LOKAYAT
Lokayat is a social–political–cultural activist group based in Pune.
Our aim is to strengthen and deepen social consciousness and democratic values among the common people and unite them to build a society in accordance with the dreams of our country’s founders led by Mahatma Gandhi, which are embedded in the Preamble and the Directive Principles of the Indian Constitution.
For this, we organise a wide range of activities on the streets of Pune, in slums, schools, colleges and various public forums. We carry out canvassing on the streets, perform street plays and music programs in public places, organise public lectures, film-screenings, debates, discussions as well as protests and demonstrations, reaching out to hundreds of people every week. Through these programs, we seek to educate people on the fundamental ideals of the Indian Constitution:
- Making people aware of their Constitutional duties outlined in Article 51A of the Constitution, that call upon the citizens
- to cherish the noble ideals that inspired our freedom struggle, including the values of freedom, equality, democracy and secularism;
- to promote fraternity amongst all the people transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities
We believe that true nationalism means upholding these ideals and values.
- Making people aware that the Constitution also contains directives to all future governments regarding the policies that they need to pursue. These are included in Part IV of the Constitution, also called the Directive Principles. Explaining the reasons for their inclusion in the Constitution, Dr Ambedkar stated: “Our intention is (that) … even under hard and unpropitious circumstances, (future governments shall) always strive in the fulfilment of these Directives.” The Directive Principles direct the State to strive to:
- build an egalitarian society; ensure that there is no concentration of wealth; ensure that all citizens have the right to an adequate means of livelihood that ensures them a decent standard of living; ensure availability of adequate healthcare and nutrition to all citizens without discrimination; and, provide equitable and good quality education for all children.
Starting from a handful of social activists in 2004, we now have many volunteers. Our members include workers, professionals and students who dedicate their free time to the organisation. We meet organisational expenses from monthly contributions by our own activists who contribute a part of their income.
In 2018 the Government of Madhya Pradesh conferred Lokayat with the Mahatma Gandhi National Award – “For the excellent and inspirational work done for communication and propagation of the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi in the new generation” (citation).
In recent times, the country is facing a new crisis. The last few decades have seen the rapid growth of fascist forces in the country. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, their political wing, the BJP, with the backing of the country’s biggest corporate houses, stormed to power at the Centre. Since then, the Modi-led BJP Government has implemented a very regressive economic and social agenda that is completely opposite to the Idea of India as visualised in our Constitution. The BJP does not believe in any of the fundamental values that are the pillars of the Indian Constitution — democracy, liberty, equality, secularism and fraternity. On the one hand, it is deepening all the age-old social divisions in our country, including the communal, caste and gender divide. On the other hand, it is running the country solely for the profiteering of the biggest corporate houses, because of which the people are facing a colossal unemployment, poverty and hunger crisis. It is imperative that all those who believe in our Constitution leave aside their organisational differences and unite to protect our democracy from the spectre of fascism looming over the country.
In this spirit, we have been actively involved in various efforts to bring together progressive, democratic and socialist groups. Since the 2019 elections, we have lent our active support to the Indian National Congress, the largest opposition party in India that has taken a firm stand against both the BJP’s divisive and hate politics and also its pro-corporate economic agenda. The Congress is also seeking to unite all other opposition parties to build an anti-BJP front. To the extent possible, Lokayat has been involved in the various initiatives taken by the Congress such as the Bharat Jodo Yatra, and we have also been involved in training of grassroots activists and public outreach campaigns at the grassroots level.
WE ORGANISE A WIDE RANGE OF ACTIVITIES INCLUDING:
We organise seminars, talks, film screenings, songs concerts, street campaigns, street plays, rallies–dharnas, on issues such as: rising inflation; privatisation of essential services; destruction of the environment and livelihoods of people in the name of development; the dangers of GM Foods; the horrifying environmental consequences of nuclear power plants; the impact of Coke-Pepsi on our health and environment; the deepening crisis of global warming; etc.
We have also staged numerous protests on the growing atrocities on dalits, on the genocide of Muslims in Gujarat and Christians in Orissa, and against the targeting of minorities in the name of fighting terrorism, and so on.
Lokayat’s women’s wing, Abhivyakti, organises campaigns and programs on the various aspects of gender inequality and social roots of violence against women.
Lokayat has a very active cultural wing which makes use of a wide variety of cultural forms — including songs, rock concerts, street plays, dramas, dance and traditional folk art — to reach out to people and raise their cultural consciousness
Lokayat is group of Social Activists based in Pune. We work on organizing people for various social, political, economic and environmental issues.
