1st March 2023
The 97th birth anniversary of Mrigendra Mohan Guha was observed on 1st March 2023 by launching a project ‘COME BACK’ in collaboration with Baby Land Foundation, a voluntary organisation situated at Baruipur, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal.
The new project aims to create some avenues of earnings of the acid attack survivor women through a small business of making and selling’DhupKathi’. Kholo Aankhi provided the initial capital of Rs.21500/- for raw materials and for a weighing machine.
Baby Land Foundation arranges for space, skill training, and marketing. In the beginning, six such victims and two differently-abled women came under the fold of the project. Their emotional expression in regard to the inhuman behaviour they had been experiencing from a significant section of society to live a normal and dignified life moved us.
They also talked about their stories of deprivation in receiving adequate compensation, rightful reservation of job, free treatment at Government and private hospitals as well as rehabilitation despite the order of the highest court of the country. The neighbours and relatives used to behave rudely with them but, in no way they themselves were responsible for the occurrence of such a brutal and shameful attack on them.
They became devastated physically and mentally. After an initial setback, they accepted the challenge bravely, came out of isolation, faced society with courage, and started to live holding their heads high ignoring the apathy moving around them. They started venturing to stand on their feet economically with an indomitable attitude.
COME BACK with the theme-`We Shall Overcome` is a humble tribute with the prime objective to show our empathy and solidarity with the acid victim-survivors and to give them their rightful place in society by giving them an opportunity to earn on their own.
Economic independence is the one and only road to establishing their right to live in a one-eyed society as of now with honour and dignity. An organised movement to educate society to rise against such barbaric attackers and stand by the victims is the need of the hour.
Our project Paraspar was launched in 2015, for maximizing the utilization of unused and used but wearable clothes for the economically weaker section of society by collecting those from the higher income group. ‘Deoa Neoa’, a project with the same objective run by ‘Baby Land Foundation’ at Baruipur, where used to keep old clothes systematically in racks and give those to the impoverished people with proper documentation.
The Foundation started its second unit of ‘Deoa Neoa’ at Bankura in collaboration with Ram Krishna Mission. We, a few days before 1st March sent them 1600 pieces of clothes from Paraspar for the second unit in Bankura and hope to continue our work together in the future also.
We are thankful to Sri Biman Bihari Dutta for his ceaseless work for the deprived people of society and feel privileged for being with him in this great job.
