Badanawal
Satyagraha and the National Convention for
Sustainable Living
Sustainable Living
March
-April 2015
Over
the last year and a half, a Handloom Satyagraha has been underway in
and around Karnataka, spearheaded by the All
India Federation of Handloom Organizations.
In December 2013, thousands of handloom weavers from across Karnataka
marched several hundred kilometers in a campaign termed Banashankari
Yatre to highlight
their plight and demands. In January 2014, an indefinite fast was
observed demanding the strict implementation of the Handloom
Reservation Act. In December 2014, a protest against the manufacture
of imitation handloom products through power looms culminated in a
fast unto death campaign.
Subsequently,
the scope of the Satyagraha expanded to include all organizations
working towards sustainability, focusing on agriculture, environment,
labor, gender, language, folklore, culture and education, along with
Khadi and handlooms. Over months, it has taken the shape of a joint
campaign of all consumers and producers of sustainable goods and
services, from cities and villages across Karnataka. Over time, the
Satyagraha came to be called the Badanawal Satyagraha – after a
village that continues to provide a powerful symbolism of the
possibilities of societal regeneration for people in these parts of
the country.
Badanawal
(Badanawaalu)
is a small village situated south of Mysore, adjoining the
Chamarajanagar district in Karnataka, a perpetually drought prone
area. In 1925, a well-known Gandhian, Tagadur Ramachandra Rao,
started a Khadi and Village Industries production centre here on a
7.5-acre campus. Subsequently, Gandhiji visited the centre a couple
of times, stayed there and was pleasantly surprised by the success of
the khadi centre. Four dalit women formed the initial staff of the
Khadi and Gramodyoga
Kendra at Badanawal
and their number increased gradually as the centre introduced other
trades. More than 300 women were working here during its heydays
producing close to 50,000 lbs of handspun cotton yarn by 1938.
The
current Badanawal Satyagraha was organized by the well-known theatre
personality Prasanna, who with a group of volunteers, camped in the
village, rebuilding the dilapidated sheds in the Khadi
and Gramodyoga Kendra
besides holding meetings, workshops, street performances, and visual
art campaigns beginning March 21,2015.
Six
padayatras
began on April 12 from various parts of the State and culminated at
Badanawal for the National Convention for Sustainable Living on April
19. Several hundred activists, practitioners and enthusiasts of
sustainable living came here to articulate their thoughts, hear from
others and express solidarity with the growing numbers of people
concerned about the unsustainable path of development that India has
taken. The gathering also included handloom weavers and their
federations, craftspeople, farmers, farmers unions, activists working
on biodiversity, climate and energy, food and health safety
enthusiasts, dalits, artists, writers, students and others.
Several
panchayats
were held on different aspects of sustainability throughout the day
at the convention alongside exhibitions, sales, demonstrations and
prayer meetings. A common thread seen in the discussions was the
serious nature of inequities created by development
through
harmful chemical
agricultural practices, devastation of forests, water, the
environment and livelihoods; through the elimination of biodiversity
in crops, vegetation and fauna, the disenfranchisement of local
knowledge, the breakdown of community and respect for anything
local; and so on.
One
of the panchayats
was on the struggles of Artisan communities. Prasanna, in his keynote
address, outlined the issues facing men, women and children of these
communities. He stressed the fact that, left to themselves and
without the negative impact of the capitalist market, these
communities had the wherewithal to sustain a dignified life even
today. He also emphasized the need to impart an education to children
that augments the knowledge and skills they acquire in day-to-day
work with their elders.
J.K.
Suresh from LJA, Bengaluru, briefly spoke about developments that
threaten the very existence of the Lokavidya
Samaj - comprising
farmers, artisans, dalits, tribals, small shopkeepers &
businessmen etc - and whose knowledge, obtained from their families
and communities, forms the basis of their occupational skills and
work. And how, since India’s independence, the livelihoods of the
people of this society have been destroyed systematically, forcing
them to abandon the calling of their communities in search of better
opportunities and means of life. This in turn has led to the widening
of the influence and control of centralized capitalist production and
the capitalist market in their lives, making the condition of a large
number of people even worse. It is therefore imperative to assist the
revival and relegitimisation of Lokavidya,
so that the Samaj
can find its moorings and chart a new role for itself to meet the
challenges of a changing global reality.
M
Mohan Rao, President of the Rashtriya
Cheneta Samakhiya,
Chirala, Andhra Pradesh and LJA, stressed the need for various
sections of the village society to come together and prevent the
destruction of livelihoods while enabling sustainable lifestyles for
all. (B. Krishnarajulu from LJA, Hyderabad, translated the Telugu
talk)
A
final declaration adopted by the Satyagraha is as below:
- Handloom is the fabric of the future
- Traditional farming is the agriculture of the future
- Mother tongue is the language of the future
- Decentralization is the politics of the future
- The Satyagraha calls for utilizing today’s resources for the industries and agriculture of tomorrow.
- The Satyagraha calls for utilizing knowledge, science, education and political power towards building a sustainable life.
- The Satyagraha calls for renouncing industrialization cleverly, carefully and judiciously, without hurting anyone.
The
plan for the future is to expand the movement across the country by
reimagining and reshaping Badanawal, without harming the original
design of the existing structure, and making the village a place of
pilgrimage for people who believe in sustainable living.
(In
compiling this article, several sources have been consulted, links to
which are as below:
-
J K SureshLJA Karnataka
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