->Suneye1 at 15:41, 3 January 2022

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{{short description|Indian activist}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{infobox person
|image =File:Krishnammal and sankaralingam.jpg
|caption =Krishnammal and Sankaralingam Jagannathan
|spouse =Sankaralingam (deceased)
|awards = [[Right Livelihood Award]]
|occupation =social activist
|image_size =200px
|birth_date ={{birth date and age|1926|6|16|df=yes}}
}}

'''Krishnammal Jagannathan''' (born 16 June 1926) is an Indian social activist from the state of [[Tamil Nadu]]. She and her husband, Sankaralingam Jagannathan (1912 – 12 February 2013),<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rightlivelihood.org/pressrelease_feb12.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=25 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304045928/http://www.rightlivelihood.org/pressrelease_feb12.html |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> protested against [[social injustice]] and they are [[Gandhian]] activists. Her work includes upliftment of the landless, and the poor; she has sometimes fought against governments as well as big industries. She was earlier involved in the [[Indian independence movement]], along with her husband, and was also a close associate of [[Vinoba Bhave]]. In 2008 she received the [[Right Livelihood Award]], which she shared with her husband.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rightlivelihoodaward.org/laureates/krishnammal-and-sankaralingam-jagannathan-lafti/|title=Krishnammal and Sankaralingam Jagannathan / LAFTI|website=The Right Livelihood Award|access-date=2019-04-29}}</ref> She was given the [[Padma Bhushan]]; India's third highest civilian award; in 2020.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/former-ministers-arun-jaitley-sushma-swaraj-and-george-fernandes-given-padma-vibhushan/articleshow/73617205.cms | title=Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, George Fernandes given Padma Vibhushan posthumously. Here's full list of Padma award recipients | publisher=[[The Economic Times]] | date=26 January 2020 | access-date=26 January 2020}}</ref>

==Early life==
Jagannathan was born into a Dalit family in 1926.<ref name=RLA>[http://www.rightlivelihood.org/jagannathan.html Krishnammal and Sankaralingam Jagannathan / LAFTI (India)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081117181445/http://www.rightlivelihood.org/jagannathan.html |date=17 November 2008 }} – on Right Livelihood Awards' website</ref> She encountered social injustice and poverty in her daily life as she observed her mother Nagammal who toiled hard and had to continue working even as she was in the advanced stages of pregnancy.<ref name=amma/> Despite being from a poor family, she managed to get a university education and was soon involved with the Gandhian [[Sarvodaya Movement]]. It was through Sarvodaya that she met Sankaralingam, who would later become her husband. Sankaralingam hailed from a wealthy family, but discontinued his college education in 1930 in response to Gandhi's call for [[non-co-operation movement]] and [[civil disobedience]].<ref name=RLA/> Krishnammal shared a stage with [[Mahatma Gandhi]]<ref name=amma/> and met with [[Martin Luther King Jr.]]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://chhs.sdsu.edu/announce-081105.php | title=Krishnammal Jagannathan | date=5 November 2008 | publisher=SDSU College of Health and Human Service | access-date=3 October 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100709113222/http://chhs.sdsu.edu/announce-081105.php | archive-date=9 July 2010 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Sankaralinga later joined the [[Quit India Movement]] in 1942 and spent years in jail before India gained its [[Partition of India|independence]] in 1947.<ref name=RLA/> Having decided only to marry in independent India Sankaralingam and Krishnammal married in 1950.<ref name=amma/> She would later lead the [[Salt Satyagraha]] march in [[Vedaranyam]], this time not in protest, but to commemorate the [[platinum jubilee]] of the event in 2006.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060828164307/http://www.hindu.com/2006/05/01/stories/2006050112320400.htm Congressmen re-enact Salt Satyagraha march] The Hindu</ref>

==Land to the landless==
Sankaralingam and Krishnammal believed that one of the key requirements for achieving a Gandhian society is by empowering the rural poor through redistribution of land to the landless. For two years between 1950 and 1952 Sankaralingam was with Vinoba Bhave in [[Northern India]] on his [[Bhoodan]] (land-gift) [[Padayatra]] (pilgrimage on foot), the march appealing to landlords to give one sixth of their land to the landless. Meanwhile, Krishnammal completed her teacher-training course in [[Madras]] (now renamed Chennai). When Sankaralingam returned to Tamil Nadu to start the Bhoodhan movement the couple, until 1968, worked for land redistribution through Vinoba Bhave's [[Gramdan movement]] (Village Gift, the next phase of the land-gift movement), and through [[Satyagraha]] (non-violent resistance). Sankaralingam was imprisoned many times for this work. Between 1953 and 1967, the couple played an active role in the Bhoodhan movement spearheaded by Vinoba Bhave, through which about {{convert|4|e6acre|km2}} of land were distributed to thousands of landless poor across several Indian states.<ref name=RLA/> After the burning of 42 Dalits including women and children in the [[Kilvenmani massacre]] in [[Nagapattinam district]]<ref name=Seat>[http://www.seattleu.edu/opusprize/recipients_krishnammal.asp Krishnammal Jagannathan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005015828/http://www.seattleu.edu/opusprize/recipients_krishnammal.asp |date=5 October 2008 }} Seattle University</ref> following a wage-dispute with the landlord<ref name=amma/> in 1968, the couple started to work in [[Thanjavur District]] in Tamil Nadu to concentrate on land reform issues.<ref name=RLA/> It was this incident that would inspire the couple, Krishnammal and Sankaralaingam to start the organisation LAFTI.<ref name=Seat/>

==Land for Tillers' Freedom (LAFTI)==
Jagannathan founded [[Land for Tillers' Freedom]] in 1981 with her husband.<ref name=hindu1/> The purpose of the organisation was to bring "''the landlords and landless poor to the negotiating table, obtain loans to enable the landless to buy land at reasonable price and then to help them work it cooperatively, so that the loans could be repaid''".<ref name=RLA/> Although the initial response was lukewarm with banks unwilling to lend and the high rates of stamp duty, Jagannathan managed to go on with the cause. By 2007, through LAFTI, she had transferred {{convert|13000|acre|km2}} to about 13,000 families.<ref name=RLA/> Through LAFTI, she also conducted workshops to allow people, during the nonagricultural season, to support themselves through entrepreneurial efforts like [[mat weaving]], [[tailoring]], [[plumbing]], [[carpentry]], [[masonry]], [[computer education]] and [[electronics]]. LAFTI would gain such popularity that later even the [[Government of India]] would implement LAFTI's approach to increase the peaceful transfer of land.<ref name=Seat/>

==Protecting the coastal ecosystem==
In 1992 Jagannathan started working on issues concerned with [[prawn]] farms along the coast of Tamil Nadu. This time the problems were not from the local landlords, but from large industries from cities such as [[Chennai]], [[Mumbai]], [[Kolkata]], [[Delhi]] and [[Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh|Hyderabad]] which occupied large areas of land for [[aquaculture]] along the coast, which not only threw the landless labourers out of employment but also converted fertile and cultivable land into salty deserts after a few years when the prawn companies moved on. The prawn farms also caused heavy seepage of [[seawater]] into the [[groundwater]] in the neighbourhood, thus the local people were deprived of clean drinking water resources. The result is that even more small farmers sell their meagre land-holdings to multinational prawn companies and move to the cities, filling urban slums.<ref name=RLA/>

To address prawn farm issue the Jagannathans organised the whole of LAFTI's village movement to raise awareness among the people to oppose the prawn farms. Since 1993, the villagers have offered Satygraha (non-violent resistance), through rallies, fasts, and demonstrations in protest of establishing the prawn farms. They have been beaten up by hired goons, their houses have been burnt, and LAFTI workers have been imprisoned, because of false accusations of looting and arson.<ref name=RLA/> Undeterred by this, Jagannathan filed a 'public interest petition' in the Indian Supreme Court, which in turn asked NEERI (National Environmental Engineering Institute of India) to investigate the matter. NEERI's investigation report highlighted the environmental cost of the prawn farms to the nation and recommended all prawn farms within 500 meters of the coast to be banned. In December 1996 the [[Supreme court|Supreme Court]] issued a ruling against intensive [[shrimp]] farming in cultivable lands within 500 meters of the coastal area. It is said that because of the prawn farmers' local political influence, the Supreme Court judgement was not implemented on the ground. The legal battle around the prawn farms is still not resolved and the Jagannathans continue their struggle to establish non-exploitative, eco-friendly communities in the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu.<ref name=RLA/>

Jagannathan also works towards upliftment of women in Dalits and poor. She believes in mobilising women's cause by peaceful means.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060914000647/http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/17/stories/2006031710070300.htm Fight discrimination by peaceful means] The Hindu</ref>

==Further achievements and honours==
Jagannathan, either independently or together with her husband, has established a total of seven non-governmental institutions for the poor. In addition to this she has also played an active role in wider public life. She has been a Senate member of the Gandhigram Trust and University and of Madurai University. She was also a member of a number of local and state social welfare committees and a member of the National Committee on Education, the Land Reform Committee and the Planning Committee.<ref name=RLA/>

These activities have gained for the Jagannathans a high profile in India and they have won many awards: the [[Swami Pranavananda Peace Award]] (1987); the [[Jamnalal Bajaj Award]] (1988)<ref>{{cite web |title=Jamnalal Bajaj Awards Archive |url=http://www.jamnalalbajajfoundation.org/awards/archives/2010 |publisher=[[Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation]]}}</ref> and [[Padma Shri]] in 1989.<ref name=RLA/><ref>{{cite web|title=Padma Awards Directory (1954–2009) |publisher=[[Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|Ministry of Home Affairs]] |url=http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510095705/http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf |archive-date=10 May 2013 }}</ref> In 1996 the couple received the [[Bhagavan Mahaveer Award]] "for propagating non-violence." In 1999 Krishnammal was awarded a [[Summit Foundation Award]] (Switzerland), and in 2008 she was awarded 'Opus Prize' by the [[University of Seattle]].<ref name=hindu1>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080918071157/http://www.hindu.com/2008/09/15/stories/2008091554770600.htm Sarvodaya leader to get Opus Prize] – The Hindu</ref> She also received the [[Right Livelihood Award]] along with her husband "for two long lifetimes of work dedicated to realising in practice the Gandhian vision of social justice and sustainable human development, for which they have been referred to as 'India's soul'".<ref name=RLA/> She is lovingly called as ''Amma'' (Mother in [[Tamil language|Tamil]]) by her followers.<ref name=amma>[http://news.oneindia.in/2008/10/02/gandhian-couple-get-alternate-nobel.html Gandhian' couple get alternate Nobel] – OneIndia.com</ref> She plans to use the award money for her projects rather than for herself.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080922113421/http://www.hindu.com/2008/09/20/stories/2008092059740800.htm Opus Prize a divine gift for my housing programme, says Krishnammal] The Hindu</ref> Inspired by Amma's contribution of enabling more than 11000 poor and landless women to become landowners, a M.Phil research dissertation is dedicated to Amma. The dissertation is titled as ''Aspects of Agrarian History of Tamilakam:Region, Women and Technology during 16th and 17th centuries AD'', submitted to Department of History, University of Hyderabad in 2009.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://rightlivelihoodaward.org/ Right Livelihood Award]

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Social Work}}
{{Jamnalal Bajaj Award winners}}
{{Authority control}}
{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2020–2029}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jagannathan, Krishnammal}}
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in social work]]
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Gandhians]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Indian pacifists]]
[[Category:Indian women's rights activists]]
[[Category:Dalit activists]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:Indian women activists]]
[[Category:Women Indian independence activists]]
[[Category:Social workers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women]]
[[Category:Social workers from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Women educators from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Educators from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:20th-century women educators]]

Krishnammal Jagannathan - Revision history

->Suneye1 at 15:41, 3 January 2022