Punarchith (‘Re-Think’) is a collective that focuses on evolving alternative perspectives and activities related to education, environment, democracy, and society. It seeks pathways and perspectives that would lead to ideas and learning for an equitable and just society. Its foundational premise is to evolve and engage with ideas that are suitable for everyday life in rural India.
Punarchith’s experience in fostering and instituting an alternative learning experience for rural youth has been marked by the need to fine-tune all the programs to the needs and orientation of rural life. At a time when much of India, especially rural and agrarian worlds, are experiencing expedited and intense forms of change, it has been a challenge for us to constantly revise and institute programs and activities that cater to the interests and possibilities of a changing world. Although guided by the ideas of addressing issues of social justice, economic opportunity, and democratic engagement, we have gone beyond working with blue-prints for any of the programs. The ‘Integrated Learning Program’, our flagship program, was meant to cater to the interests of rural youth to be engaged in sustainable agriculture and to lead holistic lives in the rural areas itself.
But, given the extensive disembedding that rural India, including the Chamarajanagar belt, is experiencing we have been faced with the fact that a strong anti-rural and anti-agriculture attitude has meant that the course is not in demand. Most youth seek training and employment for urban occupations and see such courses as redundant. Those youth who have participated in our programs (a total of 109 youth from 8 batches conducted until now) are faced with issues of lack of rights to conduct sustainable agriculture on their family plots, inadequate resources, or pressures to have salaried jobs. Based on these trends, the course from 2023 onwards will be offered as specialised modules (sustainable agriculture, democracy, climate change, etc) and will be open to all rural youth from across Karnataka….
https://www.punarchith.org/punarchith-2012-22-reflections-on-a-decade-long-journey/
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After the truth-shower 