Vyaakhyaan Mala (Public Lecture Series)
SFD conducts its lecture series in memory of various eminent persons who have throughout their lives contributed to strengthening our democracy. Attended by a vast rural audience as well as people from urban areas the series attempts to give space to people seldom heard by the “educated elite”. For instance, Naurti Devi, an unlettered resident of Tilonia village who through sheer grit and hard work became the sarpanch of Tilonia gram panchayat. Her address at Vyaakhyaan gave the perspective of a dalit woman who became sarpanch. Sushila, an RTI activist, coined the slogan “Hamara Paisa, Hamara Hisab”, which captured the struggle of the people’s right to information in rural Rajasthan in a nutshell.
- Mohanba Memorial Lecture
Loktantrashala started Vyaakhyaan, a public lecture series in 2013 in the memory of Mohanba, one of the founding members of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, who passed away that year. Mohanba was a multifaceted personality: a Gandhian with an innate understanding of the social relations that gave rise to rural exploitation. He was also a gifted singer and lyricist who penned many of the movement’s songs. The subtext of Vyaakhyaan is “Maine bhi sansad ka ek khambha uthaya re”, which intends to convey that each and every citizen of India has a stake in Parliament.