The Institute of Peace Research and Action (IPRA) has come into existence as a result of the persistent reflection of a group of individuals on the need to link the present day events and behaviour patterns to concepts through which they can be understood, interpreted and changed towards a culture of peace.
Recent developments in the country have rendered such an effort urgent. The Group feels that a Peace Research/Action Programme has the potential to provide new knowledge and skills to deal with the tensions unleashed by the development choices made by the country as also with the instruments of terror and destruction let loose by the vested interests. The Group also feels that such a programme has the potential to evolve concepts and strategies towards nonviolent restructuring of the prevailing systems and relationships at the international, national and sub-national levels.
One of the major areas in which the Institute has been working is Youth and Violence. It has worked on Tribal-non-tribal violence in the North-East, Caste Violence in Bihar, Communal violence in Andhra Pradesh and Terrorist Violence in Jammu & Kashmir. Youth marginality, atomization and alienation have their roots in values and ideologies which make for particular social formations or withdrawal from them. The identity crisis of the Indian youth has remained attendant on the country’s developmental transition. With dramatic changes in the socio-economic and political relationships, the transition reflects a steep decline of traditional values and the erosion of primary bases of security and support compounded by the impact of modern technology and the communication revolution. Add to this the progressive involvement of the young in criminal activities, be it murder, rape, dacoity and other anti-social ventures. The resultant cultural upheaval and chaos has, over the years, rendered the Indian youth increasingly insecure. Working with the young was, therefore, given top priority.
In thinking of securing a future for the country in general and areas impacted by prolonged youth violence, be it Kashmir, North-east or the Naxal hit regions, in particular, the enormous resources of the young would have to be rehabilitated. This calls for a cultural revolution, a revolution that must begin in the educational institutions where daily interaction of the individual students reflects complexities and contradictions of their lives. It is here that the reorientation of their psyche through breaking the hold of the debilitating distortions of their consciousness, their alienation from the state as well as masses of people, becomes central. Hence the prime focus of our work on the transformation of youth power into positive directions.
This transformation has to be guided by the knowledge, values and skills bequeathed to us by our civilizational heritage. The civilizational constructs alone can promote, characters building, true nationalism, patriotism and humanism and equip our youth to build the future of our dreams. To achieve this objective our efforts in this direction need to be consolidated and strengthened. The environment is conducive now because of the sweeping changes that we are witnessing currently. We are determined to make the best of the new opportunities available to us. To facilitate the process we seek the support of all stake holders who realize the cruciality of the efforts we are making in this direction.
The projects undertaken by the Institute have been funded by various funding agencies on a project to project basis. Our major difficulty, in running our programmes has been that we lack financial stability for the lack of a Corpus for the Institute. As we move from project to project, we have to terminate the services of our staff after the completion of each project with the result that we lose the personnel who develop commitment to our objectives and get trained in research methods relevant to our areas of interest. Given the Indian job market, our research staff is always insecure and keep on looking for permanent jobs even while they are working with us. Sometimes when they do find such opportunities, they leave us in the midst of a project. We naturally have no moral right to stop them from leaving us. This causes delays in our work because finding a replacement and training the new incumbents is a time consuming affair.
The Institute has not received an annual or core grant from any source so far. It has received financial support for its projects from Departments of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Indian Council of Social Science Research, Ford Foundation, National Council of Educational Research and Training, Departments of Women and Child Development, and Deptt. Of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, UNESCO and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Mumbai. In the absence of a Corpus or a regular annual grant, the work of the Institute has suffered. We have not been able to realize our potential in pursuing the objectives set.
Currently, the Institute is going through a financial crisis. Recently, the Institute had to vacate the rented building it had been working at for many years. Due to paucity of funds, we have shifted to a two-roomed accommodation, which is not adequate even to contain its rich library much less to make room for our research staff. We are thus in dire need for a suitable campus to house the Institute and carry on the good work we have been doing.
The task is urgent, we must act before it in too late. We hope that Governmental agencies, public bodies, charitable trusts, business and industry as also philanthropic individuals will respond generously to our appeal and give us a headstart.
We have started direct social service to the community as
Non-formal education and skill for poor children who were not going to school. IPRA will help them in Non formal education and help and them to go to mainstream line provide them refreshment.
To open Health camp like Eye-checkup and other Health-checkup for poor community in the Slum areas and also provide health services to the needy person.
To open old age home for the abandoned older people in society and offer free care to senior citizens who are needy or poor.