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Transcript (English): I was part of the political movement started in 1975 by Jai Prakash Narayan and then part of the Janata Party when it formed the government in 1977. I could not stay long in a political party because my mission was to change the social system and local governance. So, I went back to the grass roots and started organising people’s movements. The major issue Bihar was facing during those years was that of bonded labour. So, my companions and I established an organisation and held several massive demonstrations demanding freedom and equal rights for all bonded labour. News about our demonstrations echoed even in the New York and London times. Our movement was very successful. The government established a committee whose findings were made the basis for legislations to free bonded labour. I have since stayed on and continued to work with people at the grass roots, working on various development and advocacy issues like re-distribution of land from the rich to the poor landless, re-utilisation of waste land for farming, freedom of the press, environment issues. We have been actively working on creating new livelihood opportunities at local levels by improving people’s access to available local resources. There would be times when villagers had to give me meager sums of money, like 20 rupees, just so that I could travel to the state headquarters and represent their interests. After years of discussions on the value of establishing an organisation and taking funds because this might have destroyed our revolutionary spirit, we finally established non-government organisation in 1992 called Pravah. We will continue to work on people’s rights until we live.

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