User talk:K.S.Radhakrishna

K.S. Radhakrishna


K.S.Radhakrishna (Hindi: के.यस. राधाकृष्ण) (12 October 1923 –19 June 1994) was a distinguished Gandhian [1] and one of the mainstays of the Gandhian Movement after Mahatma Gandhi, Acharya Vinoba Bhave and Jayaprakash Narayan.

Early Life
He was born in Chitradurga in Karnataka to an eminent man of Nai Talim, K.S. Acharlu and Jayalaksmamma on 12 October 1923. He was inspired by his maternal uncle, Siddhanvanhalli Krishna Sarma to work for Mahatma Gandhi. He participated in the Indian Freedom Movement in 1940s during his student days, and was jailed. After completing his M.Sc.in Chemistry from Benaras Hindu University in 1944, he joined Gandhiji’s Sevagram  Ashram, Wardha, Maharashtra. He specialized in Basic Education, Peace education, Peace intervention and training for rural development. [2]

Initial years
After his marriage to B. Kamala, daughter of Civil Surgeon, B. Deekshachary and Padmaja Devi, the young couple moved to Gandhi Ashram Sevagram, to joined the Post Basic School in Sewagram, where Gandhiji’s pioneering experiments in the field of Nai Talim or Basic Education were carried out under the leadership of Asha Devi Aryanayakam and E.R. W.Aryanayakam. [3]

He was the first Principal in the Nai Talim school from 1947-58 and was also awarded an year’s association-ship of the UCL Institute of Education, London. Following the partition of India, he was put in charge of the rehabilitation of refugees from Pakistan at Rajpura in Punjab during 1949 -1952. From 1959- 1961 he was the Secretary of the Hindustani Talimi Sangh.[4]

Engagement with Gandhian movement
From 1962-69, he was the General Secretary of the Sarva Seva Sangh,Varanasi. He was the member of several constructive work, notably All India Khadi and Village Industries Commission, National Council of Basic Education, Central Advisory Board of Education, All India Shanti Sena Mandal, Governing body of Gandhian Institute of Studies, Varanasi and Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, New Delhi. He was the Secretary of Gandhi Peace Foundation for 21 years from 1969 to 1990 and was mainly responsible for making it known as the premier Gandhian organization internationally. He was the Founder Member and Director of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, New York, USA and closely associated with War on Want. Quaker Groups, International Fellowship of Reconciliation, War Resister’s International, OXFAM and several other peace and nonviolent action groups in U.K., USA and Germany. He represented Gandhi Peace Foundation in the United Nations in the UN Special General Assembly on Disarmament in 1978. He was the Secretary General of the International Conference in Bangladesh convened by Jayaprakash Narayan in 1971 to draw world attention to the genocide and suppression of human rights in the erstwhile East Pakistan. He mobilized Gandhian groups to work for relief and later rehabilitation of millions of refugees from Bangladesh. He was the first Chairman of the International Conference of Voluntary Agencies. He was closely associated to Vinoba Bhave during his effort to secure Bhoodan and Gramdan and the efforts to set up Gram Samities etc, to work for integrated village development. Radhakrishna also worked closely with Jayaprakash Narayan and was one of the key figures in the struggle of Gandhian organizations against the Emergency. In fact he was detained under MISA in 1975. He was on the editorial board of several Gandhian and Sarvodaya journals, notably Gandhi Marg, Gandhi Vigyan, People’s Action, Every Man and Bhoodan Yojna. As Chairman of Gandhi Peace Center from 1979-1994, and member of the Academy of the Gandhian Studies, he was engaged in planning, innovative experiences in rural development in putting non formal education and social action groups on environmental problems, small initiatives for mobilizing women and promotion of small and appropriate technologies. He widely traveled to U.K. Germany, France, Denmark, Holland, USA, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Japan etc.

Awards

 * UN Peace Messenger Award presented in New Delhi
 * Honorary Ph.D. in Rural Development, Venkateshwara University, Tirupati

Articles

 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 7 No. 3 March 1973 article- Will we ever learn?
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 7 No. 4 April 1973 article- Signs of thaw in Indo-Pak Relations
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 7 No. 6 June 1973 article- From Darkness to Dawn – Are we ready for the task?
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 7 No. 7 July 1973 article- Let us start building alternatives
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 7 No. 10 October 1973 article- People are the best guarantee for democracy
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 6 No. 1 Jan 1972 article- Lessons on Bangladesh
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 7 No. 2 Feb 1973 article- Decades of the seventies – a search for Asian identity
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 7 No 8 August 1973 article-Unleash youth power in service of country
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 7 No. 12 Dec 1973 article-Planning for what?
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 7 No. 12 Dec 1973 article-Culture of poverty
 * People’s Action Magazine March-April 1975 article- A turning point in Sarvodaya movement
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 7 No. 5 May 1973 article-Painful March to Tomorrow
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 4 No. 3 March 1970 article-Rural works Program
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 5 No. 7 July 1971 article-Security Step
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 5 No. 6 June 1971 article-Violence Vs Nonviolence – Bangladesh - A poser to Peace Activities
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 5 No. 5 May 1971 article-The Ordeal of a Nation
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 5 No. 3 March 1971 article-Change this system
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 5 No. 3 March 1971 article-You and the Election
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 4 No. 9 Sept 1970 article-Western Détente and Non Alignment
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 4 No. 7 July 1970 article-Police Vs Politician
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 4 No. 4 April 1970 article-Book Burning and Witch Hunting
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 4 No. 3 March 1970 article-Agonies of Ministry making
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 7 No. 9 Sept. 1973 article-Some Welcome Changes
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 8 No. 2 Feb. 1974 article- After Chiman bhai what?
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 9 No. 6 June 1975 article- The National Scene
 * New Vistas of youth power
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 8 No. 4 April 1974 article- Our rulers are responsible for this
 * People’s Action Magazine Vol 8 No. 6 June 1974 article- Who is sovereign in democracy?
 * Gandhi Marg July-September 1989 article- The future lies with the people
 * Gandhi Marg July-September 1988 article- Imperatives for national integration
 * Everyman’s Paper February 23, 1974 article- JP in Gujarat
 * Everyman’s Paper July 20, 1974 article- Prelude to a new Gandhian Upsurge
 * Everyman’s Paper January 19, 1975 article- Gujarat : the crucial test

Books

 * Radhakrishna: Banwasi Sevashram (1954), Gandhi Peace Foundation
 * Gupta Ranjit and Radhakrishna,: World meet on Bagladesh, Vol-1 (1970) , Impex India
 * Radhakrishna and Agrawal, Mahendra: Arms and Survival (1982), Satvahan
 * Radhakrishna : Strategies for rural development (1974), Gandhi Peace Foundation
 * Radhakrishna: Swapna hue sakar (1972), Society for developing Gramdan
 * Radhakrishna: Bhoodan (1965), Serve Seva Sangh
 * Radhakrishna: Voluntary agenceies in a critical decade (1993), Gandhi Peace Foundation