1984. A young Rajen
Joshua crouched behind a tree, lying in wait for the landlords who beat him up
the previous week.
Rajen had come to the
wilderness that was the Anantapur of the 70s as a part of the Young India
initiative. He had been encouraging the villagers to stand up to the local
landlords and claim what was rightfully theirs from the land that they worked
on. This didn't go down well with the local landlords who had the authority in
the region for decades.
The story of SEDS is
often the story of opposition. Opposition to outsiders, to a different way of
development, to a different way of thinking. Over the years, Rajen and Manil
have had to deal with hostile farmers, corrupt bureaucrats, an apathetic officialdom,
false police cases, thieving employees, naxal threats, and even short spells in
jail. SEDS is certainly the only NGO that has even run on the proceeds from
motorbike rallying, thanks to Rajen's race wins during times of fund shortages.
The success and
development that you see around you came about not only with hard work, but
with several hard knocks. Looking at the results, we must not forget that the
journey has been far from easy and far from complete.
Rajen never got to
confront the people he was waiting for on that evening in '84. Someone had
warned them to avoid that route and a few days later, the village brokered a
compromise.
[The article originally
written by Amit Manikoth, for SEDS's 30 years celebration. This is simply a
reproduction.]
