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| SGI Around the World |
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[Courtesy, April 2002 SGI Quarterly] |
| India |
| Social Engagement in India |
By Naveena Reddi, then Chief Secretary, BSG
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| Naveena Reddi, then BSG chief secretary |
India is known worldwide as the birthplace of Buddhism. However, it
is equally well known that very few people living there
practice any form of Buddhism today. Generally, Buddhism is
considered to be part of Hinduism, and the Buddha is
considered an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu.
When SGI President Ikeda came to India in 1961 and visited
Bodh Gaya, he offered prayers for the development of Buddhism
in India as a foundation for world peace. Fourteen years
later, in 1975, enough people had begun practicing Nichiren
Buddhism in India to warrant holding the first general meeting
of what would later become Bharat Soka Gakkai (BSG).
At first, the organization grew very slowly. Although Indians are
a religious people, their faith is often considered to be a
very private matter. India is a country that is multiracial as
well as multilingual, with numerous religions and cultures and
an extremely complex system of social strata as well as a
history of religious confrontation. Bharat Soka Gakkai is
registered as a peace, cultural and education organization
whose members are encouraged to respect the religions, customs
and traditions of the country, and our consistent emphasis has
been to contribute to Indian society.
Interest in BSG began to grow after SGI President Ikeda
visited India in 1979, 1992 and 1997. The membership reached
1,000 in 1992, 4,000 in 1997 and currently stands at 8,500.
Sixteen years after its official registration in January 1986,
BSG has a presence in over 60 cities, including Delhi and
Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras), Bangalore and Kolkata.
Indian society began to notice BSG after the grand cultural
festival held during SGI President Ikeda's visit in 1992 at
the Siri Fort Auditorium in Delhi, where the Bolshoi Ballet
and the orchestra of Zubin Mehta have been presented. This
festival, attended by a large number of guests, is still
remembered. Since then, many other events have been held in
the fields of education and peace. SGI President Ikeda has
received several honorary doctorates from Indian universities,
including the University of Delhi, and the value creation
education theory of first Soka Gakkai president Makiguchi,
which has been introduced to distinguished educators through
seminars and symposiums, has been extremely well received.
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| BSG peace committee members helping victims of the Gujaret earthquake (February 2001) |
The youth peace committee, the BSG peace committee and the
recently formed women's peace committee have been consistently
involved in issues pertaining to the environment and peace as
well as relief activities. For instance, in February 2001, the
BSG peace committee conducted major relief activities to aid
victims of the Gujarat earthquake. BSG collected over RS2
million (approx. US$41,700) in food and materials from Delhi
and Mumbai. Twenty-three BSG volunteers, including three
doctors, went to Gujarat along with eight trucks of relief
supplies. Ten villages that had not yet received relief were
identified, and eight trucks transported 50 tons of supplies
to the inhabitants between February 8 and 14. These supplies
consisted of essential foodstuffs as well as tents, clothing,
sheets and medicine. Volunteers also distributed 2,500
"family packets" to more than 15,000 villagers who
had suffered the effects of the quake. The youth peace
committee, working together with NGOs, has also organized the
distribution of textbooks, notebooks and other necessary
stationery to underprivileged children.
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| Work presented at the "Save the Earth" exhibit held in June 2000 |
To commemorate World Environment Day on June 5, 2000, members of
the youth division, represented by the youth peace committee
and the student division, put together a special exhibition on
the environment titled "Save the Earth." The
exhibit, which spanned a wide range of topics, from an
explanation of the Buddhist concept of esho funi
(oneness of life and its environment) to instructions on
practical aspects of waste reduction, drew an enthusiastic
response from visitors. In conjunction with the exhibition,
the student division members collected plastic and paper waste
which was handed over to an environmental NGO for recycling.
The seminar "Peace Is in Our Hands" was held in New
Delhi on August 30, 2000. The guest of honor was the former
president of India, R. Venkataraman. On this occasion, the
members of the youth peace committee presented the director of
UNESCO India with more than 100,000 signatures they had
collected on the Manifesto 2000 pledge for a culture of peace.
Impressed by the results of this campaign, Dr. N. Radhakrishnan, then
director of the Gandhi Memorial Centre, called on BSG youth to
take on a new challenge--promoting Mahatma Gandhi's
autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth,
among 50,000 people in New Delhi. This challenge was part of a
six-month project to spread Gandhian thought among young
people initiated by the current Indian president, K. R.
Narayanan. At the opening ceremony, held at the presidential
office, the president launched the campaign by buying the
first copy of the book from a young school student. Three BSG
representatives were in attendance.
On October 23, 2001, the Writers' Forum for Harmony organized
a ceremony in appreciation of SGI President Ikeda's novel The
Human Revolution. Mr. K. P. Nair, forum vice president,
said that one of the group's objectives is to identify and
recognize literary works of high quality produced in India and
abroad. A committee of experts was unanimous in their choice
of the novel as the "book of the century" for its
depiction of the collective effort of inspired individuals
united in their struggle to raise the life condition of the
people, to inculcate respect for life, and to inspire people
to stand up for justice and never yield to oppression.
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| A peace seminar on second Soka Gakkai president Josei Toda's antinuclear movement (March 2000) |
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At a symposium for young women held in July 2001 |
On August 13, 2001, the Soka Ikeda College of Arts and Science
for Women opened in the city of Chennai in southern India.
Established through the efforts of the Indian poet and
educator Dr. Sethu Kumanan, it is affiliated with the
University of Chennai, one of the most prestigious centers of
higher education in India. The Soka Ikeda College has five
departments--computer science, mathematics, biochemistry,
commercial science and business administration--and its
graduates will receive diplomas from Chennai University. At
the request of Dr. Kumanan, the college chairman, Mr. and Mrs.
Ikeda were respectively named the college's honorary founder
and honorary principal.
By demonstrating our commitment to putting the principles of
Buddhist compassion into action through these and many other
efforts to promote peace, culture and education, as well as
developing capacity in the field of humanitarian relief, BSG
is gaining genuine respect in Indian society.
Website URL: http://bharatsokagakkai.org
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