Vision:
Our Vision : We envision an egalitarian and self-reliant society founded on human values by developing self-confidence and leadership among the underprivileged sections of our society
Our Mission : In solidarity with the struggling masses, we commit ourselves to accompany and empower, the most excluded sections in society by enabling them to affirm and uphold their dignity and rights through a process of sensitization and organization.
A Brief History:
The genesis and existence of PJSA to be part of the struggles of the marginalized people of the area is directly associated with the option made by the Patna Jesuit Province in particular and the Jesuits in General way back in 1970s. It was a decade of awareness-liberation of the third world, especially of the oppressed. This attempt to be part of the poor in their lives and struggles has come to be known as social apostolate. Translating our option for the poor in the Indian Context, we came to identify the Dalits, the Tribals, women, children and unorganized sector workers as the poor. Keeping this in mind, social action centers as well as social institutions were founded to address the issues of these segments of Indian Population to work for structural change, structures that bound the marginalized communities to exclusion, exploitation.
Bihar of the 1970s was infected with low level of grass root organization, illiteracy, discrimination and exploitation of women. Hence, the founding of various social service centers was an outgrowth of this social and historical process. Ambedkar’s “educate—agitate- organize and Frieirian “Methodology of conscientisation through contextualized problem posing and life oriented education’ were the ideological tools of social change that various centers of PJSA adopted initially. Thus from the beginning PJSA worked with the marginalized landless, Dalits, and Tribals, with particular emphasis on children’s education and women empowerment.
We began our journey of social transformation with massive adult literacy programme in collaboration with the central and the state governments. An important component of this programme was fighting the issue of bonded labor by identifying, releasing and rehabilitating the victims. As an example, one of our centers, Sevasadan, Rathanpurwa, after 15 years of persistent struggle got released and rehabilitated over 900 bonded laborers of West Champaran.
This was followed by involvement in nonformal education with special focus on girls, enrolling many thousands of poor or deprived children to the near-by government schools.
Another major thrust of our involvement has been the empowerment of women. SHGs have been used as a platform for social transformation and economic upliftment. Simultaneously the centers addressed issues of human rights violations through legal assistance and legal awareness programmes.
A few of our centers functioned as District Resource Unit (DRUs) as well. Collaborating with government agencies, networking with other likeminded CSOs on the issues that affect the poor has been the hall mark of our approach.
Today the main focus of our activities is centered on creating a pool of human resource among the most disadvantaged communities, such as, Musahars, Doms, Dhankads and Bhuiyas and enlarging people’s accessibility to entitlements and rights.
Over the years many of our centers have come to represent the collective voice of the poor. They have been looked upon by the poor, government and other agencies as centers of integrity, transparency, commitment and expertise. They have evolved into well equipped resource and training centers with sufficient infrastructure facilities.
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Institutions:
1. Sampurna Vikas Samiti, Aurangabad
Director: Fr. Sumit Edwin Menezes, S.J.
Address:
Gayatri Path, By-pass Chowk
Aurangabad
Bihar 824 101
2. Jeevan Snagam, Bodhgaya
Director: Fr. Joseph Kariakatt, S.J.
Address:
Bhaluwa P.O., Dumuhan
Bosh Gaya (Via), Gaya Dt.
Bihar 824 231
Director:Fr. Stephenraj, S.J.
Address:
New Area, Sasaram
Rohtas Dt.
Bihar 821 115
Director: Fr. Anand Kerketta, S.J.
Address:
GManthan Khagaul
Khagaul P.O.
Patna Dt.
Bihar 801 105
5. Bihar Dalit Vikas Samiti, Patna
Director: Fr. Anto Joseph, S.J.
Address:
BDVS
GPO Box 57
Patna, Bihar 800 001
Email: bihardalit@gmail.com
Director: Fr. Joseph Sebastian, S.J.
Address:
Khrist Raja High School
Bettiah P.O.
W. Champaran Dt.
Bihar 845 438
Email: read.bettiah@gmail.com
Director: Fr. Siji Varghese, S.J.
Address:
Rampurwa Village
Gaunaha P.O.
W. Champaran Dt.
Bihar 845 102
8. Seva Sadan, Ratanpurwa
Director: Martin Poras, S.J.
Address:
Ratanpurwa Village
Chiutaha P.O.
Ramnagar Via.
W. Cahmparan Dt.
Bihar 845 106
9. Asha Deep, Muzffarpur
Director:Fr. Jesuraj Kolandaisamy, S.J.
Address:
Subhash Nagar
Bibiganj
Bhagwanpur Chowk
Bihar 842 001
Email: ashadeeptech@gmail.com
Director: Fr. Antony Pendanath, S.J.
Address:
Purani Bazar
Sakri
Madhubani Dt.
Bihar 847 239
Email: prabhatsakri@gmail.com
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Contacts:
Coordinator:
Fr. Anto Joseph
Gyanodaya
Khaspur Village
Patna, Bihar
Mobile: 9471828633
Email: antothunda@hotmail.com
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Looking towards Future:
The challenges facing us are numerous and complex. However, we have identified the severe dearth of human capital among the most disadvantaged sections of society, such as, Musahars, Doms, Dhankads & Bhuiyas that hampers their socio-political empowerment and perpetuate their social exclusion, as the immediate task that deserves our complete attention. Hence, PJSA has identified the need for building up human resources within these communities to initiate the process of self sustained social and economic empowerment. The following are the major components of this focused intervention in all our social service centers for coming 10 years:
• Expanding the Educational Base of the Focused Communities
• Creating a diversified talent pool within these communities
• Developing conscientious women leaders as community builders and agents of social transformation
• Gathering and preserving the fading cultural memories, myths etc, for a renewed identity
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New Initiatives:
The Process of preparing perspective planning of Social Action at the province level is at its final stage.
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