SARVODAYA: 50 YEARS OF PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT

The dawn of a new century for Sarvodaya

In 1958, a few teachers and students of the Nalanda College, Colombo, under the leadership of Mr. A. T. Ariyaratne, then a teacher of that College, conducted a "Sharmadana" (voluntary service) camp at Kanatholuwa, which was then an impoverished and marginalized hamlet in the Kurunegala District. This was the origin of the massive people-oriented development movement now known as the "Sarvodaya" Movement by the local as well as the internationally community.

Dr. Ariyaratne’s relentless efforts in the field of development have invariably been focused on elimination of poverty amongst the rural masses through awakening of their latent capacities. His concept envisions making the lives of the marginalized poor rural communities more meaningful and sustainable by providing easy access to their basic needs. Various programmes and activities have been implemented in the past to achieve this objective. Under his able leadership and guidance, many programmes have been conducted throughout the country for providing the people with basic amenities and essential infrastructural facilities such as lavatories, roads, schools and drinking water wells etc. These programmes had to be conducted within the limited resources available. Steps had been taken in the past to provide educational facilities and a nutritious meal to school children. Throughout this long period, the focal objective of the operations based on his Vision has been the advancement of the human kind.

He is a highly talented speaker who possesses ingenuinity for addressing any gathering with eloquence and clarity so that everybody could easily comprehend the vital elements of his speech. He cleverly designs his lectures to suit the perceptibility of the audience. Though highly occupied, he is an ardent reader who is keenly interested on widening his perception and knowledge on ever changing trends of the local and international arenas.

Dr. Ariyaratne has proved to be a source of inspiration. The views of grassroots communities reach him directly without intervention by any intermediary channel. He is familiar with the village and the villagers and is very quick in identifying village problems. This is the reason why village communities have accepted and welcome the development schemes conceived by Dr. Ariyaratne and implemented by the Sarvodaya Movement.

The Sarvodaya Movement has reached 50 years since its inception in 1958.

Sarvodaya is not something which can be or should be assessed through what is seen at the Moratuwa Headquarters. The innumerable benefits enjoyed today by the previously neglected rural communities are considered by many as the fruits of Sarvodaya efforts to empower the people to improve their capacities. They applaud Dr. Ariyaratne as an angel who had come to rescue them from misery.

Ghandian policies and Buddhist doctrine have inspired the Sarvodaya Movement, to a greater extent, to emerge as a people oriented Development Organization committed with the responsibility of stabilizing peace and spiritual awakening, and improvement of the living standards and livelihoods of poor rural masses that form the majority of the population of Sri Lanka.

Sarvodaya is geared to empower and inspire the people to take the responsibility of planning their own lives and uphold self reliance instead of depending on others to fulfil their needs.

Dr. Ariyaratne had very good reasons being influence by tenets envisaged in the Buddhist doctrine in the implementation of the social development programmes. The majority of the rural populace in Sri Lanka is Buddhist. Therefore, Dr. Ariyaratne visualized that the best and the easiest approach to the development of the rural areas is through the gateway of the village temple and mobilizing the Buddhist monks and local leaders, both young and old. This approach has been successful.

Dr. Ariyaratne’s keen interest in fostering the traditional cultural values and utilizing them in the creation of a new society is vividly demonstrated in almost all the development programmes executed by the Sarvodaya Movement. He believed that transformation of the attitudes of the people is vital in effecting any reforms in society and that it is not easy task.

Many multi-faceted social development programmes are being conducted covering over 15,000 rural villages and urban areas. These programmes, based on Gandhian principles and Buddhist doctrine, have been designed to achieve a comprehensive improvement of society encompassing the spiritual and material advancement the individual, the family, the village, city, country and finally the entire world.

The successful achievements of the Movement could be directly attributed to the superior insight of Dr. Ariyaratne, and the commitment, diligence and the resolve of the employees and also on the extensive operational network.

Today, Sarvodaya has focused its special attention on furthering the concept of Grama Swarajjaya, a process which envisions empowering and inspiring the village communities to make their own liberal decisions for developing their respective villages and prevent exploitation of villages resources by external forces.

Sarvodaya anticipates establishing a network of thousands of similar village Swarajjyas which will ultimately serve as the basis structure for the creation of a comprehensive system of participatory self-governance.

Chitra Weerawardane
Coordinator,
Sarvodaya Central Library
Moratuwa.

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