The Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha organised by the People’s Science Movements of India in October/November 1987, with the support of the National Council for Science and Technology Communication as well as the Bharat Gyan Vigyan Jatha, organised by Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS) in October/November 1990 with the support of the National Literacy Mission have played crucial roles in sending this powerful message across.
Born out of people’s science movements and especially the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP), the jathas utilise cultural and folk media such as art, dance, theatre and music for massive communication and awareness creation. The All India Jatha organised in May 1985, in memory of the thousands killed in Bhopal could be considered as the point of departure. The true national event, however was the Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha (BJVJ).
The BJVJ consisted of 5 jathas that travelled 37 days each, covering 500 centres spread over all the major states of the country and culminated in a rally in Bhopal. It engendered the All India People’s Science Network and the NCSTC Network. PSM activists, however, soon realised that thier activities cannot bear fruit so long as two-thirds of the nation remained illiterate. Eradication of illiteracy became an important agenda of science movements.
The Bharat Gyan Vigyan Jatha, organised between the 2nd of October and 14th of November 1990, was one of the most ambitious mass mobilizational and motivational exercises the country and perhaps the whole world, had ever witnessed. It involved more than 5000 artists and several thousands of organizers apart from large number of village, block and district samithis that were formed. Inspite of the vicious atmosphere created by social and political tensions that existed during that period, the jatha succeeded in generating a new sense of optimism in the minds of thousands of social activists, intellectuals and administrators, apart from lakhs and lakhs of ordinary men and women.
The impact of the jatha soon became visible in concrete terms. About 150 districts have by now launched total literacy campaigns. Some of them have already completed the first phase of the campaign and are now moving towards thepost literacy and continuing education phase. About 40 million adult learners are presently attending the literacy classes and more than40 lakh voluntary instructors are engaged in this holy war against illiteracy and ignorance, obscurantism and backwardness.