They had borrowed Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 and they were now serving for more than 25 years in exchange for 20 kgs of rice per month. I was shocked. I started telling my parents and uncle that this was slavery, and it was wrong.

“I was first attacked by my own uncle. Our belongings were thrown out on the streets and we were asked to leave the village... and that was when we realised what exploitation was!

“When we had started organising tribals at that time, they were afraid and were running away from us because they feared that we were people sent by their master. However, after my uncle beat us up, those tribals began to trust us. That was when our movement took off. My concept of social development or rural development completely changed, and we organised the tribals. We stopped the medical centre. We started education again only after 14 years. In those 14 years, we were involved in organising the tribals for abolishing bonded labour.

“The Bonded Labour Abolition Act was enacted in 1976. The government of Maharashtra was claiming that no bonded labour existed in this state, although they had not conducted any survey. I remember that we were only 124 when we marched towards the Assembly. Prof Sadanand Varde was there in the council. He supported us and I recognised and valued the assistance of the then CM late Vasant Dada Patil. That movement changed the National Policy on bonded labour. The National Human Rights Comission asked me to write about release and rehabilitation of bonded labourers, and that policy is circulated all over India now.

“After bonded labour, we had to deal with the issue of Land Alienation. There are several tribal laws and as you know, social legislations such as land reform laws remain only on paper. We enforced whatever policies the government had made. We did not ask for anything more than what was on the paper. In the beginning, nobody called me a Gandhian or a socialist; they called me a Naxalite. We were asking only for enforcement of laws that were already there.

“Many people say, education first, but I believe alleviation of hunger first. When we are starving, education is a luxury. Unless hunger is satisfied, we are not going to give education to our children. More than 70 million children are deprived of education in our country and the Government of Maharashtra had prepared a draft plan for elementary education in 1992. In that plan, there was no mention of migrant children who accompanied their parents who worked in brick kilns, sugarcane fields etc. If education is being universalised, then how can you keep children out of its reach?

“While doing a State budget analysis, we realised that the government had not made any plans in 1996 budget. So I went to the Secretaries of Education and of Labour, and asked whether the government had any plans to educate these children, and found that it had none. We responded by launching an agitation at Azad maidan. That was the 50th year of Independence. We took a big begging bowl, asking people to donate to the government as it was bankrupt and unable to provide money for the education of these vulnerable children. Our slogan was, ‘Sarkarla lagli bheekh, mulana mhantoy sheek’. Meaning ‘The government is poor, but is asking children to learn’.

“Manohar Joshi, then the Chief Minister, was embarassed and wanted to use the moneys we had collected to buy sweets for the children. However, we pointed out that the specific donation had to be spent for the specific purpose. The Mahatma Phule Education Guarantee Scheme was then drafted by us. Only 1% female literacy is there in Katkaris, a primitive tribes in Thane, Raigad, Pune and some other parts of Maharashtra. We successfully appealed to the government for a residential school for Katkari girls. Now we have started a residential school for Katkari girls and brought over 25,000 such children into the mainstream so far. However, we believe that we have only given them access to education; quality of education remains to be achieved.

“So far, we have organised vulnerable sections of our society whose constitutional rights remain on paper. Unless asserted, rights are not going to come to these people. So now we are concentrating on the education of the weakest section of the society.”