The Praful Bidwai Memorial Award, instituted in the memory of a courageous journalist, author, passionate social activist and engaged public intellectual, who was committed to radical social transformation, justice for all and gender equality, seeks to recognise the efforts of individuals and institutions that strive for similar ends.
It is in that spirit that we are delighted to recognise the work of Ulka Mahajan, one of the three founders of Sarvahara Jan Andolan (SJA), which has been working to empower extremely impoverished and marginalised communities of Raigad, Maharashtra, through people’s action. For Mahajan, it was a journey that began in 1989 as a student of social work, when she became acquainted with the Katkari adivasis, who traditionally survived on extracting katha from the Acacia catechu trees growing in local forests. Once access to these trees was forcibly denied to them, they were reduced to eking a living as bonded labour -- people without anything, the “sarvahara” -- and SJA was instituted to respond to the crisis they faced.
This demanded a multi-pronged approach -- from exposing rapacious landlords and calling for an end to bonded labour, to demanding at the national level that the community’s traditional rights to forest land be restored. Over time, the SJA came to represent not just the Katkari adivasis, but all those who faced immiserization, including dalits, landless agricultural labour and brick kiln workers. Every action SJA undertook was designed to build the confidence of the “sarvahara” in themselves and their capacity to claim their entitlements.