E-Paper
March to carry message of non-violence from Delhi to Geneva
An year-long march called ‘Jai Jagat 2020’ carrying the message of non-violence started from Raj Ghat on Wednesday to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma
An year-long march called ‘Jai Jagat 2020’ carrying the message of non-violence started from Raj Ghat on Wednesday to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Covering a distance of 14,000 kms and consisting of 50 participants, the journey, which will be undertaken on foot and by train, plane and ferry, will end in Geneva, Switzerland, where a dialogue will take place with United Nations (UN) agencies urging the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“We are carrying Mahatma Gandhi’s message of peace and justice to the world, particularly the issue of ending violence through non-violent means,” said Ran Singh Parmar, 64, the national convener of the NGO Ekta Parishad, which is coordinating the march.
Singh added the objective is also to address the structural violence carried out by international organisations like World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in developing countries.
The march, flagged off by social workers SN Subbarao, Bal Vijay and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, will remain in Delhi till October 4 and then travel across India for four months by train and on foot, ending at Sevagram in Maharashtra.
From Maharashtra, the marchers will fly to Iran and for the next eight months travel across 10 countries by foot and ferry including Armenia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy and Switzerland. In the course of the journey, they will be joined by separate marches in Europe and Africa as well as delegates from around the world.
Among the 50 full time marchers, 10 are international volunteers and 20 from the grassroots. Twenty-three year Khushboo Chourasiya, who is one of the full time marchers, said, “I want to inculcate non-violence in me and I think that the Jai Jagat march will help me with this.”
As the march travels across India and abroad, they will collect stories of sustainability from local communities along the route, conduct daily trainings in non-violence, thereby making it a year-long practice of non-violence.
