Jan Seva Mandal (JSM) was initiated by a Spanish Jesuit, Fr Bernard Massot, in 1969. In the early years, our work focused on promoting seed banks and grain banks for farmers, road construction, building wells, helping with house-building, and setting up boarding facilities for Adivasi youth.
Most of our efforts involve working with the Bhil Adivasi communities living in and around Nandurbar district in Maharashtra.
Over the years, JSM has partnered with other progressive movements and organizations working for development and social change – with Dr Narendra Dabholkar for sustainable agriculture; with the Narmada Bachao Andolan for Adivasi rights; with the Academy of Development Sciences for promotion of indigenous health practices; and with a network of social centres engaged in rural learning and agricultural development.
Today our work encompasses propagation of organic farming and environment restoring strategies; providing boarding facilities for school going children and a hostel for young men attending college; running village-level classes for children and training local teachers; promotion of savings and credit groups for livelihood enhancement; health awareness programmes and encouraging indigenous herbal remedies; development and dissemination of communications material for community learning.
JSM’s work is in the nature of action research – a practical approach shaped by community needs. There is no permanent answer or strategy. JSM evolves its responses as Adivasi identity evolves, flowing from the past into the present and aspiring to better times to come.
The richness of the human, interpersonal encounters when we interact with Adivasis, both individually and in group activities, makes one feel at home as among family and friends. One doesn’t think in terms of we and they. It’s the Marathi term Aapan that explains it. Meaning, we are all together in this.
