Subscribe to never miss an episode
Grassroots Nation, is a series in which we deep dive into the life, work and guiding philosophies of some of the country’s most great leaders of social change.
The podcast is co-produced by Vaaka Media.
Subscribe to never miss an episode
Part personal narrative, part oral history, each episode gives you, the listener, a chance to revisit watershed moments in India’s past through the eyes of the country’s social architects and find out how they were the catalyst for their life’s calling.
Staying Grounded : The Spiritual Practices of Social Leaders
How did a Doon School and St. Stephens College Alumni end up spending his life in service to rural India? Bunker Roy, born Sanjit Roy in 1945 in Burnpur, Asansol, had a privileged, elite upbringing. But a visit to Bengal during the famine in 1965 affected him deeply and made him question the privilege he enjoyed. This led him to reject a prospective career in the private sector to work in rural India.
Bunker moved to Tilonia village in Rajasthan and began working on water issues in the drought-prone region. In 1972 Bunker set up the Social Work and Research Centre, and their work expanded from water and irrigation to include broader issues such as empowerment and livelihoods. The Social Work and Research Centre, now called the Barefoot College, is built on Gandhian principles of practicality, local indigenous knowledge and self-sufficiency.
The impact of Barefoot College is difficult to quantify and goes well beyond the thousands of rural women from across the world who have been trained as solar engineers to include innovation in water, energy, livelihoods, education and sustainability.
In this conversation with journalist and curator of Ahimsa Conversations, Rajni Bakshi, Bunker talks about the challenges during the early years of Tilonia, the difference between education and literacy and why we should all think about living in rural India for a year.
Subscribe to Grassroots Nation: Spotify and Apple Podcast
