AID Talk in MIT by SR Hiremath on Where Nation is Heading, Challenges and Intervensions

Association for India’s Development (AID), Boston and MIT chapters presented a talk titled as “Whither, India? Where the nation is headed, its challenges and how do we deal with it” on June 3, 2016 which was well attended by the community.

SR Hiremath is a political, environmental activist from Dharward, Karnataka and has worked relentlessly for over 35 years in the promotion of people oriented policies & legislation, protection of rights of the tribals & rural poor over natural resources and bringing about participatory, deliberative democracy through means of non-violence, transparency and self-reliance. He elaborated on the challenges in the political, social, and economic spheres with focus on the marginalized communities, their livelihoods and their role in democracy. He talked about his relentless fight against the illegal mining mafia that took place in Karnataka and successfully challenged many political and government executives associated with illegal mining. He narrated how he had accumulated enough evidence by making several field trips to the Bellary area, and procured incriminating documents that revealed plunder of natural resources on an unprecedented scale and succeeded in his efforts for social justice. He said that in his anti-illegal mining campaign, he faced many threats and challenges as part of his work. He also talked about future farming on a larger scale by pooling together small land holdings along with other occupations like agriculture, animal husbandry and sheep or goat rearing, for the development of the region, state, and the nation.

“If we ignore what happens around us, it grows huge unhealthier, and spreads its impact to the entire community” said Hiremath. There is a strong need to create awareness among the people as to the ill-effects of exploitative practices, provide training for the concerned persons of Non-Violent Direct Action (NVDA) to handle challenges, hold media campaign to mobilize widespread public opinion against the irregularities and illegalities, and to take measures for protecting the livelihood of local people, the ecology and environment of the region.

The audience asked a lot of questions on the sustainability approaches and empowerment of rural poor in the question and answer session which was moderated by AID Boston volunteer, Nitin Gujaran. AID President, Nimish Sane thanked the speakers and audience members for their engaged participation and invited the audience to support AID Boston (www.aidboston.org) and such projects that is making a lot of difference for marginalized communities in India.

|