September 2002

1. objectives

The Center for Nonviolence Research is committed to work with interested people to set up one or more experiments in India to help to both establish a non-violent program there and to learn how we can reduce violence in the world.

We can combine the visionary propensities of the Indian way of thinking and the practical “get it done” sentiment of American minds; borrowing a colorful metaphor we heard from Dwarko-ji, we can actually get an automobile with both a steering and a gas pedal. We are indebted to Dwarko-ji personally and believe that with his leadership we can take real steps in creating an atmosphere in which solutions to disagreements and other people problems are non-violent. The trinity of Spirituality, Science and Trust is a good foundation for such work.

The objectives of the Center are two-fold: The immediate objective is to reduce the level of violence connected with the Naxal (Maoist) land-starved rebel groups and the Senas landed upper-caste militias that operate in Bihar. The long term objective is to learn, using scientific methods, what factors can effectively help reduce terrorism and rebel violence and to seek to establish peaceful means for resolving the root causes of conflicts. Development of personal spiritual force among the participants is envisioned as one of the core methods to be studied. The Center also seeks to formulate a decentralized model of leadership and reduce reliance on the central role of the leader, which is inevitable at startup.

A separate document outlines the philosophical underpinnings of spirituality, the methodological underpinnings of science and the key elements of mutual trust development.

2. center and its location

The Center is located in the city of Bodh Gaya, situated in the state of Bihar, India. The Center is co-located with Samanway Ashram, a residential non-formal school for about 50 children that has been in operation for nearly 30 years. Dwarko Sundrani is the founder and managing director of both Samanway and the Center for Nonviolence Research. The school facilities include: children’s residences, teachers’ residences, offices, teaching facilities, garden that grows grains and vegetables, orchard with various trees include Mangoes and Papayas, a cow-stall with over a dozen cows, mainly of indigenous breed. The garden and orchard provide for nearly all the needs of the residents. The cows yield milk and valuable cow-dung that is used for manure as well as for generating biogas (a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide) that is then used as renewable cooking fuel. Children at the school receive practical training in the garden and cow-stalls, class room training in languages, literature and science to supplement and support the practical training. Values are emphasized and inculcated through historical and scriptural stories drawing their inspiration from diverse sources. Children come from all religious backgrounds and are provided a blended knowledge of all of the religious traditions. The school celebrates Hindu, Muslim and Christian holidays in addition to national holidays. Samanway also conducts cataract operations for thousands of patients using volunteer doctors at no charge to the patients. Dwarko-ji has for years been involved widely in the communities in Bihar, engaging in building wells, teaching composting, coaching organic gardening. Dwarko has a reputation as one who is compassionate and looks after the well-being of all, especially the poor, the sick and the children who are affected by poverty and ill-health.

In addition to the 2 residential schools, Dwarko-ji has developed a network of “village schools” which now includes over 160 with nearly 10,000 children. Many of the village schools bring the school to the children rather than make the children go to school. This way the children can participate in the tasks given to them by their parents, such as herding goats and still attend classes. Schools utilize informal settings, in the fields, or in teachers’ homes.

3. CENTER FOUNDER, Dwarko SUNDrani

Mr. Dwarko Sundrani is, at the age of 80, one of the last active direct disciples of Mahatma Gandhi. His selfless service to the masses of India cannot be compared to many. He was born in Sindh (now in Pakistan) on 6.6.1922. Midway through his studies, he heard Mahatma Gandhi’s call for the Quit India movement and joined it. Not immediately convinced by Mahatma’s views on nonviolent struggle, Dwarko believed in violence then. After a brief period with this movement he went back to his native town and worked as a teacher.

After Independence, during the partition of Pakistan and India, he left and joined Vinobha Bhave the spiritual successor to Mahatma Gandhi. At that time Dwarko transformed to the non-violent path. Vinobha had started the land gift program for rural India to solve the problem of the landless people, who were in bonded slavery. In the state of Bihar Vinobha started the Samanway Ashram in the town of Bodh Gaya and in 1962 Dwarko was asked to be in charge of this Ashram. With the early work in obtaining land gifts, millions of acres of land were distributed to the landless laborers.

Complying with Vinobha’s instructions to strictly not to ask for money from anyone, Dwarko farmed on the small parcel of land belonging to the Ashram, converted wasteland to rich fertile field through composting and raised money for social service. In the 1967 famine, Marlon Brando participated in the food distribution program. When Brando arrived with truckloads of food and relief supplies for distribution, Dwarko-ji took the occasion to formulate a self-help network among the villagers. Villagers would nominate a distribution leader and organize a volunteer corps who would then pick up the supplies and then arrange for distribution back in the villages. Brando is reputed to have learnt an important lesson which would later on influence all of his philanthropic work.

Out of this famine activity, Dwarko realized that children suffered most in a famine. Ashram thence started an education program for children. The principle he adopted was “education for life, education of life, and education through life.” Education was correlated to the life-needs of rural villages. Please visit the url Article written by Dwarko to read about his educational activities in his own word. As of 2002, the school has been in continuous operation and has grown to cover 10,000 children in 167 villages. Two residential schools provide shelter, clothing, food, health care, education and loving care for 140 students.

For the last 18 years, the Ashram has been conducting very successful cataract eye operations camp. About 15,000 patients receive free eye operations each year. This year 6 children who were born blind had sight restored.

Local terrorist groups respect the social service provided by the Ashram to the villages and diabolically offer armed protection to the Ashram. Dwarko says with a wry smile “What am I to do?” Dwarko and the workers of Samanway are able to travel with safety through many of the backward caste villages that have a heavy concentration of rebels.

Many dignitaries and celebrities – Rev. Martin Luther King, Mr Schumacher, Osho, and HH Dalai Lama – have been benefactors and have visited the Ashram in Bodh Gaya. When Rev King visited the school, his wife taught the children the song “We Shall Overcome”. Dwarko wiped a tear from his at its conclusion and said this is indeed the song for all our children. When I visited the school in 1999, I was treated to the children singing this very song in Hindi translation and then in English. HH Dalai Lama, when signing over a donation of half million Rupees said, “I only teach compassion; you, Dwarko-ji are living compassion.” The Lama also makes a private personal visit to sit with Dwarko-ji on most occasions when he is in Bodh Gaya. Former Indian Prime Minister Jaya Prakash Narayan said with tears in his eyes after visiting the rural villages, “Dreams rarely come true; here is a dream come true”. In 1991, Dwarko-ji was awarded the Bajaj International Award for Humanitarian Service. When I sat in Dwarko-ji’s quarters on many occasions and looked all around the room, I could find no trace of this award, no pictures of dignitaries. All the foregoing events he has experienced without any impression left on his ego.

Each year the Ashram hosts young foreign Interns from Denmark, Japan, France, UK and USA for upto 4 months at a time. These interns learn about the Indian way of life, culture, non-violent strategies and the role of spirituality in education and social transformation, in dialog with Dwarko-ji. They also learn the dignity of labor and are assigned manual tasks without regard to position, status or ego.

4. center sponsors and advisory team

Sri Sridharan (based in Phoenix) and Robert S. Block (Bob) (based in Los Angeles) have been working with Dwarko-ji since April to help define the objectives and to provide seed funding to get the Center started. The Center is open for voluntary monetary donations but not engaged in fund-raising or grants activities at this time.

Ted Mohns (San Diego CA), Francine Hardaway (Phoenix AZ) and Syed Shariq (Palo Alto CA) continue to informally advise us, ensuring focus and clarity of objectives and methods. Ted will have the opportunity to meet Dwarko-ji in October 2002; Others have met him in April 2002.

5. center history

Sri Sridharan and Dwarko Sundrani started dialogue about the rebel situation in January of 2002 while Sri was visiting Dwarko-ji in Bodh Gaya. Dwarko formulated the immediate objective of working on the Naxal situation (with which he is intimately familiar) and suggested that the practical “get it done” attitude of western participants combined with the spiritual practices of nonviolent social workers of India would be a good combination. He summarized this as combining Science and Spirituality. Dwarko subsequently accepted Sri’s suggestion to introduce Mutual Trust as a key element. Dwarko-ji was invited to join the Drivers of the 21^st Century workshop in April held at the Getty Center, Los Angeles sponsored by the IC² Institute at the University of Texas, The RGK Foundation, and Zero Time Labs. At this workshop Dwarko elaborated eloquently upon what he stated are the three main drivers of the 21^st Century: Spirituality, Science and Mutual Trust.

Bob Block and Sri Sridharan have been subsequently working with Dwarko and the Advisory team members. This document is being readied in anticipation of another visit by Dwarko-ji to the San Francisco Bay Area in California in mid-October. We expect to revise and finalize the Center plans during October.

During Dwarko’s initiation to Gandhian work, Vinobha was the spiritual heir to Gandhian work. Under Vinobha’s direction, in the sixties, Dwarko first started a Center for Research in Bodh Gaya. While Vinobha was a strong proponent of developing personal spiritual force as a precursor to doing social work, the other Center participant were either only interested in activism or only interested in scholarship. Dwarko converted the center to a school to benefit children. He has continued to run the Center on his own and has engaged in social work in villages surrounding Bodh Gaya for a radius of about 60km.

6. center operation

Dwarko serves as the Managing Director of the Center and takes responsibility for articulating the project scope, timing, staffing and allocation of funds. An Executive Director will be appointed who will oversee the Naxal project activities, control group, project documentation (audio, video, photographs and written reports). The candidate we seek to appoint is someone with a passion for nonviolence, spirituality and activism. The candidate chosen will be qualified with formal studies in the subjects and one who can withstand the rigors of working in one of the poorest parts of India that is fraught with communal violence. (See background section). The rest of the staff will be a rotating set of volunteers and interns drawn both from India and different parts of the world.

The Center participants will be engaged in daily practices that cultivate their own spiritual force, including development of compassion, fearlessness and genuine understanding that would be required for conflict resolution, loving speech and skills in dialogue facilitation. The scientific method employed would entail accurate record keeping of not only center activities, but also correlative information taken from world events, national events, regional events and communal events. Formal studies that identify effective factors that result in reduction of violence (in deeds, words and attitudes) would be a desirable outcome.

7. Center proposed budget

5 Indian youths Rs . 2000/-per head/month	Rs. 120,000
2 Western interns Rs . 2000/-per head/month	Rs .48,000
2 Indian Interns Rs. 1000/per head/month	Rs. 24,000
For books, Traveling allowances, stationeries, miscellaneous etc.	Rs. 20,000
Foreign travel		Tbd – separately funded
Executive Director		Tbd – separately funded
TOTAL	Rs. 212,000	$4,500

8. NAXAL Project details

[To be added]

Background: The Naxal group, inspired by Marxist and Leninists, started in West Bengal and the rebel activity migrated to Bihar 15 years ago. Landless backward caste men have taken up arms (sticks, knives, sickles, old guns) and engage in land-grab actions against feudal landlords who belong to upper-castes. In the past six years, the rebel activity has spread to rural areas and has become more intense. Not getting the needed protection from police and military, the upper-caste landlords have formed paramilitary units (called Senas) which are armed with modern weapons including automatic rifles. Clashes often involve shooting, beheading, and torture on both sides. Rape and killing of women is practiced as a policy by the Senas (“to stop more rebels being born”). Police and the judiciary are siding with the Senas and often stand-by during action against the poor.

Action Plan: Samanway Ashram is seen as a neutral party. It provides sanctuary to the children of the backward caste (Mushahars) and engages in social uplift for the villagers. So Dwarko and his people are able to travel through the Naxal villages without encountering problems. The presence of a steady stream of foreigners and wealthy socially-conscious benefactors lends credence with the feudal landlords also. Dwarko’s reputation as a “man of peace” (following Gandhian principles) offers us a chance to work with all parties involved. The situation is not easy to deal with but we have a unique chance to help this situation; the State Government, the police, the military, the Human Rights groups, the National Civil Rights groups do not enjoy this level of trust and access.

No action plan we can formulate at a distance would stand the test of time. The best course of action is to engage and develop the plans in collaboration with all parties after establishing some early common ground.

9. center intern opportunities

At the outset we are seeking to bring two interns from the West (Europe, North America and South America) and two from India. The Executive Director will determine the period of residency to suit the needs of the interns and to match the needs of the project work. Interns will be housed at Samanway Ashram and will conduct their personal practice and social work from that base. Samanway has transportation to the outlying areas that would be visited from time to time. Meals will be provided at the Ashram from the teachers’ kitchen. Pocket change would be provided for personal needs, postage, Internet access etc. Five Indian youth will be recruited to be interns for this project. The project is set to commence in December 2002.

All interns are made aware of the unstable situation in the Bihar provinces and that we are engaged with violent rebels (all sides of the situation are armed and dangerous; see Background). Foreign interns should heed all warnings from their respective governments about travel to India and should keep continuous watch over the development of the war situation between India and Pakistan. Even though Pakistan is nearly thousand miles away from Bihar, the province is known to engage in sympathetic violence as terrorist activities spark in Kashmir. Bihar is also known to be on the transit route for Pakistani terrorist en-route to Calcutta (which has a Communist government in elected power).

For now, please direct all correspondence to Sri Sridharan (Infinisri@prodigy.net) or by surface mail to 4274 E Agave Road, Phoenix AZ 85044. Indian correspondents should send mail to Dwarko Sundrani, Samanway Ashram, Bodh Gaya, Gaya District, Bihar, India 824231.

10. center volunteer opportunities

Volunteers are also sought to assist in the Center operation both in Bodh Gaya India and here in the US. Indian volunteers (visitors from abroad as well as Indian nationals) are invited to participate in supporting the work of the Center by helping with day to day duties, record keeping, report writing, being couriers and in any other manner helping with the work at the Center.

11. background on the state of bihar

http://bihar.bih.nic.in/ forms our source of information on geography and industrial economy.

Former Chief Minister is Lalu Yadav is in "jail" for corruption, he is fighting it. His wife is now Chief Minister.

On Republic Day, Jan 26, Lalu was given a red carpet reception to the viewing gallery and the military and police marched saluting him.

Population 82 Million (16 million ages 0-6)

Literacy rate is running around 50%; Capital Patna city has 68% literacy

State is 400 miles wide; Calcutta is to the south-east in the adjacent state of West Bengal.

Nepal and Sikkim are on the path of the Chinese communist infiltration in support of Naxal rebels.

Bihar is located in the eastern part of the country. Bihar is an entirely land–locked state. The outlet to the sea through the port of Kolkata is not far away. Bihar lies mid-way between the humid West Bengal in the east and the sub humid Uttar Pradesh in the west which provides it with a transitional position in respect of climate, economy and culture. It is bounded by Nepal in the north and the newly divided Jharkhand in the south. The Bihar plain is divided into two unequal halves by the river Ganges which flows through the middle from west to east. Bodh Gaya is near the Rajgir hills shown on the map above.

The topography of Bihar can be easily described as a fertile alluvial plain occupying the Gangetic Valley. The plain extends from the foothills of the Himalayas in the north to a few miles south of the river Ganges as it flows through the State from the west to the east. Rich farmland and lush orchards extend throughout the state. Following are the major crops: paddy, wheat, lentils, sugarcane, jute (hemp, related to the marijuana plant, but a source of tough fibers and "gunny bags"). Also, cane grows wild in the marshes of West Champaran. The principal fruits are: mangoes, banana, jackfruit and litchis. This is one the very few areas outside China which produces litchi (or lychee).

The weather in Bodh Gaya ranges from extreme heat in the summer (upwards of 100^o Fahrenheit) and severe cold in the winter months (lows dipping down below 50^oF). The transition between these two seasons are marked by rains, which are quite severe in the highlands, which in turn cause rivers to flood and transportation routes to get disrupted.

12. background on communal violence

Please read the report of the Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/india/India994-06.htm#P712_120549

More specifics of the Naxal project will be added later on.