Society, Culture and Peace

Enhancing socio-cultural well-being, ensuring justice and equity

Featured here are initiatives to enhance social and cultural aspects of human life: the revival and progressive use of visual, performing, and other arts, of the myriad crafts of the country, of threatened or submerged languages, of food and cuisine diversity, and other such cultural traits and processes. They also cover the various struggles and constructive movements to achieve social justice, to reduce inequalities and inequities of various kinds including caste, class, gender, ethnicity, and religion, and to create dignity in living for those currently oppressed and exploited. Finally, they include movements to generate ethical living and thinking, and spread values such as simplicity, honesty, frugality, and tolerance.

Learning, Collaboration, and Sustainability in the Himalayan Landscapes

The gathering’s core objectives were to foster knowledge sharing, enhance collaboration, and promote ecological awareness and cultural exchange.

In the supermarket of democracy, choice is an illusion. Is there a real alternative?

The nation-state, and the model of electoral politics that underpins it, is a dead-end. We can learn from movements that practice deeper forms of democracy by moving towards a more holistic vision of ecologically responsible living, equitable economies and cooperative businesses, social justice, cultural identity and diversity, and alternative education.

क्रांतिकारी परिवर्तनाच्या दिशेने: भारतामधल्या विकल्प संगम प्रक्रियेचे दशक  (In Marathi)

आपल्याला प्रक्रिया जितकी लोकशाही, सहभागी, वैविध्यपूर्ण आणि उत्साहवर्धक करता येईल, तितकी, अपेक्षित उद्दिष्टांपैकी किमान काही उद्दिष्टे साध्य करण्याची, तसेच काही अनपेक्षित फायदे मिळण्याची शक्यताही जास्त.

Citizen Movements Try To Stem The Decimation of Urban India’s Trees, In Era Of Record Heat & Toxic Dust

Citizens are using science, data and the power of collective action to demonstrate the benefits of trees and the need to protect them in urban areas as global warming accelerates.

मौलिक विकल्पों की राह (In Hindi)

विकल्प संगम पहल 'सामान्य' लोगों की नव प्रवर्तन, दृढ़ता, सहयोग और संकटों का समाधान खोजने की क्षमता का जश्न मनाने का प्रयास करती है। सार्थक भागीदारी की प्रक्रिया अपने आप में लोगों को सशक्त बनाती है।

Yogendra Yadav writes: What kind of India do we seek?

What does our future look like? What should it look like, if we could shape it? What kind of India do we seek? Can we envision something beyond the stale dream of a modern, developed, superpower with cutting-edge technology

Press Release: National Vikalp Sangam Concludes with Resolution to Work Towards Ecological, Social, and Economic Justice, for India and for Kachchh

They will promote policies and programmes that can generate creative livelihoods (including in crafts, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, pastoralism, small manufacturing, and services) and also protect our natural environment.

Darjeeling zoo showed the world how to save red pandas. Now it’s on a global award shortlist

It became the first and only centre in India to establish a genetic biobank facility to preserve the DNA and genetic material of endangered animals like red pandas, snow leopards, and Himalayan tahrs.

Vikalp Sangam: a decade of exploration on alternatives in India

The more democratic, participatory, diverse, and exciting one can make the process, the more the likelihood of at least some aims being met, and unanticipated benefits being incurred.