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On behalf
of FIRA and with the objective of furthering the consolidation of the
movement, I under took a tour of the parts of central and eastern India.
The tour was for Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh, a round of Jharkand, Rourkela
and finally to Podanur the Head quarters of our Patron, B. Premanand.
Our tour started with
Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh. Rajesh Parashar, a people’s science movement
activist was on hand to welcome us. At this stage of the tour Somu,
the executive committee member of FIRA was present and accompanied me
during this part of the trip. He was a great help in organizing things,
pointing out mistakes and also maintaining
records. He shall be filing a separate detailed report of this lap which
was for three days and covered many institutions and schools. After this
three day program from 10 to 12th of September, Somu had
to return to Goa for his other engagements and I had to continue.
The next
program was at Tatanagar where there were lecture demonstrations and
also the central regional conference of FIRA scheduled for the 15 and
16th sept. This was held at Jan Vikas Kendra, Patel Bag,
Tatanagar by the science for Society, Jharkhand unit. Due to problems
with rain, the members from Orissa were unable to attend. From Bihar,
one member, Bharatendu Suman chose to attend and he was deputed by the
Science for Society, Bihar. Most of those who participated were from
Tatanagar itself and this also included one member from Arjak Samaj,
Jharkhand unit. The conference succeeded in marking our presence at
Jharkhand and the subsequent tour of the state helped us to consolidate
the support base. A detailed report of this conference will be made
and presented by Sarita Anand, the regional secretary.
Following
this was a Jatha of the state which was being held for the first time.
Starting on the 17th September after a lecture demonstration
at Workers College, Tatanagar. We had our first stop at Sindhri. Here
we had a lecture demonstration for the students and staff of the Balliapur
Institute of Technology. It was well attended and was followed by numerous
questions from the audience. Again during this tour, the regional secretary
of FIRA, Smt. Sarita Anand who was supposed to accompany could not make
it due to health problems. However her absence was made up by Bharatendu
Suman, a young man from Sitamarhi, Bihar who was a very effective helper
and a good learner. On the 19th there was a lecure demonstration
at Bokaro at the Bokaro club which was organized by the local unit of
the Science for Society, Jharkhand. It was a well organized program
with the participation of thousands students from more than a dozen
schools of Bokaro. The deputy commissioner of the district was the chief
guest and he had the interest of trying a few experiments by himself
including burning camphor on his tongue! Following this, we traveled
to Hazaribagh, where a lecture demonstration was arranged for the students
of the DAV school. On the same day that is 20th, another
lecture demonstration was conducted for the students of the Navodaya
School near Hazaribagh. On the 21st, we went to Ranchi where
we had one lecture demonstration for the students of DAV School, Hehal.
In the afternoon we had a talk for the activists of the people’s theatre
movement. That day Suman had to leave for Bihar and I proceeded to Rourkela
for the next part.
At Rourkela
Sri D.D.Patra of the Orissa Rationalist Association was the most active
member. On the 22nd a lecture demonstration was held for
the students of the Bisra College, Bisra. The same afternoon, the Orissa
Police had arranged a lecture demonstration for the tribals at village
market at Kuarmunda. On returning from there to Rourkela, we found out
that a meeting of primary school teachers was going on and requested
the organizers for an opportunity to speak to them. This was granted
and we could succeed in sowing the seeds of scientific temper in their
minds. On the next day, a lecture was proposed to be held at Chandiposh
for the tribals by the Orissa Police. However, due to inclement weather
it could not be done. However, a teacher’s meet was going on at nearby
school and that occasion was used to address them. On the same day,
there was a meet organized by the Orissa Rationalist Association for
their members and the public. During this, the awards for their annual
debate and test on topics related to scientific temper were also presented.
The last lap of the Rourkela tour was at the city itself where lecture
demonstrations were held at the Ispat College, Municipal College, Ispat
Vidya Mandir and the Ispat English medium school.
The last leg of the tour was at Coimbatore
lecture demonstrations were held at various locations on the 26th
and 27th. These were conducted by the Periyar Dravida Kalagam
and were well attended. The topics dealt with were about the role of
superstitions in politics which covered issues like the Ramar Bridge,
politicians fanning flames of religious strife etc. the so called miracles
were demonstrated and the doyen of the rationalist movement, B. Premanand also
chose to attend the meetings.
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