Kailash Satyarthi is undoubtedly the man of the moment, after winning this year’s Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of more than three decades of fighting for child rights. This most prestigious of international awards lifted Satyarthi from relative obscurity, turning him into a celebrity overnight.
Here are four other Indian social activists who have also won international recognition in the past year, though – like Satyarthi – few of their countrymen have heard about them.
Harshwanti Bisht Hillary Medal, 2013
Harshwanti Bisht is a professor of economics, a conservationist and a mountaineer. Bisht won the Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal, which rewards “remarkable service in the conservation of culture and nature in mountainous regions”.
In 1981 Bisht reached the summit of Nanda Devi. She was among the first three women, along with Rekha Sharma and Chanda Prakash Aitwal, to do so. A few years later, inspired by Edmund Hillary’s efforts to save the Himalayan environment and help the Sherpas economically, she shifted her focus to promoting conservation and sustainable tourism.
Bisht worked on reviving the birch forests around Gaumukh, the sacred origin of the Gangotri glacier, which had been damaged by pilgrims, tourism and climate change. The medal recognised her remarkable success in restoring these forests, a conservation effort that has done a great deal of good for the glacier itself. The president of Mountain Legacy said Bisht’s work was comparable to the famous Chipko Andolan.
Bisht is an Arjuna awardee and was given the CII Annual Green Award by the Confederation of Indian Industry in 2010.
Shubhranshu Chowdhary Digital Activism award, 2014
Journalist Shubhranshu Chowdhary shot to fame in March when he beat the American whistleblower Edward Snowden to win the Digital Activism award, one of Index on Censorship's freedom of expression awards. Chowdhary was awarded for his remarkable work connecting Gondi indigenous people in Maoist-overrun Chattisgarh through mobile phones and internet radio.
Chowdhary’s experiment, CGNetSwara, is a voice portal that allows people ignored by mainstream media to document and publicise their grievances. Anyone can dial into the portal with a mobile phone and record a message about government neglect, corruption or exploitation. Once this is done, professional journalists review the messages, verify the reports and make them available for playback over the phone via internet radio. The facility makes news available to Gondi people in their own language.
Ramesh Agarwal Goldman Environmental Prize, 2014
Ramesh Agarwal won the Goldman Environmental Prize, known as the Green Nobel, for mobilising villagers and shutting down one of the largest coal mining projects in the Chattisgarh. In 2012, Agarwal won a court case against mining company Jindal Steel and Power Ltd that prevented it from opening a second mine near Gare village.
Agarwal’s work focuses on educating people about their right to land, livelihood, environment and against pollution caused by mining companies. Agarwal checks government websites for new project applications in Chhattisgarh, files Right to Information applications, examines them for violations and informs villagers of his findings. His first legal victory was against Indian company Scania Steel & Power Ltd in 2010, when his suit prevented it from expanding a coal-based power plant without required clearances.
Agarwal’s victories have come at a price. Shortly after winning the case in 2012, two gunmen walked into the internet café he works out of and shot him in the leg for “talking too much”.
The Goldman Prize citation credits Agarwal with “bringing national and international awareness to the problems disenfranchised communities in India face from the lack of accountability by industrial developers”.
Jockin Arputham Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, 2014
Jockin Arputham is called the grandfather of the global slum-dwellers movement. For most of his adult life, Arputham has built new houses and toilets for slum dwellers, helped them stand up for their rights against the authorities, and charted their way out of urban poverty.
Arputham lived in slums and in the streets for most of his childhood. In the 1970s, he founded the National Slum Dwellers Federation of India, dealing with the housing, sanitation, resettlement and rehabilitation of people living in slums. He helped found Slum Dwellers International, a network of slum dwellers in more than 20 countries, allowing them to share information on how to organise and participate in planning, how to ensure women’s involvement in community decisions, and how to set up systems of savings and credit. The 67-year-old, who lives in Mumbai’s Dharavi, won $1.25 million from the Skoll Foundation for his work.
We welcome your comments at
letters@scroll.in.
Here are four other Indian social activists who have also won international recognition in the past year, though – like Satyarthi – few of their countrymen have heard about them.
Harshwanti Bisht Hillary Medal, 2013
Photo: www.hillarymedal.org
Harshwanti Bisht is a professor of economics, a conservationist and a mountaineer. Bisht won the Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal, which rewards “remarkable service in the conservation of culture and nature in mountainous regions”.
In 1981 Bisht reached the summit of Nanda Devi. She was among the first three women, along with Rekha Sharma and Chanda Prakash Aitwal, to do so. A few years later, inspired by Edmund Hillary’s efforts to save the Himalayan environment and help the Sherpas economically, she shifted her focus to promoting conservation and sustainable tourism.
Bisht worked on reviving the birch forests around Gaumukh, the sacred origin of the Gangotri glacier, which had been damaged by pilgrims, tourism and climate change. The medal recognised her remarkable success in restoring these forests, a conservation effort that has done a great deal of good for the glacier itself. The president of Mountain Legacy said Bisht’s work was comparable to the famous Chipko Andolan.
Bisht is an Arjuna awardee and was given the CII Annual Green Award by the Confederation of Indian Industry in 2010.
Shubhranshu Chowdhary Digital Activism award, 2014
Photo: www.indexoncensorship.org
Journalist Shubhranshu Chowdhary shot to fame in March when he beat the American whistleblower Edward Snowden to win the Digital Activism award, one of Index on Censorship's freedom of expression awards. Chowdhary was awarded for his remarkable work connecting Gondi indigenous people in Maoist-overrun Chattisgarh through mobile phones and internet radio.
Chowdhary’s experiment, CGNetSwara, is a voice portal that allows people ignored by mainstream media to document and publicise their grievances. Anyone can dial into the portal with a mobile phone and record a message about government neglect, corruption or exploitation. Once this is done, professional journalists review the messages, verify the reports and make them available for playback over the phone via internet radio. The facility makes news available to Gondi people in their own language.
Ramesh Agarwal Goldman Environmental Prize, 2014
Ramesh Agarwal won the Goldman Environmental Prize, known as the Green Nobel, for mobilising villagers and shutting down one of the largest coal mining projects in the Chattisgarh. In 2012, Agarwal won a court case against mining company Jindal Steel and Power Ltd that prevented it from opening a second mine near Gare village.
Agarwal’s work focuses on educating people about their right to land, livelihood, environment and against pollution caused by mining companies. Agarwal checks government websites for new project applications in Chhattisgarh, files Right to Information applications, examines them for violations and informs villagers of his findings. His first legal victory was against Indian company Scania Steel & Power Ltd in 2010, when his suit prevented it from expanding a coal-based power plant without required clearances.
Agarwal’s victories have come at a price. Shortly after winning the case in 2012, two gunmen walked into the internet café he works out of and shot him in the leg for “talking too much”.
The Goldman Prize citation credits Agarwal with “bringing national and international awareness to the problems disenfranchised communities in India face from the lack of accountability by industrial developers”.
Jockin Arputham Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, 2014
Photo: Shack Dwellers International
Jockin Arputham is called the grandfather of the global slum-dwellers movement. For most of his adult life, Arputham has built new houses and toilets for slum dwellers, helped them stand up for their rights against the authorities, and charted their way out of urban poverty.
Arputham lived in slums and in the streets for most of his childhood. In the 1970s, he founded the National Slum Dwellers Federation of India, dealing with the housing, sanitation, resettlement and rehabilitation of people living in slums. He helped found Slum Dwellers International, a network of slum dwellers in more than 20 countries, allowing them to share information on how to organise and participate in planning, how to ensure women’s involvement in community decisions, and how to set up systems of savings and credit. The 67-year-old, who lives in Mumbai’s Dharavi, won $1.25 million from the Skoll Foundation for his work.
