LOKAYAT
Constitution Awareness "sanvidhan jaagar abhiyan"
The Constitution of India is an embodiment of the values that inspired the people who participated in our freedom movement – liberty, equality, justice and fraternity. Inculcating these values in society is true nationalism. Citizens must also be aware our fundamental rights and directive principles of state policy. We campaign extensively on this issue. We have performed street plays and songs, convinced people to put up posters, stickers about fundamental duties on their house doors, organised many rallies, workshops and talks in the city on this issue. This is an ongoing campaign.
Campaign on Unemployment
Unemployment is one of the biggest economic problems that we are facing and no government seems to be solving this problem. But there are many myths about its causes- such as population, migrant labour, reservation policies etc. We have published a booklet that explodes these myths and exposes the real causes and discusses certain immediate solutions. We organise workshops to understand this issue in detail and carry out street campaigns taking out analysis to the masses, especially students and young job seekers.
Campaign on National Integration
Abhivyakti campaigns
Black is Beautiful
This is our ongoing campaign against the racist prejudice against dark skin which is prevalent in our country and its accentuation by the film and advertising industry. We carry out street campaigns and social media campaigns to promote the value that everyone is beautiful, whether they are dark or fair, fat or thin. This assertion of our inherent beauty is getting great response.
Gender sensitization workshops
Even today, in the 21st century, the status of women is still that of
second class citizens. The recent spate of increasingly brutal violence against women, even little children has revealed this starkly. We live in a highly patriarchal society and social conditioning makes us insensitive to this reality. We carry out gender sensitization workshops in various colleges to sensitize young students about it. These discussions are great eye openers for both boys and girls and lay the foundation for a more gender equal society.
Family Counselling Centre
Abhivyakti has started a free family counselling center in Wadarwadi in a room provided free of cost by local people. Our activists who are lawyers, along with law students provide free legal counsel to residents of the area.
Cultural Campaigns
On the occasions of birth anniversaries (Jayanti) of great social reformers and freedom fighters like Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Annabhau Sathe, Savitribai and Jyotiba Phule. Nowadays, these occasions have become instruments of caste identity politics and in some places
degenerated into exhibitions of DJ’s and speaker systems. We counter this culturally by performing songs and plays about the life and ideologies of these reformers and appeal to people to organize and promote those ideas today.
Lokayat is group of Social Activists based in Pune. We work on organizing people for various social, political, economic and environmental issues.
