We see the emergence of many Voluntary Organizations - some say it is a mushroom
growth - to share the responsibilities of Nation Building, through empowerment
of the disadvantaged and the marginalized sections and their capacity building
exercises. We also experience in our country a very lopsided and staggering
growth of the rural as well as the socially and economically deprived people.
Even after years of independence and planned development activities, the fruits
of the efforts did not trickle down and disseminate to these poor. The quality
of life of the poor remains stagnant without any steady improvement.
The magnitude of the problems and challenges the Voluntary Organizations address
in the rural areas are so vast that the effect is very insignificant and slow.
Hence there is the need for both extensive and intensive interventions in the
lives of the poor and the marginalized. We need a multiplication of helping
hands and broader shoulders to collaborate and share the responsibilities of
integrated, participatory and sustainable development and empowerment processes
of the poor and the marginalized. All are called to contribute, according to
their capacities, and share the responsibilities of community building
processes, even if it is very meager. As Rabindranath Tagore puts it, "there
are numerous strings in your lute; let me add my own among them" so that "into
that haven of freedom, o Lord, let my country awake."
We share the same goal of visionaries, forefathers and the development planners
of our country. UNICEF envisions: "The day will come when Uttar Pradesh will
be judged not by the military or economic strength nor by the splendor of its
capital cities and public buildings but by the well being of its people; by
their levels of health, nutrition and education; by the opportunities to earn a
fair reward for their labor; by the ability to participate in the decisions that
effect their lives; by the respect that is shown for their civil and political
liberties; by the provision that is made for those who are vulnerable and
disadvantaged; and by the protection that is afforded to the growing minds and
bodies of their children."
The CST (Congregation of St. Therese) Fathers of the Little Flower Congregation,
who were working in the Districts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh since 1972 and were
developing the Diocese of Gorakhpur, felt that there should be a separate
Association for Community Empowerment and Social Services to coordinate various
rural development activities and reach out to the most marginalized sections.
The membership of such an Association is kept open to all likeminded people,
irrespective of caste, creed, gender and other considerations. Thus an
Association for Community Empowerment and Social Services was formed exclusively
to cater to the needs of the poor and the marginalized rural people of Uttar
Pradesh in April 1998 and this Association got registered in September 2001,
under the Society's Registration Act of 1860 with the name DISA (Development
Initiatives by Social Animation). The area of operation of the Association
is entire Uttar Pradesh. The experiences of the promoters of DISA count much in
translating the dreams for an ideal society and we take initiatives, following
their footprints. . We join with Mother Teresa to say: "We ourselves feel
that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean but the ocean would be less
because of that missing drop."
DISA views the present Social System, as it prevails in North India, as a system
meant to perpetuate exploitation of the weaker sections of the Society. The
existing system thrives on illiteracy, poverty, disease and many other
socio-economic and cultural conditions. The ideology provides legitimacy to such
a system. We witness to gross discriminations against the weaker sections,
pushing them to further marginalization and rampant violation of human rights.
Hence these people are cut off from the main stream of the Society. Restoring
their dignity and upholding their rights shall be the means to create a new
social order of human communities where the universal values of justice, equity,
love, peace etc. will reign supreme. Hence DISA sets the goal of bringing a
change in the social system so that the new order is integrated, participatory
and sustainable based on the universal values of justice, equity and complete
humanism.