Rajagopal P. V.

Rajagopal P. V., is a Indian Gandhian activist, is a former Vice Chairman of the Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi. and the president and founding member of Ekta Parishad, Rajagopal started his peace-building by working alongside Gandhian stalwarts J.P. Narayan and Subba Rao to disarm 578 dacoits (outlaws) in Chambal region of India in 1972. Thereafter the young Gandhian turned away from dealing with the direct violence and the cycle of revenge of dacoits, to the indirect violence suffered by Adivasis, bonded labourers and other landless communities affected from poverty and exploitation.
Over the course of 30 years (1989 to 2018) Rajagopal trained thousands of rural young people to be in villages as trainer-leaders to build up community leadership and people’s action. This culminated in many state activities, and then two national actions, one in 2007 when 25,000 landless poor, mainly Adivasis, marched 350-kilometre yatra from Gwalior to the capital Delhi to demand the land reforms promised at Independence. ‘The government was forced to agree to all the demands that we made in that long march.’ This led to the implementation of the Forest Rights Act.
And the second in 2012 Rajagopal led a march of 100,000 people to the capital of the nation to demand people’s control over land and livelihood resources and the movement signed a ten point agreement with the Government of India.
In 2018 Rajagopal is embarking on a more ambitious agenda of mobilizing one million people to nonviolently address their livelihood rights. In 2019 in celebrating Gandhi’s 150 years, Rajagopal is planning to take Gandhi’s message across the Globe as a way to spread peace and nonviolence. (www.jaijagat2020.org.)
Rajagopal's main contribution can be seen as showing a nonviolent approach for millions of people to use to address their grievances and also to enhance dialogue with the state.
Biography.
Rajagopal was born in 1948, the fourth of five children, in Thillenkery, a village in Kerala, south India. His full name is Rajagopal Puthan Veetil, but he now chooses to use only his first name in public in order to avoid any caste-related stereotyping that might be associated with his full name. Rajagopal's father was an activist fighting for India's independence and therefore was frequently separated from his family. Rajagopal attended the grade school at Seva Mandir, being taught in Malayalam language. The school followed Gandhi's philosophical principles with regard to life and work in a community. He later studied classical Indian dance and music, prior to completing his education at Sevagram, Gandhi's Ashram in Maharashtra, with a degree in agricultural engineering. This is also where Rajagopal learned to speak English.
In the early 1970s, he worked in the violence-ridden area of Chambal in Madhya Pradesh to help rehabilitate dacoits.
Since 2001, Rajagopal is married to Jill Carr-Harris, a Canadian fellow social activist.
2011-Till Date
2010-2001
2000-1991      
1990-1981
Janadesh 2007.
After consolidating a membership of 200,000 people (the majority are women) across six states, Rajagopal began using the Gandhian technique of foot-march or padayatra to galvanize greater support among the poor. With a track record of ten state level foot-marches, he led a national march to Delhi in October 2007. In the march, Janadesh 2007 25,000 people marched 340 kilometers from Gwalior to Delhi and compelled the Government to take action in land reforms and forest rights.
Jan Satyagraha 2012.
Though the Land Reform Commission has issued its report, the government has not yet accepted it.
Jan Andolan 2018.
In October 2018, Rajagopal led a march from Gwalior to Morena with around 25,000 people asking for land rights and tribal rights. Initially the march was planned from Haryana to New Delhi. The march took place in the context of the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Legislative election and some months ahead of 2019 national elections. Political leaders such as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan addressed the marchers in Gwalior before their departure, promising to create a committee to address land rights issues. According to Ekta Parishad, the marchers were not satisfied with the proposals and decided to go ahead with the march. In Morena, leaders from Indian National Congress, the main opposition party addressed the marchers and promised if elected to satisfy their demands. Ekta Parishad indicated that they were satisfied with these commitments and decided to stop marching and not to continue to New Delhi, as initially planned.
Jai Jagat 2020.
A new mobilisation led by Rajagopal will take place from India to Geneva in 2019-2020.
Land reform through nonviolent action.
In the context of the continuing growth of Naxalism in central rural India, Rajagopal's organization of Ekta Parishad with its mobilization of tribal peoples, women and youth as well as its advocacy of land reform, is one of the most successful nonviolent alternatives.
New land reforms, 2014 and conflicts.
The Modi government has proposed two major changes in the land acquisition act:-
1. It seeks to dilute provisions such as the mandatory consent of 70 percent of those affected in case of public-private partnership (PPP) projects.
2. It removes the provision of mandatory requirement for a time-bound Social Impact Assessment for land acquisitions.
Rajagopal accuses Modi of being pro-corporate and claims that it will further aggravate the difference between the rich and poor in the country.
Documentation.
Articles:
Audio-Visual
Awards.
In 2014, he received the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration, an award granted annually by the Indian National Congress party.