Krishnammal Jagannathan

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Krishnammal Jagannathan
Krishnammal Jagannathan (right) and Sankaralingam Jagannathan (left)
Born (1926-06-16) 16 June 1926 (age 97)
Occupationsocial activist
SpouseSankaralingam (deceased)
AwardsRight Livelihood Award

Krishnammal Jagannathan (born 16 June 1926) is an Indian social activist from the state of

Gandhian activists. Her work includes upliftment of the landless, and the poor; she has sometimes fought against governments as well as big industries. She was earlier involved in the Indian independence movement, along with her husband, and was also a close associate of Vinoba Bhave. In 2008 she received the Right Livelihood Award, which she shared with her husband.[2] She was given the Padma Bhushan; India's third highest civilian award; in 2020.[3]

Early life

Jagannathan was born into a Dalit family in 1926.

Salt Satyagraha march in Vedaranyam, this time not in protest, but to commemorate the platinum jubilee of the event in 2006.[7]

Land to the landless

Sankaralingam and Krishnammal believed that one of the key requirements for achieving a Gandhian society is by empowering the rural poor through redistribution of land to the landless. For two years between 1950 and 1952 Sankaralingam was with Vinoba Bhave in

Thanjavur District in Tamil Nadu to concentrate on land reform issues.[4] It was this incident that would inspire the couple, Krishnammal and Sankaralaingam to start the organisation LAFTI.[8]

Land for Tillers' Freedom (LAFTI)

Jagannathan founded

computer education and electronics. LAFTI would gain such popularity that later even the Government of India would implement LAFTI's approach to increase the peaceful transfer of land.[8]

Protecting the coastal ecosystem

In 1992 Jagannathan started working on issues concerned with

Hyderabad which occupied large areas of land for aquaculture along the coast, which not only threw the landless labourers out of employment but also converted fertile and cultivable land into salty deserts after a few years when the prawn companies moved on. The prawn farms also caused heavy seepage of seawater into the groundwater in the neighbourhood, thus the local people were deprived of clean drinking water resources. The result is that even more small farmers sell their meagre land-holdings to multinational prawn companies and move to the cities, filling urban slums.[4]

To address prawn farm issue the Jagannathans organised the whole of LAFTI's village movement to raise awareness among the people to oppose the prawn farms. Since 1993, the villagers have offered Satygraha (non-violent resistance), through rallies, fasts, and demonstrations in protest of establishing the prawn farms. They have been beaten up by hired goons, their houses have been burnt, and LAFTI workers have been imprisoned, because of false accusations of looting and arson.[4] Undeterred by this, Jagannathan filed a 'public interest petition' in the Indian Supreme Court, which in turn asked NEERI (National Environmental Engineering Institute of India) to investigate the matter. NEERI's investigation report highlighted the environmental cost of the prawn farms to the nation and recommended all prawn farms within 500 meters of the coast to be banned. In December 1996 the Supreme Court issued a ruling against intensive shrimp farming in cultivable lands within 500 meters of the coastal area. It is said that because of the prawn farmers' local political influence, the Supreme Court judgement was not implemented on the ground. The legal battle around the prawn farms is still not resolved and the Jagannathans continue their struggle to establish non-exploitative, eco-friendly communities in the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu.[4]

Jagannathan also works towards upliftment of women in Dalits and poor. She believes in mobilising women's cause by peaceful means.[10]

Further achievements and honours

Jagannathan, either independently or together with her husband, has established a total of seven non-governmental institutions for the poor. In addition to this she has also played an active role in wider public life. She has been a Senate member of the Gandhigram Trust and University and of Madurai University. She was also a member of a number of local and state social welfare committees and a member of the National Committee on Education, the Land Reform Committee and the Planning Committee.[4]

These activities have gained for the Jagannathans a high profile in India and they have won many awards: the Swami Pranavananda Peace Award (1987); the Jamnalal Bajaj Award (1988)[11] and Padma Shri in 1989.[4][12] In 1996 the couple received the Bhagavan Mahaveer Award "for propagating non-violence." In 1999 Krishnammal was awarded a Summit Foundation Award (Switzerland), and in 2008 she was awarded 'Opus Prize' by the University of Seattle.[9] She also received the Right Livelihood Award along with her husband "for two long lifetimes of work dedicated to realising in practice the Gandhian vision of social justice and sustainable human development, for which they have been referred to as 'India's soul'".[4] She is lovingly called as Amma (Mother in Tamil) by her followers.[5] She plans to use the award money for her projects rather than for herself.[13] Inspired by Amma's contribution of enabling more than 11000 poor and landless women to become landowners, a M.Phil research dissertation is dedicated to Amma. The dissertation is titled as Aspects of Agrarian History of Tamilakam:Region, Women and Technology during 16th and 17th centuries AD, submitted to Department of History, University of Hyderabad in 2009.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ "Krishnammal and Sankaralingam Jagannathan / LAFTI". The Right Livelihood Award. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  3. ^ "Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, George Fernandes given Padma Vibhushan posthumously. Here's full list of Padma award recipients". The Economic Times. 26 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Krishnammal and Sankaralingam Jagannathan / LAFTI (India) Archived 17 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine – on Right Livelihood Awards' website
  5. ^ a b c d e Gandhian' couple get alternate Nobel Archived 17 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine – OneIndia.com
  6. ^ "Krishnammal Jagannathan". SDSU College of Health and Human Service. 5 November 2008. Archived from the original on 9 July 2010. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
  7. ^ Congressmen re-enact Salt Satyagraha march The Hindu
  8. ^ a b c Krishnammal Jagannathan Archived 5 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine Seattle University
  9. ^ a b Sarvodaya leader to get Opus Prize – The Hindu
  10. ^ Fight discrimination by peaceful means The Hindu
  11. Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation
    .
  12. ^ "Padma Awards Directory (1954–2009)" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 May 2013.
  13. ^ Opus Prize a divine gift for my housing programme, says Krishnammal The Hindu
  14. ^ [Prabu B,2009,Aspects of Agrarian History of Tamilakam: Region, Women and Technology During 16th and 17th Centuries AD, Hyderabad: University of Hyderabad.]

External links

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