Manila, November 2, 2019: Lenin Raghuvanshi, a crusader for Dalit rights and fighter for the elimination of caste system, has been selected to receive “Karmaveer Maharatna Award.”
The International Confederation of NGOs announced the award to Raghuvanshi to mark 10 noble years of Karmaveers making a difference around the world.
Raghuvanshi, a Dalit rights activist and initiator of the Neo-Dalit movement, will receive the award on November 26, at Ramagya School in Sector 50, Noida, along with other recipients.
“It is a form of recognition of all human rights defenders who are fighting against hegemonic masculinity of caste system and patriarchy. It is honor of continuous commitment and effort for elimination of caste-based slavery,” Raghuvanshi told Matters India.
According to him, “The caste system is one of the main reasons to create slavery, illiteracy and inequalities which created poverty and negative conflict for war-like situation. Mind of caste is destroying inclusive development and democracy which is a threat for a better world and peaceful South Asia.”
The awarding committee will felicitate some past award recipients (1 male and 1 female), from each of the 10 years, reported Youth Ki Awaaz.
The Karmaveer Puraskaar Award is given in recognition of people who have impacted society with their noble work as an inspiration and continue to be ‘being the change’ and ‘make a difference.’
The Karmaveer Puraskaar Award is going to be launched this year.
Growing up Uttar Pradesh, Raghuvanshi witnessed the unequal relationships among the rich and poor, men and women, and high caste and low caste. The caste system intercepted by power relations, patriarchy and social hierarchy has caused dehumanizing results on people.
To counter this discourse, he established the People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), a Varanasi-based NGO which works for the upliftment of the marginalized sections of society.
PVCHR fights for the rights of marginalized people in India. As a neo-Dalit movement, it promotes to establish a society based on equal dignity for all humankind. PVCHR abhors the ‘culture of impunity’ and presence of caste system.
Being a Dalit rights activist, he has received other awards in the past, such as Gwangju Human Rights Award (2007), the ACHA Star Peace award (2008), the International Human Rights Prize of the city of Weimar (2010), Public Peace prize (2018) and Special mentions prize of Human Rights of the French Republic (2018).
Though Raghuvanshi is not a Dalit, he has resisted his higher caste Hindu upbringing as “feudal.” From his young age, he has opposed societal feudalism and advocated for Dalit rights and their dignity, and elimination of caste system.
He contributes to various national and international journals including Transdisciplinary Peace Praxis. He has been a member of the editorial board for Torture Journal and the IRCT Data and Research Methods Reference Group (Data Reference Group).
Receiving the news of winning the Karmaveer Maharatna Award, Raghuvanshi said, “It is an honor of a fight against the caste system which is one of the main reasons for fascism in South Asia.”
Dalit activist Lenin Raghuvanshi gets award for making a ‘difference’
Dr Raghuvanshi will receive the Karmaveer Maharatna Award on 26 November. Turning his back on his upper caste origins, he has been fighting for the human rights for all Indians. In 1996 he founded the People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights, which today has 72,000 members. He is the promoter of a neo-Dalit ideology with which he aspires “to reclaim human dignity”.
New Delhi (AsiaNews) – Lenin Raghuvanshi, an Indian activist fighting against India’s caste system and Dalit discrimination, has won the Karmaveer Maharatna Award for 2019.
The award is given by the International Confederation of NGOs in recognition of people who have impacted society with their noble work as an inspiration and continue to be bring change and make a difference. The award will be presented on 26 November at the Ramagya School in Noida.
Speaking to AsiaNews, Raghuvanshi said that the recognition “is an award for being the voice, body and soul of a nationwide movement for the right to a life of dignity, for my lifelong endeavour to eliminate every form of exploitation of children, women and the socially oppressed and for my committed crusade for the complete abolition of the caste system.”
The 49-year-old activist hails from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, where he was born into a wealthy, high caste family, which he refers to as "feudal". In light of this, “I could have easily settled down to a complacent and comfortable life,” he says. “But from beginning, I was averse to the caste system. This sprung the seed of social activism in me.”
His life in Uttar Pradesh shaped his desire to defend human rights. “I saw an unequal relationship between men and women, with men being stronger, violent and controlling of women.”
His grandfather was a Gandhian freedom fighter who “wanted me to be a Gandhian,” whilst, “my father wanted me to become a communist. Hence this tussle gave me an exposure to varied shades of opinion since my childhood.”
Eventually he graduated in Ayurveda, modern medicine and surgery, and started working to eliminate discriminatory practices penalising marginalised groups in society. This led him to establish the People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) in 1996 together with his wife Shruti Nagvanshi and other intellectuals.
“I was convinced that, unless Indian society deals with injustices of caste system head-on, it will not attack social conflicts at their root. Translating this into action, I built local, national and regional institutions that challenge the caste system.”
Today his organisation has about 72,000 members, 7,000 of whom victims of torture. He works in Indian slums, where he encourages sponsoring mothers to reduce the number of deaths of infants and pregnant women. He has fought to eliminate cheap forced child labour in mines and defended tribal land rights against forced seizure.
“Five great people influenced my life,” he said. They are “Jesus, the Prophet Muhammad, Karl Marx, Buddha and Dr B. R. Ambedkar. He has taken their “ideologies, along with my struggle as a human rights defender against caste-based discriminations, to shape a new ideology, that of neo-Dalit. I aspire to reclaim human dignity.”
“I and my life partner converted to Buddhism as a protest against the caste system. We are secular in our social life but are very spiritual in our personal life and practise spiritual meditation of different faiths and religions.”
Thinking back about his life, he notes that “I have set sail on a tough, tumultuous and arduous journey all by myself to do good for every wronged and discriminated citizen of India.”
For this reason, the award “is a great honour for our non-violent struggle against the hegemonic masculinity of the caste system and patriarchy. I dedicate this prize to all activists and human rights defenders who are fighting against this”. (A.C.F.)
दिवाली के पूर्व दिवस पर लेनिन रघुवंशी को सूचना मिली कि उन्हें नोएडा के सेक्टर 50 स्थित रामाज्ञा कॉलेज में इंटरनेश्नल कॉन्फिडरेशन ऑफ एनजीओ (International Confederation of NGOs) द्वारा कर्मवीर महारत्न पुरस्कार प्रदान किया जाएगा।
मेजर बख्तावर बरार ने पत्र में लिखा है,
कर्मवीर पुरस्कार के दस साल पूरे हो गए हैं और 11वें साल में प्रवेश किया है। इस अवसर पर एक महिला कर्मवीर पुरस्कार विजेता और एक पुरुष कर्मवीर पुरस्कार विजेता को प्रथम बार कर्मवीर महारत्न दिया जायेगा। कर्मवीर महारत्न को इसी वर्ष कर्मवीर पुरस्कार के दस साल होने पर शुरू किया गया है और इस बार लेनिन रघुवंशी बदलाव और लोगों के जीवन में लगातार परिवर्तन लाने के लिए प्रथम कर्मवीर महारत्न पुरस्कार से नवाज़े जाएंगे। इनका नॉमिनेशन कर्मवीर पुरस्कार के संस्थापक और सुप्रसिद्ध लेखक जेरी (Jeroninio Almeida) ने किया है।
पुरस्कार के घोषणा के बाद लेनिन रघुवंशी ने कहा,
दीवाली के समय यह एक उत्कृष्ट उपहार है। यह पुरस्कार सभी विदेशी पुरस्कारों से ज़्यादा महत्वपूर्ण है क्योंकि यह भारत के संविधान की प्रस्तावना के शपथ के दिवस 26 नवंबर को दिया जायेगा।
लेनिन ने वंचितों के अधिकार की रक्षा के लिए मानवाधिकार जन-निगरानी समिति की स्थापना की। जिसके 72 हज़ार लोग सदस्य हैं और अभी तक 23 हज़ार बंधुवा मजदूरों को मुक्त कराकर पुनर्वासित किया है और 75 हज़ार से ज़्यादा मानवाधिकार हनन के मामलों में हस्तक्षेप किया है। जिसमें 281 करोड रूपया पीड़ितों को मिला है।
लेनिन रघुवंशी, फोटो साभार – व्योमकेश शुक्ला
कमज़ोर तबके के लोगों को सक्षम बनाया
विदित है कि टाटा ट्रस्ट की मदद से संघटन ने वाराणसी के 20 मदरसे में 5281 बच्चों और बच्चियों को आधुनिक शिक्षा दे रहा है। मदरसे में लाइब्रेरी का निर्माण किया गया है, जहां 8000 किताबें जन मित्र न्यास द्वारा दी गई हैं। स्वीडन की पारुल शर्मा की मदद से 130 बच्चियों को स्कॉलरशिप दिया जा रहा है।
न्यूज़ीलैण्ड दूतावास की मदद से 20 गाँवों में किचन गार्डन बनाया गया है। जहां दलितों ने पहली बार दस हज़ार कुंतल सब्जी पैदा की। जिसे आउटलुक मैगज़ीन ने सफल प्रयोग के रूप में छापा, जिसे छत्तीसगढ़ के मुख्मंत्री ने अपने राज्य में लागू करने की घोषणा आउटलुक द्वारा आयोजित पोषण सम्मलेन में किया।
श्रुति, जय कुमार मिश्र और लेनिन ने हरिहर प्राइवेट लिमिटेड कम्पनी टाटा चाय के साथ मिलकर सोशल बिज़नस के तहत 11 ज़िले के गाँवो के 90 नवयुवकों को रोज़गार मुहैया कराया है। इससे पूर्व जन मित्र न्यास पंजाब नेशनल बैंक के साथ मिलकर 780 रिक्शावालों को रिक्शे का मालिक बनाया है।
लेनिन रघुवंशी और डेनमार्क के इंगेर आगर द्वारा यातना और हिंसा के पीडितो के मनोवैज्ञानिक मदद के लिए विकसित किये गए टेस्टीमोनियल थेरेपी का इस्तेमाल भारत, लंका, नेपाल और कम्बोडिया में किया जा रहा है। वहीं लेनिन सुप्रसिद्ध जर्नल के संपादक मंडल के सदस्य हैं और भारत के 6 विश्वविद्यालय और यूरोप के 6 विश्वविशद्यालय द्वारा यूरोपियन यूनियन के मदद से संचालित ग्लोबल इंडिया के मानद सदस्य हैं।
We are a couple for fighting against unjust caste and patriarchal system.We are living with our friendly contradiction. Now, we are partner in personal and community life, but we are two different identities in human rights struggle.
