Hannumappa R Sudarshan / Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra, VGKK (India)

The Soliga tribals have for centuries lived in the Biligiri Rangana (B.R.) Hills of Karnataka State, for most of that time leading 'a life of abundance and peace, surviving by hunting and shifting cultivation', worshipping God in nature and living in harmony with it. From about the 1950s, however, their forests started to be cleared for industry and modern agriculture, their land expropriated by others, and the Soliga sank into a condition of the utmost poverty and exploitation.

H. Sudarshan was born in 1950 and graduated as a doctor in 1973. He turned his back on the possibility of lucrative urban practice in favour of working with poor communities, and in 1979 he arrived in the B.R. Hills to work among the Soliga. VGKK was founded in 1981.

VGKK differs from most such enterprises in that it is based on a respect for tribal culture and a determination to perpetuate it, even while developing the requisite skills and capabilities among the tribal people to enable them to become self-reliant in today's India, which is Sudarshan's eventual goal. VGKK's longstanding work on health have achieved such results among the 20,000 people served that Sudarshan set the goal of 'Health for all by 2000' in the tribal settlements of B.R. Hills.

The 500-pupil school aims at spontaneous blossoming of a child's personality with an attitude of service and pride and confidence in their culture. The curriculum covers all normal subjects taught to national standards and also things such as environmental workshops, herbal gardening, value education, especially with regard to tribal values, and encouragement of tribal culture. More than 95 per cent of children now get primary education. Some Soliga children from the school are now going to university, and several graduates and post-graduates have returned to serve their community.

VGKK's vocational training scheme gives instruction in 16 crafts. Over 60 per cent of Soliga people now get a minimum of 300 days' employment a year from the Forest Department, other agencies and a system of Tribal

Cooperatives were set up by VGKK, which employs 1,200 Soliga directly. VGKK has also pioneered the sustainable extraction of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and the creation of Tribal Enterprises to process them.

VGKK considers its most significant achievement to be its fostering of self-organisation among the people. It has a governing board of which 10 out of 17 people are Soligas and every village has its own Sangha (council), through which the people solve their internal problems and fight for their external rights. Most of their alienated land has now been restored to them. Soliga candidates have also done well in elections and two tribal women are chiefs of the local council. Sudarshan has expressed his philosophy thus: "To eliminate disease you have to remove poverty. The only way to do that, I have realised, is to organise the people for their rights."

Sudarshan has been Vice-President of the Voluntary Health Association of India, and a member of the Independent Commission on Health in India, the National Commission on Population, the National Nutrition Mission, the National Human Rights Commission, and the Indian Planning Commission's Steering Group for the development of Scheduled Tribes. As Chairman of the Task Force on Health & Family Welfare he has brought out a comprehensive report to reform the health system of Karnataka. As Ombudsman for Health, Education & Social Welfare, Karnataka Lokayuktha, he is fighting against corruption and promoting good governance to make the public services reach the poor including the tribal people. He has received the Parisara (Environment) Award from the Government of Karnataka (1993) and the Padma Shree Award from the President of India (2000) and is the President of two other NGOs.