Healing the Wounds and Soothing the Scars

The ability to empathize, ameliorate lives and take people out of their miseries is the highest act of service that can be done by humans. This value of service underlined the lives of Aruna Roy and Jocking Arputham who got the Magsaysay award today.

Aruna Roy zealously calling for a better future; Image Source: The News Minute

25 July 2000 was a day of great joy for India. It jolted a new hope that not all is bad after all and in the bleak corners of this world, there are many who work relentlessly to help others. It confirmed that cooperation and courage bring a positive change into the lives of many. It was on this day when two Indians, Aruna Roy and Jockin Arputham were given the Ramon Magsaysay Award, widely regarded as the Nobel Prize of Asia.

This wasn’t the first time when multiple Indians received this award together but each recipient has their unique tale and individual impacts on the world, making each win special in its own way.

Aruna, a politician and social activist, won in the community service category. A vocal proponent of peasants, workers and women’s rights, she is a champion of the Right to Dissent.

Roy was a civil servant living the life many could only dream of. It dawned upon her that she wants to serve people but through the comfort of her offices.

Hence, she resigned from her job, joined grassroots organisations with an intent to understand the lives of the impoverished masses and elevate their material conditions.

Alongside other activists, she founded the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, an organisation dedicated to achieving fair wages for workers and played an important part in the enactment of RTI. The structures of oppression Aruna has broken with the help of farmers and labourers has turned the MZKSS into a formidable force. She has also served on various committees in the capacity of a human rights activist.

Jockin won the award for Peace and International Understanding.

As a child of Tamilian parents working in mines, he had to leave his home at a very young age to earn money. He found a job at a construction site in Mumbai as a carpenter and had to spend multiple nights without a roof on his head. In these trying times, it was in the Janta Colony Slum that Arputham found refuge.

This period of his life had a profound impact on him. With the mission to make something of this dismal situation for everyone, Jockin began the work of garbage collection. He then turned to lend aid to refugees fleeing from Bangladesh but Mumbai called him back soon when the clouds of eviction loomed over the Janta Colony.

Arputham organised protests, filed petitions, got arrested multiple times but nothing seemed to work out. Unwilling to give up, he sat in front of the country’s parliament for 18 days and did not budge until Prime Minister Indira Gandhi herself assured that the slum won’t be harmed.

But the worst happened and thousands of destitute people lost all that they had. This led to the creation of Slum Dwellers International, which provides legal and monetary scaffolding to slum dwellers. His war with the state did not end so easily.

When the emergency was declared, Jockin had to flee India and seek shelter in various countries. As a man robbed of his home multiple times, he made sure the same fate would not befall others.

For the work he did for slum dwellers and homeless women, he was honoured with the title of Slum King. Jockin was even nominated for the Nobel Peace prize in 2014.

It’s nothing less than a travesty that the efforts of those who lend a hand to others are often left unrecognised. They often face threats from the state and are perpetually short on resources. Despite these barriers, people like Aruna and Jockin embody empathy and help amplify the voices of those who are silenced.

Jockin Arputham doing what he loved the most- being with people; Source- SDI