SRUTI, associated with several highly creative and useful initiatives for social justice and empowerment of communities through collective action, has recently completed four decades of its eventful existence.
To coincide with entering its fifth decade, SRUTI (Society for Rural, Urban and Tribal Initiative) organized an event appropriately called ‘Journeys of Hope and Change’ on March 30 in Delhi which brought together an amazing gathering of social activists from many parts of the country, as well as artists, musicians, writers and others, all linked with similar concerns of social justice and empowerment of communities with special emphasis on weaker sections.
SRUTI has been supporting social justice initiatives mainly through its flagship fellowship program which is committed to “empowering marginalized people lead a dignified life with access to livelihoods, resources, rights and justice.”
SRUTI fellows (or sathis) work on a wide range of issues—food security, education, livelihoods, labor and land rights– and involve organization of communities, perspective and capacity building, documentation and other initiatives including outreach for getting wider support for various social justice issues and initiatives. These various activities aim to result in collective social action that is based on community needs and community understanding of problems and their solutions. Over the years this approach has proved effective in getting much better results than any top-own efforts can hope to achieve.
SRUTI Fellows have also been contributing to strengthening and reform of decentralized democratic governance including important aspects of panchayati raj institutions with special emphasis on gram sabhas and ward sabhas.
SRUTI carries with it the strength of three generations of Fellows working on these important issues. At present it supports 37 Fellow groups across 15 states. The current reach of SRUTI Fellows is over 7300 villages and 250 urban clusters covering about 3.4 million people.
Apart from establishing links with institutional donors, SRUTI has also explored innovating fund raising ideas to support its work—ranging from working with youth in colleges and schools to even asking people to donate in the form of their scrap. People are contacted to collect their scrap at a mutually convenient time, and even receipts are issued for this. By utilizing this scrap in creative ways, the cause of waste recycling is promoted and at the same time the earnings are used to promote such causes as education in remote villages, helping the poor to secure better access to government schemes and promote justice and rights for various vulnerable communities. Creative and careful use of scrap has led to the raising of nearly 25 million rupees so far for such worthy causes.
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In keeping with such inspiring creativity of SRUTI’s work, the celebration of its 40 years organized in Delhi also had much to offer to those looking for thoughtful learnings for creating a better world. The highlight of the event was an exhibition on the work of various SRUTI Fellows present and past. Here one could learn a lot about several important struggles and initiatives for justice, reform and empowerment of communities. Some issues that were highlighted more included efforts for education reform and for alternative education, issues relating to most marginalized and neglected sections of workers including migrant workers, people’s access to land, forests and water sources (Jal, Jangal, Jameen).
It was particularly thoughtful on the part of organizers to have a small section also on those Fellows who have passed away in recent years, among whom I could find the names of some of my friends too.
Apart from telling us about the work of SRUTI Fellows, this exhibition also had important educational material on the wider heritage of struggles for justice and social reform in India.
Thus the archive material exhibited here has a wider educational role, even though some of this important material was lost earlier in Delhi floods.
In addition to the exhibition of course this celebration had its share of captivating music, songs and other performances, not to forget the exhibitions of organic food, artisan products and crafts.
The Delhi celebration was preceded by smaller events in Bhopal, Lucknow, Ooty and Ranchi.
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Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Man over Machine—A Path to Peace, Planet in Peril, Protecting Earth for Children and A Day in 2071. He is a regular contributor to Asia-Pacific Research.
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