Misplaced Pages

Bunker Roy: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from[REDACTED] with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 12:15, 14 November 2012 editWiredbee (talk | contribs)85 edits →Criticism← Previous edit Latest revision as of 03:11, 17 October 2024 edit undoYa nsuka (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users549 editsNo edit summaryTag: Visual edit 
(194 intermediate revisions by 69 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{short description|Indian social activist and educator (born 1945)}}
{{for|the Indian cricketer|Sanjit Roy (cricketer)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{BLP sources|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox person {{Infobox person
| name = Bunker Roy | name = Sanjit Bunker Roy
| image =Sanjit Bunker Roy at Time 2010.jpg | image = Sanjit Bunker Roy at Time 2010.jpg
| image_size = 250px | image_size = 250px
| caption =Sanjit Bunker Roy at ] event, 2010 | caption = Roy at the ] event in 2010
| birth_name = Sanjit Roy
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1945|8|2}} | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1945|06|30}}
| birth_place = ], present-day ]
| Alma Mater = ], ] | birth_place = ], ], British India
| death_place = | death_place =
| alma_mater = ]
| occupation = ] & Founder of ] | occupation = Social activist & founder of ]
| residence = ], ]
| spouse = ] 1970 – present | spouse = {{marriage|]|1970}}
| parents = | parents =
| children = | children =
| nationality = ]n | nationality = Indian
| religion =
}} }}
'''Sanjit 'Bunker' Roy ''' (born 2 August 1945) is an Indian social activist and educator. In 1972 he founded the ] in ], ], ]. The ] was registered as the Social Work and Research Centre.<ref>. indianngos.com</ref> He was selected as one of ], the 100 most influential personalities in the world by ] Magazine in 2010.<ref> ], Apr. 29, 2010.</ref>


'''Sanjit''' "'''Bunker'''" '''Roy''' (born 30 June 1945) is an Indian social activist and educator who founded the ]. He was selected as one of ]'s 100 most influential personalities in 2010 for his work in educating illiterate and semi-literate rural Indians.<ref name=TIME>Mortenson, Greg. (29 April 2010) . ''TIME''. Retrieved on 2 June 2012.</ref> Roy was awarded the ] by ] in 1986.
In 2002 he was selected for Geneva-based ].<ref> (2002-09-22)</ref>


==Early life== ==Early life==
He attended ] from 1956 to 1962,{{citation needed|date=November 2012}} and ] from 1962 to 1967.<ref name="VergheseEd2006">{{cite book |editor=Verghese, B. G. |author=bunker Roy |title=Tomorrow's India: Another Tryst with Destiny |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JRTBJNRntlcC&pg=PA347 |access-date=23 November 2012 |date=1 February 2006 |publisher=Penguin Books India |isbn=9780670058631 |pages=347–}}</ref>
Bunker Roy was born in ], present-day ]. His father was a mechanical engineer and his mother retired as India's trade commissioner to Russia.<ref>. Pwpp.org. Retrieved on 2012-06-02.</ref>


He was the Indian national squash champion in 1965 and also represented India in three world squash championships.
He attended ] <ref>http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/sustainableenergyforall/home/members/Roy</ref><ref>http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail783.html</ref> from 1956 to 1962 and ] from 1962 to 1967. He earned his master's degree in English. He became the Indian national champion in ] for three years, also representing India internationally in the sport. He then decided to devote himself to social service, to the shock of his parents.


==Barefoot College==
==Career==
Bunker is a founder of what is now called ].<ref name="John2003">{{cite book |last=John |first=Mary |title=Children's Rights and Power: Charging Up for a New Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=95aHsTYl-0sC&pg=PA232 |access-date=23 November 2012 |year=2003 |publisher=Jessica Kingsley Publishers |isbn=9781853026584 |pages=232–}}</ref> After conducting a survey of water supplies in 100 drought-prone areas, Roy established the Social Work and Research Centre in 1972.<ref name="John2003" /> Its mission soon changed from a focus on water and irrigation to empowerment and sustainability.<ref name="John2003" /> The programs focused on siting water pumps near villages and training the local population to maintain them without dependence on outside mechanics, providing training as paramedics for local medical treatment, and on solar power to decrease dependence and time spent on kerosene lighting.<ref name="John2003" />
Bunker Roy, after his education, decided to work in the villages much to the chagrin of his parents. His dream of using traditional expertise rather than "bookish knowledge" for the uplift of neglected communities. He has worked all his life with the Barefoot College, an NGO that he founded.<ref>{{dead link|date=June 2012}}</ref>


He was recognized in 2010 in Time for the programs of the college which have trained more than 3 million people in skills including solar engineers, teachers, midwives, weavers, architects, and doctors.<ref name=TIME />
Barefoot College has trained more than 3 million people for jobs in the modern world, in buildings so rudimentary they have dirt floors and no chairs.<ref>Mortenson, Greg. (2010-04-29) . TIME. Retrieved on 2012-06-02.</ref> The rural youth selected by the community have to be impoverished, subsisting on barely one meal a day to receive training at Barefoot college.


He was married to ex-IAS ] in 1970.
===Philosophy===
]
Roy professes that he was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and has adopted Gandhi's work-style in his college. He is also a protege of ], and modeled his organization after Mao's ].


==Controversy== ==Other work==
He was in the thick of a controversy when he returned the Award to the ] in protest for the change in the original citation to include the name of ], a Delhi-based architect who was a part of Roy's team.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.architexturez.net/doc/342479de-1686-b244-75de-d60fc0ea0892|title=Award (controversy) Barefoot Architects}}</ref> Quoting '']'' magazine on the controversy,
<blockquote>
This is perhaps the first time in the history of the prestigious Aga Khan Awards that anyone has returned the award. The Barefoot College was one of the nine recipients of the architectural awards in 2001. The Tilonia project was found exemplary by the master jury of the Award Foundation as it "augmented traditions and knowledge of a rural community, enabling untutored residents to design and build for themselves".


Roy was appointed by ] to the government's Planning Commission. He recommended that legislation be created that would apply a "code of conduct" for ]. He also proposed that a national council be created that would recommend "legitimate" organizations to the government and monitor their activities. Both of these recommendations were "fiercely" opposed as mechanisms that could be used to promote patronage of favored groups and quell organizations that were not supportive of a particular government or party.<ref name="JHU">{{cite book |editor1=Sumit Ganguly |editor2=Larry Diamond |editor3=Marc F. Plattner |title=The State of India's Democracy |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lgs1tFTh-JMC&pg=PA157 |access-date=23 November 2012 |date=13 August 2007 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=9780801887918 |pages=157– |chapter=The Role of Civil Society}}</ref>
Bunker Roy now wants a debate on the barefoot concept, which is based on the traditional wisdom of the villages and on the capacity and resourcefulness of their common residents. "Who is a barefoot architect? The return of the award should provoke a debate. In this case the ideology of the Barefoot College has been misunderstood and misrepresented," he lamented.


In 1983, he was the plaintiff in ''Roy v State of Rajasthan'' in which the Supreme Court struck down an emergency policy which had allowed women famine relief workers to be paid less than male workers.<ref name="Epp1998">{{cite book |last=Epp |first=Charles R. |title=The Rights Revolution: Lawyers, Activists, and Supreme Courts in Comparative Perspective |url=https://archive.org/details/rightsrevolution0065eppc |url-access=registration |access-date=23 November 2012 |date=15 October 1998 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226211619 |pages=–}}</ref>
"It had been an agonising decision but we have to keep our honour," Bunker Roy told ''Frontline''. "There was no question of accepting Raina as the architect since he was a beginner and was still learning from the elders in the village. When Romi Khosla and Raina came down to Tilonia to discuss the issue with the men and women here in April this year we had agreed to acknowledge Raina as a designer but of course not as an architect," he observes. <ref>Sebastian, Sunny, , '']'', Volume 15 (Issue 16), July 20 – August 02, 2002 (retrieved on 10 January 2012).</ref>
</blockquote>


Roy has spoken at the ] conference,<ref name="toited">{{cite news |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-10-28/jaipur/34779858_1_tedx-ideas-school-kids |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130103203624/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-10-28/jaipur/34779858_1_tedx-ideas-school-kids |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 January 2013 |title=Students untapped forces of social change |last=TNN |date=28 October 2012 |work=] |access-date=23 November 2012}}</ref> about how the Barefoot College "helps rural communities becomes self-sufficient."<ref name="ted">{{cite web |url=http://www.ted.com/talks/bunker_roy.html |title=Bunker Roy: Learning from a barefoot movement |last=Bunker Roy |work=] |access-date=23 November 2012 |archive-date=22 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121122134448/http://www.ted.com/talks/bunker_roy.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The Barefoot College has not accepted the judgement of the Aga Khan Foundation. Staff members of the organization continue to misrepresent facts by claiming that they returned the prize awarded to them in Syria because it was to be shared with another person who had not contributed towards the architecture and design of the Barefoot College campus.
<ref>Barefoot College - India Governance (http://www.indiagovernance.gov.in/files/Social_Wor_Research_Centre_tilonia.pdf)</ref>


==Awards and recognition==
==Criticism==
Bunker Roy has a history of misrepresenting information. The Aga Khan controversy was just the tip of the iceberg. Bunker Roy shamelessly lies before the western funding agencies, Government of India and the public at large. There is rampant corruption in his Barefoot College, yet funding agencies have continued to fund his operations.</br></br>


* '''1985:''' "]" for Application of Science and Technology for Rural Development.<ref>{{cite news|title=Mr. Sanjit Bunker Roy|url=http://www.jamnalalbajajawards.org/awards/archives/1985/science-and-technology/sanjit-bunker-roy|work=]}}</ref>
In a recent TED talk<ref>Bunker Roy - Learning from Barefoot Movement (http://www.ted.com/talks/bunker_roy.html)</ref>, Bunker Roy says that when he spoke with a forester for advise on growing trees in his campus, he was told that the effort wasn't worth it because there was no water in the land and the soil was too rocky. Bunker Roy has chosen to conveniently hide the fact that in the year 1993 - 1994, a major project was undertaken by his own organization to regenerate the Tilonia Hill and three other sites in the Silora Block, Ajmer District. The project was funded by Deutsche Welthungerhilfe (German Agro Action) for Rs. 2.6 million. During the project, native species like Neem (Azadirachta Indica), Babool (Acacia Nilotica), Kumtha (Acacia Senegal), Orinja (Acacia Leucophloea), Banyan (Ficus Bengalensis) and Ber (Zizyphus Nummularia) were planted on the Tilonia Hill. These trees had reached a height of 3-4 feet by August 1994 but did not mature into fully grown trees for reasons best known to Bunker Roy. Notwithstanding this fact, in 1998 Barefoot College was awarded the ] (Indira Gandhi Environment Award), by the ], ]. Staggered and Contour trenches dug for regenerating the Tilonia Hill can still be seen on .</br></br>
* '''2003:''' Won The 2003 "]"<ref>{{cite news |title=The 2003 St Andrews Prize for the Environment |work=] |url=https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/st-andrews-prize/previous-winners/}}</ref>

* '''2003:''' One of 20 people to be selected as "Social Entrepreneurs of the Year" by ]<ref>{{cite news|title=Swiss award for Bunker Roy|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/swiss-award-for-bunker-roy/article27870788.ece|work=]|date=22 September 2002}}</ref>
Bunker Roy claims before the entire world that Barefoot College was fully solar electrified by a hindu priest with only eight years of education in a primary school in rural India.<ref>Solar Electrification of Barefoot College(http://www.80hommes.com/80portraits/AboutBC.pdf)</ref> Barefoot College's application for the Buckminster Fuller Challenge competition shows that the hindu priest "Bhagwat Nandan" has studied till the 12th standard.<ref>Buckminster Fuller Challenge 2010 (http://bfi-internal.org/pdfs/Finalist_BarefootCollege_Application.pdf)</ref> Another Internet post says that the hindu priest is a 10th standard dropout.<ref>Barefoot College, Tiloina: Proven rural education model (http://www.educationworldonline.net/index.php/page-article-choice-more-id-3033)</ref> Only the hindu priest knows how much he has studied. But the truth is that Bunker took the assistance of a University educated electronics engineer (Kiran Sindhu) to solar electrify the Barefoot College. Kiran provided professional assistance towards designing the electronics for the solar lighting equipment, capacity planning and building competency in the local community to maintain the solar infrastructure.<ref>TED Comment (http://www.ted.com/talks/bunker_roy.html?c=345163)</ref> Bunker Roy rubbishes the education imparted by Universities by claiming that Barefoot College trained women solar engineers in Africa know more than University educated engineers who have spent 5 years earning their engineering degree.<ref>Barefoot College/UNESCO: Partnership for Education (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH8s0an2Mzw)</ref> Roy claims that the Hindu priest managing the solar energy program in Barefoot College knows more about solar power that anyone else he knows anywhere in the world, guaranteed.<ref>Sustainable Development and Female Empowerment in India – An Inspiration for Caricom (http://www.normangirvan.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Claxton-Bottom-up-Development-A-Success-Story.pdf)</ref></br></br>
* '''2009:''' Received a "Robert Hill Award" for his contribution to promotion of photo-voltaics (solar energy)<ref>{{cite news|title=Global honour for barefoot wonder Bunker Roy|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-otherstates/Global-honour-for-barefoot-wonder-Bunker-Roy/article16523579.ece|work=]|date=29 September 2009}}</ref>

Bunker Roy tells the media that the solar cookers fabricated at his college were designed by Sita Devi who has only three years of education.<ref>India Plugins into Low Cost Solar Technology (http://www.hqsolar.com.cn/en/NewsView.asp?ID=48)</ref> The truth is that the solar cooker fabricated at the Barefoot College was invented by a renowned Austrian engineer ]<ref>Introduction to Revolutionary Design of Sheffler Reflectors (http://so-on.be/SO-ON/films/MASA/Wolfgang_Scheffler.pdf)</ref><ref>Sheffler Community Kitchen (http://solarcooking.wikia.com/Scheffler_Community_Kitchen)</ref> who has been visiting Barefoot College since 2003.<ref>Barefoot College - Bringers of Hope (http://eng.esperrance.org/index.php/post/2010/10/07/Barefoot-College)</ref> Barefoot Women Engineers fabricate the solar cookers as specified in Sheffler's blueprints, with whom they still collaborate and improve the reflectors and machinery when needed.<ref>Solar Engineers (http://opengreens.net/tag/solar-engineers)</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1970, Roy married his classmate ], then an officer in the ]. Aruna was later to achieve fame as a political and social activist. Later Aruna became a prominent leader of the ] movement, and in 2000 received the ] for ].<ref>. Rmaf.org.ph. Retrieved on 2012-06-02.</ref>

==Awards==
{{Expand section|years in which he won the awards and reference cutations to such awards|date=June 2012}}
Bunker Roy has won many awards like
* The Arab Gulf Fund for the United Nations (AGFUND) Award for promoting Volunteerism
* The ] for Social Entrepreneurship
* The ]
* The ]
* The ]
* The ].<ref>http://itc.conversations.com</ref>
* The ] – 2003

==Articles==
*
*


==References== ==References==
{{Reflist|35em}} {{Reflist}}


==External links== ==External links==
{{commons category}} {{Commons category}}
⚫ *
*
* {{TED speaker}}
*
{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Social Work}}
*
{{Jamnalal Bajaj Award winners}}
*
{{Authority control}}
⚫ *
*


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see ]. -->
| NAME =Roy, Bunker
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
| DATE OF BIRTH =2 August 1945
| PLACE OF BIRTH =], present-day ]
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roy, Bunker}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Roy, Bunker}}
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]

Latest revision as of 03:11, 17 October 2024

Indian social activist and educator (born 1945) For the Indian cricketer, see Sanjit Roy (cricketer).

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous.
Find sources: "Bunker Roy" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Sanjit Bunker Roy
Roy at the Time 100 event in 2010
BornSanjit Roy
(1945-06-30) 30 June 1945 (age 79)
Burnpur, Bengal Presidency, British India
NationalityIndian
Alma materSt. Stephen's College, Delhi
OccupationSocial activist & founder of Barefoot College
Spouse Aruna Roy ​(m. 1970)​

Sanjit "Bunker" Roy (born 30 June 1945) is an Indian social activist and educator who founded the Barefoot College. He was selected as one of Time 100's 100 most influential personalities in 2010 for his work in educating illiterate and semi-literate rural Indians. Roy was awarded the Padma Shri by Giani Zail Singh in 1986.

Early life

He attended The Doon School from 1956 to 1962, and St. Stephen's College, Delhi from 1962 to 1967.

He was the Indian national squash champion in 1965 and also represented India in three world squash championships.

Barefoot College

Bunker is a founder of what is now called Barefoot College. After conducting a survey of water supplies in 100 drought-prone areas, Roy established the Social Work and Research Centre in 1972. Its mission soon changed from a focus on water and irrigation to empowerment and sustainability. The programs focused on siting water pumps near villages and training the local population to maintain them without dependence on outside mechanics, providing training as paramedics for local medical treatment, and on solar power to decrease dependence and time spent on kerosene lighting.

He was recognized in 2010 in Time for the programs of the college which have trained more than 3 million people in skills including solar engineers, teachers, midwives, weavers, architects, and doctors.

He was married to ex-IAS Aruna Roy in 1970.

Other work

Roy was appointed by Rajiv Gandhi to the government's Planning Commission. He recommended that legislation be created that would apply a "code of conduct" for non-governmental organizations. He also proposed that a national council be created that would recommend "legitimate" organizations to the government and monitor their activities. Both of these recommendations were "fiercely" opposed as mechanisms that could be used to promote patronage of favored groups and quell organizations that were not supportive of a particular government or party.

In 1983, he was the plaintiff in Roy v State of Rajasthan in which the Supreme Court struck down an emergency policy which had allowed women famine relief workers to be paid less than male workers.

Roy has spoken at the TED conference, about how the Barefoot College "helps rural communities becomes self-sufficient."

Awards and recognition

References

  1. ^ Mortenson, Greg. (29 April 2010) Sanjit 'Bunker' Roy The 2010 TIME 100. TIME. Retrieved on 2 June 2012.
  2. bunker Roy (1 February 2006). Verghese, B. G. (ed.). Tomorrow's India: Another Tryst with Destiny. Penguin Books India. pp. 347–. ISBN 9780670058631. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  3. ^ John, Mary (2003). Children's Rights and Power: Charging Up for a New Century. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. pp. 232–. ISBN 9781853026584. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  4. Sumit Ganguly; Larry Diamond; Marc F. Plattner, eds. (13 August 2007). "The Role of Civil Society". The State of India's Democracy. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 157–. ISBN 9780801887918. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  5. Epp, Charles R. (15 October 1998). The Rights Revolution: Lawyers, Activists, and Supreme Courts in Comparative Perspective. University of Chicago Press. pp. 253–. ISBN 9780226211619. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  6. TNN (28 October 2012). "Students untapped forces of social change". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  7. Bunker Roy. "Bunker Roy: Learning from a barefoot movement". TED. Archived from the original on 22 November 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  8. "Mr. Sanjit Bunker Roy". Jamnalal Bajaj Award.
  9. "The 2003 St Andrews Prize for the Environment". St Andrews Prize for the Environment.
  10. "Swiss award for Bunker Roy". The Hindu. 22 September 2002.
  11. "Global honour for barefoot wonder Bunker Roy". The Hindu. 29 September 2009.

External links

Recipients of Padma Shri in Social Work
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Jamnalal Bajaj Award winners
Constructive work
Science and Technology
Women and child welfare
International
Templates WikiProject
Categories:
Bunker Roy: Difference between revisions Add topic