Kalyan Ashram President Jagdevram Uraon no more

Jashpur Nagar, July 15: Jagdevram Uraon, President of Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, passed away this afternoon due to cardiac arrest. He was at Kalyan Ashram Headquarters at Jashpur Nagar in Chhattisgarh.

He was 72 and is survived by three brothers and two sisters besides a host of admirers across the country.

Late Jagdevram hailed from Komado, a Uraon village located at 3 km from the Kalyan Ashram’s headquarters. He was suffering from kidney and heart-related ailments for a couple of years.

Jagdevram Uraon succeeded Vanyogi Balasaheb Deshpande, founder president of Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram in 1995 following his death. He continued to lead the organization till the death embraced him Wednesday afternoon.

He joined in Kalyan Ashram in 1968 as a Teacher in the school run by Ashram at Jashpur. He accompanied Founder Balasaheb Deshpande during his nationwide tour in the eighties when Kalyan Ashram expanded its network all over India. He was Vice-President of Kalyan Ashram for many years and later he was elevated to the post of Working President in 1993 during National Conference at Cuttack.

The late Jagdevram led from the front to carry out various activities. It was under his leadership that the vision document on Janjatis was brought out. Sports Festivals and competitions are organized every year for Janjati youths.

Mega-events like the Shabari Kumbh, Vanvasi Sanskrutik programs during Kumbha Mela at Prayagraj and Sinhasth Kumbha at Ujjain, Vanvasi Sammelan at Jhabua in 2003, seminar on “Image and Reality of Vanvasis” organized jointly with Makhanlal Chaturvedi Patrakarita University, Bhopal were some of the highlights of his turn as President.

Kalyan Ashram has undertaken many service activities and relief works for the needy under his benign leadership. Kalyan Ashram has grown into a nationwide organization covering almost 500 Janjati communities of India.

Now Ashram’s work is extended to more than 50,000 villages and it conducts over 20000 projects in 14,000 villages all over India. His sudden demise came as a rude shock to thousands of workers of Akhil Bharatiya Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram and has created a void that cannot be filled up.

His last rites will be performed on 16th July at Jashpur.