Version imprimableTRIBUTE TO KISHORE SAINT
Yet another supporter of people’s movements and sanity in India’s political, social, ecological life, passes on ... a tribute by his colleagues:
"Kishore Saint passed away on the morning of the 15th of August in his home in Udaipur. He is survived by his wife Sudesh ji and two children, Tarun and Amita, son-in-law Roopen Arya and grandson Karan Arya (14).
He was 90 years old. He came to Udaipur at the behest of Dr Mohan Sinha Mehta to head the Vidya Bhawan Rural Institute in 1972. He then went on to be the chief executive of Seva Mandir, a voluntary organisation in Udaipur, for many years. He left Seva Mandir in 1983 to create a tribal-led institution called Ubeshwar Vikas Mandal.
Kishore bhai was a nationally and internationally known Gandhian thinker-practitioner.
He was friends with people like Ashok Chatterji, a pioneer in the field of design and development communication, Ashish Kothari, an innovative environmental activist and author. He was a close member of the Lokayan/ CSDS group that consisted of public intellectual like Rajni Kothari, DL Sheth, Asish Nandy, Smitu Kothari and Vijay Pratap. He brought Kamla Chowdary, head of the National Wasteland Development Board, Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Sundar lal Bahuguna and Anil Agarwal to visit Udaipur to support a peoples movement to afforest degraded lands.
He spent his life implementing Gandhian ideas, advocating for local self-governing institutions of tribals and local people. He was a patron of local culture and spiritual practices. He deeply respected their ethical outlook to nature. He would host the performance of
