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Rajagopal P. V.
Rajagopal October 2007
Born	Rajagopalan Puthan Veetil 1948 Thillenkery, Madras Province, Dominion of India (present-day Kerala, India)
Nationality	Indian
Education	Diploma in Engineering
Occupation(s)	Activist, president of Ekta Parishad
Partner	Jill Carr-Harris

Rajagopal P. V. is an Indian Gandhian activist, a former Vice Chairman of the New Delhi Gandhi Peace Foundation,^[1] as well as the president and founding member of Ekta Parishad.^[2][3] In 1972, Rajagopal started working alongside Gandhian activists J.P. Narayan and Subba Rao to disarm 578 bandits in the Chambal region of India.^[4] Thereafter, he stayed away from dealing with direct violence and focused on the people of Adivasis, bonded labourers, and other landless communities affected by poverty and exploitation.^{[citation needed]}

From 1989 to 2018, Rajagopal trained thousands of rural young people to serve in villages as trainer-leaders to build up community leadership and popular action.^{[citation needed]} This culminated in many efforts of state and national activism.^{[citation needed]} An example of the latter occurred in 2007 when 25,000 landless poor, mainly Adivasis, took part in a 350 kilometer pilgrimage from Gwalior to Delhi to demand the land reforms that they were promised upon independence.^{[citation needed]} The Union government agreed to the demands made, leading to the implementation of the Forest Rights Act.^{[citation needed]}

A second effort of national activism occurred in 2012 when Rajagopal led a march together with 100,000 supporters toward the capital to demand popular control over land and resources to secure the livelihood of laborers lacking control over the means of production. The effort resulted in the signing of a ten point agreement with the Union government.^[4]

Rajagopal was born in 1948, the fourth of five children, in Thillenkery, a village in the modern-day state of Kerala in southern India. His full name is Rajagopal Puthan Veetil, but he now chooses to use only his first name in public . Rajagopal's father was an activist fighting for India's independence and therefore was frequently separated from his family.^{[citation needed]} Rajagopal attended the grade school at Seva Mandir, being taught in Malayalam language.^{[citation needed]} The school followed Gandhi's philosophical principles with regard to life and work in a community.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[5]

Since 2001, Rajagopal is married to Jill Carr-Harris, a Canadian fellow social activist.^[6]

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 . 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.^[7]

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (November 2012)

The Jan Satyagraha 2012 Yatra, which started from Gwalior Oct 2, had intended to reach Delhi on Oct 28 if no agreement was reached with the government. Nearly 35,000 people were part of the protest march.^[8]

Though the Land Reform Commission has issued its report, the government has not yet accepted it.

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.^[9] 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.^[10] According to Ekta Parishad, the marchers were not satisfied with the proposals and decided to go ahead with the march.^[11] In Morena, leaders from Indian National Congress, the main opposition party addressed the marchers and promised if elected to satisfy their demands.^[12][13] 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.^[11]

In 2015, Rajagopal launched, with Ekta Parishad, the extraordinary challenge of Jai Jagat, building upon existing groups, mainly in India and Europe. The core vision of Jai Jagat is to create a space where groups and movements can come together to make change nonviolently and address issues related to justice and peace. The urgency of having such convergence is to change global public opinion to enhance the emergence of an alternative development process that is pro-people, pro-poor and pro-nature. The 2019-2020 Global Peace March (Delhi-Geneva) reached individuals, groups and organizations outside those historical Ekta circles and created a dynamic in many countries. The March had to overcome many hurdles and was suspended halfway in Armenia in March 2020, because of COVID-19. A few marches to Geneva at the end of September 2020 marked the last significant mobilization, at least outside India, under the umbrella of Jai Jagat. Since then, initiatives have been taken, such as the organization of marches or a cartoon exhibition, by local and regional groups.

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.

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.^[14]

Articles:

• Voice of Hope and Voice for Change (English) – A collection of articles by Rajagopal P.V. published by National Center for Advocacy Studies, Pune.
• Land for Life (English) – A collection of village data during the foot march by Rajagopal P.V. published by National Center for Advocacy Studies, Pune.
• Main ne Dekha Hain (Hindi)- A collection of village stories during the foot march by Rajagopal P.V. published by Ekta Parishad.
• Pagdandiyom par paav (Hindi)- A collection of village people's story during the foot march by Rajagopal P.V. published by Ekta Parishad.
• Gulamon ki Basti se Gujar raha hoon (Hindi) - A collection of village based story during the foot march by Rajagopal P.V. published by Ekta Parishad.
• Jo Ghar Khoya Apana (Hindi)- A collection of village data during the foot march by Rajagopal P.V. published by Ekta Parishad.
• Sab ki apani Ho Jameen (Hindi) - A collection of village data during the foot march by Rajagopal P.V. published by Ekta Parishad.
• Journey to the other India – A collection of articles in English during the year long samwad yatra in 2011 – 2012.
• The legacy of Gandhi, Rajagopal P.V. – A life for non-violent resistance by Carmen Zanella of Switzerland.
• Biography of Rajagopal by Dr. Julius Ruibke of Germany.

Audio-Visual

• "Janadesh" (People's Verdict) A film on 25000 people on foot in 2007 from Gwalior to Delhi (English, Hindi, Spanish, German and French) Film makers from France, Switzerland, Spain and India.
• "Land First" A Film on Orissa foot march by Amanda, England.
• "Is Small still Beautiful" A Film Broadcast on BBC News, Traccy Winchester, England.
• "Raja's Raise" A Film based on a story of Elephant, Karl Saurer from Switzerland.
• "Ahimsa"(based on Non-Violence training and Social action), Karl Saurer from Switzerland.
• "Jansatyagrah" (Truth Force) Rajagopal and his initiatives, Vikram Nayak, New Delhi.
• "Peoples Movement Processes", Praveen Pagare, Nasik.
• "Jan Chetana Ka Uday" Struggle of Peoples Movement, Ritu Datta , New Delhi.
• "Manzil ki Aur" Community based Nonviolent Struggle for right, Ritu Datta, New Delhi.
• "Millions can walk" Film on Jansatyagraha by Christoph Schaub, Switzerland.
• Nari Shakti Zindabad (Women Empowerment & Leadership), Praveen Pagare, Nasik.
• Interview on DD National - Aaj Savere Program, DD National.

In 2014, he received the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration, an award granted annually by the Indian National Congress party. ^[15][16][17]

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