To work in villages, you must have a sense of humour: Bunker Roy

XLRI Jamshedpur, recently organised the second “Dr Verghese Kurien Memorial Oration on Sustainable Development”, in memory of the founder of AMUL, Verghese Kurien, otherwise known as “The Milkman of India”.

The oration was delivered by Bunker Roy, Founder and Director of Barefoot College, Tilonia, Ajmer, on “The 21st Century Gandhian Model to Sustainability”. Sharing his experiences with the students, Roy presented his unique field of work — The Barefoot College — that has adopted Gandhian ideas into its lifestyle and work ethics.

Inspiring students with his educational works in villages, he said, “If anyone wants to live and work in a village, there is one thing you must have — your sense of humour. You have to go through an unlearning process, where you are come across as a human being first. The only way to gain respect is actually to show that you can go down to their level and become a human being and live and work with them.”

He talked about the participating villages creating a Village Energy and Environment Committee, which determines the rates the villagers will pay for solar panels. It also identifies which of the poorest residents of the town go to college for a 6-month training programme to learn about solar panels and storage batteries. After they return home, they maintain and repair the systems.

Answering the students’ questions, Roy said, “Change comes out of conflicts. Not violent ones, but non-violent conflicts of approaches or methods. Solution does not come from outside; it comes from within.”