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SVA Celebrated the Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri along with the International Day of Non-Violence
On 2nd October SVA celebrated the birthday of Gandhiji and Shastriji along with celebrating the first International Day of Non-violence at its field center at Bilenjore with a number of activities. This celebration was attended by more than eight hundred persons from different parts of the State.
Early in the morning all the inmates joined the Morning Prayer which was laid by the eminent freedom fighter Shri Jitendriya Pradhan and Shri Dayanidhi Naik of village Panimora, district – Bargarh. Later on about 350 volunteers and participants joined in a procession to the village Pandelbahali where they all worked with the villagers to plant papaya tree and other species for kitchen garden in every house. In the morning also the programme for total sanitation in the Konabira panchayat was launched where the foundation stone was laid by eminent social worker Shri Bisram Patel of village Konabira. The function was presided over by the Sarpanch of Konabira Gram Panchayat and Shri Jagadish Pradhan, President of SVA was the Chief Guest.
At 9.30 the national flag was hoisted in the campus of SVA followed by unveiling of the life size statute of Mahatma Gandhi. The unveiling was done jointly by the freedom fighters Shri Jitendriya Pradhan and Shri Dayanidhi Naik. All the guests and participants also paid their tribute to Mahatma Gandhi by offering flowers. The guests and the speakers emphasized the relevance of Gandhiji to resolve the growing crisis throughout the country because of economic liberalization and the process of globalization. In this event also a book compiled by Gaunli Vichar titled “Quotations from Gandhiji” was released by the chief guest Shri Pradhan.
At 10.30 A.M. the main seminar on the subject “Globalization, Growing incidence of poverty and the way out” was organized where the Chief Speaker was Shri Jagadanand, Member Secretary, CYSD. The event was presided by Shri A. V. Swamy, Director, VISWAS and among other speakers were Mr. Stan Thekaekara of ACCORD and eminent freelance journalist Ms. Mari Thekaekara. In his keynote address Mr. Jagadanand expressed his concern about the growing incidence of poverty even in the developed countries and the growing violence all over the world. In his speech he gave example of how all the erstwhile peaceful cities are now becoming places of terrible violence and every one is feeling insecured. Mr. Jagadanand also warned that unless the growing disparity between the rich and the poor is checked the future of society is going to be doomed. Mr. Stan Thekaekara in his exemplary speech narrated how resource flow from the countryside and the poorer people is creating wealth for the city dwellers and the Multi National Corporations. With a number of examples he suggested how the resource flow can be checked by organizing the common people everywhere. Ms. Mari Thekaekara lamented about the failure of our Government and the people to address to various social issues and that in spite of 109 years since the congress resolved to abolish manual scavenging the custom is still continuing in many parts of the country. She expressed that as a tribute to Gandhiji every one must resolve to practice what Gandhiji has preached. Shri A V Swamy spoke about the degeneration of political systems and the centralization of power which is further aggravating the socio economic situation every where. His view was that by strengthening the Panchayatiraj Institutions which was the dream of Gandhiji most of the current problems can be resolved. Several other members also spoke and every one expressed that by strengthening the decentralized economic and political system and the Gandhian principles many of the present day crisis could be resolved.
In the afternoon there were two workshops held on the topic a) NREG – problems, in its implementation and few suggestions and b) the problems of women’s development in India and how Gandhian principles could be of some help. The workshop on NREGA was presided over by Shri D. Singh babu of FARR and Shri Satya Pattnaik of Seba Jagat was the Chief Speaker. Following the speech of Mr. Satya Pattnaik and several participants including representatives from Panchayatiraj Institutions took active part in the discussion. In the workshop on women’s issues Prof. Samuel Dani presided and Ms. Sonali Panigrahi was the chief speaker. Shri Kartikeswar Samal of FARR moderated the workshop. Both the workshops were attended by over 400 participants from different Voluntary Organizations, social activists and intellectuals from different districts of Orissa.
In the afternoon prize were distributed to the students who had done excellence in the essay competition on Gandhijee. In the next session 14 enterprising women were presented with the key of 14 community based SAHAYOG-JUST CHANGE shops.
In the evening SVA celebrated its Foundation Day and the closing ceremony where it presented its Annual Report, accounts statements and the future action plan. SVA also felicitated several volunteers and senior workers of SVA who have rendered quality services with SVA in the past few years. Finally the Artists of Khariar Sanskrutik Anusthan and the cultural team of SVA presented a cultural show with few social themes.
All the programmes went on smoothly and were inspiring for every one though the time was too brief for the various events. It is proposed by many that such a programme in future should be made for at least three days.
The organizing committee of SVA foundation day has expressed its thanks to all the guests, volunteers, members, staff and every one who participated in the celebration to make it a big success.
7/10/2007 Report prepared by:
Coordination Office Team
SVA-Bhubaneswar
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