DIMAPUR, JUNE 5 (MExN): The 40th Niwano Peace Prize will be awarded to Rajagopal PV in recognition of his work in the service of justice and peace.
A press release from the Niwano Peace Prize Committee informed that his actions in favor of the poorest and most marginalized of his country, carried out through peaceful and nonviolent methods, and his struggle for the recognition of the equal human dignity and equal rights of every man and woman, irrespective of caste or gender, inspires great admiration.
Rajagopal has worked in Chambal district of Madhya Pradesh in the 1970s, where along with other senior Gandhian leaders, became a peacemaker, obtaining the surrender and even the rehabilitation of the dacoits. This initiative paved the way for organization of regional and national youth training programs to promote the concept of nonviolent action for social change.
His commitment to justice and peace in this 20-year period culminated in the establishment of Ekta Parishad (Unity Forum) as an umbrella mass-organization with the mission of nonviolent activism for securing land and livelihood rights for marginalized communities.
Thanks to Ekta Parishad, Rajagopal's social activism has taken on a greater national and international visibility through successful land rights marches with the participation of thousands of people. Overall, the movement with the collaboration of other groups, secured land rights for nearly 500,000 families, negotiated a “Forest Rights Act” in 2006-2007, organized highly attended marches in 2007 and 2012, and a new land reform policy was agreed to by the central government and the state governments of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
The last and more visionary march through ten countries, from Delhi to the United Nations headquarters in Geneva (Switzerland), planned to last a whole year (October 2019 to October 2020), couldn’t be completed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ekta Parishad activists and volunteers, more than 2,000 in number, reacted to the challenge of COVID-19 by delivering home care and health interventions in many Indian rural regions to fight the pandemic.
In 1972 he was Secretary of the Mahatma Gandhi Seva Ashram; in 2005 he was elected Vice-Chairman of the Gandhi Peace Foundation; and today he continues to be the Managing Trustee of the International Gandhian Initiative for Nonviolence and Peace (IGINP). He has also held positions such as Enquiry Commissioner of the Supreme Court on Bonded Labour, and a member of the National Council for Land Reform.
