A Banyan in inner strength-yet a Jasmine scenting poor people's lives
How many have heard about Krishnammal Jagannathan? Definitely not our first Miss India or Miss World, definitely not a ISRO's first female programme director or even a first woman to have been elected to State assembly...........................but a human who has till date continues to travel up and down a government representative Collectorate's office many times in a month fighting for the rights of landless peasants.
She was FIRST in many noble ways- a Human being with compassion to the suffering landless farmers in highly unreliable & nature bounty agriculture; a woman like none other to have vowed to dress a spartan saree- hand woven and lead a life meant for Satyagrahis and Karma yogis.
What is so great about a woman who does not take on womanly pleasures? she derives the strength when she talks to today's youth expostulating them to get down and get dirty in hands and feet by serving the downtrodden in a rightful manner of Ahimsa.
Can you believe there lives a gentle giant who has walked and breathed with great leaders of the era like Mahatma Gandhi, Sri Vinoba Bhave, Dr. Kumarappa, Martin Luther King and many innumerable leaders who admired her courage in consort with her Husband Sankarlingam avargal. Both were a dynamite which never shed a single drop of blood but effective persuasion during the Bhoodhan Movement, and have traversed length and breadth of the country in late 50's, 60's & 70's carrying the message of the Sri Vinoba Bhave. Can you believe they had got back Millions of hectares back to land less farmers single handedly.
Krishnammal amma and her Husband had to endure many years as solitary soldiers without others company in their march towards sensitizing Zamindars, Thakurs and other ancestral land owners in parting with their huge tracts of land with bonded labourers and also landless peasants.
They were married in the presence of Dr. Kumarappa in early years of independence when they together took oath that they would marry only after independence.
Driven by the call of their Leader Vinoba Bhave they took up the cause of Bhoodhan movement. Together they must have freed millions of acres of land from South Tamilnadu to Madhya Pradesh to Uttar Pradesh.
Now in her late 80's her pale wrinkled face does not hide the glow for her cause. In a dark room she is a glowing candle while her soft voice is a clarion call for 10's and thousands of farmers in Tamil Nadu.
Krishnammal amma and Sankaralingam ayya make Shiv and Parvathi; a ideal couple in a world disoriented by corruption and entrenched disenchantment to others sufferings. Their dream to build a concrete housing for marginal farmers has begun to take shape in form of LAFTI (Land for Tiller's Freedom). The incident where 42 christian dalits where burnt alive in Kilavenmani Village of Nagapattinam district in 1968; while asleep in their thatched huts in a land dispute shook the very hearts of Sankaralingam ayya and Krishnammal amma; the ashes of this dastardly act by coward land owners resulted in LAFTI's creation.
Today Krishnammal amma spends better part of her time thinking how she can achieve her goal of minimum 1000 houses concrete in nature to be built for poor farmers; the plight of women relieving themselves in bushes; struggling under a leaking roof with children and men getting wet during monsoons and many issues which rob the hut dwellers the basic RIGHT TO LIVE- IN DIGNITY.
We often take for granted a house (not as an luxury but a passing thing) in a city which is unkempt and uncared for when there are people who still have no electricity in their homes....................where is India Shining? and where is India's Pride standing?
LAFTI Rural Housing Programme plans to build a standard set of homes for the identified beneficiaries with a sharing model of 34:33:33
I am writing at a point when the project for the identified villages is nearing completion in Thanjavur district/ but there are many more villages in Nagapattinam/ Cuddalore and Thanjavur districts which need the support of the generous Indian citizens/ corporates/ like mined people like us and many more..........................
As this is slowly taking shape Krishnammal amma has started a mass campaign raising awareness and pointing to Govt.'s fool hardiness in sanctioning Prawn cultivation in coastal districts which is a environmental catastrophe. Imagine a pond of salt water on fertile cultivable land and playing god in an unnatural setup. Politicians and Govt. of the state and Central have chosen to favour the industrialists in this regard with scant interest for displaced farmers livelihood.
Due to persistent efforts of Sankaralingam Ayya the Supreme court in 2007 has passed orders in cancelling licenses for those prawn industries violating environmental laws but State Govt. enforcing machinery has become a lame duck sitting dumb.
How long will this gentle soul take on a hardened society and Government machinery; its time we lent a voice for her struggles for the US & OUR India (meaning Naam or We and not United States).
CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) can truly gain import only when they embrace honest Giants like Krishnammal amma's efforts rather than painting a slum without educating them hygiene and building bus stops where there are no buses or roads and building toilets next to open defecation arenas.............................
Man takes pleasure in giving alms to a beggar merrily sitting in the footsteps of a place of worship...............................what happens when you do not care for a farmer living a life of self respect; he ends up in the footsteps of Rama, Allah and Jesus's place of worship............................please do not turn them to Beggars.
References-
Those interested in supporting the housing programme kindly donate to State Bank of India, Account LAFTI 11497914799, IFSC SBIN00005952, Kuthur 611105 Nagapattinam District
Address- Vinobha Ashram, Kuthur 611 105. Nagapattinam District. Ph- 04366- 275540/ 275443
Email- laftitn@gmail.com
On 12th February 2013; Sankaralingam Jagannathan Aiyya breathes his last day on earth in Gandhigram. He leaves behind a dream which needs young blood to toil and rightfully claim back to those tillers of land. Let's salute this Great man who was a symbol of strength and courage to Krishnammal amma. Let his soul rest in peace.
She was FIRST in many noble ways- a Human being with compassion to the suffering landless farmers in highly unreliable & nature bounty agriculture; a woman like none other to have vowed to dress a spartan saree- hand woven and lead a life meant for Satyagrahis and Karma yogis.
What is so great about a woman who does not take on womanly pleasures? she derives the strength when she talks to today's youth expostulating them to get down and get dirty in hands and feet by serving the downtrodden in a rightful manner of Ahimsa.
Can you believe there lives a gentle giant who has walked and breathed with great leaders of the era like Mahatma Gandhi, Sri Vinoba Bhave, Dr. Kumarappa, Martin Luther King and many innumerable leaders who admired her courage in consort with her Husband Sankarlingam avargal. Both were a dynamite which never shed a single drop of blood but effective persuasion during the Bhoodhan Movement, and have traversed length and breadth of the country in late 50's, 60's & 70's carrying the message of the Sri Vinoba Bhave. Can you believe they had got back Millions of hectares back to land less farmers single handedly.
Krishnammal amma and her Husband had to endure many years as solitary soldiers without others company in their march towards sensitizing Zamindars, Thakurs and other ancestral land owners in parting with their huge tracts of land with bonded labourers and also landless peasants.
They were married in the presence of Dr. Kumarappa in early years of independence when they together took oath that they would marry only after independence.
Driven by the call of their Leader Vinoba Bhave they took up the cause of Bhoodhan movement. Together they must have freed millions of acres of land from South Tamilnadu to Madhya Pradesh to Uttar Pradesh.
Now in her late 80's her pale wrinkled face does not hide the glow for her cause. In a dark room she is a glowing candle while her soft voice is a clarion call for 10's and thousands of farmers in Tamil Nadu.
Krishnammal amma and Sankaralingam ayya make Shiv and Parvathi; a ideal couple in a world disoriented by corruption and entrenched disenchantment to others sufferings. Their dream to build a concrete housing for marginal farmers has begun to take shape in form of LAFTI (Land for Tiller's Freedom). The incident where 42 christian dalits where burnt alive in Kilavenmani Village of Nagapattinam district in 1968; while asleep in their thatched huts in a land dispute shook the very hearts of Sankaralingam ayya and Krishnammal amma; the ashes of this dastardly act by coward land owners resulted in LAFTI's creation.
Today Krishnammal amma spends better part of her time thinking how she can achieve her goal of minimum 1000 houses concrete in nature to be built for poor farmers; the plight of women relieving themselves in bushes; struggling under a leaking roof with children and men getting wet during monsoons and many issues which rob the hut dwellers the basic RIGHT TO LIVE- IN DIGNITY.
We often take for granted a house (not as an luxury but a passing thing) in a city which is unkempt and uncared for when there are people who still have no electricity in their homes....................where is India Shining? and where is India's Pride standing?
LAFTI Rural Housing Programme plans to build a standard set of homes for the identified beneficiaries with a sharing model of 34:33:33
- The beneficiary contributes a part of bricks/ cement/ sand and labour and raises basic foundation
- while his local village or town's traders will contribute a part of sand/ cement/ bricks/ steel rods
- Next comes Govt. of Tamilnadu which has a scheme of financial package which would help in completing a simple 1 Bed room/ 1 Kitchen/ 1 toilet+ bathroom setup.
I am writing at a point when the project for the identified villages is nearing completion in Thanjavur district/ but there are many more villages in Nagapattinam/ Cuddalore and Thanjavur districts which need the support of the generous Indian citizens/ corporates/ like mined people like us and many more..........................
As this is slowly taking shape Krishnammal amma has started a mass campaign raising awareness and pointing to Govt.'s fool hardiness in sanctioning Prawn cultivation in coastal districts which is a environmental catastrophe. Imagine a pond of salt water on fertile cultivable land and playing god in an unnatural setup. Politicians and Govt. of the state and Central have chosen to favour the industrialists in this regard with scant interest for displaced farmers livelihood.
Due to persistent efforts of Sankaralingam Ayya the Supreme court in 2007 has passed orders in cancelling licenses for those prawn industries violating environmental laws but State Govt. enforcing machinery has become a lame duck sitting dumb.
How long will this gentle soul take on a hardened society and Government machinery; its time we lent a voice for her struggles for the US & OUR India (meaning Naam or We and not United States).
CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) can truly gain import only when they embrace honest Giants like Krishnammal amma's efforts rather than painting a slum without educating them hygiene and building bus stops where there are no buses or roads and building toilets next to open defecation arenas.............................
Man takes pleasure in giving alms to a beggar merrily sitting in the footsteps of a place of worship...............................what happens when you do not care for a farmer living a life of self respect; he ends up in the footsteps of Rama, Allah and Jesus's place of worship............................please do not turn them to Beggars.
References-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishnammal_Jagannathan/ viewed on 28th September 2012
Those interested in supporting the housing programme kindly donate to State Bank of India, Account LAFTI 11497914799, IFSC SBIN00005952, Kuthur 611105 Nagapattinam District
Address- Vinobha Ashram, Kuthur 611 105. Nagapattinam District. Ph- 04366- 275540/ 275443
Email- laftitn@gmail.com
On 12th February 2013; Sankaralingam Jagannathan Aiyya breathes his last day on earth in Gandhigram. He leaves behind a dream which needs young blood to toil and rightfully claim back to those tillers of land. Let's salute this Great man who was a symbol of strength and courage to Krishnammal amma. Let his soul rest in peace.
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