Foundation Day Celebrations of The Livelihood School

The 3^rd Foundation Day of The Livelihood School was celebrated on 18^th April at Bodh Gaya, Bihar. The School promoted by BASIX was founded on 18^th April, the Bhoodan Day, Achraya Vinoba Bhave initiated Bhoodan, a land reform movement in the year 1951. The event was graced by its Chairman Mr. Vijay Mahajan, Mr. C.S.Reddy, APMAS, Prof. Prabal K Sen, XLRI, Mr. N.V. Ramana, Member of School’s Governing Board, Ms. Irina Sinha, Women Development Corporation, Bihar, representatives of NGOs and other BASIX group companies.  

The invitees and the School team also visited a few villages around BodhGaya, and interacted with communities about their livelihood issues. The Chairman inaugurated renovation works of a training center in Rajan village and a water harvesting structure in Belamudi.  To be noted that his association with these villages dates back to the early 1980s when he worked with households benefited from the Bhoodan movement.

The village visit was followed by a meeting in Bodhgaya where the invitees were updated about the context in which the School operated, progress made so far, achievements, and experiences. The reflections and feedback of the Chairman and other guests for the future development of the School were noted. The main suggestions were to put more efforts on field based supports and to look into the impact of School’s interventions on livelihoods of the poor people.

On this occasion four publications of the School, based on its knowledge activities were released. A monograph on Solar energy for livelihoods, Compilation of case studies on livelihood interventions based on Non Timber Forest Produce, third edition of the Livelihood Resource Book and ‘Savings of the Poor’ based on a large scale research conducted on savings behavior of the poor, supported by the Ford Foundation were released by the dignitaries.