Bunker Roy
{{short description|Indian social activist and educator (born 1945)}}
{{for|the Indian cricketer|Sanjit Roy (cricketer)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{BLP sources|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sanjit Bunker Roy
| image = Sanjit Bunker Roy at Time 2010.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| caption = Roy at the Time 100 event in 2010
| birth_name = Sanjit Roy
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1945|06|30}}
| birth_place = Burnpur, Bengal Presidency, British India
| death_place =
| alma_mater = St. Stephen's College, Delhi
| occupation = Social activist & founder of Barefoot College
| spouse = {{marriage|Aruna Roy|1970}}
| parents =
| children =
| nationality = Indian
}}
Sanjit "Bunker" Roy (born 30 June 1945) is an Indian social activist and educator who founded the Barefoot College. He was selected as one of Time 100's 100 most influential personalities in 2010 for his work in educating illiterate and semi-literate rural Indians.Mortenson, Greg. (29 April 2010) [https://web.archive.org/web/20100502132925/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1984685_1984745_1985478,00.html Sanjit 'Bunker' Roy The 2010 TIME 100]. TIME. Retrieved on 2 June 2012. Roy was awarded the Padma Shri by Giani Zail Singh in 1986.
Early life
He attended The Doon School from 1956 to 1962,{{citation needed|date=November 2012}} and St. Stephen's College, Delhi from 1962 to 1967.{{cite book |editor=Verghese, B. G. |author=bunker Roy |title=Tomorrow's India: Another Tryst with Destiny |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JRTBJNRntlcC&pg=PA347 |access-date=23 November 2012 |date=1 February 2006 |publisher=Penguin Books India |isbn=9780670058631 |pages=347–}}
He was the Indian national squash champion in 1965 and also represented India in three world squash championships.
Barefoot College
Bunker is a founder of what is now called Barefoot College.{{cite book |last=John |first=Mary |title=Children's Rights and Power: Charging Up for a New Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=95aHsTYl-0sC&pg=PA232 |access-date=23 November 2012 |year=2003 |publisher=Jessica Kingsley Publishers |isbn=9781853026584 |pages=232–}} After conducting a survey of water supplies in 100 drought-prone areas, Roy established the Social Work and Research Centre in 1972. Its mission soon changed from a focus on water and irrigation to empowerment and sustainability. The programs focused on siting water pumps near villages and training the local population to maintain them without dependence on outside mechanics, providing training as paramedics for local medical treatment, and on solar power to decrease dependence and time spent on kerosene lighting.
He was recognized in 2010 in Time for the programs of the college which have trained more than 3 million people in skills including solar engineers such as the Solar Mamas,{{Cite journal |last=Parvin Shaikh |first=Neda |date=2024-05-23 |title=Feminism in Practice: Learning from the Barefoot “Solar Mamas” |url=https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol26/iss3/14/ |journal=Journal of International Women's Studies |volume=26 |issue=3 |issn=1539-8706}} teachers, midwives, weavers, architects, and doctors.
He was married to ex-IAS Aruna Roy in 1970.
Other work
Roy was appointed by Rajiv Gandhi to the government's Planning Commission. He recommended that legislation be created that would apply a "code of conduct" for non-governmental organizations. He also proposed that a national council be created that would recommend "legitimate" organizations to the government and monitor their activities. Both of these recommendations were "fiercely" opposed as mechanisms that could be used to promote patronage of favored groups and quell organizations that were not supportive of a particular government or party.{{cite book |editor1=Sumit Ganguly |editor2=Larry Diamond |editor3=Marc F. Plattner |title=The State of India's Democracy |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lgs1tFTh-JMC&pg=PA157 |access-date=23 November 2012 |date=13 August 2007 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=9780801887918 |pages=157– |chapter=The Role of Civil Society}}
In 1983, he was the plaintiff in Roy v State of Rajasthan in which the Supreme Court struck down an emergency policy which had allowed women famine relief workers to be paid less than male workers.{{cite book |last=Epp |first=Charles R. |title=The Rights Revolution: Lawyers, Activists, and Supreme Courts in Comparative Perspective |url=https://archive.org/details/rightsrevolution0065eppc |url-access=registration |access-date=23 November 2012 |date=15 October 1998 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226211619 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/rightsrevolution0065eppc/page/253 253]–}}
Roy has spoken at the TED conference,{{cite news |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-10-28/jaipur/34779858_1_tedx-ideas-school-kids |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130103203624/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-10-28/jaipur/34779858_1_tedx-ideas-school-kids |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 January 2013 |title=Students untapped forces of social change |last=TNN |date=28 October 2012 |work=The Times of India |access-date=23 November 2012}} about how the Barefoot College "helps rural communities becomes self-sufficient."{{cite web |url=http://www.ted.com/talks/bunker_roy.html |title=Bunker Roy: Learning from a barefoot movement |last=Bunker Roy |work=TED |access-date=23 November 2012 |archive-date=22 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121122134448/http://www.ted.com/talks/bunker_roy.html |url-status=dead }}
Awards and recognition
- 1985: "Jamnalal Bajaj Award" for Application of Science and Technology for Rural Development.{{cite news|title=Mr. Sanjit Bunker Roy|url=http://www.jamnalalbajajawards.org/awards/archives/1985/science-and-technology/sanjit-bunker-roy|work=Jamnalal Bajaj Award}}
- 2003: Won The 2003 "St Andrews Prize for the Environment"{{cite news |title=The 2003 St Andrews Prize for the Environment |work=St Andrews Prize for the Environment |url=https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/st-andrews-prize/previous-winners/}}
- 2003: One of 20 people to be selected as "Social Entrepreneurs of the Year" by Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship{{cite news|title=Swiss award for Bunker Roy|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/swiss-award-for-bunker-roy/article27870788.ece|work=The Hindu|date=22 September 2002}}
- 2009: Received a "Robert Hill Award" for his contribution to promotion of photo-voltaics (solar energy){{cite news|title=Global honour for barefoot wonder Bunker Roy|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-otherstates/Global-honour-for-barefoot-wonder-Bunker-Roy/article16523579.ece|work=The Hindu|date=29 September 2009}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070211205903/http://web.mac.com/udaydandavate/iWeb/Site/Bunker.html Profile]
- {{TED speaker}}
{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Social Work}}
{{Jamnalal Bajaj Award winners}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roy, Bunker}}
Category:Businesspeople from West Bengal
Category:Scholars from Rajasthan
Category:The Doon School alumni
Category:Indian social entrepreneurs
Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work
Category:20th-century Indian businesspeople
Category:20th-century Indian educators